You´ve decided to purchase a laptop but which one is right for you and which one has the right features at the right price? Follow these simple guidelines and you´ll be able to match your needs and find the right laptop.
• Notebook Classification
• Laptop specifications
• Essential laptop accessories
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Notebook Classification [Top]
Most of today's notebook computers are divided among three major classifications - desktop replacements, mainstream notebooks and ultralights. A smaller segment of the market consists of mini notebooks and tablets.
Desktop Replacements
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Desktop replacements are the heavyweights,both in performance and in bulk, and offer enough power, speed and top-grade componentsto rival desktop computers in productivity. They generally weigh between 3 to 5kg and offer large displays, often as wide as 17 inches, but usually in the 15 inch range. These high-performance notebooks offer processors that can top 3GHz, and the high-end desktop replacements ssport sophisticated graphics cards and other top-grade components that allow users to play games, perform complex photographic operations and video editing. However, if playing games and performing sophisticated photographic and video tasks isn't important to you, you can save money by investing in a less expensive but still powerful mainstream desktop replacement notebook.
Mainstream Notebooks/Laptops
These powerful, but no-frills PCs appeal to users who travel frequently. They weigh between 1.5 and 3kg and usually have 15 to 17-inch displays. The goal of a mainstream notebook is to achieve a perfect balance of portability and power. New technology has allowed man ufacturers to create low-voltage processors specially designed to enhance mobility by reducing power consumption, extending battery life and yielding solid performance. The new breed of mobile processors also supports wireless cards, which give users the flexibility to connect to the Internet from any hot spot on the globe. Wireless capability has become almost a mandatory feature for notebook computers.
Ultraportables, Mini-notebooks and Tablets
Ultraportables are the slimmest, trimmest full-featured notebooks on the market, weighing in at a remarkably light 1 to 1.5kg. Ultraportables are among the most expensive notebook PCs and are generally targeted toward those who want streamlined productivity and aren't interested in a lot of add-ons. Ultraportables typically sport 12-inch screens and small keyboards, although some models do feature full-sized keyboards. Mini-notebooks and tablets make up the smallest part of the market, but are most popular in Europe and Asia. They weigh less than 1kg, with tiny 10-inch screens and compressed keyboards. These systems are best if you use them only for reading documents and doing light email. Tablets come in two types: convertibles and slates. Convertibles resemble mainstream notebooks, but their displays swivel around so you can write on them using a digitiser stylus and Microsoft® Windows® XP Tablet PC Edition. Slates are gaining popularity in hospitals and with people in the real estate market. A slate is simply a display and an embedded CPU,with a keyboard that attaches separately. Once you've decided on a notebook class, you still need to choose the processor, wireless technology, and optical drive you'll want, as well as hard drive capacity.
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Laptop Specifications [Top]
Laptop specifications vary considerably and it really depends what you need it to do. Manufacturers make trade-offs - slower processorsenable the use of smaller, lighter batteries so it's important to know what you'll need to sacrifice to find your perfect laptop
Selecting a Processor
All processor manufacturers make processors that are especially designed to be compatible with today's mobile technology. Generally speaking, as in selecting a processor for a notebook computer, processor speed is a critical factor. We recommend you choose a notebook that offers the fastest processing speed you can afford. Because it is difficult to upgrade a notebook CPU, make sure you purchase
one that has a processor that will be able to meet your future needs.
Hard Drive
Hard drive capacities on notebooks range from 20GB to 100GB. Most users find that 40GB is big enough. The majority of mainstream notebooks use 4,200-rpm or 5,400-rpm hard drives, while the largest desktop replacement notebook drives spin at 7,200 rpm. Ultraportables most commonly have hard drives that revolve at 4,200 rpm. The faster a hard drive spins, the better the system's performance.
Optical Drive
A basic CD-ROM drive is almost standard issue in contemporary notebooks. However, for only a few pounds more you can move up toa top-notch DVD-ROM drive, giving you the ability to play. A DVD/CD-RW combo drive reads DVDs and reads and writes CDs. The bestequipped laptops will have a multiformat DVD writer drive, ensuring you can read and write on all major formats of recordable DVDs:
DVD-R, +R, -RW, +RW and RAM. With dual-layer support, you can write twice the amount of data (or video) on a double-layered disc than you could on a standard disc, giving you an incredible 8.5gb of capacity on each dual-layer DVD.
Wired Ethernet networking
Wireless does offer greater freedom, but when you're not in an area with Wi-Fi access and want to use the traditional office Ethernet LAN, you'll find that almost all modern laptops will come with Ethernet adapters as standard, giving at least 10Mbps of data transfer. 100Mbps is not uncommon for those equipped with Fast Ethernet protocol, and this is increasingly the highest spec on network-ready notebooks. However, the best, and certainly not rare, is Gigabit Ethernet, giving an amazing 1000Mbps access. Whether Fast or Gigabit Ethernet enabled, the adapters have backwards compatibility to work with standard LANs at 10Mbps.
Wireless networking
An integrated modem and wired Ethernet are included in almost all notebooks, and most come with built-in wireless antennas. To experience true communication freedom it pays to go wireless and before long virtually all mobile computers will be equipped to takeadvantage of this amazing technology. The modern fast wireless option is 802.11g, with a theoretical maximum throughput of 54 Mbps.Under development is 802.11n, which already has products on the market under the 802.11n draft specification. Beating the 'g' speed by having a theoretical maximum throughput of 300Mbps, the 'n' protocol uses MIMO technology (Multiple Input Multiple Output) by
using signal reflection to fill in spots previously regarded as "blind" under the older technologies. This significantly improves coverage and speed, providing a massive leap over the already impressive 802.11g standard.
Operating System
The least expensive notebooks come with Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition. However, we recommend you use Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional Edition, because of the added networking and security features. It has a sofa-friendly "10-foot interface," meaning that you can hook your system up to a large-screen monitor and control media via remote from 10 feet away. Throughout 2007, look out for the range of Microsoft® Windows® Vista® editions, which brings a new generation of Windows, with fantastic features and a snazzy-looking operating environment.
Processor
Sometimes referred to as the CPU (Central Processing Unit), the processor is the brain of the laptop. It's the most important chip in a laptop with power-management features that prolong the battery life. There´s a variety of processor types available depending on their application.
Computer Memory
Every computer comes equipped with a certain amount of physical memory, usually referred to as RAM (Random Access Memory). Computers store running applications and data using the RAM. To find out how much memory you'll need, take into account your operating system and the applications that you plan to use. You'll need 256MB for Windows XP and 128MB for all other Windows operating systems.
If you're looking to hang on to your laptop for a long time, look for a laptop with easy to access memory slots, as you’ll be able to upgrade these at a later stage.
Laptop Display Size
Laptop screens range in size from 12.1 inches (diagonal) to 17 inches. For comfortable viewing at the preferred Windows resolution of 1024x768, most people prefer a 14.1inch or larger screen.
Let's get online!
To get online, send & receive email and share files or printers, your laptop must be connected to a network or to the Internet. This is usually achieved via a modem or a wireless connection. Laptops also include a variety of ports that physically link to and communicate with different kinds of equipment, such as digital cameras, printers and MP3 players.
If you're laptop doesn´t have enough ports you can purchase a docking station (sometimes referred to as a port replicator), which provides additional connectors.
- PC Cards versus PCI
A PC Card is a credit card-shaped device that plugs into the PCMCIA (Type II PC Card) slot on your laptop. Modems, USB connections (e.g. for your digital camcorder) and wireless LAN radios are all available in PC Card form. PC Cards are handy because they're easy to upgrade and affordable. However, most laptops come with only one or two Type II PC Card slots, forcing you to limit the number of PC Cards you can add.
A PCI card, on the other hand, is a smaller, more compact version of a PC Card. PCI cards that are installed inside laptops during factory build offer a couple of advantages: they´re usually cheaper and they leave PC Card slots open for additional
uses.However, PCI cards are almost impossible to remove or upgrade because they're integrated and sometimes take power from
the laptop's CPU.
If you know you're going to want a wireless option on your laptop, consider a laptop that integrates these connections on an integrated PCI card, leaving your PC Card expansion slot(s) free for other uses.
- Modems and Ethernet ports
Virtually all laptops nowadays come with an inbuilt 56K modem (aka: RJ-11) and Ethernet (aka: RJ-45) connections. A laptop that integrates these connections on an integrated PCI card will leave your PC Card expansion slot(s) free.
- Wireless Networking
Many laptops also include a built-in antenne for wireless networking (802.11 or Wi-Fi). If your laptop doesn´t have wireless built-in then you can simply add a wireless PC Card to enable Wi-Fi networking.
- Other ports & connectors
Most laptops have a printer port, a VGA port to connect an external monitor and at least one USB port for connecting an external keyboard and mouse, drives, digital cameras and MP3 players. You may also want a stereo input, a game port, a MIDI connector and a FireWire port for capturing and editing digital video or hooking up an external storage drive.
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Essential Laptop Accessories [Top]
Braintone Offers a wide range of laptop accessories to compliment your new computer and to help make life easier.
Docking Stations / Port Replicators
A 'docking station' contains a mixture of ports, slots, drive bays and security features, and it usually attaches to the laptop from underneath. Docking stations come in a variety of shapes and sizes and allow you to park your laptop when you get back from campus, giving you an easy connection to a monitor, a conventional keyboard, additional storage devices and the convenience of leaving cables plugged in when you remove your laptop to take it on the move.
A 'port replicator' is a smaller, stripped-down version of a docking station that mainly features ports, such as USB or parallel. A port replicator can range from the size of a tube of toothpaste to that of a docking station. A port replicator is a more convenient way to increase your connectivity whilst on the go as it´s smaller and lighter.
Laptop Bags
If you´re looking to spend the best part of a £500 on a laptop then you may want to protect your investment by purchasing a quality laptop bag. Furthermore, if you´re lugging it around campus then you´ll need a comfortable bag that gives you additional storage for peripherals such as a mobile mouse, extra batteries etc. There´s now a huge range of styles, sizes and fabrics available depending on your requirements. The Mobile Edge range of ladies laptop bags brings a chic fashionable edge to laptop bag design whilst Targus and Belkin make a range of affordable backpacks and messenger bags, perfect if you´re cycling into college. For comfort look for padded shoulder straps, reinforced corners and specialised compartments for peripherals.
Extra Battery
If you´re travelling around a lot, back and forth to your parents (to get your washing done!) or simply running around campus, a second battery is essential and well worth the money. Depending on the manufacturer you can either swap the spare battery via the main media bay or simply clip them to the rear of the laptop. However, if you rarely travel with your laptop and it's pretty much always plugged in, don't bother with a second battery.
Mouse and Keyboard
Working for hours with just a pointing stick or a touchpad can sometimes make your hand, wrist and forearm ache. To save yourself this pain, invest in a small travel mouse. These can cost as little as £10, and usually hook up via a USB cable and they're extremely portable. The same advice applies to typing for hours on your laptop's keyboard. If you´re using your laptop at home or in the library, hook up a USB keyboard and relieve your wrists. If you prefer working without wires you can get a wireless mouse and keyboard.
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