Using an idealistic approach and evaluating every possible alternative before purchasing a laptop is usually indicative of the stage of cognitive development.

Using an idealistic approach and evaluating every possible alternative before purchasing a laptop is usually indicative of the formal operational stage of cognitive development, the formal period is the last stage of development and is characterized by two apparently independent features that have a lot of relationship between them. It is the moment in which the insertion in the world of adults takes place, with all the problems that this entails, but it is also the period in which the individual begins to be able to handle the hypothetical deductive thought characteristic of science.