Choosing a Notebook Computer

This article is old. The jokes it contains, which weren’t particularly funny even at the time they were written, are likely to now sound even more pathetic and/or incomprehensible than before as the time flies like an arrow (example). You have been warned, proceed at your own risk only if you are brave or bored enough.

Side Note: Why aren’t notebook (or “portable”) computers called laptops anymore? One explanation is that because the manufacturers would rather avoid people suing them for damages from overheating-caused injuries to laps. Not discussed here Apple laptops are especially notorious for overheating up to 90°C.

Will you be travelling with your notebook a lot?

Yes

• Choose a smaller one. “Smaller” is anything below 14.1″ screen size — usually 12.1″ or 13.3″.
• The weight is not a very important factor these days as even mainstream notebooks rarely exceed 2.5 kgs. You can reduce the weight a little if you go for a model without surplus stuff such as an embedded CD/DVD drive.
• The biggest obstacle to reducing the weight further is the battery, so the lightest subnotebooks use special (read: pricey) lower-voltage processors.

No

• 15″ (15.4″ for wide screen) is the “default” screen size for now. You will have a broader choice of other parameters if you don’t limit yourself to lower screen sizes.
• 17″ and up screens are generally found in desktop-replacement notebooks that are intended to be moved once a year at most.

In either case

• Check out a laptop with the screen size you have chosen before you buy it. Try to read some normal text, e.g. in a browser and see if you feel comfortable with it.

Will you be actually using your laptop a lot?

This may sound like a stupid question (why would you be buying something you didn’t intend to use?) but it is not. Most notebook computers are designed as if they were to be used only occasionally. Cases made of cheap plastic that easily gets scratched or dented and low quality display hinges are the rule, not an exception. If you want something more robust, prepare to pay a premium price.

Yes

• Panasonic Toughbooks are the classic upmarket rugged notebooks.
• Many manufacturers offer metal (titanium or magnesium) alloy cases. This is usually the biggest difference between consumer and business notebooks.
  • But not all business notebooks actually have good cases.
  • Other differences between the two (in some manufacturers) are that business notebooks allow hot-swapping and feature a port replicator slot.
• IBM had earned the reputation for the best manufacturer in terms of quality, but now that the business was sold to Lenovo it may not be true anymore.
• Toshiba and Fujitsu are also very reputable, but only with the Tecra/Portégé and Lifebook series respectively: Satellites and Amilos are not covered by the reputation :)

Do you play modern games?

Yes

• You need a dedicated graphics card.
  • Don’t let the name dedicated trick you into thinking the card is replaceable — it’s not. Once you buy the computer, you’re stuck with it forever. That’s why it’s so important to buy a good one in the first place.
• You need more than just a dedicated graphics card. Your card should fulfil these criteria:
  • Manufacturer: ATI or nVidia
  • Pixel Shader 3
  • 128 MiB dedicated memory (“HyperMemory” or “TurboCache memory” is the marketeer’s synonym for “no memory”)
  • Pipelines: 8 is best, 4 minimum
• In case the graphics is important for you, you may want to read a more in-depth article on the Notebook Review website:
  • Notebook Graphics Card Guide 2006

No

• Do you care about Windows Vista’s new Aero (translucent) interface?
  • You’ll need at least Pixel Shader 2 and 64 MiB of graphics memory to use it.
  • Suitable graphics cards are “certified” for Vista Premium (not just Vista).
  • Contrary to what is said by the manufacturer, Intel’s latest graphics chip is barely capable of running Aero — so, ideally, get something better.
• If not, go for the integrated graphics (you’ll still be able to run Vista without translucency) and what you’ll gain is:
  • Longer battery time
  • Less heat
  • Less noise with less fan operation
  • And you will save some money too

In either case

• All products by SiS qualify as graphics decelerators and as such should be avoided (unless you are on a £5 budget or 10 fps would be too fast for you to keep up with the plot)

Do you really need all the processing power?

• The processor, or CPU is actually much less important to the overall performance than some people think it is (well, of course you can’t run a computer without one, but some computers cannot be run without the BIOS battery too, so it’s not an argument :)
• Thus, the most important difference between Intel Core and Celeron CPUs is not about performance, but about battery time, amount of heat radiated, etc. Both CPUs are suitable for office applications.
• AMD is not very well established in the mobile market. Their solutions are better than Celeron systems, but inferior to Intel Core.

Yes

• The best processors available on the market today are the Intel Core 2 CPUs, released in July 2006. They even are 64-bit, which sounds good though it is completely irrelevant. The mobile versions are codenamed Merom and more information about them is available at Notebook Review (again, it’s a very good site):
  • Intel Core 2 Duo Merom Laptops and Information

Do you type a lot?

Yes

• Avoid like the plague all the keyboards that require the Fn key to be pressed to use Home / End.

Screen considerations

• Tablet PCs are certainly the future of notebooks, but right now they are more fragile, use older hardware and can be easily distinguished by their price.
  • It may still be a good idea to buy one though if you feel like burning some money.
• Matte or glare? Neither is simply “better”. You need to see both and decide for yourself.

Other tips

• Memory. buy as much as you can afford, but not with the notebook. It’s not penny-pinching — the margin is sometimes ridiculous. Expand later and you will save up to ½ of the manufacturer’s price.
  • If you are buying memory with the computer though, be sure you are getting it in as few chips as possible (eg. 1×512 MiB, not 2×256 MiB)
• The best location for a DVD drive is on the side of the notebook, not in the front. Pay attention to this detail if you intend to use the drive a lot.
• The power socket should be located on the side too. Contrary to what you may think, this is very important if you use a notebook not just on a table.
• A separate sound mute button is certainly a good idea worth supporting. However, some other notebooks that lack this button may still allow muting with an Fn-Fsomething key combo.

The ins and outs of the (permanent) transitional period

• Everything seems to be Vista-ready, but the catch is that the label you are probably looking for is Vista Premium-ready.
• PCMCIA (PC Cards) are being gradually replaced by Express Cards — there aren’t many extensions of the latter standard on the market yet, but go for the newer slot anyway (some notebooks have both).
• Of two hard drive connection standards, ATA (retroactively renamed to PATA) and SATA, the latter is the newer. They are not mutually compatible. The performance gain is insignificant.

Summary

• The biggest premium on the market is to be paid by those who want their laptop to have a decent and fairly durable case.
• Choose the chipset and graphics adapter most carefully as they are not upgradeable.
• Things such as memory, disk drives and even processors can always be changed. Most hard disks placed in laptops by manufacturers are total crap, so upgrading this part is likely to give you a big performance boost.
• Be sure the screen size and keyboard layout are comfortable for you. This part you figure out on your own :)

Manufacturer links

• Acer — Aspire, TravelMate, playmate, etc. and also Ferrari, fiercely chased by MacBook in the ultimate snob notebook competition.
• Asus — sometimes written AsusTeK to give it some splendour it otherwise lacks. They also sell a Lamborghini notebook.
• Clevo — clever people avoid them. I’m not even giving a link.
• Dell — bestg wrapped in fire-retardant material before use.
• Fujitsu-Siemens — Amilo and Lifebook series, German and Japanese combined creativity gave birth to this name.
• HP — Hewlett-Packard, the surveillance company. The unloved Compaq is their another brand.
• Lenovo — acquired IBM’s famous notebook business and is now screwing ThinkPads.
• LG Electronics — a few years ago this company changed their brand name because no-one wanted to hear about Lucky GoldStar anymore. Now, however, they’re doing quite well. Their notebook product line is limited though.
• Panasonic — you get what you pay for, and you pay much.
• Sony — the VAIO series, where everything except the keyboard layout is proprietary. Not bad itself, but if the power LED gets broken, you pay 100 quid for the genuine ©®@℗ Sony replacement.
• Toshiba — a famous and renowned notebook manufacturer trying hard to get rid of their reputation.

What do you think?

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