What is the Best Laptop

Asking what is the best laptop Its a bit like asking which car manufacturer makes the best cars, so its all relative to the person looking for a laptop in regards to their needs and requirements - so really there is no best laptop. Finding one that’s right for your needs.

Firstly we need to begin with a common specification that is a good standard for most laptops - Wireless and wired network cards should be built in - 2gb or ram as a minimum and the hard drive needs be at least 80gb or more, just about every new operating system, latest applications or games are usually always larger than older versions requiring much more hard drive storage space, and now even a 60gb hard drive is usually not large enough.

What else should we consider ?
Size and weight / how portable - CPU or Processor type - Windows Vista or XP - Dedicated or shared memory graphics card - How many USB Ports do you need - CD/DVD - Screen Size and type - How cool does the laptop look - what is its role or purpose - How to save money on top of the range machines.

Size/Portability - the most common laptop screen sizes are between 13-15 inches, due to this it generally means the lowest prices, which is great if you are out to save some money, but if you travel around a lot then a heavy laptop could work out to be more in Osteopath fees than the total cost of the laptop, so if you travel a lot a small laptop is a real blessing, after all even if the laptop itself is not too heavy, by the time we add the mains adapter, a padded case, plus anything else you need to carry, it can start to get pretty heavy specially if carried around for a while. The same cannot really be said for 17" laptops, if your looking for something with a larger screen that is fine, but if you need to travel at all why not invest in a small laptop and put the extra money towards getting a 19" external screen which is bigger and can also be used in conjunction with the laptop screen, in effect giving two screens.

Processor or CPU - Processors have changed a lot over the past few years and now it seems many companies appear to be bolting on more and more processor cores. So at present a laptop needs to have a dual core processor or above. Dual core is the present standard with Intel’s Core 2 Duo and AMD’s Turion 64 x2, both are very good processors, but my personal opinion is AMD has the edge due to its cheaper price. If you don’t mind waiting and have the money, checkout some of the Quad core laptops coming onto the market.

The Operating system - If you want a laptop with Windows XP and you have found you can only purchase with Windows Vista (which is more common now) do not just presume that you can simply wipe away Vista and replace with XP, a lot of new pc hardware may not have XP drivers developed for it, this can create real headaches when trying to change over to XP.

Graphic Cards - it is generally impossible to upgrade the video capabilities on a laptop, whatever video card is has installed is what your stuck with, so if you enjoy gaming or need high end graphic abilities the laptop will need a type of graphics card with its own dedicated memory, otherwise graphic performance will suffer if it is used for high end graphics or gaming.

USB ports - How many is enough, the average amount of USB ports on a laptop is around 3-4 this may sound like enough, but once you plug in a keyboard –printer– mouse – flash drive they are all in use, you could always purchase a hub, as they are pretty cheap, but the easiest options is to buy a laptop with more ports than you need in the first place. Another point to check, every laptop should have USB 2 ports, but it’s worth checking this as USB 1 is around 10 times slower.

DVD & CD drive - A lot of the information given in regards to CD/DVD drives can be a little confusing terms such as Single and Dual layer - CD/RW DVD/Rom. Just about all new laptops now should have a Dual layer DVD writer drive this will do just about everything such as reading and writing to CD’s and DVD’s and reading and playing them too.

Screen size - this was also covered above to a certain degree with the portability section, the larger the screen the heavier it will be, plus the power consumption will be more too, so if you invest in a heavy duty battery it will get even heavier, there are also some lovely screen technologies to choose from including tru brite which gives the screen a shiny effect.

Aesthetics or the Look of the Laptop - which would you prefer, a sluggish laptop that looks nice or a lightning fast machine that resembles a house brick? When you look for a laptop there is a very large range to choose from, if you cannot find what your looking for with one manufacturer or type try another and realistically you should not have to compromise on spec or looks, but if you have to compromise a little compromise on the looks a little but not on the spec.

Laptop role -what will the laptop be used for, general Internet browsing – word documents, pretty much any laptop could do this standing on its head, so the world of laptops is your Oyster.

Business applications - large spreadsheets etc, then mid power will be fine, do not need to worry too much about the graphic abilities and a shared memory type should be fine. Gaming or high end graphics require the most powerful processors and graphics cards, be prepared to dig deep if you want to play the latest games with all the extra effects switched on.

Saving Money - If you want a good laptop for a cheaper price you have a number of choices, the first of these is a second user computer, you can save a lot of money this way, but you need to know what your looking at or you could purchase a problem machine or one that is not all what it seems, plus unless it still has warranty left you simply take the risk. Refurbished computers can offer good value for money, plus you get a warranty too.

Bargain basements - many large computer stores frequently have special offers which can be great value, check on websites for models that have been replaced by a newer model there are some good bargains to be had this way, but be quick as they sell very quickly.

what is the best laptop
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