Laptops - reviews and price comparison

Application

Before you buy a laptop you need to consider what you want to use it for: as a replacement for a stationary computer or as a handy co-worker while travelling.

Screen

If the computer won’t be carried around a lot and instead be used as a replacement to a stationary computer it can be suitable with a larger screen, at least 15 inches. Some screens are in widescreen format, which is optimal if you want to watch movies on your laptop or to view two pages of a document on the sceen at the same time.

The picture below show the picture proportions in comparison between different sizes.

Performance

A computer’s performance depends on many different factors. The fastest computers today are the ones with dual core processors (Show more on dual core processors). If the laptop is replacing a powerful stationary computer and if you are working with for example video editing and -conversion it is useful with a powerful laptop.

A processor can have dual cores on one circuit, which is almost the same as having two processors in the computer. It makes the computer faster when running two programs, or one program that can divide the work into two threads with instructions to the processor.
In reality many programs are usually run at the same time. Even if you only use the web browser several service programs are run, handling for example network connections, communications between different parts of the operating system and many of other functions. Thus you benefit from having dual cores.
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In the computer’s internal memory information used by the programs being run is stored. A small internal memory makes the computer a little bit slower since the programs have to get their information from the hard drive instead (which is slower than the internal memory). When you buy a new laptop today it should at least have 512 MB internal memory to be able to run the latest version of Windows and other programs without any problems.

Hard drive

The hard drive stores all programs and all the data you want to save on the computer when it is turned off, such as pictures, documents and so on. If you want to store many songs (MP3), pictures or videos the computer needs a quite large hard drive. When the internal memory is not sufficient the hard drive is also used to store that which exceeds the capacity of the internal memory.

If you don’t always need your files it can be a good idea to buy a laptop with a normal capacity hard drive and buy an external hard drive as a supplement.

CD/DVD (Optical drive)

Most laptops have a built in CD-reader, DVD-reader and/or a CD/DVD-writer (burner). DVD-discs have larger storage capacity than the CDs, but are more expensive. (Show more about CD/DVD)

A CD- or DVD-writer has many fields of application. One is to make back up discs with important information. In this case it can be of use to know that a DVD can store from 4,7 GB up to 8 GB (DualLayer) while a CD can store a maximum of 700MB (~0.7 GB). If you want to store much data on discs DVD is to prefer. A DVD-writer can also write CDs and the DVD-readers can read them.
If the computer has DVD-reader you can also watch DVD movies with it. If the laptop lacks an integrated CD/DVD-reader you can connect an external unit via USB.
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Ports

Some equipment is standard on computers. A Network card and USB-ports are almost always included and today the faster USB 2.0 is a standard.
Something that is getting more common is another port with three different names; IEEE1394, FireWire and iLink. The advantage with it is that it is fast and can be used for transferring videos from digicams etc. There are however still many laptops that don’t have this port.

USB	Firewire 6 pin port

If you are planning to use an external monitor or projector it is important that the laptop has a video output.
Most laptops have a VGA-port, which works for regular computer monitors. But make sure your TV or projector have VGA ports. Otherwise you can buy a laptop with an S-video port. Please note that the S-video port leads to poor picture quality because of its low resolution.

VGA	S-video

Wireless network

Wireless network (WLAN) is often a standard on laptops. If you are going to use a wireless network it is recommended to use a type called 802.11b/g/n. This type of network cards can handle the most common wireless networks.

If the computer doesn’t have an integrated wireless network you can later buy an external card (type PCMCIA) or a USB-stick. It is of course most handy if the card is integrated.

Additional features

• Bluetooth makes it possible to connect devices to your computer wirelessly. A Bluetooth-mobile with integrated modem enables your computer to connect to Internet via the mobile. Wireless keyboard, printer, headset, GPS are some other devices with Bluetooth connection.
• PCMCIA/PC Card is a slot for Express Cards (plug-in); Bluetooth, hard drive, connection for hard drives and a range of other functions.
• Fingerprint reader can be used to log in and for passwords to increase the security level.

Rating/awards

On testwinner.co.uk all the different ratings given by expert testers have been translated into a percentage from 0 to 100 with 100 being the maximum rating.
The average rating for a product can indicate different things. A low average rating is a warning that the product maybe won't live up the expectations created by the ads for the product. A high rating often means that the product has great features and works well. The more tests of the product the better accuracy in the average rating.

The amount of test wins/awards shows how many times the product has been named winner or been selected "Editor's Choice", "Best Buy" or received similar positive awards in tests. An award means that the product stands out from the competition in one way or another. It can be by giving value for money or by being innovative, or simply by just filling its purpose in a really good way.