A Notebook on Your Mind? Things to Know Before Buying

Saturday, August 02, 2008

So you've made up your mind. It's time that your old computer (desktop or the old notebook) or the computers being used by people in your organization need to be replaced. Well, we just hope it's not a case of your computer hanging in the middle of a presentation or something similarly catastrophic and embarrassing that made you realize this! One can see many products available in the market but finding the right notebook according to one's requirements, from the gallimaufry of available brands, is difficult for sure. A little background check on the available products and figuring out what's right for you and what's not, goes a long way in taking the right decision; even though innards of a computer is something you have no clue about. This buying guide presents a detailed walkthrough on the available technologies and components that you should carefully scrutinize before you take the plunge.

Identify your real needs
There is no such thing as a 'good for all' product out there. Different people use computers differently. For example, an animator or a mechanical engineer would want a machine that would run visual graphics or maybe AutoCAD designs smoothly and without any lags. This would require high-end graphic accelerators and more RAM. On the other hand, a marketing executive would want easy connectivity to Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth and a greater variety of display ports, to facilitate seamless connectivity with projectors and display screens. This would also enable easy Internet access and allow connectivity with all kinds of peripheral devices such as printers, phones, digital cameras etc, both wired and wirelessly. Other pertinent questions could be: is the new laptop going replace your current desktop? Are you going to be- carrying it around frequently? If you need to carry your notebook around a lot, then weight and battery backup are the key factors to watch out for.

Have you ever noticed that notebooks with somewhat similar specs vary in price from vendor to vendor? Even though the reason behind this is chiefly brand positioning, it's vital to know if there's more to it than meets the eye. It's always good to do a little research on different prices on products by different manufacturers that suit your requirements.

Check for support
No matter how sturdy a notebook you might buy, still with passage of time you could face problems such as virus attacks to OS or disk crashes and other not so pleasant things. Just check on support provided by different vendors. See if the warranty is onsite or if the manufacturer expects you to carry it to the service center. Also enquire whether the service is restricted to the hardware only or for the OS and other apps that it comes pre-loaded with. Find out how much does the vendor charge for each visit after the product is past its warranty and how much time do they take to respond.

You could be better off checking with your peers on the efficiency of support by a particular vendor. Before buying, ask the vendor about the type of warranty and not just its period. Is it on-site or carry-in? Does the warranty cover both parts and labor charges if something goes wrong with the product?

Also whether there are options of extended warranties and insurance available for your purchase? Most of this information can also be found on the vendor's website.

Deciphering platform and processor names
Most people confuse the name of the platform or technology a notebook is based on, with the processor it contains. While, Intel's Centrino technology comprises of a particular combination of CPU, mainboard chipset and wireless network interface, to improve performance, battery life and provide broad wireless network interoperability for systems equipped with these technologies. There are a number of other such platforms from Intel: the Napa platform (released in 2006) that comes with the Centrino logo; the Santa Rosa platform, introduced first in 2007 and comes with a Centrino vPro logo; Intel's offering for 2008 is the fifth generation Montevina platform that comes with a Centrino 2 or a Centrino2 vPro logo. These platforms boast a second generation Intel Core 2 Duo (code named Penryn) 45nm processor with clock speeds ranging from 2.26GHz to 3.06GHz, the mobile chipset offers RAM support for DDR2-667, DDR2-800, DDR3-800, DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333 SODIMM and NAND flash-memory based caching, branded as Intel Turbo Memory, along with Gigabit Ethernet LAN controllers 82567LM and 82567LF. For display, HDMI, DVI and VGA standards are supported, while for wireless networking these platforms are Wi-Fi and WiMax ready.

BlueRay compatible optical drives

Puma is the latest offering from AMD and consists of AMD's third generation 64 bit Turion dual core processor, a new mobile chipset, ATI Radeon graphics card, wireless IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n mini PCIe Wi-Fi adaptor and other features like hybrid hard drive support. Notebooks based on the Puma platform should be available soon.

A little shiny sticker on your notebook tells about the processor make. If you compare a computer with a car, then the processor does exactly what an engine does for a car. Now the key question is what kind of performance are you looking for? Computer processors have evolved immensely in the past few years due to the advancements in semiconductor technology. The latest offerings are dual core and quad core processors. A Dual core refers to a CPU that includes two complete execution cores per physical processor. It combines two processors and their caches, and cache controllers onto a single integrated circuit (silicon chip). Since each core has its own cache, the OS has sufficient resources to handle intensive tasks in parallel, which provides a noticeable improvement while multitasking. Similarly, a quad core processor has four cores instead of two and as you can well imagine by now, it is supposed to double the processing speed as compared to a dual core processor.

On the other hand AMD processors for notebooks come under the name Turion X2 ultra dual core and Turion. AMD's Athlon 64 X2 dual core processors provide more affordable dual core processing capabilities.

Which OS?
Some entry level laptops come loaded with a free version of Linux but if the notebook doesn't come preloaded with an operating system then you will have to shell out some more money to buy a licensed copy of the operating system. Or if you are comfortable with Linux then you can even get a copy of any Linux distro you like and save money in the bargain.

For Windows lovers, most notebooks come pre-loaded with one or the other version of Vista. You can choose from Enterprise, Business, Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate, depending on whether you want it for office or home usage. Vista Business and Enterprise editions have extra features to support enterprise network connectivity.

The Apple Mac books come loaded with their proprietary Mac OS. But that's not the limit. You can even get Windows XP or Vista running on them with the help of software called Bootcamp, which lets you dual boot between MAC OS or Windows Vista/XP.

Why a Graphics Card?
If you are going to use applications that are graphically intense or you are a gaming freak, then you need a powerful graphics card within your notebook. Most laptop manufacturers provide either an NVIDIA or an AMD card. A graphics card takes away the load from the CPU, thereby reducing the compromises made on CPU performance while running graphics intense apps.
Another important parameter to be checked is the amount of video memory available on board. Notebooks use a part of the main memory as the video memory which can be adjusted in the notebook's BIOS. However the maximum amount of main memory that can be allocated as video memory varies for notebooks. If this memory is not enough then you should search for notebooks that have dedicated memory for graphics.

Hard drives and Safe Storage
Storage capacity in notebook hard drives these days range between 160GB to 320GB, and are available at RPM speeds ranging from 5400rpm to 7200rpm. A higher RPM value provides faster data access from the hard drive, thereby giving better performance. Make sure that you buy the right capacity up front as upgrading the hard drive could be a problem in some models.
Besides capacity and rpm, another critical aspect to check is the kind of protection a notebook provides to its hard drive. Does it come equipped with a shock absorber for the hard disk? Whenever a notebook senses vibrations, it removes the head from the main media of the HDD and waits at a safer place until the sensor stops sensing vibrations. So, the hard drive is less vulnerable to damage than when it is not in operation. Check whether your notebook provides this feature.

How much RAM?
Most notebooks these days come with two RAM slots unlike desktops that have four. It is better to have only one of the slots filled to keep room for future expansion. For instance, if a notebook has 1 GB RAM then it's better to have a single 1 GB RAM module instead of two 512 MB modules.

Notebooks these days offer RAM from 512 MB to 4 GB. The popular DDR2 RAMs come in speeds of 400MHz, 533MHz, 677MHz and 800MHz, while the newer DDR3 RAMs have speeds as high as 1333 MHz.

Connectivity Options
Make sure that the laptop you buy has sufficient input/output ports and even if it's an ultra-light notebook, there's no compromise on the essential ports. As a thumb rule, you should have at least three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire, a VGA out, S-Video out, Ethernet (RJ-45), modem (RJ11), headphone (line-out) and microphone ports. Even the smallest laptops with a 12.1 inch display should have these for seamless connectivity with other peripheral devices.

Almost all notebooks today have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support. Connectivity options, both wireless and wired, form an important part of a notebook. Make sure that your notebook is compatible with the latest IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n standards for wireless LAN communication. 802.11n is a new multi-streaming modulation technique and notebooks based on its proprietary pre-draft versions are being sold.

Battery backup
A good battery backup is essential if you are perennially on the move. Battery backups of most notebooks vary between 2.5 to 5 hours. Notebooks generally have a power management system of their own that helps in achieving better battery backups by intelligently reducing the brightness of the LCD or by switching the notebook to sleep mode, when kept idle for sometime. Most notebooks come with a 6-cell Li-ion which can be upgraded to a 9-cell or higher option at an additional cost.

Screen size and weight
Notebooks are available in different screen sizes ranging from 12.1” to 17” widescreens. The weight of a notebook is in direct proportion to the screen size. Another important point is that the weight mentioned by the vendor is the weight of the laptop alone without the carry bag, adaptor and other accessories that are essential for you. Also when buying a widescreen notebook, check for its compatibility with external display devices such as a projector or a monitor.

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