Choosing the right notebook PC these days may become a headache. Hundreds if not thousands laptop models from well known and not so well known manufacturers are catching eye and full of high-tech bells & whistles. Here I decided to share my thoughts on criteria for the right laptop.

If you are a newbie, then there is a chance that you may end up with buying the notebook which you will find later not so fast, bulky etc.

Is there any ultimate formula for choosing the right laptop? My experience with computers taught me that no matter where the computing technology goes, there are some permanent criteria for good computer purchase. I call it “the rule of three” - Memory volume(RAM , not Hard drive), Graphics Chipset and CPU speed should be considered the main criteria.

These three components really make difference. Some people may say that it depends on what you are going to do on your laptop: word processing, gaming or heavy graphics rendering. This was true 10 years ago when laptop computers where much more expensive then desktops and buying one was a tough and painful decision - you had to make very careful estimation when investing a couple or more thousands in a laptop and make sure that you did not buy expensive laptop when your primary and main needs is word processing. And that you did not bought cheap one when you needed machine for heavy graphics rendering or calculations.

Things have changed since then. Laptop prices are still higher than for desktops but margin is significantly lower and laptops main advantage - mobility and small size is now affordable for any buyer. At the same time laptops CPU power and HDD capacity now competes those of desktops.

I even suggest all people who are going to buy their first computer to buy a laptop instead of desktop.

I also would suggest buying a laptop with some “power margin” above your current needs. These days you will hardly use a computer only for typing letters. You may watch movies and listen music from DVDs or straight from Internet from time to time. So why to buy a laptop with minimum memory and slow graphics chip set? You will save a couple of hundred bucks but believe me you will decide to buy a new one in a couple of months.

So lets look close to those three components. If I would list them in the order of priority, then first would be RAM memory - the higher this number the better. All applications these days are memory hungry but main trick is that each new software upgrade (or new version) requires more memory and if you have enough memory now , you will notice a slowdown of your laptop after software upgrade.

Second priority component is CPU. I would recommend choosing Intel based laptops. Why? AMD chips usually less expensive and Laptops based on them are cheaper then Intel rivals. But Compared to AMD chips Intel chips consume less power and thus you get more battery life and less overheating issues. But how to choose fast CPU when there are so many Laptops with numerous modifications of Intel CPUs? Look at Second Level CPU cache, FSB or Bus speed (data transfer speed between CPU and memory in MHz). In general these parameters are reflecting overall CPU performance.

Third and very important component is Graphics chip set. Even me, having strong technical background and years of professional work with computers, hardly can find the way in the forest of numerous graphics chipsets. Fortunately, my background let me avoid a big mistake here as well. If, when looking through laptop specifications, in the field “graphics subsystem” you will find words like ” Integrated” and “Shared memory” or “Dynamically allocated memory” then this graphics subsystem is not for graphics-heavy applications, like games or 3d rendering. It also literally eats CPU power thus slowing down the hole system in multitasking environment. So, avoid Integrated Graphics chipset with shared memory.

What about Hard drive capacity? Hard drive size is never enough - remember this rule and do not bother much about whether to buy a model with 60 Gig drive or 100 Gig drive - half year later you will end up with no space left on your hard drive. Thanks to USB you can buy external hard drive any time later.

All other criteria such as Laptop form-factor, weight and size you should estimate and ask yourself: are you going to travel much with your laptop, or you need a desktop replacement? - Answer this question and you will avoid a mistake here.

What about manufacturers? I think that in general its better to by a laptop from well known manufacturers. In particular Lenovo (former IBM) ThinkPads are famous for their keyboards and screens. Sony is also famous for good quality monitors. So, its very hard to name the best laptop manufacturer.

In my article I almost did not recommend any numbers when talking about memory volume or Hard drive capacity and CPU speed of laptops. That is because in reality you got a budget and have to stick with it.

This entry was posted on August 20, 2006 and is filed under Tips.