Laptop computers, also called notebooks, give you the freedom to take your computer into different rooms and on the road.  Students, frequent travelers, and people looking for a small, portable second computer love these alternatives to desktop PCs and with today’s laptops, you do not have to worry about having a full performance computer because laptops are very comparable to the desktop PCs in regards to performance! 

Consider how you plan to use your laptop before you start shopping.  It should meet your personal needs as well as the system requirements set by your Internet service provider.

Laptops for home Users
Do you want a computer for the house that you can take with you from room to room?  Maybe you are looking for a second home computer.  Do you want to email, surf the Internet, and do some simple photo editing.  Then you need to be looking for a bargain laptop or desktop replacement.  Your laptop will need to have at least an 800 MHz processor and 256MB RAM installed.  If you have a wireless home network, you will want to make sure it includes the built-in Wi-Fi. 

Laptops for students
Students will want a lightweight computer that can be carried from the classroom to the library.  As a starting point, find out which platform the school prefers and supports.  Some universities do not care what kind of computer you have.  While others will provide you with a very specific list of system requirements.  If your school does not have specific recommendations, look for an ultraportable or thin-and-light laptop. 

The laptop should be equipped with the Following:

1. Processor in the Pentium-M family. 
2. Comes with built-in Wi-Fi. 
3. A minimum of 256MB RAM
4. A 40 to 60 GB Hard Drive
5. Some type of burner (either a CD-R, CD-RW, or DVD+RW/-RW drive)
6. Productivity software package such as Microsoft Office or Microsoft Works should be included. 

Laptops for frequent travelers
You will want to find a lightweight computer to use at the airport and in meetings.  Then look for a thin-and-light or ultraportable laptop.

Laptops for the Traveler Should have the following:

1. Processors in the Pentium-M family.
2. Come with built-in Wi-Fi
3. Has at least 256MB RAM installed
4. A 20 to 30 GB Hard Drive
5. A suite of productivity applications such as Microsoft Office or Microsoft Works. 

Laptops for business users
Do you need to travel, create presentations and spreadsheets?  Is hooking into a network an important factor?  Well depending on your needs for portability, look at thin-and-light and desktop replacement laptops.  It should come with a complete productivity software package such as Microsoft Office.  You will want to make sure it has Wi-Fi connectivity built in or at least includes a Wi-Fi card.  You will also want to make sure that it has an Ethernet card installed. 

Your Business laptop should have the min. configuration:

1. A processor speed of 1 GHz or above.
2. Have at least 256MB RAM, 512 preferred.
3. At a minimum a 40GB hard drive.
4. Connection ports for printer and other accessories. 

The frequent business travelers will most likely prefer the thin-and-lights to desktop replacements.  However, if you spend most of your time at a desk look, at the desktop replacement’s.  Their superior power and features may be well worth the extra weight. 

Laptops for multimedia enthusiasts
Are you using your laptop to edit video, audio, or photos?  Are you going to be using processor-intensive applications such as Photoshop?  A desktop replacement will be the way to go here.

Make sure it has the following.  

1. A 2 GHz or faster processor.
2. Comes with at least 512MB RAM installed.
3. At least an 80GB hard drive.
4. A FireWire (also called IEEE 1394) or USB 2.0 port can also come in handy to transfer data from devices.  You want to be able to connect your video camera, digital camera, and MP3 player.
5. If you want to burn DVD movies, buy a DVD+R/RW drive.  This component can also be purchase separately. 

Laptops for Gamers
Gamers want speed and amazing graphics.  Gaming laptops need to have fast processors.  For full enjoyment, you will want high-end graphics cards, and slick displays.  Remember that you will usually pay a premium for all the latest goodies.  You will want to look at the desktop replacement with a Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 processor.  Remember that speed is important here so be looking for laptops with processors in the in the 2.8 to 3.4 GHz range.  You will need at least 1GB RAM the more the better here.  Make sure it has a 256MB 3D accelerated graphics card as well.

Tags: gamers laptop, home laptop, laptops buying guide, student laptop

This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 6:29 pm and is filed under Information on laptops. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.