Notebook Purchase Consultation
The first step according an intended laptop purchase should be your specific requirements and the intended purpose of usage. This article focusses the softskills of a laptop, which means all aspects of a purchase, but not the selection of the device class or hardware eqipment of a laptop.
You find help for the search after the device class, which is apt for you, and for the search after the best variant of equipment in our notebook hardware guide.
Case and Equipment
- important: rigid case without flexing...
- ...robust catch hook mecanism...
- ...and a secure closure system.
The chassis of a notebook is like the auto body of a car. Besides the optical impressions and the design, aspects like materials, workmanship and then the durability of the device are important. Especially the durability should be an important reason for a purchase, because a rapidly ageing, crunching and clawed laptop are not insured by any warranty. Therefore such damages must pe paid by its owner.
If you got the opportunity to compare a variety of mobile computers in a specialized market, compare the laptops according torsions with pressure, eye-catching gap dimensions and crunching noises, when seizing the notebook. Rising the device with one hand in the area of the wrist rest should not cause any flexing or other problems. You'll see, the differences of the models are surpisingly high. Guideline: a well-known trademark is no guarrantee for a proper quality.
A weakness of some laptops is the display, especially the folding mechanism, which attaches the display to the base unit. This part, which is strained mechanically intensively over a long time, should be processed solidly. Furthermore, it should omit a whipping of the display to avoid additional charging.
If you plan to use your notebook very mobile, the laptop should be equipped with a precise secure catch hook system. So the fragile and expensive display can be closed and protected. A jammed pencil between display and keyboard can cause severe damage.
Connections and ports
Another important topic is the number and kind of offered conncections and their positioning. This aspect depends on the purpose of the laptop. What do you plan to attach? What extension options do you want to keep in reserve? Where do you want to use your notebook, more outdoor or mainly at the desk?
Following connections should be the minimum equipment:
- USB
2x USB 2.0 Ports: As the name indicates (Universal Serial Bus, 2.0 denominates the current standard, which allows significantly higher transfer speeds compared with the old 1.0 ports) these connections are needed for some laptops.
Printer, scanner, external hard disks, external TV cards, Bluetooth Dongle, mouse, keyboard, gamepad, steering wheel, USB sticks, digital cameras, mobiles and MP3 players and much more. In most cases one port is used by the mouse, therefore at least 2, better 3 or 4 ports should be available. As time goes by, you will see, all connections will be occupied.
- Audio
Audio connections (microphone and earphones): Optimal for the music enjoyment outdoor or in offic. Who wants to use his notebook for telephoning, can attach a headset to achieve a better voice quality than with the integrated standard microphone.
Also interesting: optical Line-Out Audio exit. So you combine your laptop with a hifi-equipment (in case that optical transfer is supported) and enjoy your mp3 collection from you hifi-equipment, free from any hissing and transfer losses.
- RJ-11 modem, RJ-45 LAN
Network and modem connections: With a LAN or network connection (RJ45 port) you connect your laptop with a network or also a broadband modem (maybe USB).Meanwhile, the modem connection is aged, because the maximal transfer rates of an internal modem can used only limitedly for internet surfing and hardly for a download of software. Also the internet access offers from providers are focussed to broadband connections.
Interesting may be a modem connection for travel specialists, who get access to the net from hotel rooms. Nevertheless, especially in upper class hotels an internet access by WLAN is offered.
- VGA, DVI, S-Video
- HDMI
Image and video exits: Whether an external monitor, a beamer or a TV-set, they all are attached to a notebook by different video exits:
VGA-exit: connection of an additional, external monitor (analogue)
S-Video exit: connection of a TV-set to the laptop (analogue)
DVI (Digital Visual Interface): digital image transfer from notebook to monitor or TV-set, which can manage digital informations. There exist three different types of DVI:
DVI-I: analogue and digital data transfer is possible (e.g. DVI-VGA adapter), DVI-D: only digital data,
DVI-A: only analogue data; This variant is used rarely.
HDMI: full digital video and audio data transfer especially for the home-entertainment sector. A copy protection, which is supported by hardware (HDCP), encrypts/decrypts the signal at the interfaces. So high-valuable illicit copies are avoided.
- Firewire
Firewire: allows a fast data exchange between the computer and diverse multimedia devices like video cameras, hard disks, DVD burner, ...
Further known denominations for a Firewire Port are e.g. IEEE 1394 Port (name of the licensed standard) or also i.LINK (Sony).
- PCCard / Express Card Slot
PC Card (PCMCIA) and Express Card: This allows to enhance your notebook with network cards and WLAN adapter. However, the cards are not compatible. This means you need an Express Card fpr an Express Card Slot. At the moment e.g. PC Cards for mobile broadband internet are advertised.
Serial / parallel connection: Perhaps you remember the broad plugs of old printers, this was the parallel port. Older modems often have a serial connection.
Meanwhile, both connections are aged and without a few exceptions not any longer necessary. Current devices are conceived afterr the Legacy Free - standard and only offer USB connections instead of serial, parallel or PS/2 ports.
Beide Anschlüsse sind mittlerweile überholt und mit wenigen Ausnahmen nicht mehr notwendig. Aktuelle Geräte sind nach dem „Legacy Free“ Standard konzipiert und weisen nur mehr USB Schnittstellen anstatt Serieller, Paralleler und PS/2 Ports auf.
In addition to these wire-bound connection options a variety of wireless transmission techniques are offered in laptops. The most important options are Wireless LAN, Bluetooth and infrared.
Wireless LAN or WLAN: This is a local radiowave net for a network without cables. The range is about 30-100m (in closed rooms or open areas). At moment 3 WLAN variants are available: 802.11a/b/g. They differ in the frequency range and the permitted emissions and transmission rates. In the consumer segment the standards 802.11 b/g (11Mbps and 54Mbps) are common.
Bluetooth: This is a wireless radiowave connection over a short distance (to a maximum of 100m). At moment following versions are available: 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 2.0; They differ by their maximally possible data transmission rate. Possible application areas are the cableless connections of audio devices, mobiles, PDAs and input devices for notebooks.
Infred: Optical data transfer up to 100 cm is possible. Possible applications: dataexchange with a mobile. Nonetheless, more and more the infrared port gets replaced by Bluetooth. Be careful, some laptops offer optically an infrared port, but it only can be used for the communication with a remote control and cannot emit data.
- unnecessary: cable salad by an unfavorable distribution
The optimal arrangement of the connections is a mixture between subjective preferencies and practical applications. So it is an important question, whether the user of the laptop is a lefty or right hander. If some connections are placed and used at that side, where the mouse is navigated, permanent conflicts with a cable salad are possible.
Decisive with these considerings is, which connections are used how often and how long and as a consequence where they don't disturb.
This also affects the fan opening. The warm air may be pleasant in winter, but in warmer months it causes an unnecessary sweating hand, that directs the mouse.
Input Devices
Equally important is the quality and user-friendliness of all input devices. Besides the classic keyboard this affects an available numeric pad (num-pad), additional keys and shortkeys, for example for a media player.
Furthermore the touchpad with additional keys and sometimes available trackpoint belongs to this category. Mecanical switches and controller keys like a WLAN on/off switch or a volume control are part of this category.
- keyboard
- num block
Keyboard
Even, if you have not recognized yet, keyboard layouts can be completely different. Particularly a change of the trademark can be bothersome, if someone is confronted with different positions of FN, Alt, Back and Cursor-keys. Usually, users accustom to a changed keyboard within a few weeks.
Often some keys are quite small. This affects especially the Space, Strg, AltGr, Shift, the Enter key and also the Cursor keys. This concerns not only subnotebooks with small dimensions, but also big desktop replacement laptops (starting with 17 inch display).
Last but not least the pressure feeling while writing differs between the trademarks and models. The pressure can be long, smooth or hard. Also the shape of the keys can be important. Especially chiselled, flat keys seem optically attractive, but sometimes they are not as user-friendly like ergonomically formed keys.
Beside all this aspects lacks of workmanship of the keyboard must be regarded. Often criticised are keyboards, which do not lie plain. So it clatters while writing. Sometimes bad responding or jamming keys cause troubles.
- Touchpad / Trackpoint
Touchpad/Trackpoint
These input devices, which are intended as a mouse replacement, are used to control the mouse pointer at the screen. Even, if they are used only eventually in mobile conditions, their functionality and usability are of concern. Relevant are responding, precision of control, intuitive usability, positioning and the properties of the surface.
Additional keys and switches
More and more laptops offer in addition to keyboard and touchpad some keys, which control a variety of software functions directly. Also switches for the deactivation of WLAN and Bluetooth and some kind of volume controllers can be found. Whether these keys are useful and are really used, is a question of individual predilections.
Display
One of the most important reasons for a purchase is - or should be - the display. Especially office laptops, which are used 8-10 hours daily, should be equipped with an excellent display.
Basically, displays are divided in screens with reflecting (glare type) surface and displays with matt, non reflective (non glare type) surface. The anti-mirroring is achieved by a keying of the display surface, whereby the arising prisms distract reflections. Some manufacturers (Sony) apply a special layer upon the mirroring displays to avoid reflections.
- matt display outdoor
- reflecting display
Beside individual predilections the following experiences should be considered when deciding, whether a reflecting or matt display should be selected:
- reflecting displays seem to be better according colour representation
- matt displays need a brightness of at least 150cd/m² to provide a good image and to be apt for outdoor usage
- reflecting displays can hardly be used outdoor. The reflections in bright environment conditions prevent from a working with such a display.
- disturbing reflexions even may occur indoor (e.g. if a source of light is behind or beneath the user)
- displays with reflecting surface exhaust during a longer usage more than matt displays
On one hand, the format and the resolution of the display are a result of the size of the laptop, on the other hand they depend on the wish of the user and the availability of the models.
There exist widescreen displays and standard displays. The abbreviations (VGA, XGA, WXGA,...) indicate the display format and the resolution. At moment usual formats and resolutions for notebooks can be found in our DPI-article.
Usually, the reaction time of the display is indicated by the manufacturer. It ranges up to 60ms (milliseconds) for displays with high stability with viewing angles. This value is ok for office laptops and not disturbing.
A too long reaction time can be problematic with multimedia applications and games (ego-shooters), because cords may occur. This phenomenon can be observed while scrolling or moving the mouse digit. A guiding line for gaming notebooks: the lower the reaction time, the better.
A stability with viewing angles especially is important for mobile laptops, because the optimal angle can not be maintained. Therefore a vast vertical and horizontal viewing angle is of advantage to grant a maximum of mobility combined with best image quality.
Too strong deviations of the possible vision cone can create a too rough representation, darkening or brighting, falsifications of the colour representation or reflections.
An important and much discussed aspect of TFT displays are the so called pixel errors. There exist different types of errors, which differ by the colour. A permanently white or black pixel error in the centre of the display can be tedious.
Almost all implemented TFT displays are part of the pixel error class 2. That means, that a predefined tolerance of pixel errors exist. Some manufacturers offer a zero-pixel-error warranty, while others write a predefined tolerance of errors in their warranty terms. If you want to be sure, that your laptop is free of errors, you should examine the display in the market or use the obligatory conversion time limit of two weeks. A further possibility is to fix a warranty agreement with the reseller.
Nevertheless it is possible, that errors occur after a day, some months or years.
Performance
The performance can be the most important factor for a decision or not at all interesting. The main components, which are responsable for performance are the processor or CPU and the graphic card (GPU). Which combination is useful for the used applications, you can learn in our notebook hardware guide.
Informations about laptop graphic cards can be found in our comparison of mobile graphic cards. Sorted, caomparable performance data can be found in the benchmark list of graphic cards.
Detailed informations about mobile processors can be found in the comparison of mobile processors and the benchmark list for mobile CPUs.
Emissions
Often neglected, but essential are the emissions of a notebook. These are high temperatures at the surface of the case and noises, caused by the fan.
- Number 1 of sources of emissions: CPU/GPU fan
- often too loud: optical drive
- positive emissions: highly valuable integrated loudspeakers
Volume
It is hardly important while playing concentrated action games, but it can be a severe problem during office application in quiet environments. Therefore especially office laptops and also subnotebooks should be almost silent without remarkable charge (internet, office,...)
Besides the measured volumes other factors can influence the subjective mood. This concerns the fan controlling, because it is important, whether a fan changes its number of revolutions permanenty or the revolutions are controlled in steps or the revolutions are adapted without steps.
Furthermore it is possible, that the fan noise is more disturbing with a level of high frequencies.
A further source of noises can be the optical device (CD, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray), which can sound louder than a fan. As the caused noise level correlates with the number of revolutions of the drive and too loud drive can be slowed down with a software tool. Then it gets more silent.
Temperature
Beside the volume the surface temperature is the second source of possible negative emissions. Though meanwhile desktop processors, which cause particularly high temperatures, are replaced almost completely by mobile CPUs, there exist some laptops, which have hotspots.
This is local area at the case surface of high heating up. Especially high temperatures, which are unpleasant, when touching can reduce the life span of the implemented components and may cause an unstable system.
Loudspeakers
Basically almost every notebook is equipped with integrated boxes, whose sound differs. If you want to use the laptop for music, DVD playback and do not want to use external boxes or earphones, you should test the sound quality of the implemented loudspeakers.
Battery Runtime
A laptop with a too small battery is like a car, whose tank does not store more than 10 litres of patrol. The difference is, that you don't need a petrol station but a power socket.
- source of mobility: performance-strong battery
This aspect particularly depends on the usage of the laptop. In most cases laptops are used on a desk with a power socket. If you want to use the notebook outdoor, considerable battery runtimes are a must. A possible alternative could be a second battery, which allows to increase the runtime. Furthermore some manufacturers offer ultra- or multibays, which allow to equip the laptop with an additional battery instead of an optical drive.
A considerable battery runtime is about 2h with charge and 4h without charge.
Further the values indicated by the manufactureres are theoretical and can hardly be put in practice.
How to increase the runtime of laptops you can read here.
Warranty
Warranty is important, because a repairing often only can be made by the manufacturer and that can be expensive. Reasons are the compact processing, the perfect covering of components in the inner parts of the case. Replacement parts are rare.
To avoid these problems a warranty agreement can be a solution. Most manufacturers grant 2 years, business laptops often are offered with 3 years. Of course that increases the price. Nowadays other enterprises than the manufacturers offer insurances even against theft.
