4 Things to Consider When Buying A Laptop

Posted by ttblogger on 08/24 at 01:02 PM Discuss in Forums • Permalink
image

With laptops now well established, and having a commanding share of the computer parts market, it is only fair to consider a few points when purchasing your new laptop computer.  When we are talking “laptops”, (or as some prefer to call them, notebooks), buyers today have a virtual cornucopia of extras and features to choose from. 

Read Full Article Click Here
    Posted by Gary Marsh  on  08/24  at  12:39 PM

  1. Great basic intro to laptop selection....now for an article on crapware removal. I just bought a real nice laptop for my daughter. It took me the better part of three days to get rid of the crap.

    2. Posted by Vicky  on  08/24  at  01:20 PM

  2. While sitting here reading this ‘Tech Tip’ on my iBook, I thought about a major manufacturer that was obviously absent from the article…

    Now who might that be?

    3. Posted by NELSON  on  08/24  at  02:40 PM

  3. HEY TKX,I BEEN WONDERING ABOUT ALL THAT WAS REFERED HERE, AND GOT A COPLE OF ANSWERS,VERY USEFULL INFO,KEEP EM COMING!

    4. Posted by Barry  on  08/24  at  08:06 PM

  4. Having bought a brand new laptop, finding it useless and giving it away, 1 more thing to consider: Do you own any software which you MUST run?  I had 1 software package which communicated with industrial PLC computers that HAD to have a standard interrupt-driven serial port.  (Most new laptops don’t have serial or parallel ports, and USB converters often don’t work.) I had another piece of software for industrial equipment which would NOT run under Vista.  So, I had to go to Dell and get them to build me a full-featured laptop with XP. 

    Add the cost of upgrading old software into the laptop’s upgrade cost.

    5. Posted by Jesse L  on  08/24  at  08:35 PM

  5. You guys seriously forgot one major thing; Battery life. I got this crappy aspire 3680 and this piece of garbage has less than an hour of life.

    6. Posted by Doug Woodall  on  08/25  at  08:15 AM

  6. And dont forget, just say no to Vista!

    7. Posted by Dennis Freeman  on  08/25  at  11:15 AM

  7. Good basic article. I know that Geeks is Windows oriented so good to see some mention of the Apple line of notebooks which are pricey but worth the money.  You might mention that there are two main GUI operating systems, Windows and OSX.  And with Apple’s new machines you can use both on the same machine.

    8. Posted by Vic Mitchell  on  08/26  at  09:14 AM

  8. Great basic article. One thing I would like to see some guidance on is the audio support in laptops. Listening to music while working on my HP Pavilion is of lower quality than an iPod. Sure the iPod is designed for music but come on, it can’t be that hard to provide decent audio...or can it?

    9. Posted by GeekMike  on  08/26  at  09:34 AM

  9. @doug - That will be discussed in this weeks TT.

    Thanks for the feedback....

    -GM

    10. Posted by Bryan Lambert  on  08/26  at  09:56 AM

  10. #1 This will actually be touched upon in an upcoming TT.  Some companies now offer the option of buying a laptop without the bloatware (for an extra price)

    #2 We actually did mention Apple, twice.  Since Apple, like other top tier manufacturers, use the same companies to make their laptops, internally they are virtually the same as any other PC laptop.

    #3 Thanks!  smile

    #4 This could actually come under tip #1 - what are you going to use the laptop for.

    #5 This will actually be touched upon in an upcoming TT. We’d recommend a long life battery (if available for your laptop model) or buying a second battery

    #6 Vista actually isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. It has its quirks, but overall it is pretty good.

    #7 For some people, Bootcamp is an option (or course, they’ll need a full version of Windows to install it on an Apple PC). Of course, it doesn’t work the other way (not legally anyway), just ask Psystar.

    #8 Very good point.  Audio doesn’t adversely affect performance, and most people don’t seem to care enough to push manufacturers to use decent audio chipsets and/or speakers. The cheaper units are particularly brutal to listen to. Your best bet, if using headphones, is to use a set of Noise Canceling headphones. As a last resort, you can add a laptop sound card to the unit (Creatve Labs makes some very good ones).

    11. Posted by pc  on  08/26  at  12:45 PM

  11. And I thought we were the only ones who cared about this...smile

    12. Posted by Tnoc  on  09/01  at  09:22 AM

  12. Very nice article on laptops. If people would just read this before they toss a Grand out the window by getting all the wrong frills.

    I’ve had my HP with Blu-Ray now for several Months and I can say from experience “Don’t go there yet”. I’ve seen more blue screens in Vista already than I ever saw in XP. Apparently, it’s something to do with Blu-Ray technology. The Windows media player just has a total death flip when the Blu-Ray player is approached. Now I am not placing blame on the Blu-Ray technology here but I can say that there are growing pains with both firmware and software. The latest SP for Vista did nothing for it either so it may be a while yet. Just get the DVDRW drive and plan on replacing it in the future when the technology bugs are sorted out.

    USB ports! Yes get at least 4 on the thing. Nothing is more frustrating than the need for a silly hub with wires going all over the place. This is clutter crap that the mobile people don’t need.

    Touch pad? Does anyone really use the cumbersome things? Just put a wireless mouse in the bag and forget touchy feely junk. Maybe this too can be built-in in the future.

    Wireless built in? Right on the money. Pay a little extra and get it. It took years to get the LAN socket built in so maybe wireless will come faster.

    Graphics? With todays software demands of much higher resolution, you had better pay a little more for the video capability too. Or be very sorry later.

    WebCam? I though it was a waste at first but it has already changed my mind. I don’t do the Y-Tube thing but I have found other uses that have save the day for me. Get it, it will grow on you.

    TV card? Well what can I say here. I have never attached mine to even see if it works. Just more clutter that’s not needed. Now when it comes built in, I’ll have a different opinion.

    Finger print access? As long as it gets me into the program faster than the login, cool. But remember, if the scanner goes South, it’s just like forgetting your password.

    Memory? Well, my old P4 with 1 GB memory is staying very close to this new one with dual Procs and 4 GB of memory. Hype, hype and more hype, we have reached a plateau and it just doesn’t warrant the extra geld unless you are a gamer. The newer “Cool running low power processors” are the thing to go after giving you much more battery life.

    13. Posted by iphone 5 release date  on  09/13  at  12:04 AM

  13. When people are purchasing laptop today, most people will tend to think that it has wireless networking. So it is best to check that your laptop is able to connect to the Internet. With some laptops, it is best to find out when it has the potential of being upgrading such as having an extra USB port. iPhone 5 release date

    14. Page 1 of 1 pages

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below:


Next entry: Fully Loaded Laptop

Previous entry: Get the Scoop on Bluetooth

<< Back to main