When it comes to laptop specs in the modern age, arguably nothing is more important than speed. that means you should acquaint yourself with processors and clock speeds. A processor, or CPU (Central Processing Unit), is essentially the brain of your computer, in that it runs all operations and applications. The faster the CPU, the faster your computer’s performance, though that increased speed usually comes with a shorter battery life and loftier price tag.

When it comes to computer specifications and laptop specs, you’ll generally discover that storage is measured in bytes (MB, GB, TB, etc), and broken down into two categories: short term and long term. Short term memory (used primarily on apps) is also known as RAM (or Random Access Memory). The more RAM your laptop has, the more apps you’ll be able to run at once without slowing down your computer’s performance. RAM can range from 2GB all the way to 16GB. Cheaper laptops commonly include 2GB RAM, which makes them good for basic functionality. Of course, if you use your laptop for heavy gaming, 3D apps and other powerful software, you should crank that short term memory dial all the way to 16GB–just expect a higher price point to come along with all that extra temporary storage.

If you’re just an average computer user figuring out how to buy a laptop, then you probably don’t need to worry too much about the graphics card (aka GPU or Graphics Processing Unit), which determines the quality of your images, videos and other graphics. That’s because nearly all modern laptops will offer a serviceable, baseline tier of resolution and quality when it comes to graphics. However, if you’re a hardcore gamer or 3D editor, you’ll want to have a firm grip on graphics cards.