With the dizzying array of brands, sizes, types, and speeds of various laptops, it's difficult to know where to start in choosing the ideal laptop. We've attempted to simplify the technical jargon with some rules (and actual speeds of various CPU's and graphic cards) to help you narrow down your choices to the best performers and then make your final decision based on your personal preferences such as the keyboard and screen on the machine.
For Reliability - Choose Asus, Toshiba, Sony, Dell, or Apple For Portability – Choose 13” or 14”, attach to external display For Battery Life – Choose P or SU Series CPU, over a T series For Speed – Choose faster CPU, higher numbers are better For Future-Resistant Computer- Choose Windows 7-64 For Versatility - Choose a computer with dedicated graphics For Usability- Choose a machine with good keyboard, screen
Square Trade has recently completed a study showing that on average, 1 in 3 (or 31%) laptops fail in 3 years. Ten percent of the 31 % was due to accidental damage. The study showed the most reliable brands were Asus (15.6 % hardware failures) and Toshiba (15.7 %), followed by Sony (16.8 %), Apple (17.4 %), and Dell (18.3%). The poorest reliability was HP (25.6 %), followed by Gateway (23.5%), Acer (23.3%), and Lenovo (21.5%). (An Apple person will quickly point out that although Apple hardware failures may be as common as PC hardware failures, software failures of the Mac OS are less common, making the Mac more reliable). The study also showed that Netbooks were the least reliable, and premium laptops were more reliable than the entry level laptops.
Before buying a laptop, think about how you will use it. If you plan on carrying it back and forth to your office daily, or you travel frequently, choose a 13” or 14” laptop. If you plan on leaving the laptop in one place or travel with it infrequently, a 15”, or 17” will work well. Rather than trying to carry a large laptop with you, a better solution is to connect a large monitor to your laptop when you’re home or in your office. Surprisingly, even most Netbooks are able to ‘drive’ huge monitors (up to 27”).
Choose the newer more efficient CPU’s (Central Processing Unit or effectively the brain of the computer). For best overall performance choose a 25 Watt P series processor (such as the P7450, P7550, P8700, or P8800) or the new (2010) i5 processors. The P series processors are just about as fast as the older style 35 Watt T series (T6600, T6670, T9600), yet consume less power and generate less heat. The fact that less heat is generated means the computer is likely to run cooler and probably last longer. The new i5 processors are, as you can see in the chart below, very fast and come in at a maximum of 35 Watts, but that includes a built in graphics processor. The i5 can allocate speed to either the CPU or graphics, depending on the demand (both generate heat, but given a maximum amount of 'allowed' heat, the i5 offers the best performance). Another option is the 10 watt SU series (SU7300, SU4100). These CPU’s use less than half the power of even the P series, yet perform quite well (see the Passmark speed scores below).
An accurate measure of the actual speed requires ‘benchmark’ software that will measure how fast a computer completes a task or how many tasks it completes in a set amount of time. Passmark has a benchmark test that tests the actual speed of various components of the computer. The CPU or central processing unit is the essentially the brain of the computer and determines the speed of the computer. Shown below are the Passmark scores (speed) for the various CPU’s to help one make an informed decision. You will see that the CPU and it's speed is what largely determines the actual cost of the computer, so if you see a computer that seems like a great bargain, be sure to check the chart below or the Passmark link to look up the actual speed. Most 'bargain' computers end up being just slow computers marketed with big hard drives and a lot of RAM to fool the buyer.
CPU Speed I7-720 3500 I7-820 4000 45 Watts I7-920 4700 Q and I series Q9000 3100 Q9100 3700
i3-330m 2250 35 Watts i5-430m 2630 2010 I series i5-520m 2760 i5-540m 2875
T4300 1500 T6600 1700 35 Watts T6670 1700 T Series T9550 2200 T9600 2300 ** T9900 2500
SU2700 521 10 Watts SU4100 1050 SU Series SU7300 1100 SU9400 1200
2.5 Watts Atom N270 300 Atom Series Atom N280 300
*Used in MacBook ** Used in MacBook Pro
Tip - Learn From Apple - Mac laptops are known for their ease of use, ergonomics, and performance. 'What Apple uses' is a good starting point in configuring a good quality machine. Apple chose P series processors in all but their fastest (2.8 GHz) machines. Tip 2 - Note that the speed is roughly proportional to wattage, ie you don't get something for nothing. But the new Intel chips are becoming more advanced at throttling the components on demand (ie rather than having 2 cores at full speed, shut one down) to maximize the effective speed of the computer. Choose an advanced (ie i5) CPU if you need the maximum speed possible (without a very hot laptop).
Speed, reasonably good graphics, and Windows 7 64-bit are the components of a future-resistant computer. You may ask, “do I really need speed if I only do basic computer operations like email and web browsing?” Yes, because even though a machine is fast enough today, most machines slow down with time for various reasons. And even if your machine's intrinsic speed does not change, software writers continually write their software for machines that are at moderate in speed at the time (and since computer performance doubles every 20 months, it's just a matter of time before anything you buy will be slower than the average computer). For this reason, it’s recommended that you counter the speed decrease by buying somewhat faster CPU that you need today. And since faster machines tend to have a longer usable life, they are in fact greener than their soon to be obsolete ‘bargain’ computers.
Buy a laptop with a dedicated graphics card if you think you'll ever need one (graphics cards on laptops cannot be upgraded). Computers with Windows 7 or Vista seem snappier with at least a mid grade graphics card. But shopping for a computer with a decent graphics card is difficult, the model numbers of the graphic cards provided mean very little to the average person without a performance comparison of the various models. Shown below are the Passmark Performance results for (2D and 3D graphics) as well as another 3D speed test, 3DMark06. The Intel GMA 4500M is a common 'integrated' graphics card meaning that is built into the motherboard. Note that high end graphics cards are 10 times faster than integrated, and even midrange are 4 - 7 times faster. The main disadvantage of dedicated graphics cards is additional power consumption and heat (although this may be minimal if the computer throttles the graphics card).
* Used in MacBook ** Used in MacBook Pro, premium models
Tip - Again, Learn From Apple. Most people using Apples are not playing games or doing intensive graphics, yet Apple installs fast graphics cards on all their machines and premium graphics cards on most of their 15 and 17 inch machines. The fast graphics makes the user interface (the 3-D icons) very responsive.
The final, yet most important feature is the ergonomics of the laptop. It's important the computer feels right, with a large enough screen and a pleasure to type on.
Keyboard - Is the keyboard comfortable to use? Open up a web browser and type several sentences as fast as you can (in the address bar is fine). Do the keys feel responsive? Are you able to type fast without errors? Do the key's have a slight click to them and do you want that click. Try a couple of other keyboards, same test, several lines of type. Pick the computer that is a joy to type on.
Touchpad buttons - Press the touchpad buttons- are they placed in a good position, are they easy to press? This isn't so important if you use a mouse.
Display - Do you want or need a high resolution display? High resolution means everything appears smaller, which is exactly what many people do not want. Also decide if you want a glossy or a matte screen. Matte screens or screens with glare free coatings tend to be the most usable and ergonomic. Look at the screen, can you see yourself? Check the clarity of the screen.
Hard Drive Size- should not be an important consideration. Hard drives are inexpensive, fairly easily replaced, and likely to be replaced by superior Solid State Drives (SSD) in the near future. Most laptops will come with a very generous amount of hard drive space (at least 160 GB). But an even more compelling reason not to be fixated on hard drive size is that the largest hard drives are somewhat correlated with higher failure rates. At this time 320 GB is a safe size. It's best to check at Newegg.com user reviews of the various hard drives to see if many people are complaining about early failures. One feature that is helpful on the hard drives is the free-fall sensor. If the hard drive senses a physical shock, it parks the head in a safe location so it won't scratch the platter. Also 7200 RPM hard drives are faster and more desirable than the standard 5400 RPM hard drives on many laptops. If performance is crucial, it may be worth choosing a solid state drive, but a better plan may be to upgrade in 1 - 2 years when prices are more affordable. Random Access Memory (RAM) - For XP you should have at least 1 GB, for Vista and Windows 7, you should have at least 2 GB. But RAM being just about $25/GB is inexpensive and easy to install. Buy extra now or buy it later, but don't make it the deciding factor between 2 laptops. A more important consideration is to buy Windows 7 64 bit rather than 32 bit. The maximum memory capacity of Windows 7 32 bit is 3 GB (as well as for any 32-Bit Windows). This severely limits future expandability, so buy 64 bit Windows.
Netbooks are useful as a second laptop, but their relative slow speed, small screen, and mediocre size to weight ratio makes them less than ideal as a primary machine. Their high failure rate despite their typical light usage makes them even less desirable. A better buy is the Dell Latitude D430 (3.1 lbs, Core 2 Duo CPU), available used or refurbished with warranty on ebay for ~$349.
Sony is one of the best choices for all around quality, excellent ergonomics, and users just liking them. It's helpful to know the basic Sony lines before you go shopping so when you're in the store you can concentrate on important personal ergonomic features, such as the feel of the keyboard and touchpad buttons.
****- SR Series – 13.3”, 4.4 lbs. Sony’s premium business and travel computers. LED display with dedicated graphics. It’s small, light, and you can configure it with Windows 7 Professional. Price is reasonable for such a light computer (slightly lighter than the MacBook) $889 (with T6600) configure with P8800 (extra $150) for ~30% increase in speed, longer battery life and less heat. Most models come with a dedicated mid-grade graphics card (HD 4570).
*****-Z Series- 13.1”, 3.3lbs, Sony’s top of the line ultra fast 3 lb laptop. Very solid build quality. Includes a built in CD/DVD drive. Most manufacturers will cut corners to make a 3 lb. laptop, ie omit the DVD drive, use a low power CPU with a small battery. Sony has engineered a great machine with all the features of a full sized laptop. (P8700) $1849
*****-CW Series- 14”, 5.3 lbs. Sony’s colorful line, most models/colors get consistent positive reviews. Good build quality, all models include discrete graphics, HMDI out. Built-in Bluetooth. Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, T6600 $794.99. (choose P8700 for more speed, less heat, longer battery life +$100). Note, some models (perhaps newer) come with GT 130M graphics cards (a high end graphics card) others come with GT 110M Graphics (mid grade card), since they are the same price, try to get the high end card.
*****-BZ Series-15.4”, 5.8 lbs, (P8700) G-sensor hard drive (shock protected) , solid build quality, austere charcoal grey finish, low resolution screen, Windows XP option, Dedicated Business Support, Vista Business with XP pro downgrade $969
****-NW Series 15.5”, 6.0 lbs, Runs Cool, Splashtop-the built in 5 second linux system (web button) , display is 1366 x 768, T4300 $549 (Newegg), T6600 $649 (BestBuy). Sony’s most affordable line, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just a bit larger and heavier than their popular CW line, and the graphics is either a mid-grade HD 4570 or just integrated graphics.
*****-FW Series – 16.4”, 6.9 lbs, “spectacular display”, excellent antiglare control, runs reasonably cool and quiet. Bluetooth. High resolution screen (1600X900 or 1920 x 1080). Has a high end graphics card (HD 4650) and some configurations come with processors as high as P9600. Works great with linux, does supportsVirtualization Technology. (P7450) $999 (at BB) or (P8700) $949 (newegg).
****-AW Series-18.4” ‘laptop’, 16:9 display, 8.2 lbs. built in RGB color correction. Includes same graphics card as MacBook Pro (9600M GT), a high end graphics card. (P7350) $1549 (newegg), (T6600) $949 (newegg)
1a.Sony CW series -T6600, 14.1,” 5.3 lbs, $799 (1700) 1b.Sony CW series- P7450, 14.1,” 5.3 lbs, $899 (1700) 2a. Asus N81Vp-X1, P8700, 14.1,” 5.5 lbs, $949 (2000) 2b. Asus N81Vp-D2, T9600, 14.1,” 5.5 lbs, $1099 (2300) 3. Dell Latitude E6400, P8800, 14.1" 4.3 lbs, $898 (2200) 4. Asus UL50AG-RBBBK05, 15.6”, SU7300, 5 lbs $679 (1100) 5. Asus UL80Vt-A1, 14”, SU7300, 4.8 lbs $849 (1100) 6. Asus G60VX-RBBX05, 16”, P7450, 7.2 lbs $999 (1800) BB 7. Sony Z VGN-Z880G/B, 13.1”, P8700, 3.3 lbs $1899 (2000) 8. MacBook Pro, 13.3", P8400, 4.5lbs $1199 (1800) 9. Toshiba Model L505-S5988, 15.6” T6500, $599 (1700)
