Tiny, tinny sound
Notebooks are notorious for having terrible speakers. Our recommendation: Get a good set of headphones, or a stereo or three-piece speaker set.
A lot of laptops these days are including some version of Dolby surround, or attempt to emulate surround sound using just the two speakers included. It's generally better than the standard sound, but not magnificently so. If you want real surround sound, either find a laptop with optical audio out (usually desktop replacements), or if you've got an ExpressCard slot you can add in Creative's X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook, with optional Speaker Docking Module for up to 7.1 sound.
It's not just size that matters
If you ignore the tiny flash based drives that come in at 4GB, notebook hard drives tend to start at the 120GB point these days, although you can find smaller. Form factor may restrict your options, but if possible, go for at least 160GB if you'll be storing lots of image or music files -- currently 320GB is the highest available capacity for notebook drives. Capacity isn't the only issue. If you have a choice, select a drive with a rotational speed of at least 5,400rpm, with 7,200rpm even better. The faster it spins, the faster you'll get your files.
Modern conveniences
Some common desktop features have made their way into notebooks. Quick-launch keys are a perfect example. You can often program these buttons to launch your favourite apps, turn on your wireless radio, or switch to a power-saving mode. A few of our other favourite luxuries are built-in TV tuners, and, for photo junkies, multiformat memory-card readers.
Turn on, tune out -- instantly
Want to listen to music or watch a DVD without having to wait for your notebook to power up? An instant-on feature lets you do just that, so you can get right down to, um, business, without the boot time. Plus, going this route usually helps extend battery life. Although this isn't a necessary feature, it can come in handy on long flights.
Connect the docks
A docking station quickly turns your notebook into a desktop. You connect your peripherals (monitor, keyboard, mouse, and serial devices) to the dock, which stays at your desk. Simply attach the notebook to the dock, and you instantly get the conveniences of a desktop without having to unplug everything when it's time to go. Most manufacturers offer docks designed to go with their notebooks, while third party docks such as the Logitech Alto Cordless and Belkin High Speed Docking Station are also available.
Another advantage of a docking station is its inclusion of legacy ports many newer notebooks leave out, such as parallel, serial, and PS/2 ports. If you don't need all the features of a dock, but could still use the extra connectivity, check whether the notebook maker offers a port replicator, which is basically a pared-down version of a dock.
When good notebooks go bad
Every notebook is susceptible to accidents and system failures. We recommend paying for a good three-year warranty with express service. If you can afford it, get coverage for damage caused by spills, drops, electrical surges, or any other accident.
Essential accessories
When pricing a notebook, set aside cash for important extras. These include a laptop bag, an extra battery, a mouse and keyboard, and software for office work, Internet security, and system maintenance. You may even want to consider an external hard drive for backup.
What's it made of?
Most laptop cases are still made from molded plastic, but you can find some encased in metal, which dissipates heat better. Look for models made from light, strong metal alloys. If you're in the market for a desktop replacement, check that the case has adequate ventilation for the powerful (and hot-running) components inside.
Fixed or swappable
Less-expensive notebooks have fixed drives, meaning the optical and hard drives can't be removed. Some, though, have a swappable-drive bay, letting you change out an optical drive for a hard drive or extra battery -- or just a spacer module so you can shed some travel weight.
Are you the Tablet type?
Comparable in size and weight to ultraportable notebooks, Tablet PCs occupy a different niche. They're available in two basic designs: convertibles, which have displays that swivel and fold flat facing outwards, and slates, which have no attached keyboards (some slates offer optional wired or wireless keyboards). Current Tablet PCs work in tandem with Vista for navigating and entering data using a stylus. While these units used to be primarily used in specialised fields, such as health care, insurance, and real estate, sexier models with new software are slowly reaching a broader audience.
Going for the perfect drive
Optical drives of all kinds are available for laptops -- from basic CD-ROM units to Blu-ray/DVDÃ,±RW combos. We like DVDÃ,±RW drives for notebooks; they burn and play both DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray, being the winning high definition format over HD-DVD now represents a good choice in terms of investment, but is a bit expensive for now, and we'd recommend waiting until the price comes down unless you're an avid movie buff that doesn't mind watching on their PC.
Don't forget to shop for Apples
It's no secret Apple makes some phenomenal notebooks. If you're considering one, make sure all the specialty software apps you need to run are available for the Mac platform. Also, factor in what's required to incorporate your new Mac into your home network.
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Harpreet Singh
31/10/2006 02:32 PM
no matter what you choose from above recommendations. NEVER buy a ACER laptop. There customer service is worst among others
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wvonna
31/01/2007 02:19 PM
Your information is very resourceful for me. I knew quite a bit of this and that about laptop, and you just making it far better for me. Big thanks!!! Keep it up!
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Mr. Rum pig
12/02/2007 01:18 PM
Very helpful information, I work as an Info Officer so I'm always looking for information about computers I can regurgitate to others to make myself look smarter... But Harpreet Singh - you must have struck some bad luck pal, because I've had an Acer laptop for nearly three years now and it and the service have been pretty darn good. I had a wierd problem with it whereby the internal modem only worked on battery power. It was still under warrenty so I called customer support who advised me it would need to go to my local Acer dealer, which here in Cairns is Brilliant Technologies. They gave me the address and when I got there they already knew who I was and what was wrong with the laptop. I had to wait for a new motherboard and modem to arrive from down South but all up the repairs took about a week (anyone living in Cairns knows that's pretty quick all things considered) and I haven't had a hardware problem since. There was another wierd problem where MS Office wouldn't install because it reckoned the "installation source is corrupted" but this turned out to be a bad version of the Microsoft XML parser that was pre-installed on my machine, and probably thousands of others with Internet explorer 6 (good on ya Microsoft). I've got a brand new ASUS laptop at work which is an awesome machine, but it doesn't seem any faster than my nearly three year old Acer.
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jerrod
19/03/2007 02:52 PM
i recently purchased a Sony Vaio VGNSZ34GP. i thought that i had done my research, but not enough it seems. The unit shipped with a bundled software including Adobe Premiere Elements v4. Great - i thought that i could do a wedding project on site during the reception and present the happy couple with photos of their wedding on a DVD. Not so, after assembling photos, mp3 and putting captions, i was flabbergasted it would not burn a DVD!! Just at the very last stage!! i tried a few times saving the project and then burning it, it does not work on any standard DVD player [incorrect file format]. Too late!!! Apparently you need to burn as an image and then use Roxio to burn it again. As a consumer - should i need to put up with this?? If for any number of reasons the software does not detect Sony's DVD drive, and apparently i'm not the first - why bundled it?? This is OEM version - other than no documentation, box and even in this case disc/s - should not it work to the end?? It may be stripped of bells and whistles in full version but it should work all the way to the end where at a touch of a button [burn] the job gets done. Anyone knows of the same problem?
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Allison
29/04/2007 10:08 PM
in response to the comments about ACER computers...I have to agree with Harpreet Singh. They have dreadful telephone customer service. I had a real hassle with 2 repairs needed in the first year...under warranty luckily but I certainly wasn't a priority customer.
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caswell1515
30/04/2007 06:52 PM
dell or toshiba make the best laptops
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Tsage
07/05/2007 12:24 PM
the pointy stick is tough to use and imprecise? i beg your pardon. It is VERY precise and takes about a week to get used to. Hands down it beats any glide pad especially in a bumpy environment.
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saskia
09/05/2007 11:34 AM
thanks for all the infomation it has been really helpful...
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mark
10/05/2007 03:20 PM
information is good. can someone plz tell me which laptop is best if we compare toshiba and hp. thanks.
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Robby
10/05/2007 07:46 PM
information above really helping alot. but still waane know Hp or toshiba. or dell.plz help me out.
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deb
31/05/2007 12:07 PM
Excellent, information and not too technical advice - well done guys - still doesn't make buying a laptop for my 16 yo daughter easy - needs to do photos, music, etc and be fast. I'm not too much into these built in video cams which they all seem to have. Have a Toshiba, probably go with another of those
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b gates
11/08/2007 07:35 PM
excellent and easy to understand !!!! i'll be back.
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ibm t60
10/09/2007 05:39 PM
ibm t60 is like the best, really good performance and really portable, get the ibm t60
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katie
17/09/2007 07:43 PM
i've had fantastic help with my sisters acer, quick and helpful response. my Compaq however literally days out of warranty, they were rude and totally unhelpful, and when i searched (googled) my model i found out that my problem was very common (a specific battery/charging issue) however there help team seemed unaware of it. i do have to agree on the point though, customer service is a really important issue, finding out who's the best though can be very tough.
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Cal-gal
09/10/2007 07:29 AM
I'm looking for a very good laptop that may be good for both pleasure and business and is light enough for travel purposes. Though I have never used a MAC but was thinking about it until someone said that it cannot adapt any of the main accounting programs that Windows. Though not a major requirement, it is worth considering. Any recommendations for an overall great laptop that suits both business and pleasure?
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peripo
25/10/2007 06:59 PM
Thanks for the very helpful tips. That whole Centrino thing has had me confused for some time. I've had some really conflicting info on it in the past and Wifi is essential for me. As for my preferences. I'd recommend DELL any day for Windows platform and MacBook Intel for Mac and Windows. I've bought my kids Dell 6400s and they can organise their photo's, music, movies and games, as well as prepare assignments and homework with ease. We've had one occasion where we needed to get onto Dell for a problem and they couldn't be more helpful and friendly. (I've never needed support for Mac, but I'm sure it's good too.)
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dan-492
16/11/2007 01:55 PM
im 15 and need a laptop with good graphics/gaming/music properties but also easy assignment work. ive taken in all the stuff in the guide but im unsure what brand, etc. can anyone help?
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Steve
18/11/2007 01:06 PM
Great, detailed and informative writeup. However a futher breakdown on price would have been more primising.
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wolfbane375
15/12/2007 11:01 PM
hmmmm, since i want a gaming laptop, its ram has to be 2gb. .....aww now i gotta spend another 400 hundered, damn thx for the pre warning
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wolfbane375
15/12/2007 11:02 PM
hmmmm, since i want a gaming laptop, its ram has to be 2gb. .....aww now i gotta spend another 400 hundered, damn thx for the pre warning
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wolfbane375
15/12/2007 11:02 PM
hmmmm, since i want a gaming laptop, its ram has to be 2gb. .....aww now i gotta spend another 400 hundered, damn thx for the pre warning
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Mahesh VJ
23/01/2008 08:08 AM
Please mention on the GHz speed rating also. Will 1.4GHz processor speed be fine for a laptop. Please reply. Rest all information are really great
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dptango52
30/01/2008 12:36 PM
WHATEVER YOU DO...DON'T EVER BUY AN ACER. I have owned more computers than I can count and Acer is the WORST at coustomer service. They had my laptop registered to someone else so I could not even get a service repair number to get it fixed since I DID NOT EXIST. Awful computer company!
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SaurabhKumar
31/01/2008 12:20 AM
buy anything but ACER. worst laptop and customer service. total nightmare.
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Radic77
26/02/2008 04:54 PM
Can you tell me if the Toshiba Satellite A210/5D0 Notebook is a good buy it is $1098 (Aus) just wanted some input!
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gnawohcil
03/03/2008 01:53 PM
Very useful and helpful information! Will come back. Also, I have a same question of GHz speed, will 1.4 GHz be enough for business and study purpose? Please reply.
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Speed
06/03/2008 05:58 PM
The best gaming notebook ever is ASUS
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bradmaung
15/04/2008 06:54 PM
Hi Everyone, I'm thinking about buying a laptop and budget is 1500 to 2000. Anybody pls advice me which one to choose from of over populated market. I'm not into gaming but still studying full time. Longer battery life would be really good for me..cheers..
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Tom
18/04/2008 11:37 PM
I have had bad experience with acer too...
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PJ
29/05/2008 08:14 PM
Great info and comments all helpful, too. Really made techno-speak user-friendly. Thx
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Dette
12/06/2008 12:14 AM
Nearly purchased from Radio Rental (RENT NOT BUY) ACER laptop. Thanks for all your comments. Now I am all confused and don't know what to get. HELP
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Tony B
12/06/2008 12:43 AM
Toshiba is Good. One slight problem with a left speaker. Works sometimes... The place where I bought it from also replaced the screen... bright dots which was good. It was brand new out of the box when they replaced the screen. The keys squeak a bit especially the space bar at times. Lenovo is OK as well. The keyboard is much better than the toshiba. But the new models are improving all the time.
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Ali0947
03/07/2008 08:33 PM
Speed has always been my "Kep Performance Indicator". After spending 10 yrs of my life with laptops at home & work, i would rate acer the worst, followed by compaq, then Asus. Best buys to me is toshiba & dell. Dell in particular, as for me its the machine with fastest boot time and exceptional speed. So thumbs up for dell
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MikeB
05/07/2008 03:00 PM
NEVER EVER BUY ACER - my laptop has had 7 unsuccessful repairs - now they wont speak to me or return my calls - Im going to consumer affairs - THEY HAVE THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE IVE HAVE EVER KNOWN & CANT FIX THEIR OWN PRODUCT!! WHAT A JOKE!
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JJ
17/07/2008 02:32 AM
This was awsome and say if you were going to buy a labtop right./.which would you recommend Vista?..or Apple? i want an apple labtop but the mac book air doesnt have performance like the mac book pro..nd is the hp labtops better??
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w_place
17/07/2008 10:38 PM
My ACER is crap, had a new motherboard hard disk, optical drive and RAM. The problems went away for a little while, now it runs like a lawn mower(really slow) STAY AWAY
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mdmcoco
11/08/2008 07:07 PM
Don't ever,ever think of buying ACER. They said to replace my faulty laptop with "higher spec" but give me half of my laptop memory and claimed the processor is a better one. Come on Core2Duo is the same Core2Duo.
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Shamrocks
15/08/2008 12:14 PM
Thanks so much! that helps a lot! i bought a laptop a few years ago and it turned out to be a lemon! im in the market again and want to have all the available info before i buy this time! thanks!
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