All-Purpose Notebooks

All purpose notebooks deliver what most buyers are looking for in a portable: a screen that's not too small or too big, a CPU that's powerful but that doesn't kill battery life, a chassis that's easy to carry but that doesn't make you forego a comfortable keyboard and on-board optical drive. In short, an all-purpose laptop is just right.

What Are All-Purpose Notebooks?

All-purpose notebooks represent the sweet spot for the industry. This category comprises thin-and-light models with 13.3-inch or 14-inch screens, as well as the typical mainstream portable with a screen up to 15.4 inches in size.

Who Are They For?

Essentially, if a machine isn't intended for a niche buyer — someone looking for a tablet, an ultraportable, a desktop replacement, a budget model, and so on — it's an all-purpose laptop. You'll find models tailored for business users, home PC buyers, students, and multimedia enthusiasts.

What Can You Expect From All-Purpose Notebooks?

• 1.8-GHz to 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
• 2GB RAM
• Sharp, bright widescreen
• 160GB to 320GB hard drive
• DL DVD burner

Simple Buying Tips

• Focus on the screen. Opt for as large a screen as you care to carry, since more screen real-estate will make working on your laptop more enjoyable. Road warriors may want to opt for a sub-4-pound machine with a 13.3-inch panel, but if the machine won't travel often, certainly step up to a heavier laptop (4.5 to 6.5 pounds or so) with a 14.1- or 15.4-inch LCD.
  
  
  
• Think more power. Since a rock-bottom price is not the goal, insist on a model with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor in the 1.8- to 2.4-GHz range. This will give you plenty of power (especially when multitasking), while keeping an eye on battery life. And as the saying goes, you can never be too rich or have too much RAM, so opt for 2GB.
  
  
  
• Get a versatile optical drive. In this class, be sure to upgrade to a multi-format dual-layer DVD burner. The 9.5GB capacity will come in handy for backing up your music and photo collections and other important files.
  
  
• Choose a premium OS. Steer clear of machines that only offer Vista Basic in favor of Vista Home Premium or Vista Business; many business buyers will want to stick with a model that still offers the leaner (and familiar) Windows XP. And don't forget about a Mac. The latest OS X (Leopard) is arguably the best mainstream operating system available.
  
  
• Watch the support. Make sure you are getting at least a one-year warranty, with phone/chat tech support hours that you can live with. 24/7 availability is ideal, but insist on tech support that at least coincides with your time zone's daytime hours

Business Notebooks

Style takes a back seat to substance for business users, so their notebooks put the emphasis on portability, durability, security, and connectivity. Long runtime is also the goal, with battery options that enable all-day outlet-free computing. And okay, at least a little style is welcome.

What Are Business Notebooks?

Business notebooks are thin-and-light or mainstream models (see the ultraportables category) that include the security, connectivity, and durability features a professional user would need. Notebooks intended for corporate use have all that, plus manageability features and a stable platform so the OS image of units deployed now will match that of machines ordered six to nine months from now.

Who Are They For?

A business notebook is the right choice for employees of both small and large companies, as well as sole proprietors who often take a machine to off-site meetings. If the machine is for use in a home office and won't see road use, you can opt for a consumer notebook, where you will likely get similar specs for a little less money.

What Can You Expect From a Business Notebook?

• 1.8-GHz to 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
• 2GB RAM
• 13.3-inch to 15.4-inch screen
• Spill-resistant keyboard
• Shock-mounted hard drive
• Fingerprint reader
• TPM (Trusted Platform Module) circuitry
• 802.11agn Wi-Fi
• WWAN option

Simple Buying Tips

• Portability: If the choice is yours, go for a smaller, lighter machine (usually with a 13.3-inch widescreen), especially if it will see a lot of use on airplane tray tables or be schlepped home on your daily commute. If the machine will simply be carried from your office to a conference room and back, go for one with a larger screen.
  
  
• Security: Should it fall into the wrong hands, a business notebook needs to be able protect the locally stored data as well as the company network. A fingerprint reader will take care of the former, while TPM circuitry can handle password management and enable hard-drive encryption.
  
  
• Durability: Most business portables will see travel during their useful lifespan, so features like a magnesium-alloy outer shell, reinforced inner frame, spill-resistant keyboard and a shock-mounted hard drive are important.
  
  Ideally, look for a machine with active hard drive protection technology, which parks the heads to prevent damage to the platters should the machine sense it is falling. If you tend to be particularly tough on a machine, consider one with a solid-state drive (SSD). Capacities are low and prices are high, but the drives are crash-proof (and draw less power, too).
  
  
• Runtime: If you tend to travel (or get stuck in long meetings), opt for the notebook's extended battery. It adds a little bulk, but often a couple extra hours of runtime. If all-day computing away from an AC outlet is essential, look for a machine that can take a second battery in a modular bay in place of the optical drive, or just buy an extra battery.
  
  
• Connectivity: For business buyers, 802.11agn Wi-Fi is a must, since all of these standards are in use today. Frequent travelers may also want to consider a model with embedded wireless broadband (either EV-DO or HSDPA) connectivity.
  
  Service isn't cheap ($60 to $80 monthly), but these 3G data networks offer good nationwide coverage and near-DSL throughput, and a subscription can pay for itself in increased productivity and the money you'll save in airport and hotel connection fees

ultraportable notebooks

Is a 4.5-pound machine too much to carry? An ultraportable notebook is the answer. These featherweight marvels cost a bit more and involve some compromises, but at 4 pounds or less (much less in some cases), they are easy to stash in a bag.

What Are Ultraportable Notebooks?

Thinner and lighter than even a thin-and-light notebook, an ultraportable notebook is a machine that weighs less than 4 pounds but still delivers the functionality of a full PC. Screens are smaller, keyboards are tighter, and processors are generally less powerful than with a full-size notebook.

Who Are They For?

An ultraportable notebook is the right choice for anyone who wants a constant computing companion. The target demographic is typically road-going professionals, but an ultraportable might also suit a college student who needs a machine in class each day, as well as a power user who wants a PC at the ready should they happen upon a Wi-Fi hotspot.

What Can You Expect From an Ultraportable Notebook?

• 10.6- to 12.1-inch screen
• Core Solo or Core Duo ULV processor
• 2.5 to 4.0 pounds
• Optional solid-state drive
• Optional wireless broadband

Simple Buying Tips

• Is it too small? Before you commit to your preferred ultraportable notebook, be sure you can live with the size of its screen and keyboard day in and day out. The small LCD combined with today's higher resolutions will mean tiny default type, and some keyboards have truncated keys that can give a fast touch typist fits.
  
  
• Internal or external optical? You also need to think hard about whether you want the optical drive to be built in, or if you can live with an external drive. The former means you'll always have a drive handy (for watching movies on the plane, for example), but opting for an external drive lets you shed about a pound from your load when you can leave it behind.
  
  
• Get a bigger battery. If you tend to travel (or get stuck in long meetings), opt for the notebook's extended battery. It adds a little bulk, but often a couple extra hours of runtime. If all-day computing away from an AC outlet is essential, buy an extra battery.
  
  
• Sacrifice performance. Generally speaking, opting for an ultraportable will mean giveing up some processing power. The ULV CPUs and integrated GPUs employed draw less power and produce less heat (important in an ultraportable's tight confines), which limits the machine's use to typical productivity chores and basic multimedia.

Desktop Replacement Notebooks

A desktop replacement notebook proves that you can, indeed, take it with you: These powerful portables sport big screens, spacious hard drives (or two), multimedia prowess, and graphics and processing power to spare. With weights approaching and surpassing 10 pounds, you won't want to take one along very often-but a desktop replacement is still easier to tote than a minitower.

What Are Desktop Replacement Notebooks?

A desktop replacement is a notebook with a 17-inch screen or larger. While panels that size in a portable were unthinkable a few years ago, they are now commonplace-and some laptops have 19- and even 20-inch LCDs. With such a screen as the centerpiece, most desktop replacement machines focus on the video, multimedia, and gaming experience.

Who Are They For?

Desktop replacement laptops are ideal for buyers that don't travel often, if at all, with their notebook, so the portability is more of a convenience-to shuttle the machine from room to room or to a weekend place-than a necessity.

A desktop replacement is also ideal for smaller quarters (a bedroom, kitchen, or small apartment) where a full-size desktop/monitor/keyboard (and the accompanying cables) are too cumbersome, or where you want a machine to serve multiple purposes (PC, TV, audio system, etc.).

What Can You Expect From a Desktop Replacement?

• High-res screen (often HD-capable)
• Optional high-def DVD player
• Core 2 Duo or optional Quad Core GPU
• 240GB+ hard drive capacity
• Optional TV tuner (internal or external)
• Optional high-end GPU

Simple Buying Tips

• Consider HD options. Though it adds hundreds of dollars to the price of the machine, consider a setup that combines a high-def DVD drive (either HD DVD or Blu-ray), a 1080p-capable screen, and HDMI output. This lets the notebook function as a self-contained HD home theater, and the HDMI port lets you connect it to a full-fledged home theater system to make the most of your investment.
  
  
• Grab lots of drive space. If you will be using the machine as your multimedia hub, get as much hard drive capacity as you can afford (desktop replacements usually offer the option of a second hard drive). Paired with the maker's internal or external TV tuner option, you'll want that disk space to record TV programs.
  
  
• To game, or not to game? If you aren't into 3D gaming, you can save some coin and opt for a mid-level GPU solution (you'll still need graphics horsepower to help with DVD and HD video decoding and playback). If you are a gamer, be prepared to shell out for a dual-GPU solution from nVidia (SLI) or ATI (CrossFire)

Gaming Notebooks

Ultimate performance, but ultimate price. Today's top-shelf gaming notebooks deliver dual GPUs and a bevy of other high-end components-and high-end prices to match. If your passion (and for a lucky few, your profession) is gaming, these machines are meant for you.

What Are Gaming Notebooks?

A gaming notebook puts 3D graphics performance above all else. That means a powerful GPU (or two) and top-of-the-line CPU, of course, but also fast memory and hard-drive subsystems. A large LCD with fast response times and good grayscale performance (to better render shadow detail) is also a must, and a good audio system doesn't hurt.

Who Are They For?

Truth be told, the fastest desktop PC will always outpace the fastest laptop when it comes to 3D frame rates. So if you're stationary, get a desktop, but for those who need the convenience of a portable form factor-be it to take to LAN parties or from room to room-several "boutique" PC makers have portables designed just for you.

What Can You Expect From Gaming Notebooks?

• nVidia SLI or ATI CrossFire dual-GPU setup
• 2GB-4GB 667-MHz RAM
• DirectX 10 compatibility
• Intel Quad Core or AMD Turion 64 CPU
• 17- to 20-inch screen
• Dual hard drives

Simple Buying Tips

• How serious are you? Are you $2,000 worth of serious about your hobby, or $6,000+ serious? That's the price range a good gaming laptop will fall into, with each frame-rate bump costing you another couple hundred dollars.
  
  
• How strong are you? You'll also have to decide how much machine you are willing to carry. You can get a decent-enough single-GPU solution with a 15.4-inch screen that's weighs a still-portable 8 pounds or so, or a dual-everything behemoth with a 20-inch screen that's barely luggable at 16 pounds.
  
  
• Double down. For ultimate performance, get two of everything: at least a dual-core (and maybe even a desktop-class quad-core) processor, dual-GPU setup, and dual hard drives. A solid-state drive as your primary drive will help speed game play, and you can get a traditional hard drive as the secondary for mass storage.
  
  
• Check the warranty and tech support. There's a lot going on inside these beasts, including (ideally) overclocked components. So make sure your maker stands behind its product. Check online forums to see real-world opinions about a maker's product QA and tech support before you buy

Tablet PCs

Tablet PCs are arguably the most versatile machines in the laptop genus. Their screens react to input from a finger or stylus, letting you enter notes and drawings freehand. Light weight and long battery life make them suitable for life on the go.

What Are Tablet PCs?

Tablets come in two types. Slates are machines without a physical keyboard, with all the guts of the PC residing behind a screen.

Convertibles look like traditional laptops, but the screen can be swiveled and folded flat against the keyboard, essentially turning the machine into a slate form factor. A convertible model gives mainstream users the best of both worlds (a keyboard when you need it, a slate when you don't), while slate tablets give users a full-fledged PC and large screen in an exceedingly light package.

Who Are They For?

Tablets appeal to a wide spectrum of users. Among consumer buyers, a convertible tablet is ideal for a student who might prefer to jot handwritten digital notes in class, rather than type. Typical home laptop buyers, too, might prefer the flexibility of a tablet when surfing the Web on the couch.

In business, a convertible can serve creative professionals who need to turn ideas into sketches, as well as workers in the medical profession, warehouse personnel, and field employees that need to fill in digital forms.

What Can You Expect From a Tablet PC?

• 8.9-inch to 12.1-inch screen
• AMD Turion 64 X2 or Intel Core Duo processor
• Windows Vista Business or XP Tablet PC Edition
• Integrated graphics

Simple Buying Tips

• Convertible or slate? For the vast majority of buyers, a convertible tablet is the right choice. They are generally thicker and heavier than a true slate, but having the option of switching between a slate and a regular laptop makes the machine much more usable. For vertical applications, where pen input and lightweight are key, a slate will suffice.
  
  
• Touch screen or digitizer? Not all tablet screens are the same. Some feature touch screens, which handle simple on-screen navigation, button-pressing, and some ink input. Better systems feature a digitizer, which can sense when the stylus is hovering over the screen and also register different results (in some pen-aware applications) based on the pressure you write with.
  
  
• Look for bundled pen-aware applications. The Windows operating system (either Vista Business, or the older XP Tablet PC Edition) that comes preloaded on your machine will feature some pen-aware functionality and utilities, such as the Tablet PC Input Panel for adding notes to almost any document, and handwriting-to-text technology (with accuracy that varies according to the OS and the quality of your penmanship). But look for other bundled applications that also lend themselves to pen input, such as Microsoft OneNote.
  
  
• Watch the screen size, type. Choosing the right size screen is a balancing act: too small, and you may have trouble accurately selecting menu entries and other items on the screen; too large, and you wind up with a heavy machine that isn't comfortable to use as a slate for long stretches. Also, field workers will want to be sure they get a screen rated for both indoor and outdoor use; a standard LCD panel is useless in bright light

Rugged Notebooks

Built to withstand life's little bumps, moisture, sand, dust, vibration, temperature extremes, and three-foot drops onto concrete, rugged notebooks can take a beating and keep on booting. They're heavy, bulky, and expensive, but if you need a PC to work under extreme circumstances, this is the class of machine for you.

What Are Rugged Notebooks?

Rugged notebooks are machines that have extra protection against a range of environmental and situational hazards. They are designed to work in harsh conditions: dusty construction sites and factories; outdoors in the heat, cold, and wet; and in moving vehicles where they are subjected to shock and vibration.

Who Are They For?

The military is the largest purchaser of rugged notebooks, followed closely by state and local governments for use by emergency-services and law-enforcement personnel. In the private sector, rugged notebooks are ideal for construction contractors, telco workers, and factory-floor managers, as well as professionals who find themselves in the field more than at a desk.

What Can You Expect From Rugged Notebooks?

• Magnesium-alloy or aluminum outer shell
• Inner skeleton protecting vital components
• Shock-mounted hard drive with active protection system
• Optional solid state drive
• Sealed keyboard and port covers
• Indoor/outdoor screen

Simple Buying Tips

• How rugged do you need? There are varying degrees of ruggedness, ranging from machines designed for road-going business pros (shock-mounted hard drive, mag-alloy shell, spill-resistant keyboard) all the way to those that meet military specifications.
  
  Some even offer optional heaters for the hard drive for use in frigid conditions. Of course, the more rugged the machine, the more you will pay.
  
  
• Get the extended warranty. If you are buying a rugged notebook, it's because you need it to take some abuse. So be sure to opt for a warranty that covers user mishaps (drops and other accidents) in addition to the standard "defects in materials and workmanship."
  
  
• Maximize your connectivity options. Don't let an open PC Card slot be the weak link in your otherwise element-proof machine. Look for integrated 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, as well as WWAN and GPS if those suit your needs.
  
  
• Sleek they ain't. With their metal cladding, rubber bumpers, and molded-in handles, rugged laptops won't fit anyone's definition of "sleek." But done right, the design can at least attain "industrial chic" status.