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Help guide to Buying a Notebook Computer

on May 29th, 2011 by admin - Comments Off

With the various brands and models available on the market, purchasing a notebook or notebook computer may at first seem confusing. But merely breaking down the process into a few key areas and taking advantage of shopping.com to search for the best option features and pricing makes it much easier to access exactly the machine you are looking for.

How important to you is mobility?

Mobility in notebook computers is a combination of size, weight and battery life: the frequency of which you carry it around, and if you may be relying mainly on the notebook’s battery, or whether you may access another power source. Laptops can weigh from a little over 1 kilograms up to 6kilograms, depending on the model and features included. The screen, storage space and cd drive all affect your weight.

Battery life is shortened by bigger screens and multiple disc drives. Manufacturers advertise the weight of the notebook computer in their specifications, but it’s important to consider whether that specs includes batteries and other peripherals for instance external drives that you might be lugging around. The most prevalent battery type is Lithium Ion (Li-Ion), which can operate for one to three hours under common working conditions. Many power saving options available and better celled batteries can prolong the discharge time noticeably. Battery life deteriorates over time however, and as your laptop ages; the discharge rate of the battery will diminish. Sometimes it is worthwhile carrying an extra battery.

Application and cost

If mobility is of a lesser concern, then battery life and weight will be less important. You should be more inclined to have a bigger processor, screen size and memory capacity. The sort of work you need to do can affect the screen size and type that’s most suitable to suit your needs. For a lighter load, and less graphics intensive applications a 12-14in screen instead of 15 or 17in wide screen could be more suitable. If, on the other hand, the graphics capabilities and size of the screen are very important then the best screen you really can afford could be more of a priority. It could work out cheaper to buy a basic unit and add things like an external TV card and DVD burner when the need arises.

How much you want to spend is closely related to the method that you use your notebook. If you only want to access your e-mail, browse the Web and do word processing, then you can consider lower budget machines with smaller processors, screens and facilities.

A medium-level user, perhaps playing games or working in multi-media applications, will need a powerful processor, graphics controller, storage space, and a bigger screen. The more features your laptop has, the more expensive it will be. Including a DVD-burner instead of DVD-ROM, harddisk capacity greater than 40Gb, a 17in widescreen screen and wireless capabilities results in a more overpriced machine.

If you’re not looking for high power and graphics capabilities, then you may find a suitable laptop for around $1500. The hottest processor, full blown graphics capability, DVD burner, widescreen and wireless connectivity may cost over $4000. Use shopping.com to search with some other prices.

Other key components

Having determined by what you should do with it, and in what way mobile you need to be that you are definitely buying a laptop, you now need to get down to the nitty gritty and find the specifications that will suit your needs. So, what to look for? Essentially, you are considering differences between the following components: display, graphics controller, memory (Random access memory), harddrive, removable storage, networking options, peripheral connectivity, sound and battery.

Display and Graphics

Notebooks now all feature LCD screens (Liquid Crystal Displays) presenting crisp text and reduced eyestrain. These screens display sharper text than standard CRT monitors, but are less capable of displaying well-rendered graphics. If you will be using your notebook for graphics work, it usually is worthwhile having a CRT monitor to connect to. Screen sizes for notebook computers range from 12.1in to 17in (widescreen). A 15in display or 15.4in widescreen alternative is the most common in netbooks today. Widescreen is quickly becoming more common, partly to accommodate playback of DVDs and also because widescreen proportions make it is more durable.

On-screen graphics are affected by both the type and size of screen as well as the graphics card. It is reasonably safe to assume that larger displays offer higher on-screen resolution. Screen brightness (measured in nits) is another specs that can vary between makes and models. Brighter screens impact less on eyes and can be a little more easily read in bright conditions. Some manufacturers have a glossy, reflective coating over the display improving contrast and colours. But, because it increases the reflectivity of the screen, it can teach you reflected in the screen. Surface scratches may also show up more readily. Not all LCD screens have a similar viewable angle, with some screens not easily viewed from a side angle.

Graphics performance in laptops is still inferior to that of desktop machines. All graphic controllers easily render 2-D images and if it is not necessary more from your graphics, then an integrated graphics controller is ample. However, if you would like play the newest 3-D games at a decent resolution and frame rate or you’re a CAD designer, then you will want a discreet graphics controller with a dedicated DDR video memory.

Memory and Storage

In all computers RAM chips keep the Processor proficiently fed with data or instructions from programs on the hard drive. Notebook computers now frequently use DDR SDRAM (Double Date Rate SDRAM), the default standard, and DDR2 SDRAM that is a next-generation memory type offering considerable performance and power benefits over SDRAM. Either way, when it comes to Random access memory, more memory is more preferable and you should consider 256Mb as the absolute minimum. Upgrading memory can achieve better performance, and quite a number of vendors provide higher Random access memory configurations as a ‘deal sweetener’ at the time of buy. Read through shopping.com for bundled extras such as more Random access memory.

The hard disk provides the long-term storage and is the centre of program control. There are 2 critical specs of hard drives. The first is disk speed, measured in revolutions per minute (rpm). Faster hard disk drives speeds provide quicker access for loading and saving and ‘file swapping’. The other is storage capacity, and drives are now available for laptop computers with 120Gigabyte capacity. If you work with large file sizes, then you’ll likely want a minimum of 40Gigabyte of hard disk drive space. Also you can want to consider the type of removable storage such as a DVD writer, removable hard disks and media or ‘flash’ card systems that will suit your use best.

Networking and connectivity

Notebook computers now include 56Kbps modem (RJ-11) and 10/100 Ethernet (RJ-45) connections as regular features. Several feature an Infrared port and you can use it to connect your mobile phone. Other wireless technology for connecting cellphones, printers and PDA devices includes Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, allowing connection at certified public access points and home wireless networking. Many notebooks use USB 2.0 or FireWire connection for connecting keyboard, mouse, printers, cameras and other peripherals. Nearly every brand new notebook will have around 3 USB 2.0 ports, and one FireWire port and a VGA-out port to connect an external monitor to.

Notebook computers have customarily been able to expand their capability through simple plug-in PC Cards. Lately a fresh standard has emerged called ExpressCard, a smaller, faster and more portable plug-in card to provide things such as expanded video and sound capacity.

Choosing a laptop becomes easier after you’ve decided on these basic requirements. You can search shopping.com to compare makes, models, prices, accessories and all the key specifications. You may also compare vendors and their prices and service.