Choosing a Laptop

Laptops have some obvious advantages over desktop PCs. They take up much less space, are highly portable, and tend to hold their value more than desktops. Laptops are more expensive than equivalent desktop PCs, however, and have poorer performance and less storage capacity. Laptops are also more expensive to repair if they break down and the designs are highly integrated, so few of the components can be substituted at a later date without considerable expense. The main elements to consider if you're buying a laptop are:

Display

The screen on a laptop is permanent, although you can use an external monitor as well which is often better for long-term use. Screens generally come in two types, namely 'Active TFT', found on newer models, or 'Passive TFT', found on older models. Active displays offer a much better picture quality and can be viewed from a more oblique angle. Every display will also have a display size and a resolution. The display size is measured diagonally in inches, with most laptops varying between 12 in and 15 in, although widescreen laptops with 15.4 or 17 in screens are becomming more popular. The resolution is measured in dots across and dots down and a resolution of 1024 dots across by 768 dots down is pretty standard.

PC Card Slots

PC card slots are used for upgrades such as a modem, network card, or an external hard disk. PC card slots are available as types 1, 2, or 3. Type 1 and 2 slots are very similar, while the type 3 slot is twice the size of a type 2 slot and is used primarily for newer and larger upgrades, such as removable hard disks. If a laptop has only type 1 slots, it's likely to be quite an old model and this will make upgrading or using new hardware add-ons much more difficult.

Removable Bays

Most laptop manufacturers will place items like hard disks, CD-ROMs, and floppy disks within removable bays. This allows a laptop user some degree of flexibility with regard to which devices they want to take on the road with them. However, the devices within these removable bays tend to be more expensive than their desktop equivalents. As a general rule of thumb, larger manufacturers such as IBM, Compaq, and Dell tend to have a wider range of items to fill these bays, and tend to keep supplies for older models for a longer period of time.

Weight & Size

If you're lugging a laptop around a lot, weight and size are crucial requirements. The size is generally dictated by the size of the screen, but weight is primarily associated with the price. The price premium on an ultra-light notebook is very high. You can reduce the weight of most notebooks by removing infrequently used bays such as CD-ROM and floppy disk drives, and substituting them for dummy bays when on the road.

Warranties & Insurance

If you're looking at extended warranties, it may be worth the extra cost for laptops considering the high repair charges. However, if you have a very expensive model, talk to your home and contents insurance company about whether the laptop is covered both in the home and on the move. Most companies will require an extra fee for items over £1,000.