Notebook shopping checklist
By CNET Asia staff
29/12/2008
Today's laptops
rely mainly on Intel's Core 2 Duo processor which has gained
widespread acceptance in the mobile computing arena for its good mix of
performance and battery life. With the new-generation Centrino 2, the older Centrino
notebooks are dropping to sub-S$2,000 (US$1,472.50)
levels. The declining prices have been further excerbated by the new Netbook category, which promises a complete computing experience at a fraction of the cost of a traditional laptop.
How they stack up
Check this out first to help narrow down your choices. Notebooks typically come in four sizes:
| Netbooks |
< 1.3kg; 20mm to 25mm thick; exceptional portability with small footprint; cheaper than ultraportables. |
| Ultraportables |
< 2kg; 20mm thick or less; has slimmest profile at expense of built-in optical drive and features; high-priced. |
| Thin-and-lights |
1.8 - 3kg; <
40mm thick; onboard optical drives and offers best compromise between
ultraportables and mainstreams with a good balance of speed, features
and size. |
| Mainstreams |
3 - 4kg; around 40mm thick; bulky though they offer good value with a good combo of features and speed. |
| Desktop replacements |
3.5kg and
above; > 40mm thick; delivers the best performance and features but
usually too bulky to be lugged around comfortably; top-end models come
with TV tuners and Blu-ray optical drives. |
Processor
If you want speed and battery life, Intel's Core 2 duo processor is the
best choice available today. But if your computing needs are basic,
laptops powered by Intel Pentium Dual-Core, Celeron or AMD Turion
chips offer the best value for money. Desktop replacements these days
usually run on Core 2 Duo chips though, occasionally, there are some
equipped with the high-end Core 2 Extreme editions.
But if you value portability and want a Netbook or ultraportable, then you would have to compromise on performance. The majority of Netbooks are based on the Atom processor which is suitable for basic productivity tasks but lack the power for serious multitasking or multimedia encoding. Ultraportables usually use ultra-low power chips which are slower than their full-powered siblings, but uses less battery while offering multicore performance.
Memory
The standard RAM size for most notebooks sold now is 1GB, though you will need at least 2GB of RAM to run Windows Vista smoothly. Opt for 3GB if you plan to open multimedia apps or play games on your
laptop. However, unless you intend to upgrade to 64-bit operating systems, bumping the RAM to 4GB or more will be a waste as the system will not be able to detect sizes above 3GB.
Hard drive
A 160GB
hard drive is more than sufficient for everyday needs. If you want to
store lots of photos, MP3s and movies on your machine, then consider a
250GB or even 500GB drives. Some desktop replacements come with dual harddisk slots, which allow for a whopping 1TB storage capacity split between two 500GB devices.
Screen
If
you're looking for an ultraportable or Netbook, expect screens that are 12.1
inches or smaller. For a decent-sized display, consider at least 13.3
or 14.1 inches. Notebooks with 15.4-inch and above screens usually come
at the expense of portability. Also, if you're a movie buff, you might want to look at 16.4-inch and 18.4-inch display with 16:9 aspect ratio. This allows widescreen videos to be displayed sans borders.
Graphics card
If you're a hardcore gamer, you may want to check out the
top-end models decked out with high-end discrete graphics cards like Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT/ATI Mobiilty Radeon HD 2600 or better. In fact, the Dell XPS M1730 and Asus G70 come with dual GPUS which will rock gamers to the core.
However, if battery life is paramount, select integrated video setups. Though heavy gaming is out of the questions, movie viewing and most online titles should run on such machines with ease.
Optical drive
The
majority of notebooks today, even budget models, sport at least a DVD writer. The top end models are decked out with Blu-ray combo or Blu-ray writer drives which can
store up to 50GB of data. Some notebooks offer hot-swappable drive
bays that give you more flexibility to install a second hard drive or
battery in place of the optical drive.
Connectivity
Standard options should include at least two USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, Ethernet
(RJ-45) and modem (RJ-11), wireless LAN, Bluetooth, audio jacks, VGA-out
and Type II PC Card or ExpressCard slots. Look out for the new eSATA format, which has greater bandwidth than USB though there are few devices currently using this standard. Most notebooks comes with memory card readers already integrated into the unit.
Warranty
Notebooks
generally come with a one-year warranty, but if you use it outdoors
frequently, look for longer support plans. We'd recommend at least
three years of warranty should you be getting a notebook above S$3,000 (US$2,208.76).
Related Stories
|
|
| Feedback | Corrections | Advertise | About CNET Networks | About CNET Asia | Jobs