A Laptop
Laptop Buyer’s Guide
Processor | Battery | Memory | Hard Drive | Optical | USB Flash | Floppy | Video | Screen | Printer |Sound | Speakers | Networking | Wireless | Modem | Pointing Device | Keyboard | Docking Station / Port Replicator | Carrying Case | Security | Operating System | Productivity Software | Expansion Ports| Warranty
Thinking of buying a laptop? Make sure you know what you’re getting. Below, you’ll find our recommendations to keep in mind when buying a PC laptop. Click on any of the main components for a detailed explanation. Also, check our PC Laptop Buyer FAQ and the Lowest Laptop Prices. If you have comments on our recommendations, bring them to our Forums.
Last Updated: June 2008
Processor
The laptop processor is typically a lower-powered processor than those found in similar desktop machines, although some laptop makers have used desktop processors in their laptops to get a performance
edge. Processors designed for mobile computing generally consume less power, and thus run cooler than desktop processors. This is important because you want your battery to last a long time and you also don’t want to burn a hole through your lap. Desktop PCs typically have massive heat-sinks and fans to cool them down, but it’s hard to fit that stuff into a tiny laptop, and fans drain laptop batteries quickly. | Read More »
Recommended:
Desktop Replacement
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500/T9300
Medium Laptops
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300/8100
Light Laptops
Intel Core 2 Duo L7400/7500
Ultra-Light Laptops
Intel Core 2 Duo U7600
Minimum:
Desktop Replacement
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300
Medium Laptops
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500/7300
Light Laptops
Intel Core 2 Duo L7400/7500
Ultra-Light Laptops
Intel Core 2 Duo U7600
Pricing:
AMD laptops
Celeron laptops
Core 2 Duo laptops
Core Duo laptops
MacBooks
PowerBooks
All laptops
CPU prices
Processors – Read More »
Battery
An important factor to consider is how much battery life you’ll need on your laptop. No matter how much battery you have, using your built-in DVD drive a lot and having a 17? screen will drain it faster. Battery technology–just like any technology–is improving all the time. | Read More »
Recommended:
Lithium Ion battery with max. cells and additional component battery
Minimum:
Single Lithium Ion battery with max. cells in base model
Pricing:
Laptop Batteries
Battery – Read More »
Memory
Laptops are underpowered enough as it is with their stringent size and heat requirements, so don’t cripple them any more. Do you think that just because a laptop is small it doesn’t need memory? If you go smaller than our recommendations, expect to have a slower computing experience. | Read More »
Recommended:
2 GB DDR2 667MHz
Minimum:
1 GB DDR 533MHz
Pricing:
1 GB DDR2 SO-DIMMs
2 GB DDR2 SO-DIMMs
Memory – Read More »
Hard Drive
Most laptop hard drives are compact drives that have a 2.5? form factor, as opposed to the 3.5? form factor of a standard desktop PC
hard drive. Because of their extra small size, they have a higher price. | Read More »
Recommended:
160 GB 7200RPM hard drive
Minimum:
120 GB 5400RPM hard drive
Pricing:
2.5″ Hard Drives
Hard Drive – Read More »
Optical
Most laptops have some sort of DVD or CD-RW (CD writeable) drive built into the laptop itself. Because of the tight space constraints, some smaller laptops offer an accessory slot where you can swap the optical drive with a spare battery or other accessory. Even smaller laptops don’t have any internal drives at all. An internal DVD drive is very handy and, in our opinion, is a worthy trade-off for a bit more weight and size. | Read More »
Recommended:
DVD+/-RW drive internally
Minimum:
DVD/CD-RW drive
Pricing:
USB CD/DVD drives
FireWire CD/DVD drives
Optical – Read More »
USB Flash
It’s a toss up as to whether the modern replacement to the old standby floppy drive is a USB flash “thumb” drive or writeable CD/DVD media. Modern laptops
will boot off of either, so why not be prepared and get a 2 GB flash drive with your laptop? If you have one already, fine. If you don’t, we recommend you keep one handy for backup, file transport, or to dump a bunch of digital photos on and plug into the side of your television or play MP3s on your car’s stereo. | Read More »
Recommended:
2 GB USB flash drive
Minimum:
2 GB USB flash drive
Pricing:
USB Floppy drives
USB Flash – Read More »
Floppy
You may not even care about a floppy drive, but if you can get a modular floppy drive for just a few bucks, why not do it? It may come in handy. Floppy drives are so cheap today that if you get stuck in a jam, it may be worth that US$10 or $20 to be able to plug one in and do what you need to do. If you decide not to go for a floppy, make sure that you at least have a CD-ROM (or CD-RW or DVD–all read CD-ROM media) drive–otherwise you’ll have trouble getting software on your machine. | Read More »
Recommended:
Modular floppy drive
Minimum:
No floppy
Pricing:
USB Floppy drives
Floppy – Read More »
Video
If you are going to get a large, high-resolution LCD display on your laptop, or you’re planning to attach an external monitor, make sure you get some good video. The standard low-end built-in graphics from Intel or chipset manufacturers will always be listed as “integrated” and will usually be the base graphics offered. Sometimes it’s just a little more costly to get better graphics, and we recommend going for the better solution. | Read More »
Recommended:
NVIDIA GeForce 8000 series
ATI Mobility Radeon 1250
Minimum:
NVIDIA or ATI graphics
Pricing:
Video Cards
Video – Read More »
Screen
We used to have to agonize about different grades of LCD screens, but you can assume that LCD laptop screen today are Active Matrix, the better version of LCD compared to Passive Matrix. LCD screens are perfectly flat, about half an inch thick, and use less power than old CRT screens. The main power drag on the LCD is the need to run a backlight to illuminate the display. On top of that, the backlight has to shine through the screen and illuminate even when you are viewing a black screen. Until there’s some alternative such as a self-illuminating screen technology, we are stuck with lighting up a backlight. That’s the way it is. | Read More »
Recommended:
Desktop Replacement / Medium/Light
17″ LCD screen
Medium/Light
14″ LCD screen
Ultralight
12.1″ LCD screen
Minimum:
Desktop Replacement / Medium/Light
15″ LCD screen
Medium/Light
14″ LCD screen
Ultralight
12.1″ LCD screen
Pricing:
LCD monitors
Screen – Read More »
Printer
If you’re going to need a printer on the road with no power available, you’ll want an ultra-portable, three-pound bubble-jet printer with its own battery. Of course, you’ll have to decide whether you want color
or black-and-white, but you’ll probably want color because it’s not much more expensive and it’s worth it. You won’t find a portable laser printer because they consume way too much power. | Read More »
Recommended:
Color inkjet photo printer
Minimum:
not required
Pricing:
Printers
Printer – Read More »
Sound
All laptops come standard with sound nowadays, and most manufacturers won’t tell you what chip they are using. You’ll want to pay attention mainly to the audio connection ports available. Most laptops will come with a built-in microphone to enable Internet telephony and videoconferencing. If you want the best of all worlds, get a laptop that has line output and line input jacks so that you can easily connect it to external speakers or a home stereo. | Read More »
Recommended:
Built-in sound with microphone, line inputs, and outputs
Minimum:
Built-in sound with microphone
Pricing:
Sound cards
Sound – Read More »
Speakers
Nowadays, most laptops come with stereo speakers built-in. If you can listen to the speakers before you buy, all the better. If not, and you are an audio purist, you may want to just make sure there’s a line output so you can easily connect
external speakers if you don’t happen to like the sound quality of the built-in ones. | Read More »
Recommended:
Built-in stereo speakers
Minimum:
Built-in stereo speakers
Pricing:
Computer Speakers
Speakers – Read More »
Networking
Get built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet in your laptop. It’s the standard non-wireless way to connect to a DSL modem, cable modem, a corporate network, or the lame wired network at the mediocre hotel you happen to be staying at. Network cables plug into the RJ-45 connector on your laptop. Almost all laptops ship with a 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet port nowadays. | Read More »
Recommended:
Built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Minimum:
Built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Pricing:
PC Card NICs
PC Card Wireless
Networking – Read More »
Wireless
Typical wireless laptop technologies today are 802.11a/b/g (Wi-Fi) and BlueTooth. There is also the emerging 802.11n standard, which promises longer range and faster throughput than the previous standards. Most laptops feature a built-in antenna, and the manufacturers offer an add-in card that handles a specific wireless connectivity. We suggest that you go for as many of the 802.11 standards as you can get, and BlueTooth if you think you will need it. | Read More »
Recommended:
Built-in 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth
Minimum:
Built-in 802.11 a/g
Pricing:
PC Card NICs
PC Card Wireless
Wireless – Read More »
Modem
Many laptops offer built-in modems. You really have to be somewhere remote when a modem is your only method of connecting; that’s why we recommend not even getting one. If you do get one, fine–you’ll probably never use it. | Read More »
Recommended:
No modem
Minimum:
Built in 56 Kbps V.92 modem
Pricing:
External modems
PC Card modems
Modem – Read More »
Pointing Device
Which pointing device you choose depends largely on personal preference. If you don’t plan to use your laptop on the go then you can always just plug a standard mouse, trackball, etc., into it. It’s harder to do this when you’re traveling, though, because you need a surface to move the mouse on and you’ve got to deal with the mouse cord, so you better choose one that you like. | Read More »
Recommended:
Important – get what you like
Minimum:
Important – get what you like
Pricing:
Mice
Trackballs
Pointing Device – Read More »
Keyboard
There’s not much variation on laptop keyboards. As screen sizes increase, more and more laptops offer “full-sized” keyboards on their units. This implies that the spacing between keys is the same as on a full-sized keyboard on a desktop PC, which is better for your wrists, but not as good as an ergonomic keyboard. | Read More »
Recommended:
Full size
Minimum:
Full size
Pricing:
Keyboards
Keyboard – Read More »
Docking Station / Port Replicator
Docking stations and port replicators are accessories that you keep at your desk. Your laptop fits snugly into them and receives additional functionality, making it more like a desktop computer when it’s used at your desk. | Read More »
Recommended:
Get one if you need one
Minimum:
Not necessary
Pricing:
Docking Stations
Port Replicators
Docking Station / Port Replicator – Read More »
Carrying Case
You definitely want a carrying case for your laptop if you plan to travel around with it at all. If you don’t get one, you’ll quickly have a beat-up laptop. If you are just going to keep it in your house and move it around inside there, don’t bother. | Read More »
Recommended:
Leather case
Minimum:
Nylon case
Pricing:
Carrying Cases
Carrying Case – Read More »
Security
For peace of mind (and that’s exactly what you are paying for here) you may want to go with a two-year subscription to some kind of security suite. These security suites will annoy you by slowing down your computer, asking you to reboot when they update, and generally being in your way. | Read More »
Recommended:
Security software with two-year subscription and security cable
Minimum:
not required
Pricing:
Security Locks
Security – Read More »
Operating System
For the majority of laptop buyers, at purchase time you get to decide between Windows XP and versions of Windows Vista
. Since Vista “Ultimate” is a mere US$50 upgrade to the purchase price, you may as well go for the max if you are ready to jump into Vista. | Read More »
Recommended:
Windows XP Pro or Vista Ultimate
Minimum:
Windows XP Home Edition or any Vista
Pricing:
Operating Systems
Operating System – Read More »
Productivity Software
If you want to work on the road just like you would at home or work, get the same software
in both places. I’d recommend a full suite of programs so you can tackle any obstacle that you encounter. In fact, it’s almost more important to have utilities on your laptop
than it is on the desktop. | Read More »
Recommended:
Full office suite
Minimum:
Partial office suite
Pricing:
Office software
Productivity Software – Read More »
Expansion Ports
Expansion ports are those various holes and sockets where you can plug stuff into your laptop. Here’s an explanation of some common ones and why you might like to have them on your laptop … | Read More »
Recommended:
Express Card slot, 6 USB 2.0 ports, 1 FireWire port, DVI, VGA, S-Video ports, RJ-45, RJ-11, Cable Lock Slot, Docking station slot, media bay
Minimum:
3 USB 2.0 ports, DVI, RJ-45, RJ-11, Cable Lock Slot
Pricing:
Cables and adapters
Expansion Ports – Read More »
Warranty
Whatever you do, make sure that you have a three-year warranty instead of a measly one-year warranty. In my experience a lot of things go wrong with laptops… | Read More »
Recommended:
3-year on-site
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