How to Choose the Best Laptop

There was a time, not too long ago in human years but eons in computer time, that a laptop computer was a rarity. Everyone who was into computers had a desktop PC at home and probably used one at work. Desktop computers were great for tweaking – adding cards and extra hard drives and more memory – but they had a drawback: they had to stay on your desk. Portability was only a dream until laptops started to catch up to their bigger cousins in speed, storage capacity, and connectivity. Things have certainly changed in the last few years – it seems like everyone has a laptop, and it’s even replacing the home desktop PC for many people, just as cellphones are replacing land lines. You can now find laptops ranging in price from 2 or 3 hundred dollars up into the thousands. Obviously there is a difference between the cheap laptop and the expensive one, but the best laptop is the one that fits your needs, that has the features you care about.

Let’s Get Physical

The latest big feature in the laptop world is the thickness of the unit when closed – or rather the lack of thickness. Thin is in, and not just for runway models. Some of the newest laptops are barely there at all, they’re so thin. But you need to be careful, because there’s a limit to how thin a device can be and still have the features you need. The newest designs use flash memory instead of spinning hard drives for data storage, but the capacity of the solid-state storage can’t match the capacity of actual hard drives – yet. When they do, then thin will be way to go for all laptops. Weight of course goes along with being thin, but again, you have to balance lightness with having what you need to do the job. Most laptops are about the same weight, but if weight is an issue for you – maybe you need to carry your computer with you in a shoulder bag and you can’t have it weighing you down – then it’s a feature to consider.

Up on the Silver Screen

The size of the best laptop will be the size you need for what you use your computer for. Even the smallest laptops have a screen that’s adequate for surfing the Internet, writing and reading email, and watching the occasional video full screen. But if you are an artist, a film-maker, or a photographer, you may need a larger screen. Another trend in recent years that goes along with the move to portability of phones and computers is to using the laptop as a television. Many people watch movies and TV shows on their computers, and might not have another video display device, or they might have a big screen in the home theater room for serious movie watching. If you plan to watch a lot of video on your laptop, then you need a screen size that won’t have you squinting at the screen – but be prepared to pay for it, since a bigger screen is one of the largest contributors to a higher cost.

Speed Kills

The best laptop feature is one that you’ll never see: the processor speed. Nowadays it’s hard to keep up with who is making the processor chip, what speed it operates at, what size the cache feature is, and so on. but what you might want to know is if you have the fastest processor you can currently get, and if you need it badly enough to pay a premium price for the speed. If what you need is killer speed from the CPU, then by all means go for the fastest – it makes a difference in how many apps you can have running at the same time, in keeping up with complex video games and 3D modeling for architects, and video production. But for the average person, the processor speed is not an issue. If you have a newer laptop, then you have a processor that will do the usual jobs for you, and speed is not an issue.

Size Matters

The best laptop has the biggest hard drive you can get for the price. Standards for how big the hard drive in a laptop should be are always changing, but getting the most bang for your hard-earned dollar isn’t a bad idea. Videos and music files alone can use up the gigabytes fast, and where an 80 GB capacity used to be adequate (look at some of the used units for sale on ebay), newer laptops come with 500 GB or more. So don’t skimp if you don’t have to, but also keep in mind that portable USB hard drives are relatively inexpensive, and can be plugged in for extra storage anytime.

Size matters II

The best laptop will have the most memory on board (RAM) that you can get, the more the better. The latest units are usually endowed with at least 3 GB of RAM, and others have more. It’s important because the more random-access memory your PC has available, the faster it can work with its processor to multitask and do everything you want to do as fast as possible. There’s nothing worse than getting that dreaded “running low on memory” message and getting shut down, so don’t settle for less than the minimum.

Burning It Up

The best laptop has the latest DVD/CD drive built-in so you don’t have to worry about it. If you need a more durable burner to make DVDs or CDs with, or you need to print on the disc, you may have to shop around for the features you need. While the basic laptop will have an optical drive that’s good enough for DVD watching and CD playing, but if you need something a bit more capable and durable, it can be had for a bit more money.

Keys to the Kingdom

Anyone who says the keyboard doesn’t matter is not absolutely correct. The best laptop for you when it comes to this feature is the one that feels right. This is one reason to try out a laptop in the real world before you buy it. Keyboards have different feels – some are very hard and clicky, some are softer and quieter, some are just right and it doesn’t really make a difference. The touch pad is the same – make sure it feels right in function and form. You’re going to be using the keys and the pad a lot, so check them out before making a decision.

Any Port in a Storm

The best laptop will have all the connections you will ever need through USB ports, video ports, flash card ports, ethernet, and so on. But you should think about this feature if you have a lot of peripheral devices to plug in, or some specialized need for a certain kind of connection. Cutting back on available ports is one way manufacturers cut back on cost, so paying more for more ports might be smart to avoid the perfect storm of too many things to plug in and not enough ports to accommodate them.

Make the Connection

WiFi is everywhere these days, and the best laptop will have the latest connectivity built-in. For most of us, the type and speed of the computer‘s ability to connect to wireless Internet is not an issue, we just want it to work. But if you need extra speed for transmitting lots of data, or if you need to be able to keep up with the latest network upgrades, you may want to get an upgrade for your dream laptop too.

All Shook Up

A feature of the best laptop for you might well be durability. Many users have to take their computers on the road with them, where it gets tossed into cars, carried into airports, jostled through security, and stowed into compartments. Physical shock and vibration, extreme temperatures and humidity, dust and dirt – if any of these conditions are conditions you’ll be using your machine in, you’ll need to get an extra heavy duty laptop designed for punishing treatment. Again, for most of us it’s not an issue, but for specialized uses, or if you just happen to be accident-prone or clumsy, a laptop designed to take the abuse is not a bad idea.