Laptop is a portable personal computer that is of a size that it can sit on your lap, and now a laptop was not a luxurious gadget. A laptop is an intimate for a pesrson who has high mobilites and even be a lifestyle.
But there are persons confused when they want to buy a new laptop casued there are many kinds, brands, spessifications, and various of prices, they need a laptop buying guide
To choose the right laptop you'll need to figure out how you'll want to use your laptop. Match your needs to one of these :
Multimedia
Laptop will demand a powerful processor, plenty of memory, great graphics, and a healthy hard drive, with features :
Processor : AMD Turion 64 X2, Intel Core 2 Duo, or Intel Core 2 Extreme
Random Acces Memori (RAM) : At least 2 GB
Display : 15,4 inch or higher
Operating System : Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate, or Apple Mac OS X
Graphics : Advanced graphics card with 256MB or 512MB of its own memory or dual SLI graphics
Home User
A Laptop for this user can offer similar performance and features to those of a desktop PC and can be easily moved from room to room. There are two types of laptops most suitable for home users: midsize notebooks, which tend to be budget-friendly, and desktop replacements, which are usually packed with features :
Processor : AMD Turion 64 X2, Intel Core 2 Duo, or Intel Core 2 Extreme
RAM : At least 2 GB
Display : 15,4inch
Operating System : Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate
Connection : Wired and wireless networking
Business
This user relies on the same laptop at work, at home, and on the road, he need a well-balanced system of the laptop. And it has to deliver the performance to keep up with a wide range of applications. A thin-and-light is just the ticket. A laptop for this user needs features
Processor : AMD Turion 64 X2 or Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM : At least 1 GB
Display : 14-inch or 15.4-inch
HDD : 120 GB
Operating System :Microsoft Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate
Connection : Wired and wireless networking
Frequent flier
The person who spend a lot of time on the road, size and weight are the two most critical factors in choosing a new laptop, even if it means sacrificing a little on performance and features of the laptop. The smallest and lightest laptop, ultraportables, weigh less than four pounds and are no thicker than a spiral-bound laptop, and need features
Processor : AMD Turion 64, AMD Turion 64 X2, Intel Core Solo, or Intel Core Duo
Memory : At least 1 GB
Display : 13.3 inch or smaller
Connection : Wired and wireless networking
Student
A laptop for students must be small and light enough to lug back and forth across campus but rugged enough to withstand bouncing around in a backpack, and has features
Processor : AMD Turion 64, AMD Turion 64 X2, Intel Core Solo, or Intel Core Duo
Memory : At least 1 GB
Display : 13.3 inch or smaller
Connection : Wired and wireless networking for network-equipped classrooms and dorm rooms
Laptops come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, each with its own set of pros and cons. While the smallest laptops are the most portable (and often the coolest-looking), they also have smaller keyboards and displays, fewer features, and slower performance than their bulkier brethren. Conversely, more full-featured laptops are generally more difficult to carry and take up more space on your desk and in your bag.Until they make the perfect laptop, you'll have to sacrifice something, so think about what's most important to you--computing power, a complete set of features, long battery life, good looks, a small form factor, or a low price. Take a look below to learn more about what each type of laptop has to offer.
Ultraportable
The smallest, most lightweight laptops are called ultraportables. Their compact form factor is crucial for people who need to have their PC with them all the time, especially frequent business travelers. What you gain in portability, however, you usually give up in terms of weaker performance, smaller keyboards and displays, and fewer features. And what's more, ultraportable laptops almost always carry a premium price tag. Still, a compact, lightweight profile can make all the difference if you spend a lot of time on the road.
Weight: 4 pounds or less
Size: Less than 1 inch thick
Display: Smaller than 14 inches (diagonal)
Processor: Slower, low-voltage mobile processors, some dual-core CPUs
Features: Fewer ports and connections, 60GB to 120GB hard drive
Networking: LAN, modem, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (optional), WWAN (optional)
Other things to note: Small keyboard and touch pad; may lack an internal optical drive
Price range: Start at $1,100; fully loaded $2,000 and up
Thin-and-light
A thin-and-light offers the optimal combination of portability, performance, features, and cost. Power-tuned mobile processors deliver enough power to keep you working smoothly, and unlike ultraportables, most thin-and-lights have a more reasonably sized keyboard and display, a larger hard drive, and a built-in optical drive. Yes, they're more expensive than slightly larger, heavier midsize laptops, but if you need maximum productivity in a portable package, this is the best choice.
Weight: 4 to 6 pounds
Size: Approximately 1 inch thick
Display: 12 to 14 inches (diagonal), probably wide screen
Processor: Midrange-to-fast dual-core processors
Features: Most ports and connections, 80GB to 120GB hard drive, optical drive
Networking: LAN, modem, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (optional), WWAN (optional)
Other things to note: Small keyboard and touch pad
Price range: Start at $800; fully loaded $1,500 and up
Midsize
Not all midsize laptops are inexpensive, but most inexpensive laptops are midsize. Why? Whereas a desktop replacement is designed to deliver high performance and a thin-and-light is optimized for portability, the typical midsize laptop isn't specialized. Rather, a midsize laptop gives you everything you need for basic computing (word processing, storing digital photos), home entertainment (burning CDs, watching DVDs), and online communication (e-mail and Web surfing). Slightly smaller than desktop replacements and with limited battery life, midsize laptops aren't particularly well suited for regular travel.
Weight: 6 to 8 pounds Size: More than 1 inch thick
Display: 14 to 15.4 inches (diagonal), possibly wide screen
Processor: Slow/budget AMD Sempron or Intel Celeron, midrange AMD Turion 64 or Intel Core Duo, or fast Turion 64 X2 or Core 2 Duo processors
Features: Most ports and connections; 60GB to 100GB hard drive; DVD burner; memory card reader; decent software package
Networking: LAN, modem, Wi-Fi
Other things to note: May be less attractively designed; may suffer from mediocre performance and battery life
Price range: Start at $500; fully loaded $900 and up
Desktop replacement
The largest and heaviest type of laptop, desktop replacements are designed to deliver the power and features you'd get from a desktop PC. Too bulky for anything but room-to-room travel within a house or an office, desktop replacements typically offer the best performance, the largest screens and keyboards, and the most complete set of features available on a laptop. Popular among home and business users, these systems can deliver enough computing muscle for serious gaming, multimedia authoring, and even high-level digital audio and video work.
Weight: 7.5 pounds or more
Size: More than 1 inch thick
Display: 17 to 20 inches (diagonal)
Processor: Fast dual-core processors
Features: Wide array of ports and connections,80GB to 240GB hard drive space, double-layer DVD burner
Networking: LAN, modem, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (optional)
Other things to note: Large keyboard, separate number pad, large touch pad,batteries not designed for lengthy mobile use.
Price range: Start at $1,000; fully loaded $1,500 and up
Tablet PC
Usually comparable in size and weight to ultraportable or thin-and-light laptops, tablets let you take handwritten notes and navigate menus, documents, and Web pages using a stylus directly on the screen. The most common type is the convertible tablet, which looks much like traditional a laptop but has a display that swivels 180 degrees and folds flat over the keyboard. (Some manufacturers are incorporating this type of tablet functionality into larger midsize and thin-and-light laptops.) Slate tablets, on the other hand, lack keyboards--they're all screen. The smallest tablets, ultramobile PCs, bridge the gap between PDA and ultraportable, with 7-inch touch-screen displays and enhanced media player features. Once only the tool of specialized industries, tablets are gaining a wider audience, thanks to their portability, flexibility, and wow factor.
Weight: Usually 4 pounds or less, with some slates weighing as little as 2 pounds; UMPCs weigh less than 2 pounds; some larger laptops incorporate tablet functionality
Size: Less than 1 inch thick
Display: 12 inches (diagonal) or smaller digitized display Processor: Moderate mobile processors
Features: Fewer ports and connections; 30GB to 60GB hard drive
Other things to note: Microsoft Windows Vista OS; handwriting recognition softwarePrice range: Start at $1,000; superior models go for closer to $2,000Networking: LAN, modem, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (optional), WWAN (optional)
Laptop specs vary widely depending on what you need to get out of your portable computer. Manufacturers make trade offs slower processors allow for smaller batteries, for instance so it's important to know what you'll have to sacrifice to get the notebook of your dreams. Many vendors offer configuration choices when you buy your notebook. We've broken out the most important specs so that you understand your choices.
Processor
Sometimes referred to as the CPU,or central processing unit, the processor is the brains of the laptop. It's the most important chip in a laptop, and it has power management features that extend battery life. Laptop use a variety of processor types depending on their focus. All vendors of laptops usualy provides a series of laptop with various processor like Intel, AMD, MAC, and others.
Memory
Every laptopcomes with a certain amount of physical memory, usually referred to as main memory or RAM (random-access memory). laptops store currently running applications and data in this area. To find out how much memory you'll need, take into account your operating system and the applications that you plan to use. A general rule of thumb: You'll want at least 1GB (though 2GB is preferable) for Windows Vista or Mac OS X and 512MB for all other Windows and Mac operating systems.If you're planning to hang on to your notebook for a long time, look for a laptop with easy-to-access memory slots, as memory is typically one of the first specs you'll want to upgrade.
Display size
Laptops ship with thin, liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), unlike traditional desktop CRT (cathode-ray tube) monitors. Laptop LCDs range in size from 10.6 inches (diagonal) to 20 inches, display size is a key factor in the laptop's overall weight. For comfortable viewing at the preferred Windows resolution of 1,024x768, most people like 14.1-inch or larger LCDs.
Laptop LCDs once varied widely in brightness, color, and sharpness, but today, you'll find much better quality across the board. Unfortunately, when it comes to LCDs, the specs reveal little about actual picture quality, so if you're picky about screens, compare some at your local dealer. The latest in Laptop display technology incorporates LED backlights; currently found on only a few models, backlit LED displays can be brighter, thinner, less power hungry and more expensive than traditional LCDs.
To choose a right laptop, First decide how big of a hard drive you need, this will depend on how much data you store. After that, determine what you'll use your laptop for. Will you be tackling the most basic computing tasks, or do you plan to make your own DVD movies?
Hard drive
A laptop hard drive removed from the system.This magnetic disk provides you with space to save programs and files indefinitely or at least for the life of the drive. Laptop hard drives can provide up to 120GB of storage some laptops incorporate two 120GB drives for extra storage space but these giant drives cost hundreds of dollars more than the default 60GB to 80GB notebook drives. The 60GB to 80GB drive should be sufficient, unless you store lots of music and movies or tons of pictures. Be warned that capacity alone does not make a good hard drive. The hard disk's rotational speed also makes a big difference a 7,200rpm laptop disk delivers significantly faster performance than a 5,400rpm model. The faster the disk spins, the better your laptop will perform overall, though a faster disk will also shorten your laptop's battery life.
CD and DVD drives
Nearly all laptops, even budget systems, include a CD-RW/DVD drive (either built in to the laptop or external and connected via USB) for burning discs and watching movies on the road. DVD burners, which let you store large amounts of information on one disc, are also commonplace, double-layer DVD burners can pack even more data on a single disc. But unless you need to store huge files, such as movies, you may not need these more expensive DVD-RW drives.Swappable vs. fixed
The least expensive laptops come with fixed (built-in) drives. In other words, if you buy your laptop with a fixed DVD-ROM, you're stuck with that drive. A swappable drive bay, on the other hand, gives you optimum flexibility. For instance, you can pull out the DVD-ROM drive and swap in a combo DVD/CD-RW drive or even a second battery. We recommend going with a swappable bay if you can afford it. Keep in mind, however, that the smallest and lightest ultraportable notebooks may include neither fixed nor swappable optical drives, relying instead on external drives that connect via USB.
External drives
External drives storage and media-burning options that hook up to your laptopvia cable come in many shapes and sizes. Most of these drives connect to your notebook via a USB or FireWire cable. Drive choices include DVD/CD-RW, DVD-RW, hard drive, and others. There are also smaller external drives, called thumbdrives, that plug directly into your USB connector sans cable. These little drives are brilliant for transferring small amounts of data between notebooks or between notebooks and PCs, and they're much more convenient than burning data onto CD. Many notebook users don't need external drives, but there are scenarios that require them. For instance, if you buy a tiny ultraportable that lacks a built-in CD-ROM drive, determine whether you'll need an external one to load software or read data discs.
To send and receive e-mail, browse the Web, and share files or printers, your laptop must be able to connect to a network or the Internet. This is usually done via a modem, an Ethernet hookup, or a wireless connection (either WLAN or WWAN). But your notebook has additional connectivity needs, too. Notebooks include a variety of ports, or connectors that physically link to and communicate with different kinds of equipment, including digital cameras and external monitors. If you can't find the port you want, you can usually buy a port replicator or a docking station that adds connectors. These notebook-expansion options tend to be pricey, however, so you're generally better off buying a notebook that has everything that you'll need out of the box. Find out about each type of connection below.
PC Cards and Express
CardsThe PC Card, a credit card-shaped device that plugs into a slot on your notebook, can provide a number of connection types--modems, USB connections (say, for your digital camcorder), and wireless WAN radios are all available in PC Card form. PC Cards are handy because they're easy to upgrade and because you can buy third-party PC Card solutions after you purchase your notebooks. However, most notebooks come with only one or two Type II PC Card slots, forcing you to limit the number of PC Cards you can add.
ExpressCards are the next generation of the PC Card. Smaller than existing PC Cards, ExpressCards promise data-transfer rates that are twice as fast, which means the cards can be used for high-bandwidth interfaces, such as Gigabit Ethernet ports and HDTV tuners. The standard is still relatively new, so there aren't many ExpressCard modules on the market today; however, most current laptops include an ExpressCard slot for future use. If you know you'll want to add some of these high-bandwidth functions to your laptop after you buy it, consider a system that supports the new standard.
Networking options
Though the standard is being phased out, most notebooks still come with a 56Kbps-modem (RJ-11) connection, and virtually all include Ethernet (RJ-45) or even faster Gigabit Ethernet connections. Almost all notebooks also include built-in antennas for wireless networking (802.11, or Wi-Fi) so that you can access wireless hot spots.
If your travels regularly take you beyond the reach of Wi-Fi hot spots, you may want to consider spending a little extra for a notebook with a built-in WWAN card. These systems let you tap in to a cellular provider's data network. They can be incredibly useful when connectivity is spotty, but the technology has its downsides: data plans still tend to be pricey; throughput speeds, while improving, are still slower than most high-speed Internet; and your built-in cellular card can work with only one cellular provider.
Depending on the model you choose, you may also have the option (often for an additional cost) of ordering a Bluetooth adapter in your laptop. This will let you connect your laptop to other Bluetooth-enabled devices (such as a printer, a cell phone, or a PDA) that are in close range.
