When you purchase a laptop, you know it’s going to come with a small touch pad that functions like a mouse—you move your finger around the pad to move the cursor, and the two small buttons under the pad allow you to left and right click.  However, some people don’t like the pad, and for those people, laptop mice exist.

However, laptop mice are yet another expense, and if you’re looking for a cheap laptop, chances are that you’re on a budget.  Do you really need a laptop mouse?  If you just need your laptop for basic functions like email, word processing, or accessing the internet, you may not.  Even though you don’t like the touchpad, you may be able to adjust to it.  Many people have difficulty using it at first, but after a few weeks, they find they can use the touch pad just as well as a mouse.

However, there are some instances where a mouse is needed.  If you’re doing graphic design or image editing, a mouse gives you a little more control than a touch pad does.  Likewise, if you’re going to be doing a lot of gaming with your laptop, you may need to have a mouse to actually play the game.  Touch pads also often don’t have anything that acts like the scroll wheel on a mouse does, so you may want that feature.

There are specific mice made for laptops.  They are generally a little smaller than standard mice, and many of them are now wireless.  However, regular computer mice work just as well with laptops, and you may be able to find one of those cheaper than a laptop mouse.  As with anything, do a little comparison shopping before you buy.

When you find your cheap laptop buy, you might think you know exactly how much money you’ll be spending.  However, you may discover that there are other things you need to purchase for your new laptop that will impact your bank account more than you expected.

The first item you may want to purchase is a laptop mouse, especially if you don’t like using touch pads.  Laptop mice come in two types: corded and cordless.  Both generally take up one USB slot on your laptop.  Laptop mice aren’t usually that much, and while you could purchase a regular mouse to use with your cheap laptop, mice designed specifically for laptops are usually smaller and easier to fit in a bag.

Speaking of bags, you’ll want a nice bag or hard case to carry your laptop around in.  You can find some very cheap bags for laptops, but the old saying that “you get what you pay for” definitely applies here.  Cheaper bags often don’t have as many extra pockets for your laptop accessories, and some aren’t as well padded.  If you know you’ll be taking your laptop everywhere with you, you may want to invest in a laptop bag that’s going to protect your computer and take a lot of daily wear and tear.

Chances are you’ll be offered a long-term service plan or warranty along with your laptop.  On one hand, purchasing one of these can be helpful since it will save you money if your laptop breaks down later, but it can add more to your bill than you might like and it may seem like wasted money if you never need to use it.

There are a number of other items you might need to purchase with your laptop.  They include headphones, blank CDs or DVDs, or a USB hub if you will be using a lot of USB devices at once and will need more ports.  While each of these is fairly cheap individually, if you need to purchase them all at once, expect your overall bill to be a lot more than you were expecting.