Laptop lowdown: 25 things you need to know to buy the perfect notebook

As components keep improving, today's powerful laptops can go keyboard to keyboard with many full-size desktops. This may be good news for buyers, but it complicates the selection process.

Sure, you want bleeding-edge technology, but what about price? How big a screen can you get without giving up on portability? What types of ports do you need, and how many are enough? And what about RAM?

These are just some of the questions you'll need to answer before you start shopping. To help, we've assembled this buyer's guide of things you need to consider when choosing a mobile PC.

Choose your form factor

Notebooks are broken down into five categories by weight, with some overlap: netbooks (usually less than 1.5kg), ultraportables (less than 2 kilograms), thin-and-lights (2 to 4 kilograms), mainstream models (3 to 5 kilograms), and desktop replacements (more than 5 kilograms).

Netbooks are tiny and have taken the world by storm. Started by Asus' Eee PC, there's now a variety available, mostly with 8.9- or 10-inch screens (although some 11- and 12-inch versions exist). Performance is relatively low, as they're intended for general internet access and word processing, and not much else. Keyboards can be cramped, so we'd suggest looking at the 10-inch versions for greater comfort. They're generally intended as a second laptop you can cart about anywhere in the name of keeping you connected. Make sure you get one with Windows XP — they are simply not powerful enough to effectively run Vista.

Ultraportables excel for frequent fliers and business types. Screen sizes are small — usually 10 to 12 inches — and their keyboards petite. Also, to make these machines so small, features such as internal optical drives, large and fast hard drives, and extra ports are frequently absent, although this has improved in recent times. They generally offer markedly superior performance to netbooks, but do so at an extreme price.

A balance between size, battery life and power, thin-and-light laptops tend to be the perfect fit for both students and business users — although this category is now split between performance and low-end models. Their larger screens — 13 to 15 inches — and roomier keyboards make them more comfortable than ultraportables for longer computing sessions. The MacBook Air personifies the performance side of this category, even if it is feature-light compared to its competitors.

The second set of thin-and-lights has arrived thanks to the existence of Intel's CULV (Consumer Ultra Low Voltage) chip. These can be up to half the price of the high-end thin-and-light laptops, but still just as thin; such as MSI's X-Slim, or Acer's Timeline Series. The savings come at the cost of performance though — a user will need to have more modest needs to deal with these. They will not, for example, play back high-definition Flash video on YouTube — they simply don't have enough grunt. If all you do is browse online and use Microsoft Office but can't stand the tiny size of netbooks, a CULV thin-and-light may be for you.

The ultraportable and thin-and-light categories seem to be merging slowly as technology progresses, with efforts such as Toshiba's R600 and Lenovo's X301 bringing a remarkable array of features, but still in a thin form factor. We expect the lines between netbook, ultraportable and thin-and-light to become even blurrier in the future, as computers get thinner and faster.

Mainstream laptops are like budget desktops: they're good for general tasks but won't win any contests for their performance or features. Though they don't qualify as thin or light, they still offer some portability. With 14-inch or larger screens, a standard selection of ports, and big keyboards, they're suitable for everyday use.

If you want desktop power, you need a desktop replacement. With screen sizes of 15 to 17 inches, travel weights as heavy as six kilos, and average battery life of less than three hours, these behemoths are not for people on the go. They can accommodate a wide range of performance parts, however, and are just right for power users of all kinds.

(Credit: Intel)

The CPU and you

When it comes to processors, go with the fastest you can afford, regardless of the notebook's form factor. You have a lot of options, so here are the basics.

High Performance

Intel Core 2 Duo
Currently the fastest chip in the mobile space. Part of the latest Centrino 2 line (code-named "Montevina"), it offers speed while enabling great battery life. It's important to note that Centrino is not a CPU, but a certification. A combination of Intel's wireless N technology, gigabit Ethernet, and the latest Core 2 Duo processors make up the Centrino 2 spec.

Mobile quad core chips are available under the Core 2 line in the form of the Q9000, Q9100 and QX9300, although keep an eye out — a number of quad core laptops are actually using desktop CPUs.

AMD Turion X2
AMD's mobile processors are generally more affordable than Intel's, but they usually lag behind Intel's in performance. It remains to be seen if future CPUs will return the company to competitive performance.

Desktop CPUs
Some laptops contain a desktop processor from either Intel or AMD rather than a mobile one. Desktop CPUs come in a broad range of speeds and prices, but they aren't designed for mobility, so they run hotter and guzzle battery juice.

Moderate Performance

Intel Pentium and Celeron; AMD Athlon X2 and Sempron
These are low performance machines that tend to be used in sub-AU$1000, 14 to 15-inch laptops, primarily to keep the cost down. If you're on a strict budget and have modest needs, these may do the job for you.

Low power, low performance

Intel Atom, Via Nano, AMD Neo
These tend to be used in the 8.9 to 13-inch space, in laptops often incorrectly termed "netbooks" — a phrase which is actually reserved for laptops featuring Intel's Atom CPU up to 10-inches in size. Nonetheless all are very low power, very low performance chips, best suited to basic internet and office tasks. Their primary mission is to keep devices tiny and portable, and as such make great secondary or travel laptops.

The Neo is the standout here — its performance is somewhere between that of an Atom and a moderate performance laptop, although at this point in time can only be found in HP's Pavilion dv2.

Low power, low to mid range performance

CULV (Consumer Ultra Low Voltage)

A new brand to the market is CULV. Just like Centrino, this is not a processor. Rather, it's an umbrella term for Pentium, Celeron and Core 2 CPUs that are low power, enabling very thin, but affordable laptops, and is most likely to occupy the 13 to 16-inch space. Right now it's mostly positioned against AMD's Neo, but as time goes on will likely increase in scope.

A word about widescreens

The majority of notebooks sold these days are widescreen notebooks, which have an aspect ratio of 16:10, offering larger, sharper and all-around better images than their 4:3 standard-screen cousins. Laptops are very quickly moving to 16:9 though; this is usually accompanied by an even screen size (10- 12-, 14-, 16-, 18-inch), and is the same ratio as your TV uses. They're great for watching DVDs, of course, but they also allow you to have two documents or web pages open side-by-side. A spacious 17-inch widescreen laptop is a nice luxury if you're not planning on travelling with it.

The (not-so) great outdoors

Sunlight is not ideal for computing — specifically, for seeing the screen. If you want to work outdoors, you have options, but most consumer models have what are known as transmissive screens. These screens are lit from behind, and despite what you've seen in the commercials, they're virtually invisible on a bright, sunny day. Reflective LCDs, which light the screen's pixels from the front and reflect polarised light from the environment, are much better for outdoor work, but their screens look dim indoors. What's more, they're mostly reserved for vertical-market notebook models and are pretty tough to come by. It doesn't help that most consumer laptops these days come with glossy screens, making reflections a pain! If you're going to be working outdoors, make sure there's a matte option for your screen.

(Credit: Corsair)

Mind your memory

Having enough memory is vital to system performance, and lots of RAM lets you run more applications simultaneously. Sufficient RAM is also necessary for graphics work, image editing and video editing, and crucial for 3D gaming. This is especially true in notebooks, because notebook graphics processors frequently have little or no memory of their own and share the main system RAM.

Adding RAM is an easy way to boost performance, but first make sure the notebook's memory sockets are accessible. (They're usually under a panel on the bottom of the system.) Here's an easy way to determine how much you need:

512MB: generally fine if you're running a Linux variant on something small like an Eee PC, but really, this is far too little for today's uses.

1GB: adequate for running a number of programs at once, photo editing and basic 3D gaming. Also the minimum required to run Vista, but we wouldn't recommend it. If you've got this much RAM, you should be running Windows XP.

2GB or more: recommended! Good for 3D gaming, graphics work and video editing, and will definitely give Vista a kick along. 2GB is a nice safe bet in terms of giving your laptop the flexibility it needs. If you hit the 4GB point, you'll need to run a 64-bit operating system to take advantage of all of the memory — a 32-bit one won't be able to access it all.

(Luminous Keyboard 1 image
by nintaro, royalty free)

Finger fitting

As notebooks shrink in size, so do their keyboards. If possible, try some simple typing exercises before you buy. The smaller the keyboard, the more creative the vendor may have gotten with key size and placement. Pay particular attention to the space bar, Shift, Ctrl and Backspace/Delete keys. Be sure all are in a good location for your hand size and typing style.

Touchy, touchy

Computing today relies a lot on mousing. With a notebook, all you get is a touch pad or pointing stick. Unless you plan on travelling with a mouse, test the notebook's input device for comfort and responsiveness. Some touch pads include extra features, such as a dedicated area for scrolling. We've never been big fans of those little pointing sticks tucked in the middle of the keyboard, because precision is tough and the little nubs wear off, requiring replacement.

Vying for video RAM

If you're not planning on doing much graphics work or playing 3D games, shared memory should be fine. But if you have a choice, aim for a graphics chipset that shares at least 256MB of system memory. You may not find it in an ultraportable, but other notebook types may offer more robust graphics chipsets. In fact, some high-end notebooks have discrete graphics subsystems with dedicated high-speed video memory. If gaming or intensive graphics work is on the agenda, look for 256MB or 512MB of dedicated memory.

(Credit: PCMCIA)

A slot for all reasons

Like a PCI slot in a desktop, an ExpressCard slot provides expansion opportunities. Additional USB, FireWire, SATA and Ethernet ports, sound cards, wireless cards and TV tuners are all available in ExpressCard format. It comes in two sizes — 54 and 34, representing how many millimetres wide they are. Both sizes end in a 34mm connection, with the 54mm end of the bigger card used to store extra circuitry. As such, an ExpressCard 34 will fit in a 54 slot, but not vice versa.

Business laptops are still using the older PC Card (or PCMCIA) instead of ExpressCard, and there are still more peripherals available through PC Card than ExpressCard. PC Cards and slots come in three sizes: Type I, II and III. Type I cards are normally used for memory, Type II for input/output devices, and Type III for mass storage and firewalls.

Get connected

Ports, especially USB and FireWire, are necessities, but on notebooks they're usually in short supply. At a minimum, look for two USB ports, and if you have any legacy devices, such as parallel printers, look for those ports, too. If you'd like to use a digital camcorder with your notebook, make sure the notebook has a FireWire (IEEE 1394) port. Connecting a monitor will require a VGA port at minimum (if you'll be giving presentations, a VGA port is also where you'll connect a projector), but for extra image quality look for a DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort connector in addition to this. If you want to output video to an older television, find a notebook with an S-Video out. A lot of PC laptops these days also have a combined USB and eSATA port — eSATA allows faster connections to external hard drives, providing your external hard drive supports it.

Go wireless

Integrated wireless networking (Wi-Fi) has become an indispensable feature. Most notebooks ship with a variant of 802.11n these days, although some (such as netbooks) still use 802.11g. Public hotspots typically use 802.11g, which fortunately 802.11n is backwards compatible with as well as 802.11b. If your notebook supports the Centrino 2 standard, you've definitely got 802.11n support.

Power without the plug

Lithium-ion batteries have all but replaced nickel-cadmiums because they're lighter, have a higher energy density, and don't suffer from recharge-inhibiting memory effect. So-called "smart" Lithium-ions give feedback to the laptop about their remaining power, so the computer can conserve as necessary.

Two more specs to look for in laptop batteries are capacity (measured in milliamp hours, or mAh), and the number of cells. Typical batteries have a mAh rating between 2000mAh and 6000mAh; higher is better. Cells are the actual compartments where power is produced and can range from four to 12; the more the better — although keep in mind this may cause the battery pack to stick out from your laptop in potentially awkward positions.

(Credit: Intel)

What's in a name?

Intel loves its code-names. In the mobile arena, the company's Centrino 2 mobile technology tops the list. The current Centrino 2 platform, which arrived mid 2008, combines Intel's Pentium Core 2 Duo CPU, Intel 4 series chipset (GM45, PM45, GM47, GS45, GL40), and the Intel WiFi Link 5100 or 5300 chip. A notebook must have all three parts to be a Centrino 2 notebook. You might see stickers claiming the laptop is a "Centrino 2 vPro" model — this simply means it supports Intel's vPro on top of the usual specs, a remote access tool generally only required by businesses.

The Calpella platform, due in Q3 2009, updates Centrino once more, introducing new CPUs (which move the memory controller to the CPU for better performance), support for faster RAM, and will see some laptops move to quad-core.