A System76 laptop displays the Ubuntu Edgy login screen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
People do not always choose their laptops for speed. People who are interested in a word processing platform do not need computers with the latest technology. Gamers need more from their laptop speeds and graphic abilities. Consumers looking for a fast laptop need to consider the following factors. Shoppers should look at the processor speed, the amount of memory a computer has, and its graphics card.
The processor affects a computer's speed more than any other factor. Laptop processors run between 1.6 GHz and 2.8 GHz. A dual core machine does not process information faster. It just handles the data load more efficiently.
The amount of memory a laptop has also affects its speed. A consumer wants at least 4 GB of RAM. People sometimes get memory confused with hard drive space. The amount of hard drive space does not greatly affect a computer's speed.
The final item on this list, the graphics card, does not always affect the laptop's speed very much. If the owner intends to use graphics-heavy, his laptop's speed is greatly affected by the quality of his graphics card. Alienware makes some of the best laptops for graphics processes. The company advertises its product line as gaming laptops.
There are other factors that affect laptop speed. Viruses can cause a computer to become slower, but computers do not come with viruses installed. Malware removal programs can fix this problem.