No longer the expensive business-traveler stepchild to the desktop PC, the laptop is more affordable and comes in more varieties than ever before. There's a laptop for every possible lifestyle — practical daily drivers, lightweight travelers and entertainment powerhouses. The key to buying the machine you need is knowing what's what under the hood.
One: Screen
Cinematic widescreens are the trend for today's entertainment-oriented laptops, and they vary from the tiny 8.9-in. displays of ultraportable machines to 20-in. LCDs in laptops weighing up to 19 pounds. Big screens offer nice views, but be careful–the size of the toshiba satellite pro a60 battery display will determine the size and weight of your laptop.
Two: Keyboard
Abadly designed keyboard can ruin your experience with a laptop, and there is a surprising degree of variation from brand to brand. If you can, type a few test sentences before you buy.
Three: Wireless
Most laptops these days offer 802. 11g wireless, and many have integrated Bluetooth cards as well. Some models even throw cellular antennas into the mix, letting users surf the Web anywhere over 3G networks. This can be a costly option, since service requires a monthly fee paid to a cellular provider.
Four: Central Processing Unit
The CPU is both the most important and most over-engineered component in your laptop. Dual-core(and, eventually,quad-core) chips from Intel and AMD help PCs run multiple applications smoothly, buy hp pavilion zt3000 battery isn't necessary to pony up for a chip faster than 2 GHz unless you're running intense games.
Five Battery
Big batteries add weight, so determine what you need before you buy. Large screens and heavy usage of the optical drive can drain the charge fast. Laptop batteries range from the four-cell type found in ultralights to superiong-life nine-cell units in larger machines. A big hp compaq business notebook nc6400 battery can run a laptop for up to 8 hours, but if your machine spends much of its time plugged in, a six-cell will do.
Six: Camera
Many laptops come with built-in Web cams. These devices are great if you're into video chats and Skype calls,but pointless if you're not.
Senven: Pointing Devices
Some laptops use a trackpad, while others use a keyboard mounted pointing stick. Some use both. It's a matter of preference, but usually trackpads are better for surfing around, while pointing sticks help touch-typists keep their fingers aligned.
Eight: Biometrics
The fingerprint reader is a useful feature sprouting up on new laptops. This accessory can log on different users and store passwords for online authentication with the swipe of a finger.
Nine: Graphics Processor
With Vista, the graphics processor has suddenly become one of the more important elements of a laptop. To run the operating system's higher-end graphics, you need a processor with at least 128MB of memory. For graphics-heavy programs or games, bump that up to at least 256MB.
Ten: RAM
The random-access memory(RAM) needs of modern software have increased drastically in the past few years. Stock your laptop with at least 1GB of DDR2.
Eelven: Optical Drive
Some superhigh-end laptops are equipped with Blu-ray or HD-DVD drives; other ultralight machines have no internal optical drive at all. Most computer users will find that a standaard 8x-speed dual-layer, dual-format DVD burner meets their needs.
Twelve: Hard Drive
We'll make it simple:Buy the largest hard drive you can afford. Hard drives for toshiba satellite pro a60 laptops range from 30GB to 200GB and run at speeds of 4200,5400 or 7200 rpm. Bigger is better; faster is better.
