Investing Wisely When Buying a Laptop
When people were first looking at purchasing a
laptop they would select the one they wanted by looking at
each laptops specifications and its general appearance (was
it pleasing to the eye). Yet in today's market these are not
the sole choices that any one will have to make when
purchasing a new laptop, and because the choice of laptop
now available is so extensive that are you sure that the
choice you have made is the right one for you. Provided
below are several points that should be taken into
consideration when looking to purchase a new laptop.
Firstly let us talk about the CPU (Central Processing Unit)
and which is the main component of any laptop and this
determines just how well your laptop will perform as well as
controlling the heating and the length of life of the
battery. But remember there is no way that you can have high
quality CPU whilst comprising on the quality of the battery
and power provided. So if your laptop is going to be
replacing your desktop computer because you will be away
from the office for extended periods traveling then there
are several options that you could look at which offer a CPU
that is integrated in to the laptops main board such as P4.
Also if you should be using your laptop for business or
schooling then it may well be worth considering purchasing
one that has a more suitable CPU and certainly one fitted
with an AMD Athlon may be the perfect solution for you. The
Athlon processor has been designed for those users who are
looking for an economical solution both in cost and the way
it is used. Although older Athlon models certainly do not
quite have the performance of the Intel Pentium Processor
models with regard to performance, certainly the more recent
models such as the 2800+ are strong enough now to compete as
it has P4 2.8GHz of power.
However there seems to be one model of CPU more than any
other that people prefer and this is the Centrino. The
Centrino has been produced by Intel to provide a balance
between performance and mobility issues for all laptop
users. It comes with 2MB second level cash, and the Pentium
CPU has been modified for laptop use which results in the
easing of the burden placed on the CPU itself. This then
helps to decrease the levels of heat and power consumption
produced.
Next we will discuss RAM (Random Access Memory) and also the
graphics card. Both these two items are important for the
laptop to be of a high quality. You will find that there are
2 sorts of RAM now available on the market, SD RAM and DD
RAM, and certainly if you are looking for a RAM providing
you with high quality then look no further than the DD RAM.
But you should still be careful when purchasing your RAM to
look at the clock specification. If you purchase RAM in your
laptop of 3.0MHz clock speed then you will see that the
performance supplied is to the whole system. Also if
possible do not look at purchase a laptop that has two slots
of 256MB Ram x 2 as this will not be sufficient for your
use, rather you should be looking at a laptop which comes
equipped with 3.0Mz, 512MB, DD RAM.
Now as for video cards there are many varieties around today
and the first thing that should look at when purchasing a
video card is its "ON-Board" specification. Video cards are
integrated into the laptop main board and normally run off
of the main RAM for the video memory. So if you want to use
your laptop for general purposes rather than gaming or 3-D
design work (which would require 3D hardware acceleration)
those laptops with onboard video cards are the right ones
for you. But say you are someone who plays Counter Strike
professionally then you would certainly be disappointed with
the way the screen freezes and play becomes delayed.
The final technical matter that anyone should be looking at
when purchasing a laptop is the hard disk. When purchasing a
hard disk there is a detail you should be looking at which
is more important than the capacity it provides and the RPM
(Rotation per Minute) which determines how fast data can be
transferred to the CPU to be processed. So this
specification should be carefully considered as it plays a
major role in the laptops abilities when dealing with
multimedia functions.
So if you are considering purchasing a new laptop then
certainly one to be considered is the Centrino with its
onboard video card, big RAM (for those planning to use it at
school or for their business) and if you want to
occasionally watch a movie or listen to music. Yet you could
also consider the Pentium laptops with AGP or PCI Express
off board video cards which would provide you with the
performance of a desktop computer (as long as you don't mind
the weight, noise and heat produced) in a laptop.
So with so many decisions to be considered when thinking of
purchasing a laptop it is wise if you take your time and
carry out your research thoroughly in order to make a wise
investment for the future.
By Allison Thompson
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