When you walk into a computer or electronics store, most likely you will be attacked by a computer or electronics salesman who is simply trying to make a quick commission buck off of whatever he or she can sell you. Aside from worrying about the computer salesman's commission, though, what one should be thinking about is how the computers compare to each others, the benefits and downfalls of owning each one, as well as what one actually wants in a computer.

Know the "Specs" of Each One: Perhaps the most important thing to know about each of the laptops that you look at in the computer store is the specifications of each one, or the "specs" as they are usually called. These usually include the type of processor that the laptop has, the speed of the processor, how much RAM it holds, as well as the size of the hard drive. For those who are not too sure what all of that entails, here is how to decipher it:

Type of Processor - This is the brand and type of computer processor that the laptop was built with. For example, AMD Athlon is a very good brand when it comes to computer processors, especially laptops and notebook computers. Another major processor is Intel, who makes the Pentium processors. If buying an older laptop computer it may come with Pentium-2 or 3, but one should be aware that Penitum-4 is actually one of the better processors they have on the market.

The Processing Speed - This "spec" of the laptop is measured in gigahertz (GHz) and means how fast or slow the processor will run on your computer. For those who don't know, the higher the number for the processing speed the better. An average laptop or notebook computer's processor has between 1 and 2 gigahertz. Anything that's below that is considered slow, but anything above that is considered decent and very good!

Random Access Memory - Also known as RAM, this spec of the laptop or notebook basically refers to how many programs are able to run all at once on your computer without causing too much slowdown. The average laptop or notebook computer has about 512 megabytes of RAM. Newer laptop computers, however, sometimes contain much more than that, which is excellent for consumers!

Hard Drive Size - This is perhaps one of the most important things you should learn about your potential laptop. The hard drive size refers to how many programs, applications, and files you are about to store on your computer in totality. For a newer laptop computer, it's not uncommon for a person to see one filled with around eighty to one hundred gigabytes of hard drive space. For many people, that is probably more than enough space to carry around on their notebook computer. Anything above and beyond that number for hard drive space is excellent; anything below about fifty gigabytes is probably not worth buying.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember when going in search of a new computer is to not let the salesman talk you into buying any product. It is definitely alright for one to listen to a laptop salesman about the "specs" of a certain laptop or notebook, but making the final decision should ultimately be made with your needs and wants in a laptop computer.