Advice and Deals on Notebooks / Laptops

I have selected a variety of notebook and laptop deals ranging from new to off-lease to refurbished notebooks. There are also large, wide screen notebooks and ultra light-weight notebooks. Before I share the deals, here is some basic advice on notebooks.

The terms notebook and laptop both refer to a light-weight, mobile computer. The newer models seems to be referred to more by notebook these days so that is the term I will use.

Notebook computers cost more than an equivalent desktop computer because of the design. However, this extra cost is worth it if you travel a lot and need it where ever you go. Notebook computers are also becoming popular for college students to take to their classroom or dormitory.

Here is my advice on what to look for in a notebook:

• CPU

  Choosing the right CPU and speed all boils down to what you plan on using the notebook for. For word processing, email checking, Internet chatting, web browsing or anything simple like that, a Celeron, Pentium III or even Pentium II would be fine, although the latter is harder to find these days. For software/web development, CAD, or multimedia work, go with a Pentium-M, Pentium 4-M or Athlon XP CPU.

• Hard Drive

  I recommend a 40GB or larger hard drive. Hard drives are cheap these days so going with a larger one does not add much to the cost.

• Other Drives

  Newer notebooks are phasing out the floppy drive in favor of the CD-ROM / DVD drive. However, I recommend a notebook that comes with both.

  There are also combo drives that do DVD, CD-RW and DVD-RW. A DVD is nice to have if the notebook has a wide screen. CD-RW and DVD-RW are useful for backing up data or making audio and video recordings.

• Memory

  I recommend 256MB or more. Older laptops running Windows 98 operating system can get by with 128MB which is usually what they come with. However, it is newer applications running on older OS's that can still bog down the system.

• Screen Size/Type
  

  Screen sizes range from 12" all the way up to 17" wide screen displays. Usually, the ultra portable notebooks have a 12" screen to be compact and light weight. More powerful, desktop replacement type notebooks use a 17" screen. If you are not sure how large a screen you need, go down the middle road with a 14" or 15" screen size.

• Video Card

  The video card does not matter a whole lot unless you plan on playing high resolution 3D games. It should support a resolution of at least 1024x768 in 16-bit color (65,536 colors). Most notebooks do.

• Pointing Device

  By pointing device, I am referring to the built-in mouse. There are a few types of pointing devices: Touchpad, TrackBall, and TrackPoint.

  The TouchPad is a pad that works by sensing the user's finger movement and downward pressure. It has no moving parts so it is very durable and reliable and also my personal choice.

  The TrackBall, as the name implies, uses a ball to move the cursor. You simply roll the ball in the direction you want to move the cursor. However, since it has a moving part, it is more susceptible to collecting dust and breaking.

  The TrackPoint is a tiny, pencil eraser-shaped object in the middle of the keyboard. It acts like a joystick in controlling the cursor. This control is common in IBM notebooks.

  If you are not sure what type you prefer, I recommend getting a notebook with both a TouchPad and a TrackPoint.

  By the way, you may see some notebooks mentioning an AccuPoint device. That is simply a TrackPoint device.

• Battery

  Look for a notebook that uses a Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) battery over Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cd) and Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) batteries because lithium batteries hold their charge longer. If you cannot get a Li-Ion go with the next best which is Ni-MH.

• AC Power Adapter

  An AC power adapter comes in handy when your rechargeable battery is low and needs some recharging time. Just make sure the notebook comes with one.

• Expansion Slots

  Notebooks use PCMCIA type I, II, and III slots for expansion cards. These designations refer to the thickness of the slot. Various PCMCIA cards require different slot types. Type I and Type II cards can be used in a Type III slot. PCMCIA cards also go by the name PC Card.

  There is also a newer slot type called CardBus. A CardBus card uses a 32-bit data path for faster operation and also uses less power. It can get you better speeds in devices such as a 10/100 ethernet card.

• Wireless LAN

  A wireless LAN card will allow you to connect to the Internet without the need of a cable. It is very convenient and highly recommended. Check out my wireless networking page for more information.

Now that you have an idea of what to look for in a notebook, let me share with you some of the best deals available right now.