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Laptop Buying Guide
Laptop computers make it easy to handle your work wherever you go. There are many different kinds of laptops available today with all kinds of different features and options. When deciding what kind of laptop you want to purchase, you will want to decide if you want to get a Mac or a PC, as that will choice will guide all of the rest of your decisions.
There are many different manufacturers that offer a good quality product and good value, including well-known brand names such as Apple, HP, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, IBM to name a few. There are many more good quality laptops manufactured that do not have recognizable brand names but still offer great value and good quality. Prices are usually dependent on the features and the model of laptop you are buying.
There are two main categories of laptops, Ultra-light and Regular. Ultra-lights are really thin and they are really light. While the Regular class weigh more, they offer more built in features such as floppy disk drives, CD drives and even DVD drives, and usually have bigger screens.
The screen of the laptops is an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen and you will need to consider the size and the resolution that you want. The size can be an important decision if you need to view a lot of graphics or require a lot of different windows open at the same time.
The higher the resolution, the clearer things will become on the screen. The most common resolution is 640 x 480 but there is the VGA, which is 800 x 600, and even the Super VGA, which is 1024 x 768.
The keyboard and the pointing device are other things to consider. Make sure the keyboard is one that you feel comfortable with. The pointing device is a critical decision. There are several types that you can choose from like the stick, pad, or track ball. Each works fine but you should think about what one you would feel most comfortable with.
The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is something that you want to consider when purchasing a new notebook. The microprocessor of your laptop is really the heart of your computer and will determine how efficiently your computer will operate. Make sure that it is strong enough and quick enough to do what you need your laptop to do.
The memory available in your laptop is another consideration. The memory is referred to as RAM (Random Access Memory). It functions as “counter space” or working area in your laptop. If you will require opening several programs at the same time, and switch back and forth between different windows a lot, you may need additional RAM. RAM is easily expandable in most laptops.
The cache memory is another thing to check out. The cache memory allows your laptop the ability to put frequently used documents, data and instructions in a place that you can access them more quickly. There is internal cache and external cache. Notebooks usually come with 16 or 32K of internal cache but, if needed, you can expand to 64K or higher.
The hard disk, which is described in Gigabytes, is where all your operating system, program, and data are stored. With the price of storage going down, make sure that you purchase enough for your computer. Remember that with video files and picture files, more storage is needed than ever before. Also, music files can take a lot of space if they are not compressed.
Batteries are a critical part of your laptop computer. There are several types of batteries available today. Most common are the Li-Ion (Lithium Nickel) and the NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride. The Lithium Nickel batteries although a bit more expensive, provide longer running time. You may want to consider buying extra batteries if you are going to run your computer off batteries a lot.
You should evaluate the ports that come with your laptop computer. There are many different kinds of ports and making sure that you have what you need is important. There are serial ports, parallel ports, Audio ports, infrared ports, USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports. These latter ports are taking the place of the serial ports.
Modems are needed if you want to connect to the Internet and you do not have a wireless solution. Most modems today are at least 56K and you should consider getting a faster one if you can.
Make sure that you get a good carry case for your laptop if you are going to be taking it around town. It should have ample padding for protection. Get one that distributes the weight well and is comfortable for you. It is handy to have extra storage to put in disks and floppies. Consider any additional accessories that may be useful like an AC adapter or mouse.
Purchasing a new laptop gives you the freedom to work almost anywhere. Today not only can you work, but you can also play video games and even watch movies on your new laptop.
Article By Karla Soule, May 2004.
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