Tips for Buying a Notebook Computer
Buying a notebook computer can be a frustrating experience, but if you follow a few simple guidelines, making the correct choice becomes an easy decision. Remember, the only person that truly knows which mobile computing device is right for you is you. While a good salesperson can be an indispensable source of information, having clearly mapped out the specific tasks this computer will be asked to perform before you talk to a salesperson will keep the decision making process in focus.
Other People Are Reading
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Evaluating Your Needs
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There is a huge difference in the raw computing power required by an architect or a nuclear engineer, as compared to the casual Internet user who sends and receives email. The same holds true of the amount of storage needed (hard disk size) for a professional video editor and a someone who uses their notebook to watch DVD movies during a cross country flight.
There are also accessibility requirements that need to be honestly looked at. For someone who cannot read a newspaper without reading glasses, a 7-inch Netbook screen might appear to be convenient, but consider at what point will this convenience begin to seriously impact the system's functionality. Similarly, a scaled down keyboard can be a problem for those of us that learned touch typing on a full sized keyboard.
Research
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Invest the time necessary to become familiar with the major brands. The Internet is full of sites where people candidly discuss their experiences, and have no reservations about relaying a bad experience with a manufacturer's product or customer service. While you are reading up on everything you can find, pay particular attention to the dates these opinions were posted-because 3 years is a generation in the computing industry, and a company that offered horrible customer service or poor quality hardware back then, has either fixed those issues or gone bankrupt.
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Try Before You Buy
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The convenience of on-line shopping has become pervasive in our world today, but it is no substitute for a good, old fashioned, hands on trial. Almost every brand has retail outlets that offer a demonstration unit that you can try out to see if the screen is readable for you, or if the keyboard is usable. Dell, as an example, is now sold in Wal-Mart stores, as is the E-Machines' brand. As an added benefit, in this type of situation, the particular system you will be trying has probably seen exceptionally hard use, providing you a glimpse of what your system might look like a year or two down the road.
Netbooks versus Notebooks
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The latest offering in mobile computing is what's known as a Netbook. These systems are priced significantly lower than a full blown notebook (with the entry level Netbook starting at just over $200 as of 2009), but provide for only the minimum of computing power and storage. Still, if you are looking for a small, portable device for traveling, a Netbook might be an excellent solution.
This leads us back to where we first began-knowing your specific requirements. If you have established what you must have for features and specifications in a mobile computing device, the decision between choosing a entry level Netbook versus high end notebook has been reduced to a comparison of whether or not any computer under consideration will meet your needs.
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