Portability: Picking the Right Laptop
Fifty-two percent of American adults owned a laptop as of 2011, according to Pew Internet. Portability is the chief draw of laptops, whether you're traveling the globe or just your living room, and it's a serious consideration when planning a purchase. A laptop's size, weight and battery life all determine its portability, but the right machine for you depends on how you plan to use it and how often.
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Basics
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In your hunt for a laptop, the different types -- not just the brands or models -- can seem confusing, but most fall into one of four categories. Netbooks are the smallest and lightest, making them the most portable and budget-friendly, but often at the expense of battery life and features such as optical disc drives. Ultra-portables, as more expensive newcomers to the laptop market, are also known as Ultrabooks and contain Intel-powered processors that suit everyday, multimedia and work applications.
Business laptops boast multiple connectivity options for people who travel for work, and deliver plenty of features and power, which add to their weight and cost. Gaming laptops are all about speed and graphics quality, but casual gamers likely would find the shorter battery life and increased pounds not worth the higher price tag.
Size
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For a laptop, bigger may not mean better, because a bigger frame means more weight to carry around and limits where you can take it. Some of the biggest laptops are almost impossible to use without a desk, significantly limiting their portability.
For example, the Toshiba Satellite P770's 18.4-inch width can be burdensome without support, and other multimedia laptops with screens exceeding 15 inches, such as the Sony Vaio F Series, are just as unwieldy. Mind you, these machines have stellar specs for watching movies and playing games, but you pay the price in versatility.
For a comfortable compromise, look for a screen between 12 and 15 inches, such as the Fujitsu LIFEBOOK S761. If you need something that can comfortably fit in tight spaces, a 10-inch screen like the Samsung N145's packs a good experience into a small package.
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Weight
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The more your laptop weighs, the less you'll want to carry it. In fact, weight proves to be a factor in whether someone chooses a laptop for a computer-related task even when it's nearby, according to a 2007 study by researchers from Intel Research and the University of California, Berkeley.
Netbooks take the lead in the realm of portability, with models like the Acer Aspire One D255 coming in at just under 3 pounds. For additional performance in a lightweight unit, ultra-portables are a good choice, with more-integrated designs that often are lighter than other, similarly performing laptops. The Lenovo X220, for example, delivers the newest Intel processors, while still weighing only 3.3 pounds.
The Alienware M18X is one of the heaviest laptops available, starting at 11.93 pounds. While it's an extreme example, it's not uncommon to see full-featured laptops, such as the Dell XPS 17, weighing close to 8 pounds.
Battery Life
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Some laptops are engineered with low-power parts to increase battery life, but most just put in more batteries, which increases weight and decreases portability. That does have its advantages, however: Laptops with nine hours of battery life prove more portable whether going "off the grid" or just to the coffee shop, and you can take the comfortable chair while others vie to sit within reach of an outlet.
Energy-efficient laptops, such as the HP Pavilion dm1z with its 10 hours of battery life, are your best bet in this area. Other vendors also provide laptops with exceptional life, such as the Asus U36JC, which has a 10-hour battery pack option. If you don't plan to be away from electricity for that long, most standard laptops last for three to five hours, including the Dell Inspiron 15 and the Acer AS7750 -- both clock in at a respectable 4 hours.
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