Laptop Buyers Guide - Part 1

When you are considering buying a laptop, also referred to as notebooks or portable computers you need to ask yourself what you’ll be using it for:

Is it's primary function to be a portable computer, making weight and battery life important? Is it a desktop replacement, making a large screen size and good keyboard a must? Will you be using it for everyday tasks, like emailing, word processing, surfing the web? Our laptop guide is aimed to help you decide exactly what sort of laptop you need without spending the earth to get it.

• 1. Should I buy a used laptop?
• 2. Size and Weight
• 3. Processor Speed
• 4. Memory
• 5. Hard Disk Drives
• 6. Display
• 7. Battery Life
• 8. Expansion Ports and Slots
• 9. Network and Connectivity
• 10. Disk Drives
• 11. Direct Input Options

Should I buy a used laptop?

Used laptops can offer better value for money compared to a new laptop without compromising on quality. Prices of new systems are artificially high due to the cost of the latest processing power. By not buying the latest technology, you can save hundreds of pounds and still have a high powered laptop for your money.

Used laptops are often ex-corporate laptops that have been sold on because they have been replaced with newer models. Remember, cheap laptops are not necessarily poor quality or under-powered, and as long as they have been professionally refurbished, they offer a great value alternative to a new machine.

Size and Weight

There are several classes of laptops, organized by weight and size. At the lighter end, you'll find machines weighing just 2 to 4 kg. These models, from companies like IBM, Sony, Dell and Toshiba, are designed for sheer mobility and as a result often have less features. For example some lack internal Floppy, CD or DVD drives, though some companies, like Sony have managed to fit these drives into truly thin and light machines – at a price.

Medium weight laptops are designed to replace a desktop computer while still being light enough for most types of mobile use. Often these models have more features, bigger screens and longer battery life than the ultra lightweight versions.

Machines at the heavier end of the range, ranging from 4 to 6 kg are essentially desktop computers in the shape of a laptop. Most will have all the same components of a full size computer – internal CD-Rom, modems etc. While still portable, they can be quite tiresome if transported constantly.

Processor Speed

The Central Processing Unit (CPU) determines the overall power and speed of your laptop. Processors come in a variety of different speeds, types and from a number of manufacturers. Intel and Athlon are the two main processor manufacturers, both produce high quality processors for laptops and computers.

Intel currently produce Pentium, Celeron and Centrino processors. Centrino processors are the latest and focus on wireless technology and mobility. They are currently the most expensive type of processors. Celeron and Pentium processors are much more common and affordable, especially when it comes to used laptops.

The way to check how fast a processor runs at is to check its speed, measured in Megahertz (Million Hertz or MHz) and Gigahertz (Thousand Million Hertz or GHz). The latest laptops can be as fast as 3Ghz, but for most users this is more than is necessary. For running every day tasks such as word-processing, editing images, browsing the internet, sending emails, etc, even a 366Mhz laptop will suffice. If you intend to do more processor intensive tasks on your laptop such as watching DVDs, editing video, playing games, then a faster machine would be recommend. Anything above 600Mhz should be more than adequate for all but the most demanding of applications.

But processor speed is not the only factor that will determine how fast a computer will perform. The amount of memory is equally as important, which we will discuss next.