A laptop has become one of the many essentials of a college student. However, people don't realize the different qualities of laptops. Therefore, a lot of students fail to choose the right laptop.

There are 3 key components to a great laptop—portability, power/heat,and performance. Within each of these components is a range. This allows you to choose the best laptop for your needs. Keep in mind, there’s a pull and tug; if you want more portability, you may have to give up some of the performance.

Portability is mostly reflected by the screen size. Nowadays, the screen size can accurately represent the weight of the laptop. The range of the screen size is 10.1”-15.6”. The minimum is at 10.1 because those are the screen sizes for netbooks. Netbooks give you maximum portability, but are uncomfortable and weak. The maximum is at 15.6 because anything bigger becomes cumbersome. The amount of space,say, a 17” laptop has, cripples your ability to have other tools on the table. The perfect balance would be a 13.3”-14” laptop. It's not too small to type on or too big to carry. If you want the luxury of a bigger monitor, just buy an external monitor . They’re pretty cheap nowadays( ~$200) and it gives you luxury of portability. Plus, this forces you to leave your entertainment at home.

Power&Heat- This is the most overlooked component when buying a laptop. Advertisers aren't prone to list the battery life in the general description, so buyers get seduced by the amazing GPU and CPU. They do this because they know the laptop has horrible heat and power management,forcing you to buy a new laptop the next year. You would usually want something that can last 6+ hours, because outlet hunting is a pain. This one doesn't have a range, because it's that important. You don't want your laptop to die when your paper is due in 3 hours.

Heat is another issue that advertisers don't measure correctly. The only way to measure heat is to go on forums to check reviews. So this one requires you to do some searching online. A highly recommended site is notebookreview.com. Heat is important since it affects your overall performance and health of the laptop. Furthermore, every laptop will eventually generate more heat due to accumulated dust around the fan. All you need to do is buy air duster cleaner from your local electronics store and clean your laptop every 4 months.

The range for performance is dependent on the user.. A lot of laptops out there will advertise you to buy the latest CPU chip(ie. Intel Core i7), but if you just use e-mail, internet and occasional movies, then you don’t really need an i7. Be wary of the cheaper AMD CPU chips, because they tend to overheat.

A laptop that fits your needs will eventually be more expensive that you had hoped it would be. However, if the laptop lasts through your whole college career, it is most definitely worth it.