How to Compare Notebook Computers
If you're getting ready to buy a new laptop and you are not the most computer savvy person, you may have many questions about what to look for and how to compare all of the different units on the market. Do you buy a Mac? Does Windows offer what you want? How about Netbooks? There are many questions you'll need to know the answers to and some of those questions are more important than others.
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Instructions
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Determining the Form Factor You Want
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Decide what size computer you'll feel comfortable carrying around with you. Laptops come in many sizes from very small devices with 9-inch screens to much larger laptops that can have around 20-inch screens. You'll want to check the length, width and thickness of the device to get a better feel for its size.
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Determine the weight you'll be comfortable carrying around. Some ultralight laptops such as the MacAir come in at only a few pounds, while larger units can leave you lugging around a 6 to 7 pound device.
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Determine the screen size you will want to use. Netbook screens can be as small as 8.9 inches, while laptop screens typically reach all the way up to 19 inches. If you will be handling graphic-intensive work, you will probably want a larger screen with a higher resolution. Screens are typically measured vertically, meaning from one corner to the furthest adjacent corner. Keep this in mind when thinking about screen sizes.
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Determine the building materials for your device. Apple currently offers MacBooks with aluminum bodies for an additional cost. Certain materials will offer stronger protection than other materials. The best way to determine the "build factor" of a laptop is to check online reviews from sites such as CNET.
Determine the Software Available for Each Laptop
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Determine which operating system you want to use. Microsoft Windows tends to be more user friendly and offers many more applications than your typical Mac computer. However, Mac offers better video and picture editing software. Many schools and companies may restrict their computer system to either Microsoft or Mac.
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Check what additional software is included. Does your Windows laptop feature Microsoft Word? Or perhaps it offers a free year of McAfee antivirus software. Different laptops will feature different full and trial software. If both laptops you are investigating offer similar hardware, the software features could set them apart.
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Compare the restore capabilities of both laptops. For example, Acer computers do not come with a restore disk; instead they have a secret hard drive location to restore your computer. Other manufacturers include the Windows restore CD with the purchase of their computers. Determine if you would prefer to have that software sent with your device, enabling you to do a restore yourself.
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Check each laptop for its own proprietary system. For instance Acer offers its own suite of power management tools and connection tools for WiFi and Network use. HP also offers its own connectivity tools. Determine if the proprietary system will help you operate your laptop in a more convenient manner.
Compare Hardware Capabilities for Each Laptop
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Start by checking the processor speeds. There are various processors available including single core processors (one CPU), dual core processors (two CPUs) and quad core processors (4 CPUs). You'll also want to determine the GHz speeds such as 1.6Ghz, 2.9Ghz. The more processors and the faster the GHz speeds typically the faster the laptop.
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Check the available RAM. The more RAM, the more applications a device can typically run without slowly down drastically. Windows Vista requires at least 1GB of RAM; however, 2GB and higher is recommended on any modern laptop.
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Check the hard drive speed and type. Most computers now ship with at least a 160GB hard drive which is suitable for most basic needs while many laptops now offer 250GB or more space. Users may also want to check for solid state disks (SSDs) which offer less space but do not rely on spinning parts. They are therefore considered more stable in most cases and much faster than traditional hard drives.
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Check for connection capabilities. Typically today's laptops feature a WiFi 802.11b/g connection while some even offer the "N" connection for faster data speeds. The other option is Gigabit Ethernet (plug-in connectivity). Many computers also now offer Bluetooth connectivity for easy printer, phone and other peripheral syncing.
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Determine the type of sound card your laptop choices offer. Some cards offer 5.1 surround sound output, some are even beginning to offer 7.1 surround sound, while others only offer typical 2.1 output. If you want a more robust system, you'll need to find out if stereo output with multiple channels is offered.
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Choose your graphics card based on your needs. Do you need a more robust ATI graphics card for gaming and graphics design? Or will a basic card for word processing and Internet browsing serve your purposes? You can find information about each type of card, its specifications and its advertised capabilities via the manufacturer's website for each card type.
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Determine what type of CD/DVD drive you would like to use. For instance you may want a simple DVD drive or you may require a DVD with DVD burning capabilities, or even a DVD with rewritable abilities for multi-writing to the same DVD. The specs on each laptop will show what type of drive is offered and in many cases the upgrade or downgrade cost to change to a different type of drive.
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Ask questions at local electronics stores about other possible hardware additions compared between devices. There are always new hardware additions being made to devices and reading the included facts about each computer may reveal new types of processors, new built-in webcam types and other information that can help guide your decision.
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Tips & Warnings
Check with your local computer stores to learn more about emerging technologies. Typically stores such as BestBuy are great starting points as they have many computers side by side that you can compare. We suggest browsing around in store demo units to determine what you like in terms of build factors, software and hardware performance.
