Tag: techtips

Web designers do more than decide how your website will look like. Their job involves many artistic and technical concepts, as well as knowledge of the internet and search engines. Most importantly, their work can significantly affect your business’ success online.

What is Web Design?

Web design is not the same as web development. Web developers build sites from scratch by coding, but a designer determines how the site will look when it’s fully realized, and determines the aesthetics and layout of the site. They also perform many other tasks on the site to make it’s doing everything for your business that it can -- that’s why it’s not so simple to become a web designer.Even if you decide not to build your site from scratch, you should hire a web designer to handle the actual design and launch of your site, as well as maintenance.

What Do Web Designers Do?

We design.

Web designers are versed in everything involved in the theory of design, and specifically designing for the internet and the different devices your site will appear on. They know how colors can affect a customer’s experience on your site. They understand the importance of fonts and can use them effectively, from how many fonts they use to what size they are. Design on a site goes beyond the aesthetics, and also involves how a visitor navigates your site through scrolling, menus, content, and buttons.They also make sure your website has responsive design, meaning it appears correctly whether someone visits your site on a phone, a tablet, or a desktop computer. This is very important, since more and more people are doing their searching -- and shopping -- on smartphones and tablets nowadays.

We make sure your site is functional.

Beyond simply designing the look of your website, web designers make sure that your website works well and is ready for search engines.What does this mean? The entire purpose of your site is for customers to find you through Google or another search engine. This is a topic we could explore at length, but basically web designers make sure your site is ready for Google to find and suggest to internet users.Web designers optimize your site so that each page loads quickly, which has a huge effect on how long visitors stay on the site -- and decide to buy. They also perform other technical tasks that improve your site’s SEO (search engine optimization) so Google can lead internet users to your site. They also make sure to perform server maintenance so that your page is always working and functional.These technical aspects are part of why web designers are crucial to your business and its site. Even if you can hop on a free website creation site and make a site with a template, there are technical aspects you won’t necessarily understand, and they will make or break your site’s success.

We customize and maintain your site.

Once your site is done, a web designer’s work isn’t over. Your business may need other features and customizations on the site, which the designer can implement correctly. They can also make simple improvements on the site’s code so that it functions better.Additionally, web designers do constant maintenance to your site, because it will need it. They can fix bugs and security hacks that happen occasionally, as well as make sure to backup your site regularly so you’re always secured. And if you ever want to update or migrate your site, they can handle that as well. 

Web Designers: Essential To Your Business’ Success

Though it may not always be obvious, web designers are essential to the success of your site -- and therefore, to the success of your business. With so much online traffic and so many customers and sales happening through websites, your business needs not just a website, but a beautiful, functional, and updated website to compete and thrive. -----S-FX.com Small Business Solutions is a boutique web design and technology consulting agency geared towards start-up businesses, small businesses and non-profit businesses.  We specialize in implementing low cost technology solutions to maximize efficiency and reduce business operating costs.

Want to become a web designer but not sure where to start? There’s more to it than you might think, but we have broken it all down for you. Here are the six steps you should take to become a web designer.

Learn the basics of HTML & CSS

There’s a difference between a web designer and a web developer. Designers develop the look and design of a website, while developers build a site and create a structure. You can imagine “developers as construction workers, and web designers as architects.”Currently, many CMS platforms and code editors help do the heavy lifting for you when it comes to building a website. However, while a web designer’s job doesn’t require an in-depth knowledge of coding, it’s still vital to understand the fundamentals of coding, the language, and how it all works. Not only will it help you do your job as a designer, but your clients will also feel they’re in safer hands.Take a basic course on HTML and CSS to give yourself a solid base before you become a web designer.

Understand basic SEO principles

The fundamental purpose of a website is to rank in search engines and get found by potential customers, then turn those website visits into customers. Therefore, as a designer, it’s key not only to understand how to convert a lead on the site with an engaging layout, images, and copy, but to optimize the site for these search engines.Search engine optimization requires an understanding of both the front and back end. Everything from meta data, loading times, tags, and more go into being successful on a search engine. Alongside these, effective copywriting and valuable content are indispensable pieces of the puzzle.If your website isn’t optimized for SEO, it won’t be a successful product, so take the time to understand basic SEO principles so you can apply them.

The difference between UX & UI

These terms are often used interchangeably, but it’s important to know the difference and apply them. UX is user experience, or how a user feels as they navigate your site. UI refers to user interface, which is all about the visuals and the actual elements they interact with. They work together to create an effective product.When you become a web designer, your design will have a huge effect on a user’s feelings and actions. You must understand the psychology of color, text, layout, and more to take full advantage of them and create a more effective site.

Build a web design software toolset

To become a web designer, you have to learn various tools and develop your skills in all of them. Each of these will allow you to develop visuals and graphics for the site, build a design to present to your client, and then help bring it to life with the developer. Here are examples of the software you should learn. Graphic Editors:

• Photoshop
• Canva
• Paint.net

Prototyping Tools:

• Dreamweaver
• Invisionapp
• Mockplus

CMS Framework:

• Wordpress
• Joomla

Join developer communities

No designer is an island. Connecting with other designers and developers will increase your knowledge in an applied setting. You can join Facebook groups, forums, and more for free to connect with like-minded individuals, get feedback from others in your field, and even troubleshoot a problem you can’t solve.

Experiment!

Once you’ve done all the learning, it’s time to do. Start designing websites to discover where your skills and knowledge are lacking and to get more comfortable with everything you’ve learned. Applying your skills is the only way to truly become a web designer.Our CEO says, “The best way to learn how to code is to actually code. I taught myself HTML by viewing the source of other websites and then tweaking the code to change the look of the website. While coding is more sophisticated these days, the concept remains the same - trial and error can take you a long way.” -----S-FX.com Small Business Solutions is a boutique web design and technology consulting agency geared towards start-up businesses, small businesses and non-profit businesses.  We specialize in implementing low cost technology solutions to maximize efficiency and reduce business operating costs.

More and more professionals are giving online webinars these days. Though they seem deceptively similar to in-person presentations, webinars present different challenges. The first step to giving an effective webinar presentation is to build and rehearse it for maximum success.

Steps to Creating an effective Webinar presentation

Organize your thoughts. Brainstorm what you want to say, then rearrange your ideas into a more coherent and fluid structure until it looks like a presentation and not just ideas.Your webinar should be structured like this:

• 45-50 minute presentation
• 10-15 minutes of Q&A

TIP: Stick to a hard 60 minute time limit -- this is a good amount of time to keep everyone’s attention and make your point without running long and boring everyone.Outline your presentation effectively.

1. Most webinar platforms offer options for screen sharing or slideshow presentations. Create a Slides or Powerpoint presentation with visuals like you would with an in-person presentation.
2. Visuals are key to keeping your audience engaged when your physicality and eye contact is limited or non-existent.
3. Spend two minutes introducing yourself and your background at the top of the event. Why should people care about what you have to say?

TIP: Your slideshow should have a picture of you during this part so people can visualize you even better.

1. Spend 3-5 minutes summarizing what they can expect to learn in the presentation. This is your sales pitch to convince viewers they want to stick around for the full hour.
2. Determine 3-5 core points you wish to cover during the presentation and evenly distribute them across the remaining 40 minutes.
3. Plan to spend approximately 7-10 minutes on each point. Numbering each point and allocating specific time to each point helps you balance your presentation and not overtalk on any point.
4. Engage your audience frequently, even if the questions are rhetorical. The immediate response isn't important, but keeping them engaged is. Try to do this with every point.

TIP: Ask them to think about the point you make; share a poll; ask a direct question.Formulate a good closing. Summarize your presentation again, briefly touching on the point of each of your core points. Explain to viewers where and how they can learn more -- a website? Other videos? A book?Pre-compose 3 to 5 questions. Often audiences need questions to jumpstart their own. These could be basic or more sophisticated, but they should serve as a natural bridge between you finishing your presentation and the audience submitting their questions.Use your questions to provoke thought from your audience and/or to encourage them to ask follow-ups.TIP: Coordinate with someone in your virtual audience to have them ask a few initial questions.Finish the presentation with an incentive. This could be a website to visit, a book you're promoting, etc.Rehearse your webinar. Before you actually give your presentation, practice it in its entirety on our own a couple of times before. This will allow you to give a more effective webinar presentation.TIP: Ask someone to hop on a rehearsal webinar with you and give you pointers for places to improve. They will see things you don’t.Record the event. This way, you can post the archive on your website or social media. Even better, put the video behind a paywall to capture ongoing leads. Follow these steps and you can build an engaging, well-structured and effective webinar presentation that can serve you and/or your business for a long time.-----S-FX.com Small Business Solutions is a boutique web design and technology consulting agency geared towards start-up businesses, small businesses and non-profit businesses.  We specialize in implementing low cost technology solutions to maximize efficiency and reduce business operating costs.

Every business needs a website. So it would follow that you should get one however you can, even if you “can’t afford” a professional website -- right?Wrong.A whole host of sites now offer the ability to create free sites -- but just because something is free doesn’t mean you should take it. Hotels offer free shampoo -- do you always use it? And when you do, do you feel as good as using the nice shampoo you bought for yourself? Restaurants always give you a free side of coleslaw -- do you actually eat it? Is it the same as getting a side you actually wanted?"Free" doesn't always equal “great,” and we’re going to explain why you shouldn’t invest any time in your free site.

6 Reasons Why Free Websites Are a Bad Idea

The templates you're using don't reflect your brand. The templates offered on these sites are simple and may look “minimalist” and appealing, but they’re just cookie-cutter designs that everybody else is using. It vaguely reflects your industry because other businesses in your niche have picked from the top three templates and used it for their own site, and now they all look the same. Set yourself and your brand apart with a customized, unique site that uses your colors, fonts, and image perfectly. Why should your business be like everybody else’s?They're very poorly coded. Badly coded sites make you virtually invisible to Google, as they don’t allow Google to properly index your site by getting the information it needs. Bad coding also slows down your site.They could have adverse effects on your site. Free websites often end up having poor performance. Many are not indexed by Google, which defeats any SEO efforts you had planned -- if the site even allows significant SEO. Also, the sites often have bad upkeep that leads to malware. These problems will cause you huge issues in the future, and you’ll end up needing a new site anyway. Save yourself the headache and invest in a site with good customer support and hosting.They often result in slow loading speeds. Slow-loading sites are a huge turn-off for visitors, who will click away from your site if it’s taking more than three seconds to load. If nobody visits your site, then why have one at all? It’s better to invest in a site that will load quickly and easily for your visitors and bring you the business you’re looking for.You’ll have an embarrassing domain. Free sites come with obvious domains like mybusiness.freewebsite.com, which any modern user can spot a mile away. These don’t look good for your business, and even if you do pay for a domain, it will usually cost you more than you’d pay for a domain normally. To make matters more, you also can’t set up your email with the domain either.Your business will have low credibility. Many of the issues with free websites can be summed up in this: you’ll lose credibility with your visitors (and even with Google). A website should reflect the best of you and offer your customers information, help, and a way to contact you or even buy. If they don’t even trust you, what good is your website doing for your business? If you want a proper website that will impress, inform, and entertain your customers, hire professionals who will not only build a great website but also do regular maintenance. Your business will thank you.-----S-FX.com Small Business Solutions is a boutique web design and technology consulting agency geared towards start-up businesses, small businesses and non-profit businesses.  We specialize in implementing low cost technology solutions to maximize efficiency and reduce business operating costs. 

Small businesses don’t often have much of a budget to invest in technology, but some investments will be the key to running your business -- and growing it quickly and easily in the near future. Make sure these five technologies aren’t missing in your business.

Social media scheduling tool

Social media is a must for your small business. However, you don’t want to be posting on each separate social media channel several times a day. A social media scheduling tool allows you to schedule your posts for an entire day, week, or more all at once, and then forget about them. Automation is key for a small business. Helpfully, there are plenty of options to choose from depending on your needs and your budget.Some popular options:

• Hubspot
• Hootsuite
• Zoho Social

CRM

If customer service is what you do (and even if it isn’t), a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool can make your job easier and, more importantly, better. You can use a CRM to keep track of partners, customers, contributors, and/or subscribers, follow up with potential leads, send out newsletters, automate your processes, manage accounts -- the benefits are endless. Investing in a good CRM tool that works for your business and knowing how to use it will change the way you do business.Some options:

• Zoho CRM
• Hubspot
• Salesforce

Cloud service

A cloud service to keep all your files safe and readily accessible is key for any small business. These days, not only do you not want to be using paper and pen, but you also want to have access to your documents anywhere, at all times. Small businesses often work from home or outside office hours, and a cloud service makes it easier for that work to get done. Google Drive, Dropbox, and Amazon all offer a variety of options, though there are many more out there.

Security tool

Keeping your business safe doesn’t just mean locking up your store or office at night. Your information needs to be safe, too. Aside from making sure your passwords are strong enough to secure your accounts and online information, your business needs a security tool to protect your data and personal information from any attacks. One antivirus is enough to accomplish this -- but you need to have it.

Project management and/or team communication software

Communication is key to the success of a small business, and as your business scales, having intimate team meetings and completing projects with little planning won’t cut it anymore. An effective communication platform and project management tool (often one will be both) will help you keep track of where your projects stand, visualize your goals, and encourage better communication among your team. Some popular options include:

• Slack
• Microsoft Teams
• Teamwork

 

Your smartphone, your laptop, your computer, your tablet, even your smart watch all carry a unique identity, and we are not just talking about their looks. Every device has a string of characters unique to them that helps identify them, used to identify them in a network environment. While this is awesome to know for knowing what devices are on your network or are malfunctioning, it also could be used more nefariously. Welcome back to #TechTuesday, where we are going to explain MAC Addresses, and how they are used for tracking.

Can You See Me Now?

Every physical networked device, whether wired or wireless, is given to the consumer with a unique MAC address. Designed to be unique to that device, this identity allows networks to identify the device when it connects. This identity is actually very useful in home networking, allowing you to easily assign a static IP address based on the MAC of the device you would like to receive that identity. The network will be able to decide if you have connected previously, and recall settings specific to that device. Of course, you can change the MAC of a device in the software of it, but seldom is this technique used.This seems like no major issue, right? Identifying yourself on a network is a courtesy, plus it only does so on networks you're connected to. Well, not quite. The concern arises with the mobile devices we use, such as our smartphones, tablets, and laptops because of how Wi-Fi works.

Scanning For Signals

When you leave your home, do you turn off your Wi-Fi chip on your smartphone? Do you entirely turn off your laptop or tablet to save battery? If not, chances are these devices are automatically scanning for available Wi-Fi networks as you move around. These devices, while enabled, use a passive discovery system that listens for Wi-Fi access points nearby that are broadcasting connections, and an active discovery that will broadcast requests for an access point. While doing this, because of how this system is designed, your device will broadcast its MAC address as a part of the discovery request. So as  you're wandering around with that Wi-Fi chip enabled on your smartphone, it is broadcasting your presence to any network that will listen.So you might wonder how this is used to track you? Well, I will take London for an example. Recently, they have Wi-Fi enabled garbage cans all across the city, set up by advertisers, that offer free connections. These cans have Wi-Fi monitoring hardware in them, and are all networked together for consistency. If you happen to pass one of these cans with your Wi-Fi enabled, your phone will ping the can with its MAC address, and the can would make note of the address and the location. As you move through the city, this process would repeat, giving a general idea of where you have been moving. This same thing can be done in stores, giving an idea where in a store you might have wandered based on the sniffers logging your mac address and current relative location. This information could be used to track you down based on a wide area, or sold to advertisers to advertise directly based on your habits and frequent visits of a location.So how do you get around this all, though? Well, there's not a solid solution right now just yet. At least, not on all devices. Apple did fix this with their newest iOS 8, which will randomize your device's MAC address each time it scans for nearby networks, making the address worthless for tracking. While this is a solid step in the right direction, we have yet to see other developers pick this habit up just yet, but only because it was not much of a known issue until it became so. Of course, if someone really wanted to track you, there are a variety of ways such as cell signal and GPS location. But every step we can take to protect ourselves and our privacy is a step in the right direction.

Whether you're shopping for a new laptop, or out getting a couple rolls of toilet paper and a bag of chips for poker night, you're overwhelmed with choices. Everything from cheap store knock offs to full big name brands. These things are all around us, and they influence us a lot more subtly than you think. Welcome back to #TechTuesday, where we want to talk about how building a brand can take your company to the next level.

What's in a name?

A brand is more than just a fancy logo, more than a reputable name; it's a combination of all the factors that go into the quality of a product or a service. It is customer service, it is unique quality, it is a guarantee to your customers that you will produce nothing but the best of what they have come to expect for supporting you. Branding is without question one of the most valuable assets to any company, and doubly so for a small business. It is the very first thing a customer will encounter when they come to you, and it is the last connection that will carry on their opinion long after your exchange.

All Around Us

When you go shopping, you may not always realize just how much it is ingrained in you to look for certain brands. For example, when you're shopping for a new phone, what immediately comes to mind? Many of our readers would think Apple and iPhone. Others will immediately jump to Android and Samsung. Now, correlating along those two, the first group will also think of two additional qualities immediately after; white and expensive. The second group will think blue and explosion.So let's break this down a bit. Apple creates the iPhone series of phones, all of which run a streamlined white color and are known for their extravagant pricing, easily cracked screens, and integration into the iCloud system developed by the company. No matter what the price, and no matter how tiny the upgrade, many Apple supporters will often jump to that next upgraded version a mere few months after the last one. Why? Well, clever marketing and targeted advertisement play a great part in it. But above all, Apple is a master at branding. They have created a brand that everybody in the world, whether they are a customer or not, will recognize instantly. They have built a reputation based on the streamlined consistency of their devices, always bearing the same schema in color and operating system that their customers have come to expect.Now for Samsung, I mentioned two words that seemed to stand out a bit more vaguely than one might expect. Samsung is known in two markets these days, which are the smartphone and television markets primarily. Blue is the theme of their phones, often sporting a dark blue backing with the rich blue coloring of the Samsung logo printed on it. With this first bit alone, combined with the massive quality of their electronics that they release, Samsung has crafted a brand that speaks for itself; Quality above all. When you shop for a TV and you want to get the best of the best, almost every salesman will tell you to go for the Samsung without even thinking about it. Another great example of good branding. But I also mentioned explosions, right? Well, that's, our counterexample here. With the most recent Samsung phone, there was quite the media blowup (no pun intended...probably) over the many reports of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone catching fire and exploding. Now, for a company whose brand proclaims their care for quality above all, you can understand how this could be lethal toward their income even more than just the defects of the devices alone, right?You see, Apple has established itself as an expensive and delicate piece of equipment. They may not release hardware that is as up to date in some aspects or functions as some providers, but what they did establish was something that was easy to use, and known to break easy. If you dropped your iPhone and it cracked, you wouldn't be surprised; Its just an Apple. But if you charged your Samsung and it exploded, you'd be appalled! Its a Samsung device, its supposed to be top of the line! That's the beauty of branding. By creating this image for your company, you create a standard that spreads like a wildfire. Its how brand loyalty is born. Naturally, we tend toward certain brands because of our experiences with them. In a past article, we wrote about laptops and I mentioned a preference for the manufacturer ASUS, due to my positive experiences with them. However I would also mention my avoidance of Dell, due to my poor experiences with their brand.When you brand something, you give it value. A dollar is branding in its most basic. Nothing more than a piece of cloth paper with some artwork on it, but it is recognized worldwide as something with a solid, inarguable value. It is backed by its manufacturer, the United States of America. While there are many other forms of currency in the world, I would rather have 10 US Dollars in my pocket here today than I would 10 Pesos, because the brand that has been built around them has given them a value that I have come to appreciate and follow (also, pesos apparently are not accepted in most American stores, so don't try that.).

How Does It Help Me?

You see, in a world where the market has grown both online and offline, every business needs a brand that helps it stand out. Some simply have poor branding. A badly drawn logo, poor customer service, or simply poor quality of product. Bad branding means bad turnaround, and can lead then to a bad reputation. By developing a great brand to base your company around, you're growing your business while establishing a consumer base that will be loyal to you. You're creating free advertising by those customers now praising you to their friends. Above all, you're making yourself stand out above the competition, by giving yourself a unique identity that is recognizable. You establish yourself with a strong idea, and give yourself a chance to be creative with it in a way that only you can.We as a culture have learned to trust brands. Advil, Coca Cola, Apple, these are all recognizable names that ring familiar to us. When we purchase from them, we know exactly what we're going to get out of it. We're willing to spend that extra money just to have that logo there, that seal of quality. A good brand means your customers would do the very same.Sources: Why a Good Brand is Impotant to Your Marketing Strategy (www.PurelyBranded.com)6 Reasons Why A Strong Brand is Important for Your Small Business (www.Deluxe.com)

Getting fast, reliable, and strong signaled internet in your home or small business is often not a simple task. You tend to end up with a cacophony of several routers, aftermarket range extenders, and other systems that just don't seem to mesh very well together and can prove to be a challenge to get working in sync. Nowadays however, networking giant NetGear is hoping to change that. Welcome back to #TechTuesday.

A Complete Wi-Fi System

Today's home networks are expected to support more devices every day, all of which are competing for bandwidth. Not wanting to keep the emphasis on just Wi-Fi coverage, but also performance within every inch of that coverage, Netgear thinks they have come up with a solution; Project Orbi. Project Orbi is the newest product introduced by Netgear in their line of performance based routers. Being marketed as a multi-unit solution, Orbi is being considered a "complete wi-fi system" due to its inclusion of a router, a range extender, and a satellite to ensure flawless connection and unwavering speed no matter where you are near your access point.Orbi is very ambitious in its design. Marketed as being able to provide signals up to 4000 square feet, with Netgear claiming that every corner of your venue will receive strong internet no matter where you are, Orbi is already setting the bar high. How it plans to do this is through the combination of the two routing devices. The first router is intended to be set up normally, connected to your modem to provide the initial access to the web. The secondary unit is then meant to be installed somewhere central in your house, to help boost the range and functionality throughout the entire premises.While the range might sound great, some are wondering just how well Orbi will hold that claim of full performance for all devices. Surely when you connect multiple devices to the router the speeds will see the usual drop in speed, right? Well, not quite. You see, the satellite in Orbi is meant to help provide high speed access no matter what you have connected. Its design is meant to prioritize larger devices such as tablets and computers, while still providing the same functionality to the smaller devices.If you'd like to check out Orbi for yourself, its actually already available! It retails online for the dauntingly steep price of $399.99 (Orbi WiFi System via Amazon.com) which includes both the main router as well as the add on satellite system. For another $249.99 you can also purchase another additional satellite, though NetGear assures that the majority of users will likely never need to purchase an additional unit to receive full coverage.

Whether it's an equipment upgrade or a first purchase, choosing the right gear for your day to day use is hard. With all of the brand names like HP, ASUS, Acer, Toshiba and the like, mixed with the wide variety of features offered by each, there is a lot of complicated information that can prove to be daunting if you aren't quite sure what you're looking at. Last week we gave our advice on Routers, so this week lets delve into the world of Laptops. Welcome back to #TechTuesday

Breaking Down The Components

So when purchasing a laptop, there is one major factor to consider before you can make any kind of step forward with the decision. What are you using it for? Are you a student looking for something lightweight to bring to class for note taking and 3am energy drink induced paper writing? Are you delving into audio video editing and need something to be able to synthesize your media more effectively? A gamer trying to get that last quest done before your boss wanders by your cubicle? There are all sorts of applications when it comes to laptops, and determining your specific need is going to generate a massive difference in your price point.After you've squared away what your actual uses are, we then look at three major components that all users will focus on. The processor, the RAM, and the storage.The Central Processing Unit, or CPU is essentially the heart of your computer. When a program is run on your machine, it runs through your CPU which executes the code that will be translated within its systems, then executed to give you the return. While it is not the sole component for determining the speed of your machine, it does play a major part in how well your computer can multitask. If you're looking at mostly note taking, some light media streaming, and general use you can usually get away with a lower end processor, something running around the 2.4GHz mark that would be common in cheaper laptops. If you're into much more intensive work, like gaming or video encoding, that is where you're going to look at the i5s, i7s, and above. If you're not planning for that kind of change, do yourself a favor and save the few hundred dollars that the BestBuy rep you talked to is trying to convince you to spend.Next is the Random Access Memory, or RAM. RAM is the component in your machine that takes data for a program, and temporarily stores it to reference the data easier, and thus lets the familiar processes of a program be executed more quickly and run smoothly. As you might guess, the more RAM you have in your machine, the more efficiently it can access this data, and the more it can store in its banks. You'll notice a correlation here with the CPU, where the lower tier of use like a student or a home use machine would be able to easily fly by with 4 Gigabyes (GB) of RAM, where the heavy power users would be looking at as much as 8GB to 16GB. A good practice here is to take into consideration how much multitasking you will be doing on your machine. If you often keep several browsers open, music playing, and have a lot of data to process, a bit of extra RAM would do you good. The nice thing about RAM though, is that if you don't have enough down the line, it is one of the easiest and most inexpensive components to upgrade!Finally, there is storage. This comes in the fashion of either a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a Solid State Drive (SSD). Now, this gets a bit more complex as the necessity can vary very greatly in this no matter what kind of user you are. Hard Disk Drives are a tried and true long existing technology that are still the most commonly used drives in most machines today. While they run slower than a Solid State Drive, they per dollar hold a vast amount more data than a Solid State Drive will. If you need a lot of storage space, an HDD will be the more economic solution, as the technology has been developed for so long now that it is almost half the price for twice the amount of storage. However, Solid State Technology is not by any means inferior due to its age. The technology has been blossoming and advancing for a few years now, and the costs are dropping every day. Solid State Drives have faster read write times, because they operate more akin to a Flash Drive, where a Hard Disk Drive operates more like a DVD. Solid States have no moving parts, unlike HDDs, and thus run much more quietly, They are great for those whom use a lot of cloud storage, or just do not need a whole lot of space to use. Coupled with the vastly increased speeds the drives operate at, a solid state will often give a noticeable increase in how your machine runs both on an operating system level, and a program level. Due to the speed the drive can read and write data, it means that more data can be processed due to the shorter amount of time it takes to access that data. For your general home user, this will come down strictly to what kind of space you need. A solid state will often come in around 250GB to 500GB in most laptops, where an HDD can be as much as 2 Terabytes to 3 Terabytes (Thats 2048GB to 3072GB, or about four to six times the size). For the more heavy power users like gamers and media enthusiasts, you want to consider if you need more storage, or simply want faster access times. A solid state will increase load times and help with encoding times, but a HDD will offer you hand and foot more storage room to operate with.

What's In A Name?

Of course, when purchasing a laptop there is also the factor of Brand to consider. Ultimately on a hardware level, the differences in equipment from brand to brand are going to be minimal. But on a quality and a support level, the brand can be a major choosing point. Of course, with past experiences with certain manufacturers we all tend to develop a brand loyalty. Personally, I have come to favor ASUS as a brand. While their equipment can tend to be a slight bit higher on the price scale, their customer support and quality of hardware is just above and beyond. Manufacturers such as HP and Sony are known for being dependable with their equipment. Dell has a history of up and down with the quality of their devices, but often release very solid higher end machines with great performance, and a very good customer support experience. Samsung comes in the middle, with very great equipment but often times priced much higher than their competitors due to paying the brand name royalties in your purchase. They offer great service plans, but often can be very costly and use a lot of their own proprietary parts. Ultimately, while I can make my recommendations on a brand, it does come down to the customer experience you have had.

Graphics, Flex, Ultrathins...

Now, we did go over the three major components that you want to focus on when purchasing a laptop, but I did not want to forget about a few other things to keep in mind when trying to make your purchase.First, and I wanted to discuss these together, are the size and the graphics card installed in the machine. Your standard laptop purchase will often feature a 15 inch to 17 inch monitor, with some going as high as 23 inches or more, or as small as 7 inches. Larger screen sizes often translate into a higher resolution, and a heavier weight of the machine. While the screen size can come down often to preference and portability, it also ties in with what kind of graphical processor you're going to want. If you're about streaming a lot of videos, gaming on the go, or need that extra detail, you want to be looking for a machine that features an aftermarket card. That means something featured by AMD or NVidia, rather than the stock Intel HD Graphics Accelerators. If you're just watching a few shows and YouTube, and taking notes, then the on-board graphics processor will more than suffice for you.Other minor features that you might often see advertised in machines nowadays come in the form of "Flex" and "Ultrabook". Lets take a moment to explore these.Flex refers to the hinges of your laptop. When you consider a typical laptop, your hinges have a limit to how far they can be opened up. Push that any further, you're going to have a pretty paperweight with a broken screen. Flex machines, however, take this extending to a new level, allowing you to swivel your monitor the full round of the hinges, effectively converting the laptop into a tablet. These types of machines often have touchscreen functionality, allowing you to transfer into a "Tablet" mode, and operate it just as one. This can be pretty convenient, in reality, as it allows you to use your machine in more comfortable positions while still keeping it functional.Ultrabook refers to a style of laptop that is built with the same power of a full scale laptop, but crafted into a more low profile shell. They focus on making a small form factor machine with a reduced weight, while not sacrificing the performance and reliability. These types of machines can be extremely space saving and easy to transport, but in exchange will often cost much more than your typical machine due to the special parts used in the manufacturing process. These machines are very thin, very light, but still durable as ever.

This Is Great...

Stop, there, I already know what you're going to say. But what do I choose? Well, if you've made it this far you've been armed with some serious information already that should help you choose your new machine. If you just scrolled through to the bottom to see what I say you should get, scroll back up and read! Whether you're a student in need of a machine for class, or a hardcore enthusiast with a need for some mobile power, there's a machine for both and everyone in between. Of course, while I hope reading has encouraged you to do some research of your own, I did pick out a few selections that might be right for some categories of user.For the student toiling away in class all day, you need something low cost, effective, and efficient while still being lightweight and functional. I would recommend the HP Probook 455 G3 ($300 via Newegg). Sporting an entry level AMD Processor at 2.2GHz, 4GB of ram, and a 500GB hard drive, as well as HP's ongoing support plans for a further price varying by plan, it comes in as a great general use machine for a college or high school student, or a family shared machine.For those who don't quite need the best of the best, but still need a solid machine for their home or business, you might want to look at something along the lines of the ASUS Zenbook UX303UA-DH51T Ultrabook ($829.99 via Newegg). Playing along the ultrabook line of machines, the Zenbook series is one of ASUS's best releases of machines, due to combining power with portability in an attractive, effective manner. The stock model features an i5 processor, one of the middle ground processors that delivers some real power by intel, as well as a 256GB Solid State Drive and 8GB of RAM. For a few bucks more, a lot of these components can even be upgraded at purchase, or down the line further on. This kind of machine is great for the people that want to have a lightweight machine that can still handle some heavier duty tasks, and gives a more crisp display.For our power players, we're looking into the skies for you to find the best of the best. Thats why I want to bring your attention to the MSI GT62VR Dominator Pro-238 ($1,799 via Newegg). With the high price point comes high performance, fantastic reliability, and killer power all backed by a big name in the mobile machine industry. MSI has a fantastic customer support, and is known for their powerhouse machines. Sporting a 7th Generation Intel i7 processor, a dedicated Nvidia Geforce GTX 1070 graphics card, 16GB of ram, and both a 1TB HDD and 256GB SSD, this machine will deliver fantastic performance and speed, with no shortage of space to back it up. This of course is for those looking for some of the best of the best, the heavy processor intensive users like gamers and media developers.Of course as always, these are just my recommendations! They are meant as a guideline for the kind of machine you might be interested in looking at. If you don't fall into any of those three categories, use some of them as a guideline to decide where your own machine should sit, and at a price point that fits you best.