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So I'm thinking of buying a new laptop, since my current one is starting to give me some trouble, and I want to plan out stuff before it's too late. Unfortunately, computer technology advances on a timescale of days and weeks (translation: way too quickly), but it doesn't hurt to plan.

So I made the following list of characteristics of laptops, trying to organize how I can go about choosing stuff. I also made some guesses as to what I think I want in my laptop; the ones that I have preferences on are listed after the item.

+ screen size
+ screen type (normal, widescreen, touch-tablet)
+ key arrangement: preferably similar to my current layout, but I'm flexible
+ battery life: as long as possible, obviously
+ battery capacity: as long as possible, obviously, but flexible
+ RAM: preferably at least 512 MB (I have 256 MB on my current one)
+ HD space: preferably at least 40 GB; 80 GB would be nice
+ CD/DVD drive: preferably at least CD-writing and DVD playing (DVD-writing nice but optional)
+ diskette drives: 3.5" would be nice, and I seriously doubt anyone still makes 5.25" drives
+ ethernet plug: strongly preferable
+ wireless device: most definitely
+ sound card: obviously I need a decent one, but I have no clue what "standard" cards are and what good ones are and stuff like that (I'm merely a user)
+ graphics card: again, something decent (e.g. can run stuff like Cave Story, Age of Empires, and maybe a few older 3D games), but nothing too fancy
+ weight: lighter would be nice, but it's okay
+ size: I've seen this really really tiny laptop once, and I was pretty impressed, but size isn't too big of a deal unless the laptop's unreasonably large
+ operating system: sadly, I'm only familiar with Windows OSes, so I'd prefer XP Home or Professional
+ USB ports: at least 2 needed, but at least 4 preferable
+ LPT parallel port (or whatever you call it): so I can connect to my older but still very functional printers
+ firewire: well, I only found out about this a few months ago so I don't really have a preference about this. My friend did have a firewire-connected external HD, so I'm wondering if external HDs usually use firewire...

Edit

+ processor type/speed: umm, I guess something like 1.5 GHz or better? I don't really know what the standard is these days. Nor do I know what "Pentium M" means, nor most of the other names.

1. Am I missing any important characteristics?
2. Anyone have suggestions as to what kinds laptops probably have what I'm looking for? (I'm rather flexible on "comes-with" software.)
3. Got any brands or models to recommend or avoid?
4. Any other comments and suggestions?

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 29th June 2006 18:02

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Price is a huge factor here, as it is a large factor in the quality of it. If you see a particularly cheap model, take a moment to consider its quality, which may be compromised.

A lot of the things on your list often come as standard, specifically most of the various sockets (possibly not parallel, being somewhat ancient), DVD writer, 40 GB hard drive (in fact, 60 and even 80 now is becoming standard), 512mb ram - all generally standard. As for operating system, you don't get much choice when it comes to apple products so that's all right. Thus, the only real variables are size, weight, battery life, price and performance. These are all quite proportional to each other, the exception being between size and price. As performance isn't exactly the top priority here (generally the games you suggested you would use it on aren't too intensive) I can safely assume that you wouldn't need one with a top-of-the-range graphics card and processor, though regarding the former you would be better off looking for one that had at least a dedicated card rather than a shared chip. Other than that, so long as you go for more or less the most recent technology, you'll be fine.

As for brands, obviously try to avoid "non-brand" stuff as much as possible. I hear Dell is very popular for its after-sales service, and is generally very good. I'm not familiar with smaller american brands but to play it safe go for a big name like Dell, Samsung, HP and Lenovo (aka IBM). A good idea would be to look in a computer magazine for laptops with a good review to ensure what you're getting is a good deal.

Hope this is helpful, any more specific questions I'll be glad to field if necessary.

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"Fire and steel
follow me through the lands
you will burn hordes of hell
in the deadly raging flames of revenge"

Rhapsody - Flames of Revenge

Well the most notable characteristic you're missing is the processor, probably the most important part of a computer. Otherwise you seem to have everything there.

I suggest that you get a Dell Laptop honestly. While they don't have exactly the best PCs, they do make affordable laptops with customizable options that use pretty recent technology. You could always get something from the inspiron series, you could probably put together a decent laptop with those specs for less than $900. And alphasmart is definatley right about most of those options being standard. 512 MB of RAM is standard, you could probably get 1 GB for not much more. Ethernet ports and at least 4 USB ports are pretty standard. And even though your friend uses a firewire external HD, there are just as many USB external HDs, so don't worry about a firewire port.

I do have to throw out a warning houwever, the worse technology you buy now, the sooner you're gonna have to buy a new laptop. And don't count on just upgrading your RAM or putting in a processor becasue in my experience it's extremley hard to upgrade a laptop without help from someone who knows what they're doing.

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"We're not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting... fighting was the only thing I was ever good at, but at least I always fought for what I believed in." - Frank Yeager (a.k.a. Grey Fox)

Quote (alphasmart)

I can safely assume that you wouldn't need one with a top-of-the-range graphics card and processor, though regarding the former you would be better off looking for one that had at least a dedicated card rather than a shared chip.

I may want a faster computer because I tend to outrun my computer in doing stuff (and some programs are just use up so much of my computer's "virtual workspace"). Doesn't this relate to both RAM and processor speed?

Also, I have no clue how much ability a "shared chip" has, relative to what I have--and I don't even know what kind of graphics hardware I have. Anyone know how I could find out?

Quote (FallingHeart)

Well the most notable characteristic you're missing is the processor, probably the most important part of a computer.

I put that in as "processor type/speed", but are these two different variables?

(See, really, I am SO not leet with computers.)

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

The only advice I can give...well...I order laptops off Dell only because their customer service is outstanding as is their defective hardware support. Anyways. I choose the cheapest kind of laptop and completely upgrade it to what I want aka faster processor, more memory, bigger screen size and such. It's much cheaper than just choosing that specific laptop to begin with and you make sure you get everything you want.

Also, if you don't already have one, pick up a jump drive. They are a godsend. And you should also evaluate what you will be using it for the most i.e gaming, music, internet etc. Hope this helps somewhat.

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"Shut up. You're making me sober..."
-Reno

*Ryoko*

Quote (RenosGirl18 @ 29th June 2006 20:31)

The only advice I can give...well...I order laptops off Dell only because their customer service is outstanding as is their defective hardware support. Anyways. I choose the cheapest kind of laptop and completely upgrade it to what I want aka faster processor, more memory, bigger screen size and such. It's much cheaper than just choosing that specific laptop to begin with and you make sure you get everything you want.

Also, if you don't already have one, pick up a jump drive. They are a godsend. And you should also evaluate what you will be using it for the most i.e gaming, music, internet etc. Hope this helps somewhat.

I used to use Dell and HP desktops, and while HP's crapped on me, Dell's was quite reliable, so I feel I can trust Dell. (Additionally, I had three HP printers crap out on me, within warranty, so I don't really trust HP.) However, I've been hearing that HP laptops are much better than HP desktops...

Also, what's a jump drive?

And to answer your query: I will mainly be using it for school/work stuff, such as running complex math programs. Apart from that, I mainly use my laptop to listen to music, but isn't is true that all you really need is a decent program for playing it? (I have separate speakers anyway.) At least that's what it seems to be for me. I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I don't know what you mean by using it mainly for "internet"--do you mean stuff like being a website server? (I doubt that will be the case, especially if it's a laptop, since a laptop would be more for my personal, portable use rather than a reliable web page.)

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

A jump drive is a little device about the size of your thumb, but can be smaller. It is basically a portable USB device. You can store anything on it including music, movies, documents etc. It makes it incredibly easy to transfer info from laptop to desktop or anywhere else esp. if your printer is down. It eliminates the use of the A drive which I don't even add on my laptops anymore. Plus floppy discs are unreliable and suck.

For internet I meant just like high speed stuff, sometimes they have certain laptops that are geared for it. But if you are using it for general stuff like you said then I wouldn't worry too much about it.

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"Shut up. You're making me sober..."
-Reno

*Ryoko*

Quote (RenosGirl18)

A jump drive is a little device about the size of your thumb, but can be smaller. It is basically a portable USB device. You can store anything on it including music, movies, documents etc. It makes it incredibly easy to transfer info from laptop to desktop or anywhere else esp. if your printer is down. It eliminates the use of the A drive which I don't even add on my laptops anymore. Plus floppy discs are unreliable and suck.

Do you mean a flash drive? I have this little thingy that's about the size of my thumb and can store 512 MB of stuff, and such items range in capacity from 64 MB to 2 GB.

And yeah, laptops don't seem to put much importance on disk drives anymore...makes using old programs somewhat of a hassle.

--------------------

Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Never heard of it being called flash drive. Only thumb drive and jump drive

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"Shut up. You're making me sober..."
-Reno

*Ryoko*

RenosGirl18's comment on the purpose of the machine is the telling factor to me. Magus,
your core processing (and GPU) needs, necessary harddrive capacities, and installed ram
will hugely vary based on your task. Both my laptops aren't gaming machines, but they
cater to their uses: a gig of ram to prevent harddrive page-filing (long-story-short, to
allow Windows to store more in ram at less battery energy cost than pulling things off
the harddrive constantly), regular VGA-video out with composite video out, and mobile
Pentium processors (what the 'M' stands for) to maximize battery life. These are machines
for retail data processing and presentations and for academic pursuits, which are
essentially the same kinds of tasks for me.

A gamer would want a dedicated GPU, a blazingly-fast CPU, gobs of video ram but maybe
a half-gig of regular system ram, and screaming-fast harddrive, as well as integrated net-
work support, wireless or ethernet.

Only need to go online and process both text documents and databases? Almost any 1GHz+
machine with a quarter-gig of ram and a frugal 30GB harddrive would be sufficient, as long
as the connectivity was ready: wireless, ethernet, USB, or modem. Music playback, any
synchronization with USB/Firewire devices, etc, would also be sufficient on such a lean
machine.

Finally, the screen size is the largest random variable lately. Doh, but the industry seems
to be losing the concept of what 'mobile' meant. Sure, the latest laptops boot as a dvd
player without actually booting---why? To do this, it's coupled with a huge widescreen
...screen. Display. Anyway, the size of the screen affects the size of the formfactor the
laptop is cradled into. Ie, a 14in ultraslim laptop versus a 17in cinema-display notebook
behemoth. If you actually need the portability of putting into your briefcase or backpack
each day, the actual physical size of the thing is important. If you plan on using it as a
desktop replacement, size won't matter.

For gamers, Alienware, Vicious, and FalconNorthwest are favourites. For business use,
specialized HP, Dell, IBM (expensive!), and Sony are popular. For anyone use, Toshiba,
Dell home, HP home, Averatec, and Sharp. The only brand to avoid, in my opinion, would
be eMachines, as they tend to be the most defect-prone machines a-certain-retail-giant
carries, and supplies returns for. For more information, a swift google to sites such as
MaximumPC (layman's terms) to Anandtech or TomsHardware (advanced reading) will
steer you in good directions. Once you know what jobclass your notebook needs to be,
you can see where abilities to buy with your GP.

Oh, and if cost isn't an issue, both people on the Metro and most of my professors,
including engineering professors, are loving the new Apple ibooks. With the stability of OSX
or the versatility of XP, iBooks offer a value that can only be beat by budgets. As a serf
in retail, though, my next will be HP again---I have had less heating issues with those than
with Dells.

Don't forget to tell us what you purchased!

Edit: Found some reversed italics tags.

This post has been edited by A11smart on 9th July 2006 20:57

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Putting the A's in W lm rt: A11smart, Jobclass: Retailer.