Tips for buying LAPTOP
HI guys
i am posting some tips which will help you in taking decision while buying a LAPTOP.
First of all, don't ask anyone "what computer should I buy", don't giving any clue of what kind of notebook do you need. I hope everyone will be kindly to you, but when you ask this you are just wasting your and other's time. As everything in your life, be objective. Go right to the point. That's why this kind of tutorial is so much appreciated on forums. They save time. When asking for suggestion, don't ask like that, tell what kind of computer do you need, how much money you think you need (and can) spend, if performance is important or not to you. Beeing simple: tell as much things as you can that help us to narrow the number of possible computers systems that you would probably be interested in.
Processor
Chances are high that you already know at least the basics of processor performance. Forget the clock speed (those "my computer has more megahertz/gigahertz than yours"). You can't trust only on that factor anymore. Today, other things like size of the L2 cache, the architecture, the data size and all that can change processors performance. Don't get me wrong, it's just that the clock is not the only factor to consider anymore.
There are processors that can handle data at 64 bits, for example. 32 bits processor can't process 64 bits, but "32 bits capable" 64 bits processor can process the other way. You probably want to consider a less powerful processor, those that consumes less energy, incresing battery life. The Pentium-M is a good example of such processors. And they are not less powerful than a Pentium 4 with a much greater clock speed, for instance.
If you want an AMD processor with 64 bits of data handle capacity, be sure to choose one that fits your needs. There are several generations now, and even more are coming. The Athlon 64 processors can handle both size of data (32 and 64 bits), beeing a very good choice, if you rate performance as prioritary. They consume more power, but AMD have plans to release low power versions (~ 25W) of the Athlon 64 with 1MB of L2 cache on the first half of the next year, warming even more the mobile market.
RAM Memory
Some people will say that this is the most important overall upgrade on your computer. More RAM memory can make your computer better at multi-processing, and means that your computer won't access your hard-disk so much, increasing the productivity of your computer (decreasing the total time nedded to do a given task).
More RAM also helps your computer to run more stable and flawlessly. Windows XP requires at least 128MB, officialy. But everyone knows that 256MB is the practical minimum. To run other programs when you're at Windows XP, you need even more RAM memory. For an example, at the time of this document, it was quite common to buy a new notebook with 1GB of RAM.
Also, you must consider the speed of the memory modules, as long as it's supported by the system and as long as it - the system - will use the "extra clock speed". There are several kinds of DDR SDRAM modules (the type most used today). They are represented by the letters "PC" plus a number, as "PC2100", "PC2700", "PC3200", "PC4000 and so on... They are named based on the speed that the memory bus runs. If you can, choose the memory with the higher clock on its bus, specially because if you buy a brand new system now, probably it supports, at least, PC2700 memory modules.
Video Card
Also known as, but not limited to, "Graphics Card", "Graphics Processor Unit" or just "GPU", this component is, specially for gamers, one of the first considerations when buying a new computer/notebook. The video card renders the images that you see on your screen, appearing as two types:
Integrated Graphics:
This kind of video card is, as the name says, integrated to the mainboard and usually doesn't have dedicated memory (or can have part dedicated and part shared). Besides the fact that this kind of video card normally doesn't have great performance and can't render graphics even like some of the cheapest "non-shared video card", the fact that the card shares memory with the main memory of the system (RAM) just slows down things even more.
Any of GPU can handle (some times just not flawlessly) operations like Photoshop editions and simple CAD graphics. But they are also for those people on a budget, because these simple processors don't need a great cooling system and other things required by dedicated ones, cutting costs. Stay away from those if you are a gamer.
Dedicated graphics:
This kind have its own processor. They make all the heavy-duty of rendering graphics alone and don't use system's memory, increasing the overall system's performance.
If you don't mind (probably not), you will be amazed by how much better graphics can be rendered with these cards. Photoshop and other relatively simple renderings when did on these cards are a pleasure to do, and any gamer considers this not just a must have, but they also will go for the lastest (or so) generation.
Today, you will find graphics cards with even 256mb of memory, however, you'll only find those on heavy notebooks, for the own size of the components, specially those about cooling. If you are thinking if such memory combined with the great processor capacity of the new GPUs will make a big difference for you, it will, and that's a fact. The question is if you need that much. Again, if you are a gamer, you want to get as much performance as you can. But, if your tasks are only related to some video, photo edition or CAD, you'll be more than fine with something like 128mb, or even 64mb (depending on how intense these tasks are). The "gamer" factor can normally decide this, too.
Hard Disk
Hard disk, also known as "winchester" by the Old School, or just as "HD", is the device that can keep your data permanently. Today's hard disks' capacities offer much more than the average user needs. They have plenty of space and, if you choose wisely, probably you won't run out of space.
Capacity
The main question at this point is how much things (and how big they are) you keep saved on your computer. 30 gb can represent plenty of storage to most people that only uses one operational system and those whose main usage is surfing the net and listening to some MP3s. If you play some light or old games, keep some videos saved and like having some free space for, who knows, try that Linux distribution that everyone is talking about, you want a minimum of 40 gb, but probably you will buy a 60 gb one. However, if you are a storage man, that keeps all your albums on your hard disk to listen, deal with videos and uses more than one operational system, even 80 gb can run out of space quickly. Therefore, you'll probably need an external, high capacity hard disk.
Speed
The speed that your hard disk spins gives you an idea of how fast you can read data from it. Although 10,000 rpm are quite common on the desktop world, you are more limited when dealing with notebooks. If you don't mind to wait a few more seconds each time you read a great file, you can choose one with 5,400 rpm (those around 4,000 rpm are becoming obsolete). But if you need high performance, meaning less boot time and less "Loading" screens, settle for 7,200 rpm or more, if you can. However, be prepared to not just increase your computer's performance, but to increase the amount of money you will spend.
Another factor that reflects how fast you can load things from them is the capacity (resulting from the higher density). Since a higher capacity disk keeps more data, the information stored on those disks are closer to each other, meaning that the disk is more dense than one with less capacity. Since the drive will waste less time to go from one point of information to another, you can say that higher capacity disks can load things proportionally faster if compared to a less capacity one at same speed.
Media
Almost nobody uses floppy disks today. Their 1.44mb capacity is obsolete. Unless you have a good reason, you can choose a notebook without such drive, saving money. Most systems don't even have the option of internal floppy drives. However, you should think more about the DVD/CD drive...
Almost every computer today comes with a standard CD-RW drive, but normally the DVD burner only comes as a costly upgrade. If you don't burn DVDs often, consider buying an external one that fits your notebook (Firewire and/or USB), because the dual-layer internal DVD burners aren't common yet. Be sure to choose a dual-format (those that can burn either kind of media, like DVD-R or DVD+R).
Screen
It can appear a simple detail, as you should think that all screens are almost the same, since they just display what you're doing. You couldn't be more wrong. Resolution (both pixels and pixels per inch), aspect, viewing angles and the very own screen quality are subtle details that nobody can forget.
Resolution:
The LCD screen on your notebook will have a given number of individual points, and it's important to know how much points it have on both horizontal and vertical directions. Every screen today has at least 1024 pixels on the horizontal and 768 pixels on vertical. This resolution is known as 1024x768 or just XGA. As you can see, an XGA screen can display an image using 786,432 points simultaneously. And the more points you have, more things you can display on a screen. For example, pixels are normally an image of 32x32 pixels. A screen of 128x96 pixels can display 12 icons at a time, and another one of 128x128 can display 16 icons at a time, just for comparision.
Another detail of the screen is the "pixels per inch" (a.k.a. "dots per inch", or just DPI). Given the size of a screen, which is measured on its diagonal (a 15" screen has fifteen inches if you measure its diagonal), and the amount of pixels, you have the DPI of your screen. Normally, a screen has a DPI number of 80 to 110.
You are probably wondering: how the DPI number can affect my computer experience? Did you ever noticed, specially those common and bulky desktop monitors (CRTs) that, when you change the resolution, the things on your screen gets bigger (or smaller)? That happens because more or less information is supposed to be displayed on that screen, but the real size doesn't change (obviously). For instance, if you increase the resolution (go from 800x600 - SVGA - to 1024x768 - XGA), more things can displayed at a time on your screen, but since your monitor itself doesn't get bigger, all the image needs to be "shrinked" to fit on the screen. That's the DPI effect on your life.
The ratio between the amount of pixels and the size in whom they are displayed gives the DPI. Higher numbers means that things will be, _in proportion_ to your screen, smaller; and low numbers, bigger. You don't need to understand this completely, but certainly, it's useful.
Aspect:
The proportion between the horizontal and vertical sizes of your screen gives you the "aspect ratio". Those "boxed", common screens are defined as 4:3 (4 units at horizontal and 3 at vertical), while the "new wave" of home entertainment screens are defined as 16:9, specially marketed as "widescreen". 16:9 screens (you'll find "16:10" on most of notebook screens) are better because they represent the image more naturally, with the same aspect of your eyes.
"Widescreens" can also display those DVDs you have at home using all the screen, which doesn't happen with "Standard" screen, where the movie is displayed shrinked or distorted.
Viewing angles:
LCDs (specially cheaper ones) have a common problem: if you don't sit exactly in front of the screen - "perfect spot" -, you will see images with some kind of distortion (normally brightness and/or color). Better LCDs have greater "viewing angles", which means that you can sit in a great "angle difference" in comparision to the perpendicular imaginary line that gets out of the middle of the screen. Putting it simple, if your screen has "limited" viewing angles, you probably need to sit exactly in front of it to see images correctly.
Dead pixels:
Not everything on a new computer is paradise, as most not-aware users will be shocked. From such expensive items, you don't expect to get a defective system in any way, but when talking about screens, it's different. I won't discuss the very basics of image formation, but you must know that the image on a computer is rendered by points (lots of!) on your screen, each one with its color. They are so tiny and so close one with other that your brain gives you the "idea" that it's a real image..
But, resuming the main subject, a defective pixel occur when one of those points is stucked on one color or just doesn't work at all. A defective pixel is quite easy to spot on lower resolutions, but more difficult on higher ones, like UXGA.
It's very easy to check for them. Create a picture with the same - or bigger - size of your screen resolotution and paint it using just one color (strong, warm colors are usually best, and more used, for this task). Display this image on full-screen and if there is a defective one, you'll probably notice.
The bad news about defective pixels is that almost every reseller can ship to you a screen with a certain amount of dead pixels, and it won't be considered a defect on the product... others just charge to send a "No Dead Pixel" screen. Make sure to check your reseller terms about dead pixels when buying a notebook, or even a standalone LCD screen, because the same points apply for those, too.
Screen quality:
There are other factors as well that gives the final product its quality. You can see better brightness (the manufacturers give a name to this or that enhancement), better viewing angles and so on.
Mobility
This is something that will be completely ignored by some, but can be well considered the main factor of decision by most people. Executives, outdoor technicians and all kind of mobile people knows what is beeing explained here. If you travel a lot and/or need to stay away from an electrical outlet, you probably are interested on these factors:
Battery life:
To achieve great battery life, a notebook needs to be designed to consume less power, so you can stay away from an electrical outlet for a long period of time. Energy hogs notebooks with Pentium 4s hardly can pass more than 1 hour on the battery.
Weight:
If you carry your notebook a lot, consider giving up performance and getting a light notebook. There are lots of notebooks below 4 lbs, and due to the size of the components, it's impossible to put a high-performance system on a 3 or 4 lbs chassis. If you buy a very light notebook (12" screen and so), expect less battery life than mobile 15", for example, since the battery size needs to be reduced to fit on such small chassis.
Remember that if you want raw performance instead of a light notebook that lasts a couple of hours using standard batteries, you probably want to buy a desktop replacement (DTR) model, with a powerful, yet power-hungry, components.
"Tablet shaped" computers:
Those computers are specially designed for all the people who need a very portable system and need to make handwritten annotations. They are the transition point between PDAs and common notebooks, but closer to the last ones, since they can act as a fully functional PC, running Windows XP, for example. However, since they need to be light to be carried often, and must dissipate a little amount of heat to not burn you at a business meeting, the hardware performance is limited. Normally, you will, from those systems, expect low voltage, mobile processors that improves battery life, and integrated graphics card, since they don't require all the cooling that most dedicated ones need. Besides that, most tablet PCs can act as an external monitor, too, which can be useful at some occasions.
There are three types of tablet PCs: slate, convertible and hybrid. The slate kind doesn't have a keyboard, but you can use an external one with most of them. It is the closest "cousin" of the PDA that you'll find. The convertible, however, has a keyboard like common notebooks, and its screen can turn 180º, then folding to "convert" it to a slate tablet PC. It's perhaps the most common kind. Along, there is the hybrid type, which has a keyboard, like the convertible, but you can detach to use as a slate.
Networking
There are three types of Ethernet connection (commonly associated with wired networks, but they're not the same thing), different mainly about speed. They are 10mbps, 100mbps "Fast Ethernet" and 1000mbps "Gigabit Ethernet". Most notebooks will come with a network card that supports both 10mbps and 100mbps, and that's probably much more than what you'll be using for a long time from now, even if you find a notebook with Gigabit Ethernet capable card. Those that only supports 10mbps speed transmission are pratically inexistent.
You can, today, find not just the various Ethernet ports on your notebook, but you have wireless options, too. With wireless networking, you can connect through eletromagnetic waves to a specific hardware (normally a wireless router connected through wires to your existent network. Don't think you'll connect to the internet by an act of God. You still need a specific hardware at the other "side"). There are different protocols used, and the most common is the 802.11 standard, which can transmit data at 11 mbps, 802.11b. 54 mbps is 802.11g and 802.11a. Watch out: it works through "waves", and are susceptible to interference from cell/cordless phones.
There are other protocols used, like Infrared, commonly used in cell phones; and Bluetooth, present specially in portable devices and wireless hardware.
Features
You should consider other factor when buying your notebook. Different manufacturers put flash memory readers (be sure to buy the same standard you use), Firewire connections (a.k.a. "iLink" or "1394"), USB ports (how much of them depends mainly on the notebook's size) using the USB 2.0 standard. Even ECP (printer) and serial ports can be absent. Be sure to fit your needs.
