10 Best Laptops for Law School

Some law schools provide minimum requirements for software and hardware.  In that case a law student has to buy a laptop according to the requirements of his school or varsity. Besides, if he has some basic knowledge about laptops as well, he will be able to choose a good laptop for himself.  The article tries to convey that basic knowledge about laptop.

These are the minimum features that a law student or a lawyer needs to have in his laptop:
Processor: Processor is the heart of a computer.  It is processor through which the commands are assigned to its output.  So when buying a laptop, you have to look at the processor first.

• Type: There are basically two types of processors available in the market – AMD and Intel. AMD and Intel are both American semiconductor chip companies.  AMD is less expensive than Intel.  In the budget that you will get a powerful AMD processor, if you buy an Intel processor in that budget, its power will be much less.  But AMD uses a lot of power, generates a lot of heat when it comes to high-rent gaming, editing or other works. So overall, the cost behind AMD is not low at all.

In the case of AMD, the 4th generation is their latest release, also known as the 4000 series.Laptops with AMD’s latest Ryzen series processors are also very popular. But as a law student you don’t need it to practice law or in your educational purposes.

However, if your budget is low and you buy an AMD processor for basic official work, it would not be a very bad decision.

Due to the small size of the Intel processor, its power consumption is much less.  Moreover, even if you use big and high rent  software, it does not generate as much heat.  So Intel is more prevalent in the current market.  Intel has many models.  Currently Intel’s entry level is Core i3.  With CORE i3, official work can be done well, but for law school, it is perfect to buy minimum CORE i5, and if you want better than this, CORE i7 is enough.

• Generation: Each latest generation is better than it’s previous one. So the higher the generation, the better the computer performance. In this case a law student or Lawyer can take the latest generation laptop according to his budget.
• ‘U’ label: A processor with a ‘U’ label should be selected, whether from any company. This u suffix in a model number denotes that particular line of a processor is Ultra low Voltage (ULV) processor, thus it produces less heating. They have low clock speeds as well.  You can manage entry level of gaming with it also.
• Speed: 2GHz processing speed is required to run a very small and simple program. So normally 2GHz speed is a must to process.  But for law school to run heavy law practice softwares and other programs 3GHz is mandatory and if you have no budget issue you can go for more, like 3.5GHz is much enough.

RAM: RAM or Random Access Memory acts as the medium of the processor.  So the relationship of RAM with the processor is very close.  The feeling of using a laptop will not be as pleasant if the power of your processor is much higher, and if it is much less RAM than that.  Again the core of the processor is less, but even if it hasmore RAM than thatit can get in trouble. So this aspect should be taken into consideration while buying.

Of the several models of RAM (DDR1, DDR2, DDR3, DDR4) DDR4 is made with the most advanced technology.  Its read ride speed is much higher and power consumption is much less.

 If you are a law student, you will be able to meet your study needs with 6GB.  But since laptops are needed for many tasks outside of studies, 8GB ram is useful if you want to do different types of stuffs smoothly together.  Moreover, if you are a legal professional, then you need a laptop with minimum 8GB RAM(maximum 16GB is enough) .

Storage: Storage is a very important term to consider to find a law school laptop.  Because as a lawyer or law student you need to save and use law firm specialized softwares and lots of documents.  So 256GB is the minimum requirement and if you have no budget issue then it is better to buy a laptop with 512GB storage.

Battery: When studying law or in the legal profession, you need to use a laptop for a long time.If you want to buy a laptop for use outside the home, try to buy a laptop that has a backup of about 6 to 8 hours.With at least 6 hours of continuous service from the battery, the official work can be handled well.  If you have a longer battery life on your laptop, that is your extra advantage.

HardDrive: HardDriveis the memory of a laptop.  There are two types of hard drive available in the market – HDD (Hard DiskDrive) and SSD (Solid State Drive).

You can store 500GB to 10 terabyte with HDD. For a worker or a student in law HDD will work well.
If you buy SSD instead of HDD, you will get one additional benefit, which is that its speed is much higher than HDD. Due to this the price of SSD is also a little higher. Moreoverconventional hard disks become slower over time. If you can increase the budget a little, you can take SSD storage instead of hard disk. It is important to have SSD storage on the laptop for good performance. Each harddisk on Apple’s laptop is built on SSD. Other expensive laptops currently using SSDs.
Try to get a 2 terabyte hard drive. If you can’t afford it, take a hard drive of at least 1 terabyte.

Operating System:The software that controls the computer programs execution and performs scheduling, debugging, input / output control, accounting, compilation, data storage, activities, data management and ancillary functions is called operating system.

Therefore it can be understood that operating system will effect the performance of your laptop a lot. So, in order to make your laptop work faster and better you have to have a good operating system on your laptop.

Some of the popular operating systems for laptop users involved in law education and profession are- Windows, Mac OS, Chrome OS etc.

Display: The user can choose the size of the screen according to his choice, but 13″ is recommendable. When buying a laptop, its display function or resolution should be well checked.

There are usually two types of display panels available on laptops.  Displays TN (Twisted Nematic) and IPS (In-Plane Switching).

The time response of TN display is much less and the refresh rate is much higher. On the other hand IPS display needs high time response and it’s refreshing rate is lower than TN.  But it’s visual or image resolution is very high and also much appreciated for its viewing angles.  IPS is more expensive than TN.

TN is mostly preferable for gamers considering it’s features. But for law student high resolution is important, and as IPS displays are improving day by day, so it is comparatively better for law school people.

I would recommend you to take a 1080pixels full HD( High Definition ) display. The display of this resolution is ideal for all tasks. If for some reason you can’t get a full HD screen, then you must get a laptop with at least an HD of 720p screen.

Keyboard:You need to select a laptop that has a comfortable keyboard so that you can type easily. And you have to make sure that the laptop keyboard has a backlit. Having a backlit will not make it difficult for you to type in the dark.As well as keyboard you have to check the quality of the touchpad. Because if the touchpad of the laptop is not of good quality, it is quite a hassle to use it.

Weight: There is no comparison to using a laptop to get rid of carrying a heavy bag full of books and document files. So in this case everyone wants to use a thin or less weighted laptop. But it is good to keep in mind that the thinner or lighter a laptop, the higher its price.

 Moreover, 3lb or less is ideal in terms of weight, because if it is heavier than 3lb, it becomes difficult for the body to carry.  But considering the price, 5lb can be preferred, as the price of 3lb is much higher.

Port:When buying a laptop, you have to keep in mind that, what ports the laptop has. Make sure the laptop has more than one USB 3 port. Also check if there are other necessary ports in the laptop.

GPU:Laptops usually have a built-in graphics card attached.At least a 2GB integrated graphics card is a relatively good choice, as it helps to speed up your laptop. However, as a law student you don’t have to much worry about GPU.

Brand:Before choosing a laptop for yourself, you must look at its brand and company. A good brand is always trustworthy and the hardware parts of the laptop are original and of good quality.

Moreover, as you can find a popular brand’s service center anywhere, their work response and service delivery methods are also good. So, if your laptop breaks down anytime during the warranty period, you can easily fix your laptop for free.