BUYING A LAPTOP

Before buying a laptop you’d better decide if you really need it, and what you need it for. Laptops come in all flavors, prices and capabilities. Here’s three examples:

Low priced Sony VAIO VGN-A150 PC

Mid priced IBM ThinkPad T42 (2379dxu) PC

High priced Sony VAIO VGN-A150 PC

Most people buy laptops for their portability, not its speed or upgrade-ability. Laptops let you be productive almost anywhere, and having a ‘portable office’ is an advantage for many.

But laptops are generally overrated. Only secretaries, salesmen and engineers make good use of their laptop. Many others play games, surf the internet, check their email, try to work and talk at the same time, or at caf�s work and watch the more attractive members of the opposite sex at the same time.

Given the expense involved, laptops are for all intents and purposes un-upgradeable. You are married to whatever CPU, video card (built into the motherboard) , sound card (also built-in) and screen come with the laptop.

Laptops are much slower than desktops that have similar CPUs. Slower CPUs, motherboards, hard drives and video systems all contribute to the speed loss. According to reviews I’ve read, the best laptop built-in video card would be lucky to be half as fast as the best desktop video card.

Of course, there’s always a better component out there, but it’s going to cost you. A bigger hard disk, a faster CPU is all very expensive, much more expensive than their counterparts for a desktop computer. The options are fewer. The model laptop you buy may only offer 30GB or 40GB hard disks. Or two CPUs. Or 256MB RAM or 512MB RAM.

If you are looking for a laptop in the $1,000 to $1,250 range, you are probably looking at a model with 128 or 256MB RAM, a 20 or 30GB hard disk, 15-17 inch active matrix LCD screen, a CD/DVD reader (not writer), and a copy of Windows XP Home Edition.

The time to worry about upgrading is before you buy, and if you are able to make changes in your configuration, the most important you can make is getting as much laptop memory as you can afford.

Laptops with 128MB RAM are just not powerful enough to run Windows XP and even two or three high-powered programs like Microsoft Word or Excel or a graphics programs such as Adobe Photoshop.. Your laptop will ‘space out’ for a few minutes while the processor works things out; 256MB is really a minimum and 512 MB is really better. I haven’t bought a laptop yet, but I’ve played with those of my friends. Even with 256MB of RAM I feel the strain when running Word and Visual Studio at the same time, along with the supporting cast of SpySweeper, Norton AntiVirus, and a few other utilities.

Another area to consider is video memory. 2MB is desirable, and with less you may have difficulty running programs in Super VGA resolution. To get true color (XGA – 16 million colors) on an external monitor, the graphics adapter needs 4MB of video memory. Be sure to check that the laptop’s graphics adapter is capable of producing that many colors.

If the specs on the model you are looking at say that the video RAM is ‘shared memory,’ it probably does not have an dedicated video memory. This is good for manufacturers and helps keep laptop temperatures down.

It’s worse for high video resolution, though, because you may not be able to get the screen resolution you want. If 256 colors on a regular basis works for you, you may not feel it worthwhile to invest in video RAM. However, one of the charms of a laptop is being able to watch DVDs ‘on the run’, when you want realistic looking color. So consider this issue carefully before deciding. In addition, if you are using your laptop to make presentations, full color is a necessity.

Another crucial factor is the laptop’s ‘heat factor’. You should check it out by playing with the laptop for awhile. If the store will not let you handle a model to see how hot it is before buying, go elsewhere.

Newer models with their high processor and bus speeds run very hot. Some laptop users report CPU temperatures as high as 105 degrees Celsius (226 degrees F) during regular use. This is one reason to seek out models with long battery life – you’ll be able to go further between recharges, which will allow the processor to stay cooler, thereby preserving it.

Most laptops also come with a battery optimization routine, which usually helps the machine run cooler. Make sure yours has one.

About Batteries. Most new laptops come with Lithium Ion (LiON) batteries which officially can handle up to four hours between charges(depending on the power of your laptop).Some old models may use NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) technology which needs recharging after two hours. Do not consider buying a laptop using MiMH batteries.

LiON batters have a life expectancy of 400 change and discharge cycles. Most new notebooks use ‘smart’ batteries with internal microprocessors which let you monitor the amount of power available. The more and faster components you buy, the more they will shorten your battery life, so you will find yourself recharging more often than you will like.

I’ll save for next week issues like laptops, notebooks and sub-notebooks, as well as the mouse versus trackball issue. Since portability is important to laptop buyers, how to network on the go is an important issue as well.

Dennis Turner