TechWareLabs Notebook Buyers Guide

Author:  Jason Jacobs Date:  2006.12.05 Topic:  Misc Mod Provider:  TechWareLabs Manufacturer:  TechWareLabs

Purchase Scenarios

So you have decided to look into a laptop. Lets see several scenarios and the recommended laptop for each.

Scenario 1:

You are a salesman who consistently meets client either at their location or for business lunches. You would like to be able to present your sales pitch to them with the aid of a laptop to demonstrate your product and your company website online. Your looking for a laptop with enough power to handle normal office applications and with a screen thats easy to see for both you and a client. You don't feel the need for a high end PC and don't expect to do any graphical, drawing, or heavy computing. You have set a budget for this system at $1000.

From this scenario we can take the following important points of information to make our decision:

1. Not a power user.
2. Need for a larger screen.
3. Budget of $1000
4. Office Applications

For a presentation PC we would normally suggest a 17" screen but with a budget of $1000 that won't become realistic. We will step down to a 15 inch screen which is still large enough for small presentations. Since the consumer doesn't need a powerful computer we can suggest onboard graphics and either a Intel core solo, AMD sempron, or Intel Celeron based machine. We will also recommend 512MB of ram or 1GB depending on offered price. This will save cash and still provide adequate power for normal applications. We will suggest at least getting a wireless G notebook card to enable online browsing when available and a 60-80 GB hard drive which will provide enough storage space to take along plenty of files for those presentations. Serious business consumers may want to consider adding bluetooth and getting either getting or adding a wireless plan with unlimited data so that you can get online anywhere that you hace cell phone reception. If we add all of these selections up and select a notebook we would be looking at:

1. Dell Inspiron 1501
2. Dell Inspiron 6400
3. Compaq Presario V6000Z
4. Compaq Presario V6000T
5. Gateway NX570

Scenario 2:

You are a home user who wants a laptop for the ability to stay connected on family trips. You take a lot of digital photography on your trips and also some movies on your MiniDV video camcorder which you would like to store and maybe edit on your laptop. you don't find yourself doing much office applications but would like to keep the laptop for 3 or more years. You wear glasses and would like a screen which is easy to read and can also play movies for the kids. You have set a budget for this laptop at $1600

From this scenario we can take the following important points of information to make our decision:

1. Video Editing and Picture storage.
2. Need for a larger screen.
3. Budget of $1600

In this scenario the video editing will be the determining factor of the configuration since editing requires not only enhanced storage but also a dedicated video card to handle the needs. We will suggest at least a 100 to 120GB hard drive of 5400 to 7200rpm to handle video's. We will also suggest a 15.4 to 17" screen if the budget allows and 1GB of ram as a minimum for crunching the video incoming information. You will want to make sure that your new laptop has a Firewire (1394) port so you can hook your MiniDV cam up for recording. Either an AMD X2 or Intel Core Duo processor is recommended over the celeron or sempron with less cache which could cause issues with handling streaming and recording from a MiniDV camcorder Firewire. This will lead us to the following recommendations:

1. Gateway NX570XL - With 5400 rpm drive instead of the underpar 4200rpm default
2. HP dv9000t
3. Dell Inspiron 6400
4. Dell Inspiron 9400

Scenario 3:

You are a college student who wants a laptop for school and fun. Your needs include not only office applications for those papers and assignments but also wireless connectivity so you can do homework while at Panera's and browse online. Finally you would like to be able to play some games when your free from school and you are into first person shooters like Quake 3, Battlefield 2142, and occasionally some flight simulators. Your mom and dad have set a budget of $2000 for your new toy.

From this scenario we can take the following important points of information to make our decision:

1. Office Applications
2. 3D Gaming
3. Budget of $2000

Your options with this scenario are many, we will highlight the ones available from the larger online retailers but be aware that there may be options from local computer shops that will also be viable solutions. These third party vendors will not have the wide range of support for the hardware that a larger vendor is able to offer. We will suggest a 15 to 17" laptop with a mid to high end video card and dual core processor rated at least 2.0Ghz for those long night study (gaming) sessions. We will additionally suggest no less than 1 GB perhaps even 2 GB if price allows which will greatly speed up the rate at which your new laptop is able to process information from graphically intensive applications. This leads us to the following recommendations:

1. Gateway NX860XL
2. HP dv9000t - With 7600 512MB Video Card
3. Dell Inspiron 9400 - With the 7900 GS Video Card

Links:

Excellent laptops are offered from several manufacturers including Dell, Gateway, Compaq, HP, Lenovo, Alienware, Killer Notebooks, Asus, and more. Consumers should keep in mind that their options grow with their budget and that several of the custom high end laptop retailers produce not only eye catching but also amazing performance laptops.

On to the Purchase