Go online or walk into any store's electronics section to find a laptop and chances are you will feel paralyzed at the sheer variety of laptops available. Most shoppers have a general idea of what their laptop should look like and what they want in terms of features, but are often intimidated by their sheer number and baffling complexities of the laptops available, which have grown to include terms such as netbooks, and CULVs, and small business (as opposed to enterprise) laptops.
But don't lose heart. This buying guide will point you in the right direction, whether you're shopping for a tiny netbook or a massive media center, because your decision to buy what you thought was the perfectly configured laptop can suddenly be affected by unknown forces, such as a price changes. We're here to help you get back into the right mind-set, immediately spot the trends, and finally, bring home that perfect laptop for you.
Laptop Design is a Key Differentiator
Plastic is still the most commonly used material in laptop frames, and while inexpensive, manufacturers have managed to turn them into art forms. The most common technique is a process called In-Mold Decoration (IMD)—a process made popular by HP, Toshiba, and Gateway—in which decorative patterns are infused between plastic layers. This process has evolved into textures and etched imprints, where the patterns can be felt by running your fingers over them.
In the end, though, plastics are often associated with cheap laptops. What you should be on the lookout for are designs that employ metal. The most common of those is aluminum, found in laptops such as the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz), Asus U45Jc-A1, and HP Pavilion dm4-1160us. They have a more luxurious look and can be made thinner than plastic. In fact, HP is moving its entire laptop line to metals this year, and Toshiba and Acer are already deploying a fleet of laptops with this fancy material. A metal such as magnesium alloy is more commonly found in business laptops that place a strong emphasis on durability (check out our business laptop buying guide). Carbon fiber is yet another attractive material, but is less used than aluminum and magnesium, as it is expensive to make. If metals aren't exotic enough for you, check out the Asus U33Jc-A1.
Bigger Screen, Heavier Weight
Weight and screen size are directly correlated to one other. The cutoff point between a laptop that should stay permanently on your desk and one that can be a commuting companion is a 14-inch widescreen. There are exceptions, of course. The Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Core i5) and Samsung R540-11 are two of the lightest 15-inch laptops—lighter, in fact, than many of the 14-inch ones in the market. A 13- or 14-inch widescreen means that you can still be productive without sacrificing portability. The Toshiba Portege R705-P35 and Sony VAIO VPC-Z1390X are prime examples of superb 13-inch laptops. Fourteen-inch models like the HP Pavilion dm4-1160us, Dell Inspiron 14R, and Gateway ID49C13u offer a terrific blend of features and components, but they won't weigh you down. Below that, you'll be venturing into netbook territory, which is an entirely different category of laptops.
Get a screen larger than 14-inches and you'll have to contend with deeper and wider dimensions, which your laptop bag may not have room for. Screen sizes that range between 16 and 18 inches are usually reserved for media centers, gaming rigs, and desktop replacements, such as the Acer Aspire AS8943G-6782 (18 inches) and Dell XPS 15. These massive systems often have luxuries like high resolutions, hardcore gaming graphics, and a wealth of state of the art features.
What to Look For in a Laptop
Even the cheapest laptops come with many of the features you would find on a $2,000 laptop. Ample USB ports (3 to 4 minimum) are pretty standard nowadays. USB 3.0, which offers faster transfer speeds and greater connectivity bandwidths than USB 2.0, can already be found in laptops like the Sony VAIO VPC-F136FM/B and the Samsung RF701-S02US. Look for a laptop with one of the USB ports doubling as an eSATA port, so you can expand storage capacity when the internal hard drive isn't roomy enough. Most of the time, you won't even use a port like eSATA since most laptops nowadays come with at least 320GB of storage (Netbooks are averaging 250GB). Upgrading to a 500GB hard drive won't cost you an arm and a leg either, but do so only if you're a video junkie or an aspiring video content creator. Most people don't need all that hard drive space.
Although VGA is still the most common way to present Powerpoint slides on a big screen, technologies like DisplayPort and HDMI are better equipped to stream high quality videos and audio. With the exception of netbooks and sub $600 laptops, most laptops have an HDMI port or DisplayPort. The Dell XPS 15, for example, has both.
Aside from 802.11 Wi-Fi, Mobile Broadband (3G), and Bluetooth, wireless technologies have grown to include two new onea. The first one is called WiMax, a wireless broadband access technology that provides performance throughputs similar to 802.11 WiFi, except the coverage area spans an entire city rather than one occupied by a house. These embedded chips can literally replace your current internet package for less than you're paying now. You can find these chips in the Sony VAIO VPC-EB33FM/BJ, the Asus K52F-A1, and the Toshiba Satellite A665-S6086.
The other up-and-coming wireless technology is called Intel's Wireless Display, or WiDi, for short. It's very similar to a wireless version of HDMI, except there's no dongle or piece hanging off of the USB port—the technology is built into the laptop. With WiDi, you can wirelessly connect your laptop to an HDTV, without the use of clunky VGA or HDMI cables. You do, however, need to purchase the Netgear Push2TV receiver that has to be tethered to your HDTV. WiDi is available in laptops like the Dell Inspiron 17R-2950MRB, the Toshiba R705-P35, and the Samsung R580-JBB2.
Unless you're talking netbooks, a DVD burner is the de facto standard for internal optical drives. Look for one that burns dual layer discs (twice the capacity of a single layer disc), and don't settle for a DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive. Blu-ray drives are coming down in prices, and you can find one in the Samsung R580-JBB2 and HP Pavilion dv7-4183cl for under $1000.
Of course, the lack of an optical drive isn't a deal breaker anymore, especially if you're intent on minimizing weight. The Alienware M11x (Core i7) and Toshiba Satellite T235-S1350, for instance, give you everything but the internal optical drive. A Webcam and a media card reader are already integral parts of any laptop or netbook, as video conferencing and digital photography are as common as surfing the Web.
Once you check off all of these standard features, you can go on to look for ones that are specific to your individual needs.
Buying an Extended Warranty
Most laptops are backed by a complimentary 1-year parts and labor warranty. Asus and Costco sell laptops that come with standard two-year warranties. The standard warranty is a limited one, so it won't cover accidents that stem from a spilled drink, a key that was scraped off by a finger nail, or a drop to a hard surface. Extended warranties are also available.
Most laptop manufacturers also sell accidental coverage as a separate plan, on top of extended warranties that work on top of a standard one, so you might end up spending close to $300 for three years of comprehensive coverage. Apple offers a maximum 3-year extended warranty ($250), while most Windows-based laptop manufacturers will offer up to 4 years.
Our rule of thumb is that if the warranty costs more than 15% of the laptop, you're better off spending the money on backup drives or backup services that minimizes downtime. Of course, you can't put a price tag on peace of mind. There are instances when the logic board or the display—the most expensive pieces of a laptop—fail, and while rare, it can cost you half of what the laptop is worth. Faulty components usually break down during the first year; anything after that is probably your fault.
Weighing the Netbook Option
As the competition grows more fierce in the netbook category, these little laptops, which were once considered as mere Web surfing and word processing devices, are now being pegged as primary laptops for everyday tasks. Had you bought a netbook a year ago, you would have been dealt with a 10-inch widescreen, a small keyboard, and a basic set of features. For $500 today, the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 (Ion), Asus EeePC 1215N, and Lenovo ThinkPad X100e have screens that range between 11 and 12 inches, a full-size keyboard, and an HDMI port. Though smaller, the Toshiba mini NB305-N410 and HP Mini 5103 have the best typing and navigating experience on a 10-inch platform.
You'll also find the Intel Atom platform, made up of the Atom processor, integrated graphics, and memory (usually 1GB) in almost every netbook. The Intel Atom may not be the fastest processor, but it's the most energy-efficient chip you can get on a netbook platform. The dual core Atom, dubbed the Intel Atom N550 (1.5GHz), has already appeared in a handful of netbooks, including the Asus EeePC 1015PEM, HP Mini 5103, and Acer Aspire One AOD255-1203. The fastest netbook processors, though not necessarily the most energy efficient, belong to AMD. The company is making a run at the netbook market, performing as well, if not better than their Intel counterparts.
Many of these netbooks will run fine on 1GB of memory, and most of them can be upgraded to 2GB (highly recommended), provided you can make this simple upgrade yourself. These days, you won't find many netbooks that run on the Windows XP operating system; all of them are either using Windows 7 Starter Edition or Home Premium Standard. Netbook batteries start with 3-cell (30Wh) units, but many netbooks are now standardizing on 6-cell batteries. Our battery tests have shown that the smaller batteries will get you anywhere from 3-4 hours of battery life on a single charge, while the bigger ones range between 7-9 hours. If your activities include trips abroad and all-day classes, consider looking for netbooks that ship with 6-cell options.
New Intel Technology Already Here
As for the rest of the laptop market, the most dominant processor chips come from Intel. For instance, you can choose one that maximizes performance or one that favors battery life. Or you can choose one that plays to both strengths: The Intel Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7s are currently the most popular processor brands and have the benefits of both power and battery efficiency. If you desire all-day battery life, it's best to go with a low-voltage (ULV or LV) or an Atom processor, such as those found in the Toshiba T235-S1350 and netbooks, respectively.
Intel also has quad-core Core i7s for laptops, which currently ranks as the most powerful, not to mention, hottest processors in the world. AMD has its own multi-core processors as well (triple or quad core), called the Phenoms, Most of these processors can be found in desktop replacement and gaming laptops, but Intel and AMD claim that these processor will find their way into mainstream laptops—as small as a 14-inch laptop.
Unless you're a part-time gamer or a CAD user, most students will find that integrated graphics is more than enough for graphics related tasks. High-end graphics cards are terrific for 3D games, decoding a 1080p video, or watching a Blu-ray movie, but like a fast processor, they also feast on the battery. Nvidia (Optimus) and Apple (Automatic Graphics Switching) have technologies that leverage two graphics chips—an integrated and a discrete version—and the switch is done seamlessly, depending on what application the laptop is running. You can find switchable graphics technologies in laptops like the Asus U45Jc-A1 and the Gateway ID49C13u
Battery Life
A big battery can be your biggest ally in a day travel hectic day. Many laptops, including netbooks, are sold with multiple battery options. Apple laptops, on the other hand, have non-removable batteries. In this case, figure out where battery life ranks in the grand scheme of things. For instance, netbooks, which come with a 6-cell battery option, last between 7 to 9 hours on a single charge. Business laptops, on the other hand, come with the largest variety of battery options. It might be a good idea to purchase an additional battery, if an extended one isn't available. The more "cells" you buy, the better the battery life. And look at the battery's capacity, which is usually measure in Watt-hours. Two batteries claiming to be 6-cells can have different capacities. A big battery is accompanied by some heft, but the weight gain is well worth it if it means leaving the system unplugged from dawn 'til dusk.
For full, detailed reviews of the latest laptops on the market, check out our laptop product guide.
But don't lose heart. This buying guide will point you in the right direction, whether you're shopping for a tiny netbook or a massive media center, because your decision to buy what you thought was the perfectly configured laptop can suddenly be affected by unknown forces, such as a price changes. We're here to help you get back into the right mind-set, immediately spot the trends, and finally, bring home that perfect laptop for you.
Laptop Design is a Key Differentiator
Plastic is still the most commonly used material in laptop frames, and while inexpensive, manufacturers have managed to turn them into art forms. The most common technique is a process called In-Mold Decoration (IMD)—a process made popular by HP, Toshiba, and Gateway—in which decorative patterns are infused between plastic layers. This process has evolved into textures and etched imprints, where the patterns can be felt by running your fingers over them.
In the end, though, plastics are often associated with cheap laptops. What you should be on the lookout for are designs that employ metal. The most common of those is aluminum, found in laptops such as the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz), Asus U45Jc-A1, and HP Pavilion dm4-1160us. They have a more luxurious look and can be made thinner than plastic. In fact, HP is moving its entire laptop line to metals this year, and Toshiba and Acer are already deploying a fleet of laptops with this fancy material. A metal such as magnesium alloy is more commonly found in business laptops that place a strong emphasis on durability (check out our business laptop buying guide). Carbon fiber is yet another attractive material, but is less used than aluminum and magnesium, as it is expensive to make. If metals aren't exotic enough for you, check out the Asus U33Jc-A1.
Bigger Screen, Heavier Weight
Weight and screen size are directly correlated to one other. The cutoff point between a laptop that should stay permanently on your desk and one that can be a commuting companion is a 14-inch widescreen. There are exceptions, of course. The Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Core i5) and Samsung R540-11 are two of the lightest 15-inch laptops—lighter, in fact, than many of the 14-inch ones in the market. A 13- or 14-inch widescreen means that you can still be productive without sacrificing portability. The Toshiba Portege R705-P35 and Sony VAIO VPC-Z1390X are prime examples of superb 13-inch laptops. Fourteen-inch models like the HP Pavilion dm4-1160us, Dell Inspiron 14R, and Gateway ID49C13u offer a terrific blend of features and components, but they won't weigh you down. Below that, you'll be venturing into netbook territory, which is an entirely different category of laptops.
Get a screen larger than 14-inches and you'll have to contend with deeper and wider dimensions, which your laptop bag may not have room for. Screen sizes that range between 16 and 18 inches are usually reserved for media centers, gaming rigs, and desktop replacements, such as the Acer Aspire AS8943G-6782 (18 inches) and Dell XPS 15. These massive systems often have luxuries like high resolutions, hardcore gaming graphics, and a wealth of state of the art features.
What to Look For in a Laptop
Even the cheapest laptops come with many of the features you would find on a $2,000 laptop. Ample USB ports (3 to 4 minimum) are pretty standard nowadays. USB 3.0, which offers faster transfer speeds and greater connectivity bandwidths than USB 2.0, can already be found in laptops like the Sony VAIO VPC-F136FM/B and the Samsung RF701-S02US. Look for a laptop with one of the USB ports doubling as an eSATA port, so you can expand storage capacity when the internal hard drive isn't roomy enough. Most of the time, you won't even use a port like eSATA since most laptops nowadays come with at least 320GB of storage (Netbooks are averaging 250GB). Upgrading to a 500GB hard drive won't cost you an arm and a leg either, but do so only if you're a video junkie or an aspiring video content creator. Most people don't need all that hard drive space.
Although VGA is still the most common way to present Powerpoint slides on a big screen, technologies like DisplayPort and HDMI are better equipped to stream high quality videos and audio. With the exception of netbooks and sub $600 laptops, most laptops have an HDMI port or DisplayPort. The Dell XPS 15, for example, has both.
Aside from 802.11 Wi-Fi, Mobile Broadband (3G), and Bluetooth, wireless technologies have grown to include two new onea. The first one is called WiMax, a wireless broadband access technology that provides performance throughputs similar to 802.11 WiFi, except the coverage area spans an entire city rather than one occupied by a house. These embedded chips can literally replace your current internet package for less than you're paying now. You can find these chips in the Sony VAIO VPC-EB33FM/BJ, the Asus K52F-A1, and the Toshiba Satellite A665-S6086.
The other up-and-coming wireless technology is called Intel's Wireless Display, or WiDi, for short. It's very similar to a wireless version of HDMI, except there's no dongle or piece hanging off of the USB port—the technology is built into the laptop. With WiDi, you can wirelessly connect your laptop to an HDTV, without the use of clunky VGA or HDMI cables. You do, however, need to purchase the Netgear Push2TV receiver that has to be tethered to your HDTV. WiDi is available in laptops like the Dell Inspiron 17R-2950MRB, the Toshiba R705-P35, and the Samsung R580-JBB2.
Unless you're talking netbooks, a DVD burner is the de facto standard for internal optical drives. Look for one that burns dual layer discs (twice the capacity of a single layer disc), and don't settle for a DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive. Blu-ray drives are coming down in prices, and you can find one in the Samsung R580-JBB2 and HP Pavilion dv7-4183cl for under $1000.
Of course, the lack of an optical drive isn't a deal breaker anymore, especially if you're intent on minimizing weight. The Alienware M11x (Core i7) and Toshiba Satellite T235-S1350, for instance, give you everything but the internal optical drive. A Webcam and a media card reader are already integral parts of any laptop or netbook, as video conferencing and digital photography are as common as surfing the Web.
Once you check off all of these standard features, you can go on to look for ones that are specific to your individual needs.
Buying an Extended Warranty
Most laptops are backed by a complimentary 1-year parts and labor warranty. Asus and Costco sell laptops that come with standard two-year warranties. The standard warranty is a limited one, so it won't cover accidents that stem from a spilled drink, a key that was scraped off by a finger nail, or a drop to a hard surface. Extended warranties are also available.
Most laptop manufacturers also sell accidental coverage as a separate plan, on top of extended warranties that work on top of a standard one, so you might end up spending close to $300 for three years of comprehensive coverage. Apple offers a maximum 3-year extended warranty ($250), while most Windows-based laptop manufacturers will offer up to 4 years.
Our rule of thumb is that if the warranty costs more than 15% of the laptop, you're better off spending the money on backup drives or backup services that minimizes downtime. Of course, you can't put a price tag on peace of mind. There are instances when the logic board or the display—the most expensive pieces of a laptop—fail, and while rare, it can cost you half of what the laptop is worth. Faulty components usually break down during the first year; anything after that is probably your fault.
Weighing the Netbook Option
As the competition grows more fierce in the netbook category, these little laptops, which were once considered as mere Web surfing and word processing devices, are now being pegged as primary laptops for everyday tasks. Had you bought a netbook a year ago, you would have been dealt with a 10-inch widescreen, a small keyboard, and a basic set of features. For $500 today, the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 (Ion), Asus EeePC 1215N, and Lenovo ThinkPad X100e have screens that range between 11 and 12 inches, a full-size keyboard, and an HDMI port. Though smaller, the Toshiba mini NB305-N410 and HP Mini 5103 have the best typing and navigating experience on a 10-inch platform.
You'll also find the Intel Atom platform, made up of the Atom processor, integrated graphics, and memory (usually 1GB) in almost every netbook. The Intel Atom may not be the fastest processor, but it's the most energy-efficient chip you can get on a netbook platform. The dual core Atom, dubbed the Intel Atom N550 (1.5GHz), has already appeared in a handful of netbooks, including the Asus EeePC 1015PEM, HP Mini 5103, and Acer Aspire One AOD255-1203. The fastest netbook processors, though not necessarily the most energy efficient, belong to AMD. The company is making a run at the netbook market, performing as well, if not better than their Intel counterparts.
Many of these netbooks will run fine on 1GB of memory, and most of them can be upgraded to 2GB (highly recommended), provided you can make this simple upgrade yourself. These days, you won't find many netbooks that run on the Windows XP operating system; all of them are either using Windows 7 Starter Edition or Home Premium Standard. Netbook batteries start with 3-cell (30Wh) units, but many netbooks are now standardizing on 6-cell batteries. Our battery tests have shown that the smaller batteries will get you anywhere from 3-4 hours of battery life on a single charge, while the bigger ones range between 7-9 hours. If your activities include trips abroad and all-day classes, consider looking for netbooks that ship with 6-cell options.
New Intel Technology Already Here
As for the rest of the laptop market, the most dominant processor chips come from Intel. For instance, you can choose one that maximizes performance or one that favors battery life. Or you can choose one that plays to both strengths: The Intel Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7s are currently the most popular processor brands and have the benefits of both power and battery efficiency. If you desire all-day battery life, it's best to go with a low-voltage (ULV or LV) or an Atom processor, such as those found in the Toshiba T235-S1350 and netbooks, respectively.
Intel also has quad-core Core i7s for laptops, which currently ranks as the most powerful, not to mention, hottest processors in the world. AMD has its own multi-core processors as well (triple or quad core), called the Phenoms, Most of these processors can be found in desktop replacement and gaming laptops, but Intel and AMD claim that these processor will find their way into mainstream laptops—as small as a 14-inch laptop.
Unless you're a part-time gamer or a CAD user, most students will find that integrated graphics is more than enough for graphics related tasks. High-end graphics cards are terrific for 3D games, decoding a 1080p video, or watching a Blu-ray movie, but like a fast processor, they also feast on the battery. Nvidia (Optimus) and Apple (Automatic Graphics Switching) have technologies that leverage two graphics chips—an integrated and a discrete version—and the switch is done seamlessly, depending on what application the laptop is running. You can find switchable graphics technologies in laptops like the Asus U45Jc-A1 and the Gateway ID49C13u
Battery Life
A big battery can be your biggest ally in a day travel hectic day. Many laptops, including netbooks, are sold with multiple battery options. Apple laptops, on the other hand, have non-removable batteries. In this case, figure out where battery life ranks in the grand scheme of things. For instance, netbooks, which come with a 6-cell battery option, last between 7 to 9 hours on a single charge. Business laptops, on the other hand, come with the largest variety of battery options. It might be a good idea to purchase an additional battery, if an extended one isn't available. The more "cells" you buy, the better the battery life. And look at the battery's capacity, which is usually measure in Watt-hours. Two batteries claiming to be 6-cells can have different capacities. A big battery is accompanied by some heft, but the weight gain is well worth it if it means leaving the system unplugged from dawn 'til dusk.
For full, detailed reviews of the latest laptops on the market, check out our laptop product guide.
