Laptop Buying Guide - Ten Most Important Factors to Consider

I have faced this question several times in the past from my friends, office colleagues, relatives and also those networked with me through various social networking websites and online communities. They ask me how to choose a laptop computer that will perfectly meet up their needs. And invariably I initiate dialog by asking this question - What is the purpose of this purchase? What do you expect it to do? And based on the responses so far I have received I would like to classify the purpose of purchasing a laptop under four broad categories and I believe a laptop, being more personalized in nature in comparison to its Desktop counterpart, you can not expect it to satisfy multiple intersecting purposes of every individual at your home or work place. After all, like your Mobile Phone - a laptop is basically engineered to meet up personal needs. But anyway, as you are so determined to procure your new laptop, so, please read on to have some guideline, which have helped my friends in making a decision.



Based on the requirements of the end users we may classify needs under four different categories:



1) For High School/College students



2) For Official Use - mostly for official correspondences, business presentation with little Internet Use.



3) Mostly for accessing Internet for online communications, chatting, emailing etc.



4) Heavy duty operations - A laptop for performing heavy-duty operations - which includes processing of multi-media applications gaming, graphics design etc. - expected to be acting as a desktop replacement in the truest sense.



Irrespective of your specialized need you should be made aware about few basic concepts that constitute the backbone of any laptop, and you will also learn their effects on your choice. Here are the details:



1) Processor: Today's laptops support wide range of processors including Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Celeron M, AMD's Turion X2, and so on. Matter of fact is that the price of a laptop largely depends on the processor it supports. As such, Intel Core 2 Duo processor series like T7200/7300/T7400/T7500 is highly recommended for a laptop to be used as a desktop replacement, or for running high-end multimedia applications, or to have a joyful gaming experience; whereas, laptop with Intel Celeron Processor is priced moderately and good for running office applications. For laptops, which feature AMD processors, are both reasonably priced and optimized for reasonable processing speed. And because of the price benefit without compromising efficiency much these are my recommendations for school/college children, and these models are also good for accessing Internet. In a nutshell, if you feel that you need a laptop with heavy-duty processing capacity then only investment in rather costly processor worth. Otherwise, there is no point in such investment.



2. Installed Memory: Besides processor, this is the second major factor, which differentiates the price and efficiency of a laptop and this is the installed memory. Most modern laptop supports DDR2 Memory, and though 1GB is good enough for processing office documents, or for running those applications required by school/ college students, and even great for browsing Internet but for Windows Vista you need to have a minimum of 2GB memory. As such it is so common to find a laptop with even up to 3 - 4 GB memory but there is no point in investing that much unless you have some reason for doing so. Also, you can almost effortlessly upgrade laptop memory anytime later.







There is a word of caution:



Check well to confirm the amount of installed memory. It has come to my notice that few retailers brand a laptop model as 'up to 4GB memory capacity', whereas actual memory physically installed in that model may be 1GB only. Obviously, you have the flexibility to add extra 3 GB memory anytime but presently what you get is 1 GB. So, you need to know the amount of memory physically installed in a laptop.







3. Hard Disk Space: Space is no more a problem unless you have planned to save all your Music/ Movie collections in your precious laptop Hard Drive. Laptops with 80GB to 160 GB space is a reasonable choice for all purposes. Though for school/college students you may consider to keep the storage capacity on the higher side to accommodate enough room for those massive sized music/movie files.



4.Screen Size: Once again this is one parameter that is to be considered with precision for laptop to be used as a replacement for desktop counterpart. You will do better going for 17" to 19" inch screen size, whereas, 14" to 16" screen size will keep the laptop portable without compromising its usability; but laptop with 13.3" or Less screen size are often referred to as Ultra Portable model obviously you can travel really light and travel freely while carrying the set with you. And laptop with screen size 10" or less, termed as Netbook, offers more flexibility in terms of portability but may not be the best option if you want to use it for presentation purpose!



5.Portability and Weight: This is something rather overlooked often while selecting a laptop model; and this is the factor that is not at all important for a laptop that is more likely to be placed on a table top for the most of its lifetime. However, if you plan to move a lot carrying the laptop with you consider models that are designated as Ultra portable. From my experience, I know, carrying 7 lbs. + weighed laptop is not a very exciting experience in the long run. Ultra portable model weighing less than 2.5 lbs is the best alternative to consider.



6.Battery: Current laptops utilize lithium ion batteries, with more recent models using the new lithium polymer technology. Typical battery life for standard laptops is two to five hours for light-duty operations. Once you have chosen a particular model, read for reviews on that model, take a scrap paper, and note down end users' feedback on battery performance if you need to rely on battery more. This is the best way to learn about battery performance of any laptop model. You may not rely on Manufacturers' claims in this issue at least.



7.Networking and Connectivity: It is desirable for every modern laptop to have support for various connectivity interfaces like Ethernet Card, built-in 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth connectivity, and to have built in modem. Besides, a laptop that features Expansion Ports like USB 2.0 ports (minimum three in number recommended), DVI, RJ-45, RJ-11, and Cable Lock Slot etc. offers better flexibility in terms of its usage.



8.Built-in components: For laptops to be used for Internet access, browsing, online networking or communications, or for playing multimedia files, or for gaming purposes the one that comes with built-in stereo speakers with microphone, and a Webcam is a good choice. In particular Webcam is very essential for online communications.



9. Graphics Card: Besides, for avid gamers, or the individual who wants to run graphics applications, it is always the best option to select a model that incorporates NVIDIA or ATI graphics card.



10. Warranty: And finally, it is desirable to invest on a laptop model that come with a legitimate warranty coverage provided by the Manufacturer.



So, my conclusion is that instead of being trapped by feature-rich expensive models, try to address your needs at the first instance and try to keep a balance between your requirements and available features without exceeding the limit of your budget while purchasing a new laptop.

Custom Gaming Laptops - Five Things You Must Consider When Building a Gaming Laptop

Gone are the days when you would have been laughed at if you walked into an all-night LAN party carrying your trusty laptop and expecting to hang with the giant computer towers standing at everyone's feet. The gaming laptop computers of today sport huge, crisp LCD screens, cutting-edge video cards and full-size keyboards. Not only can these gaming laptop computers hang with the standard clunky computer tower, but they can also be ordered fully custom to meet the exact specifications of any gamer.



Since there are so many customizable components in these laptops, a standard practice has been to create what some call a "system builder." This is the page where you get to add and subtract components through drop-down menus in order to create the best gaming laptop computer for your needs and your budget. This type of page can be overwhelming to someone just starting the gaming laptop shopping process, but it is very manageable if you take it just one component at a time.



The Gaming Laptop GPU



This is the heart of a gaming laptop computer. The GPU (graphics processing unit) is a component that will make or break your gaming experience. If your GPU isn't up to snuff, your games won't play.



Without getting into specific models since they change all the time, the key is that the graphics card not share resources with the computer. A gaming laptop video card must have its own memory on board. Generally speaking, standard off-the-shelf laptops will not have this feature. The two current makers of laptop video cards are nVIDIA and ATI.



Without the Screen, You Don't Have Much



What good is a gaming laptop without a screen that can actually render your games? Now certainly, you can connect an external monitor, but if you can't actually play on your gaming laptop without that external monitor, then your laptop isn't all that mobile.



While the technology and terminology for LCDs (liquid crystal displays) could take up an entire article in itself, there are a few key points to keep in mind when choosing from available LCD options for your new gaming laptop computer: native resolution, aspect ratio, rise and fall time, contrast, viewing angle, and size.



Native Resolution. The native resolution is simply the setting at which your screen will render the clearest images. Since games are constantly in motion, slightly soft edges may not bother most gamers, but keep in mind that while this is your gaming laptop, you will likely also use it for other things like surfing the Internet. If the resolution isn't comfortable, you aren't going to enjoy using it.



Aspect Ratio. As you probably know, a movie theater screen and a TV screen have different proportions. Likewise, there are widescreen format gaming laptops and there are laptops that have a standard aspect ratio -- like that of a TV. A widescreen format gaming laptop (a 16:10 ratio) has advantages and disadvantages. Many games today do not have a widescreen mode. This means that the game may stretch across the screen and become distorted or you may run it with black bars that fill in the sides. There are ways to get around this, but if you want an out of the box perfect experience, the widescreen format may not be for you.



That said, a widescreen LCD does offer plenty of screen real estate for web surfing and other type of computer activities, and a game played in a wide format setting offers an expansive field of view. For this reason, there are some very loyal widescreen-loving gamers out there.



Do your best to find a balance between current and future technology and what your computer habits are beyond gaming. Even with its limitations, the widescreen format is found on most of the best gaming laptop computers.



Rise and Fall. The phrase 'rise and fall time' is used to describe how fast the LCD can respond to changes. In the past, LCDs have been plagued with the inability to render images as fast as computer games can spit them out. This presents a major problem for laptop gamers because if they can't see the images properly, they can't play the game properly. This lag can mean the difference between playing to win and barely playing.



Fortunately, gaming laptop LCDs have come a long way and they are only getting better. While once it was impossible to game on a laptop screen, the gaming laptop LCDs of today offer 25 milliseconds or less rise and fall time while generally off-the-shelf laptops have 40 milliseconds or less rise and fall time.



Contrast. If a gaming laptop LCD has poor contrast, that means that the black areas aren't quite as black as they should be and the white areas aren't quite as white. This is important to a laptop gamer because you have to see the game properly -- as it was intended to be seen -- in order to compete effectively. Look for a contrast ratio of 400:1 or higher in a custom gaming laptop computer.



Viewing Angle. This is an often-overlooked LCD feature, but it must be considered if you are building a gaming laptop computer. Many high quality LCDs on the market are difficult to see clearly at any angle other than straight on and at the right height. This can be a big drawback to gaming on a LCD screen because a screen with poor viewing angles won't allow others to watch the screen as you play and also hurts your view when doing something as simple as adjusting your seating, which can require you to then adjust to position of your laptop screen to see it properly again.



But gaming on a laptop does not mean that you are doomed to have poor viewing angles. There are LCDs on the market that have amazing viewing angles -- up to 120 degrees. These screens not only allow gaming onlookers, but they also allow you to use that giant, crisp screen to do things like play movies and even make presentations.



Size. In a gaming laptop computer, size is everything. Most gaming laptops are large, robust pieces of electronics. Having a machine of this stature means you also get to have a large screen. The best gaming laptop computer LCD screens out there are at least 15 inches. A crowd favorite is a 17 inch widescreen (even with the challenges that widescreens present). Largr 19 inch laptop screens are just starting to be talked about with consumers expecting to see 19 inch or even large models on the market in the near future.



The best way to really get a feel for what laptop LCDs are all about is to take a trip to a local box store and play with the LCDs on the display laptops while keeping in mind what you have read here. While these laptops are not custom gaming laptops, you can see what the sizes really look like, what different resolutions look like, and what the viewing angles truly are so you can start to develop your own preferences.



The RAM - What Type and How Much?



The RAM (random access memory) found in laptops is called SODIMM (small outline dual inline memory module). The RAM is responsible for your processing power. If you are shopping for a custom gaming laptop, you will generally be offered DDR2 RAM with the choice of how much you want in your computer. Most high-end games being released today need 1GB of RAM for optimum, lag-free game play. Some people are going with 2GB to ensure that they can run multiple applications along with the game and not experience any slow down in response time. This is a large investment and you want to be able to use this gaming laptop for some time in the future. Most custom laptops are user upgradeable, but this should be left up to professionals.



The CPU - Not Just Mobile Technology



The CPUs (central processing units) found in many custom gaming laptops are identical to those found in desktops. These chips require a great deal of cooling power, which in turn can make your laptop louder than light weight, lower power ultra portables when the fans kick on and it can become somewhat warm to the touch. Don't be alarmed by this -- it is normal. And with these desktop processors comes screaming power! Don't waste your money on the latest CPU release that likely has an inflated price tag (and that price will likely come down before long). Stick with a current CPU speed that is offered by a reputable custom gaming laptop reseller, and you really can't go wrong.



The Gaming Laptop Hard Drive



This is the final component to consider when building a gaming laptop. Laptop hard drives come in a variety of speeds and capacities ranging from 4200 to 7200 RPMs and 40 to over 100 GBs. For the most part, this is user preference. Whenever possible, go for a 7200 RPM hard drive, but if you need a capacity not offered in this speed, it's okay to go for the 5400 RPM drive. Take a look at your current computer, and buy your capacity based on this. Also keep in mind that with many custom gaming laptop manufacturers, you have the ability to upgrade or add another hard drive at a later date.



At the end of the day, gaming laptop computers are all about power. Don't expect a twelve-pound notebook with a desktop processor, numerous fans, a giant heatsink, and independent video card to last on battery power all that long. But do make sure to enjoy the jawdrops that you'll get as you walk into your regular LAN party location with your new, screaming-fast gaming laptop computer. Crack that puppy open, fire it up, and stand clear of the drool as you take on your favorite game with fellow gamers gathered around to take in the action. Gaming is not just for desktops anymore!