Every year about this time I get a number of inquiries from family, friends, and acquaintances looking for computers as Christmas gifts. These days the interest is almost always about laptops. I usually dash off a quick email along with a boilerplate document, but this year I decided to put my observations here and email a link instead. Call it sloth.
I'm writing exclusively about laptops because they have become the dominant PC, especially for personal use. Choosing a laptop is more difficult because they are very much sealed appliances. Desktop PCs provide ease of access to components and usually have some room to grow. Laptops, especially economy laptops, do not. It is thus very important to make the right choice at the time of purchase.
At the beginning of summer, friends often ask me about computers for their kids heading off to college. I usually recommend computers that I think will last the full four years, so up-front economy is not a driving factor. At Christmas, I focus my recommendations on economy laptops. That is usually part of the query and is probably even more important in this difficult year.
Macintosh or Windows?
Most people know me as a PC person. I do own a Mac (a Mini) and I have done Mac deployments in my business consulting work. None of that makes me eminently qualified to draw fine distinctions, but at least I have some experience.
For the everyday functions of email, Internet browsing, creating documents (e.g., schoolwork), casual editing of photos or videos, blogging, maintaining a Web site and more, there is simply no difference between a Mac and a PC. Even if document compatibility is an issue (such as school essays being completed in Microsoft Word format), there are attractively-priced or even free solutions.
Despite Apple's claims, the Macintosh is still not in economy territory. The least expensive MacBook is $1,000. In the most recent round of MacBook updates, pundits expected a lower price for the entry-level model but instead Apple served up more expensive models and kept the entry price the same. Price thus remains the Achilles' heel of the Macintosh line. The difference is not as great as it has been in the past but it is still noticeable.
If price is not an obstacle, it's hard not to like Mac laptops and the two newest MacBooks are especially desirable. I think the new MacBooks are built better, are more rugged, than anything else at their price or below.
So, how do you choose between a Mac and a PC?
The most important consideration is the software you use. If you have or intend to use Mac-only software and it is important to you, then Mac is the only way to go. Here's the most interesting thing - if you need to use Windows-only software, a Windows laptop is the more economical choice but you can run almost anything on a Mac using virtualization software such as VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop for Mac. This is possible because all new Macintosh models employ Intel processors, which means that Windows can run on a Mac. (Mac OS X could run on PCs, but licensing prohibits it.)
If you need compatibility with business documents created in Microsoft Office's products such as Word and Excel, you have several options. The most obvious is to purchase a copy of Office:mac 2008. Two free choices are OpenOffice.org and NeoOffice; I recommend the former.
Finally, the PC vs. Mac ads are brilliant, creative, funny, and too often pointed. However, be assured that they paint a desired picture from Apple's point of view. My MacMini has not been immune to crashes or bad behavior and not because I was doing anything stressful or peculiar - all the bad stuff happened with Apple software. That said, I like the Mac experience and have no problem recommending it if you can pay.
This is no different than what I've been saying for nearly two years, to the constant surprise of my friends.
What You Need
The rest of this essay focuses on the various components of a laptop computer. It is written with a Windows PC in mind but many of the comments relate equally to a Mac. My minimum recommendation is noted in each category heading.
I hope you find this all helpful.
Operating System - Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
Ignore Home Basic Edition and completely forget about Vista Starter Edition. You'll find Home Basic in the super-economy models and it is definitely adequate for Internet and email. I think it's a dead-end version. If the laptop needs to be used at work on a business network, Business Edition is essential.
You may be tempted to try to find a laptop with Windows XP. For an economy laptop, forget it. For a limited time and through select vendors, you may be able to order a system with Windows XP or the Windows Vista with "XP Downgrade" option, but you won't find it at retail. The XP Downgrade used to be priced the same as just buying Vista but now it costs $50 more, a not so subtle Microsoft hint.
Don't worry about it. For most folks, Vista is not as bad as Apple makes it sound. The only problem you might have is with older peripherals or equipment for which no Vista device driver exists. There may also be some older programs that do not run in Vista. If all your accessories are reasonably contemporary, you should not have a problem.
One more thing - Vista is more secure. Microsoft is claiming that Vista users who leave "UAC" turned on are 75% less likely to become infected with Trojans or other bad stuff. My wife's Vista laptop is unscathed after almost two years, whereas her previous XP Desktop nearly had to be fumigated when she gave it up. Security is one of Vista's advantages, not one of its problems.
CPU Brand - Any
We're long past any concern about whether AMD processors are compatible with Intel processors or not. Every few years one vendor makes a jump in technology and the other rapidly catches up, but this only affects the high end, not the low end. Although all my personal systems are Intel-based, my wife's laptop sports an AMD Turion 64.
CPU Type - 64-bit
Intel Core 2 or Centrino 2 and AMD Turion X2 are the best bets. At this point in the evolution towards 64-bit computing, do not buy a 32-bit system.
An excellent utility that will tell you about the key processor technologies is Steve Gibson's Securable, which although focused on security matters tells you instantly whether the processor is 64- or 32-bit. The program does not require installation and is very tiny, so you can carry it to a store on a USB memory key and run it directly.
Both Intel and AMD offer high-end, performance-oriented processors. They are expensive.
32-bit Windows Vista will run on a 64-bit processor. Just because you buy a system with a 64-bit processor does not mean you will get 64-bit Vista.
CPU Speed - 2.00 GHz
Faster is always better. However, as the speed rises towards the maximum available, the price rises exponentially.
If you are moving away from an existing PC or laptop, make sure the performance increment of new over old is significant. It's very hard to tell from processor designations what is faster and by how much. Consult the excellent albeit complex charts from Tom's Hardware, such as the PCMark 2005 CPU comparison.
Memory (RAM) - 2GB
More is always better. For Windows XP the maximum supported RAM is 3GB. For 32-bit Windows Vista the max is 4GB. For 64-bit Vista Home Premium the max is 16GB and for Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise the max is a whopping 128GB. The ability to add more memory is the seminal feature of 64-bit Windows Vista.
Hard Disk - 160GB
How much hard disk you need must be determined not by how much you think you need now but how much you think you might be using by the end of the useful life of the laptop.
Even though I knew my wife was doing an increasing amount of photography and wanted all her photos on demand, she later acquired a camera with twice the pixel count and then cranked up quality, thus boosting her typical photo from 800KB to 4MB. With this change, she effectively reduced the storage capacity of her hard disk by a factor of 5. Sometime next year she will exhaust her space and we will be forced to retire the laptop early.
If I had bought bigger in the first place, the incremental cost probably would have been $300. Today I'll spend $1,000. Big mistake. Remember - laptops don't expand or upgrade easily and this is nowhere more true than with hard disks.
Floppy Drive - Get Real!
Okay, I'm being a little facetious here. The 3.5" diskette with its paltry 1.4MB of storage is long dead. I haven't seen it offered in any retail computer for some time.
However, some people still have the need. What I recommend is an external device operated via USB. Imation makes one but there are quite a few others. A key advantage is that the device can move from computer to computer, to be used where necessary.
Optical Drive - DVD Writer
The choice here is between a "combo drive" (DVD-ROM & CD-RW drive in one) and a DVD writer (which also reads and writes CDs). At this moment it's a tough call except for one detail.
That detail is backup. CDs and DVDs are very inexpensive and very easy to write with modern operating systems. With laptop hard disks available in capacities up to 500GB, a CD with its maximum capacity of 700MB simply cannot handle what today would be called "modest" amounts of storage. Even DVDs, at about 8GB for a more expensive double-layer disc, must be considered tiny when compared to a 500GB disk. Nonetheless, at up to 10 times the capacity of the CD, DVDs remain the most economical and easily-used backup medium.
Of course, if video editing and DVD creation is intended as a key application, a DVD writer is essential.
Aside: Hard disks are extremely cheap these days. A good backup alternative is to buy an external enclosure and a large drive. I just did exactly this for my wife, paying $104 for a 500GB drive and very nice Vantec NexStar 3 USB/eSATA enclosure.
Display Size - Personal Choice
As long as you or the intended recipient can work with the laptop, the size doesn't matter terribly much. MacBooks start at 13" for a wide-screen display and this is one of Apple's most popular Macs.
Windows PCs tend to be larger. I attribute this trend to the movement of many from desktop PCs with 17" or 19" displays; moving to 13" is quite a shock. I personally prefer about 14" but see the next item for more.
Display Format - Don't Get Me %$#!@*? Started!!
Here I guess I'm really showing my age. The world has moved to the widescreen format. I believe this is due to the rapid evolution of TV to HD, which has the manufacturers of LCDs cranking out screens in this format night and day. That means the HD (16:9 or thereabouts) format is flooding the market, and that means such screens are going to be less expensive for laptop manufacturers to acquire.
For those heavily into media, especially video, the wide screen is a boon. I use my laptop primarily for business and for preparing business documents, where height is more important than width. Because many widescreen LCDs are shorter (pixel-wise) than their standard-width counterparts, moving to widescreen means giving up vertical real estate. Wider laptops also means wider cases, a consideration for those who often travel with their laptops.
So call me an old fogey. I love my Dell UltraSharp 2208WFP 22" Widescreen display, which I run from my laptop when I'm at my desk. Its size of 1680x1050 gives me lots of room to work and is even slightly taller than the 1280x1024 LCD on my T60 laptop. However, the newer, widescreen ThinkPad laptops are shorter than 1024 pixels, thus going against my grain.
It's strictly a matter of personal taste, no matter how stupid the vendors are being about this.
Graphics Adapter Support - "Discrete"
If you've been following PCs for any length of time, you know that most desktop computers come with a "graphics card," the device that runs the display. Long ago the PC manufacturers started integrating the graphics card functions into the chips already present on the laptop. This was a boon to space-challenged laptops, which adopted the technology in droves.
When the graphics function is said to be "integrated," it means that the graphics functions are built in. Integrated graphics systems share the main memory of the computer, so buying more memory for such machines is a good idea. Almost every economy laptop will have integrated graphics.
When the graphics function is said to be "discrete," it means that an extra chip dedicated to graphics is included. This is the equivalent of a desktop computer including a graphics card. Discrete graphics most often come with their own dedicated memory but some can use main memory.
Discrete graphics are usually faster, especially for gaming or video work. However, integrated graphics are fine for everyday use.
Video Connector - Optional
Most laptops come with some kind of connector to allow the connection of an external display. Historically this has been an analog VGA connector and many laptops still include this. Some laptops have the more modern DVI connector. If you are connecting an external display, make sure one of these connectors is provided.
If the convergence of TV and computer is on your mind, if you want to connect the laptop to a TV or media system, look for an HDMI connector. Some laptops have an S-Video connection but HDMI is better for the purpose.
Super-economy laptops will not have any external connector. One step up gets you a VGA or DVI connection and one step further gets you HDMI. Each step up represents a more expensive laptop.
Network (Wired) - 10/100
I can't remember the last time I saw a computer that did not come with an Ethernet port for networking. Today the port is rarely less than "10/100," which means that it will work on 10Mbps (million bits per second) and 100Mbps Ethernet networks. Many computers today come with 10/100/1000, more commonly referred to as "gigabit." For personal use, 10/100 or gigabit won't make much difference, but get gigabit if it isn't a significant cost factor.
Network (Wireless) - G
The "G" standard means the wireless (WiFi) connection can run at up to 54Mbps. However, many security advances came along with wireless networking devices at the G level. These are important; the older WEP security protocols are no longer safe enough.
The "N" standard is all the rage now. If the device supports N, just make sure it also supports G so that you will be compatible with the widest range of WiFi access points.
You may encounter an economy laptop that supports wireless B (11Mpbs). Keep in mind that most home high-speed Internet connections run slower than that unless you are paying more for a premium service. In other words, even though wireless B is slower than wireless G, you probably won't notice it.
Note: Always secure your wireless networks.
Bluetooth - Optional
Bluetooth is hardly necessary. However, if you have a Bluetooth-capable cell phone or smart phone, having Bluetooth on your laptop may be handy for synchronization or other functions.
USB Ports - YES!
The question is not "if" but rather "how many?"
The answer is as many as possible. So many devices, from printers to iPods, connect via USB. The minimum acceptable number of USB ports is 2 but look for 4. If you have a variety of USB devices already, determine how many you are likely to use simultaneously and make sure the laptop has at least that many ports. In fact, add one to your count just for good measure - who knows what you'll buy in the next few years.
At this late date the question of USB version is moot. I haven't seen a USB 1.1 port on a laptop in quite some time; USB 2.0 is ubiquitous, but check anyway. The same can not be said for devices. Some less expensive devices that connect via USB are built with USB 1.1 because it is cheaper to do so. You should always check devices to be sure.
1394 (Firewire) Port - End of Life?
My opinion is that the 1394 port, called Firewire by Apple and iLink by Sony, is dying out. You will only need 1394 if you have a video camera and will need to move video from the camera to the laptop. 1394 was used on video cameras because it was the fastest connection available when these cameras started to appear in the '90s. The rise of DVD- and hard-disk-based video cameras, plus the increased speed of USB 2.0, is making 1394 less important.
Apple has always been ahead of the curve with such trends. Firewire ports have been a feature of Macintosh systems for a long time. Now, suddenly, the most recent MacBooks do not have them; Steve Jobs was quoted as saying "Actually, all of the new HD camcorders of the past few years use USB 2."
If you need it, you'll know. Otherwise don't worry about it.
Memory Card Slots - Optional
An increasing number of laptops come with the convenience of slots that will directly accept a memory card from a camera or other device. These are quite handy.
However, adapters for every card type are available that allow memory cards to be read through a USB port. SanDisk even makes an SDHC card that folds open, exposing a built-in USB connection.
My own preference is for more USB ports in the space that would be used for an integrated card reader.
PC Card Slots - Less Important, Easily Ignored
There was a time when the PC Card slot was a must on a laptop. They were used for telephone modems, network adapters, hard disks, memory card readers, and many other devices. With so much built in to even the least expensive laptops, these slots are far less important. They also require a fair amount of physical space that is better applied to other capabilities.
If a laptop does not have this slot, don't worry about it. Like Firewire, this is one of those things that you'll know if you need.
Expansion Bus Connector - Optional
Some laptops, especially those used for business, have a bus connector that allows the laptop to be attached to a port replicator or dock. Docks are very handy because they provide instant connection to all attached peripherals and the power supply. I've used one for years and find it hard to imagine working any other way. When I'm on longer consulting engagements at a single location, I'll often take my second port replicator along just to make working on site more convenient.
Economy laptops are not built with docks in mind. If price is the foremost consideration, you won't see such a connector.
Nonetheless, I've been surprised to notice that some laptops just a notch up do have an external bus connector. My wife's laptop, now almost two years old, has one.
There are two types of these connectors. My ThinkPad has a connector on the bottom that mates directly with an appropriate ThinkPad replicator or dock. These connectors used to be on the rear and I think some laptops still put them there. My wife's HP laptop has a connector on the side; a cable connects to products like HP's QuickDock or the bigger Media Docking Station.
Software - ???
If you think you're going to get some nice software with that economy laptop, think again. Beggars can't be choosers.
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Article Copyright ©2008 by Will Fastie. All Rights Reserved.
Use the suggestions and recommendations herein at your own risk. No warranty, implied or otherwise, is given.
Technology changes rapidly; information in this article could be outdated quickly.