BUYING A LAPTOP

Home Laptop

Laptops (Notebooks) intended primarily for home use emphasize different features to those intended for business use. Home laptops are optimised for things that people typically do with their desktop computers, so even if you're not replacing your desktop computer, you'll feel at home with the laptop's capabilities.

Laptops targeted for home use are likely to be bulky because of the emphasis on a good size screen, so weight may become an issue if you intend to carry it around a lot. The powerful features of a home laptop are also likely to use up batteries quickly. A three to four hour operational time is usual with a standard battery - but, if you run the laptop from the mains most of the time, battery life may not be such an issue. Cheaper home laptops may not have wireless LAN as a standard, and might not have firewire ports.

The following ranges are worth considering for a home laptop:

Dell Inspiron series
HP Pavilion, Compaq 2500 series
Fujitsu LifeBook N, C and S series
Sharp Actius RD and GP series
Apple iBook series
Acer TravelMate series 230, 430 and 630
Gateway 400 series
Sony VAIO GRX and GRS series
IBM ThinkPad A and R series
Toshiba Satellite series

Business Laptop

Because of their special requirements, business users are likely to want advanced communication features and wireless technology. Often, business users are in places where there is no mains supply, or where it would be inconvenient to plug in the power cord, so long battery life is essential. To enhance this feature, business machines use processors specifically designed for laptop use. These chips include advanced caching, which can bring the laptop's performance to near-desktop-computer level, while still saving battery power.

The styling and weight of a business laptop is important - generally, the slimmer and lighter the better. This is achieved by reducing display size, getting rid of CD-ROM and DVD, and scaling down the keyboard (external drives, monitors and keyboards can be used when in the office).

The following ranges are worth considering for a business laptop:

Dell Latitude series
HP Compaq Business Notebook series
Fujitsu LifeBook E and B series
Sharp Actius AV, MM and RD series
Apple PowerBook series
Acer TravelMate series 360, 420, 650 and 800
Gateway 450 series
Sony VAIO V505 and Z1 series
IBM ThinkPad X and T series
Toshiba Satellite Pro, Portégé and Tecra series

Choosing a Laptop

Minimum Recommended Spec:

This is the spec for an average laptop, which will cost around £700. You can adjust the spec depending on your requirements.

Processor: The higher end of the processor scale is represented by 1.6- to 1.7-GHz Pentium M, 3.06-GHz Mobile Pentium 4. Intel's Pentium M processor has helped laptops gain in the power stakes. Some vendors incorporate the Pentium M in all classes of laptops. A few notebooks use P4 desktop processors, which can give them a performance advantage as long as they're built to withstand the extra heat; the extra power is also more demanding on battery life and the units themselves tend to be bulkier. The Pentium Celeron processor represents the lower end of the scale; the Athlon is the equivalent from AMD, with the new Sempron range of processors designed for thin and light laptops beginning to make an appearance.

System memory: Don't settle for less than 256MB if you want to do more than word processing and e-mail. Windows XP and newer applications need at least that much memory. 512MB is more realistic for demanding tasks. Not all notebooks have upgrade slots, so check first.

Graphics memory: 32MB or 64MB of dedicated video RAM (VRAM) is needed to drive external monitors (e.g. for presentations).

Screen: Portable laptops with 14-inch and 15-inch screens are now standard; some manufacturers offer 16- and 17-inch screens. The more compact screen sizes of 12.1 and 13.3 inches may soon only be available on expensive ultra-portable notebooks.

Battery: Opt for a lithium ion rechargeable battery, which lasts longer than a nickel-metal hydride one. Many vendors also offer supplemental batteries to boost battery life.

Optical drives: Several manufacturers offer notebooks with rewritable DVD drives. The next best thing is a combination 8X DVD-ROM and 24X/10X/24X CD-RW drive. Midrange machines usually feature one or the other, and only the least expensive notebooks come with just a CD-ROM drive.

Hard drive: Laptop hard drives continue to grow, but 30GB or 40GB is reasonable for most purposes other than video. Most hard drives are easy to remove if you want to keep your data safe.

Communications: Most laptops still have a parallel port and one PC Card slot; most also have at least two USB 2.0 ports, and many now offer four. A growing number include a FireWire port, for an external drive, MP3 player, or digital video camcorder. Fewer notebooks come with a full set of legacy ports - serial ports, PS/2 ports (for a mouse or keyboard) and infrared ports are becoming less common. Built-in ethernet now comes as standard on all portables, with some high-end models including gigabit ethernet. Memory card readers are also becoming standard, so check that your camera or MP3 player format is supported.

Security

Laptops are popular targets for thieves. If your machine is stolen, you stand to lose not only the computer itself, but also your confidential data. Because of this, laptop manufacturers and a number of accessory companies now offer a range of add-on security devices.

The simplest way to protect your laptop is to fit a lock to secure it to something solid, e.g. a wall hook or a piece of immovable furniture. This requires a reinforced slot on your computer's chassis. Most modern laptops have a Kensington Lock slot already fitted so that a compatible lock can be inserted and secured with an attached steel cable. A movement sensor such as the Targus Defcon can also be attached to the Kensington Lock Slot which sets off a loud alarm if a thief comes near the machine or attempts to cut the steel cable. More complex and sophisticated alarm systems include the Caveo Anti-Theft System, which uses a PC card with a movement sensor. The sensor sounds an alarm if the laptop is moved outside a specified radius and the card blocks access to the operating system until a security code is entered.

Your data may be more valuable than the hardware, and there are various ways to protect it. Although modern operating systems have basic password protection, these can be by-passed if the hard drive is removed and installed as a secondary drive on another machine. Data encryption tools offer a better solution. Programs by Utimaco and Steganos encode files, folders and disc partitions so that even if the hard drive is removed and mounted in another machine, only meaningless rubbish is displayed.

For additional levels of protection, some encryption programs require not only a password to access your data, but also a special USB dongle which must be inserted for the data to be unencrypted. One of these is Drivecrypt from Securstar. Some laptop manufacturers, e.g. Fujitsu Siemens and Samsung, incorporate fingerprint scanners onto some of their machines, and third-party fingerprint scanning devices are available from Sitecom. Manufacturers such as Acer and Dell offer machines that incorporate smartcard technology, so that you can only log in and access your encrypted data if the smartcard is inserted. IBM's Thinkpad range of laptops are fitted with specially integrated encryption chips, making them among the most secure machines currently available.

Handheld PDA

A handheld PDA (personal digital assistant) is a small, lightweight device that allows you to easily access appointments, addresses, phone numbers, and other items as a personal organisor. Modern PDAs allow you to access the internet for e-mailing, messaging or connecting to a network, and can be used to play games, music and video.

The two major PDA operating systems are Palm OS from PalmSource and the Windows Mobile or Pocket PC OS from Microsoft. Other devices, such as the RIM Blackberry or the T-Mobile Sidekick, use their own proprietary OS, but PalmSource and Microsoft own the great majority of the market. Both Palm and Pocket PC devices can be synchronised with a Windows desktop PC. The Pocket PC offers easy integration with Microsoft Office programs through pocket versions of Outlook, Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

If you need a PDA simply to maintain an up-to-date appointment calendar and to-do list, a lower-end Palm OS device with a monochrome rather than colour screen will suit your requirements. These devices are cheap to buy and will use less battery power. Thousands of third-party applications have been written for Palm PDAs and are available for downloading at sites like Tucows and PalmGear. Documents to Go by DataViz allows you to edit Word and Excel documents and view PowerPoint files on a Palm PDA. A lot more third-party software has been written for the Palm OS than for Pocket PC devices, though FreewarePPC has a good selection of free apps for Windows Mobile handhelds.

Resources

UKorbit Computers page

See Purchasing a Computer page for further help and information.

Visit UKOrbit's Consumer & Advice Centre for further help and information.