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What specs are important for a laptop used primarily
for digital photography and entertainment?
Through the advent of digital photography, your laptop computer can be like a
mobile darkroom, allowing you to edit, embellish, correct, and store your
photos. Many of the features that make a good photography laptop also make for a
good personal theater. If you're looking to get a laptop computer for this
purpose, you'll want to pay special attention to the following tech specs:
Compare Notebook Computer Prices and Features Now
Display
All laptops come with built-in LCD monitors. Most are in the widescreen 16:9
aspect ratio--which is good because the extra width lets you scale the window of
your photo's aspect ratio and still have room left on the sides for editing
tools. Screen size doesn't matter as much as resolution. Look for a 15-inch
widescreen display size, which has a 1280 x 800 or better pixel resolution.
More expensive notebooks are sometimes available with 17-inch displays, some of
which support resolutions as high as 1,600 x 1,200. If you really want the
biggest display and highest resolution possible in your notebook, they're worth
considering, but for our taste they tend to make a notebook feel uncomfortably
large, as well as hard to use in the cramped confines of an economy-class
airline seat. Don't forget that you can attach an external monitor to a notebook
as well, so you could buy a spacious 19-inch screen for use at your desk and
rely on the internal display only when you're on the road. We tend to think
14.1-inch screens supporting 1,024 x 768 resolution strike the best compromise
between viewable area and overall portability.
 Graphics
card
Get a 16-bit (or better) video card with at least 64 MB of video RAM.
Hard disk space
Most serious photographers work in the uncompressed RAW format, which eats up to
15 MB of space for each file shot from a 10-megapixel digital SLR. You should
plan for at least 30 GB of hard drive space. Most likely you will find yourself
investing in an external hard drive eventually--if you get really passionate
about your photography.
Memory
Be sure to get at least 512 MB of RAM--the minimum requirement to run Adobe
Photoshop CS3. We recommend at least 1gig.
Disc drive
You'll want at least a DVD-RW drive so that you'll be able to use rewriteable
blank discs to back up your original photos and, in your downtime, be able to
watch movies. If you've opted for a large and/or high-resolution screen, you
should consider either an HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc drive for watching
high-definition Hollywood movies. The two competitive formats are incompatible
with each other--and few movies are available in both formats--but both are
backward compatible with standard DVDs.
What specs are important for a laptop used primarily for gaming?
Traditionally, laptops have lagged behind desktops in terms of power, but
today's powerful gaming laptops provide an immersive entertainment experience
wherever you want it. In order to get one to play state-of-the-art action,
strategy, and role-playing games, you'll need to focus on the following
features:
Screen
A widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio definitely has advantages over the traditional
4:3 screen shape. Many of today's games are designed for widescreens, and the
extra space provides room for chat, inventory, and other windows.
Graphics card
Most PC games require a 3-D graphics card and work best with cards powered by
either nVidia or ATI chipsets. Aim for a card with plenty of fast video RAM
(DDR2 SDRAM is ideal, 64 MB minimum). If you can afford 128MB, then get it.
Processor
Action games, especially, need a fast processor. Intel's Centrino Duo uses two
processor cores and a big cache to keep up the action without quickly draining
your battery.
Memory
Because so much happens simultaneously in a game and time is often critical, you
want to have enough RAM so that your rig doesn't get
 bogged
down during battle. Most games today recommend 1 GB of RAM.
Hard disk space
Games can easily take up between 3 and 10 GB of space each. To have enough room
for your operating system, applications, and a few games, think at least 60 GB.
Wireless Internet
Even if you're not interested in playing with or against other players online,
games frequently use Internet connections to download updates, patches, new
levels, or maps. Look to get an 802.11g wireless Internet card, or go for the
newer, faster standard 802.11n. We recommend
getting a wireless broadband modem that operates on WIMAX or EVDO-REVA at a
minimum. You can get great deals on wireless internet broadband cards at
cheapcellphones.com or
cheapevdo.com
What specs are important for a laptop used primarily for mobile traveling?
As our business and personal lives depend more and more on computer technology,
it's becoming more difficult to be away from e-mail, the Internet, our computer
calendars, and the like. If you're looking for a general purpose computer to
take with you around the world, pay attention to the following key features.
Size and weight
Depending on the frequency and distance of your travel, the size and weight of
your computer are going to mean a lot. Not only are they easier to carry,
they're easier to open and work with during a flight. Try to stay below a
12-inch screen size and a four-pound weight.
Security
By taking your computer out of the home or office, it is more likely to get lost
or stolen. Look for laptops with built-in fingerprint scanners as an extra
measure of safety.
Battery life
A side benefit of having a smaller screen size is often longer battery life.
When you're out on the road you often don't know when you will be able to plug
in again. Seek a notebook battery rating of at least three hours and consider
buying a spare battery.
Full-size keyboard
Sure it's good to have a small computer, but if the keyboard is too small to be
comfortable, what's the point? Still, concessions must be made for size. Many
ultraportable laptops ditch the standalone 10-key number pad for a slightly
skewed number pad orientation on the QWERTY keys. If you work with numbers all
day, you might consider a USB 10-key numeric keypad accessory.
The obvious appeal of a notebook is its portability--and
the flexibility that gives you. Notebooks today are powerful enough to
handle any mainstream application, though desktops are still a better
choice for some specialized uses, such as heavy 3-D gaming or high-end
audio-video use. The biggest downside to a notebook is that you'll pay a
higher price than you would for a comparable desktop system.
Additionally, if you use the notebook often as a substitute for a
desktop system, you may find yourself craving a larger display, a real
mouse, and a full-size keyboard. You can buy these external devices and
plug them in, but that too will add to the cost.
Still, there are a lot of reasons to love today's
notebooks, from their superb screens to their amazingly thin dimensions.
They've come a long way toward closing the performance gap with desktop
computers, and they come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and weights,
targeted toward different types of users and different price points.
Top-of-the-line notebooks with the works, for example, generally cost
over $3,000. Svelte, ultraportable units, while slightly less feature
packed, can be similarly expensive. A more basic notebook can be had for
about $1,500, but the products at the lower end of the price range do
tend to be both less powerful and bulkier.
Operating system and accessories
For PC notebooks, we recommend Windows 2000 as the notebook operating
system for business users, and Windows Millennium Edition for home
users. Windows 2000 is more resource hungry, but provides greater
stability and security. Windows Me has a smaller footprint, boots
faster, and can be kinder and gentler during peripheral installation.
Mac notebooks will obviously run the latest preferred flavor of Mac OS.
Depending on how you plan to use your notebook, you
might want to consider some accessories as well. Here are a few of our
favorites:
External monitor, keyboard, mouse, and port replicator: If you're
using the notebook as your primary PC, you will be far more productive
if you have a larger screen, full-size keyboard, and real mouse to work
with. Connecting them all through a port replicator can save you the
hassle of disconnecting and reconnecting them every time you take the
notebook away from your desk.
Spare battery: Regard notebook manufacturers' claims to battery
life with healthy skepticism. If you need to work for extended periods
away from a power outlet (for example, on an airplane, or in an all-day
seminar in a hotel conference center), an extra battery will give you
the juice you need.
Wireless network card: For business users who want access to the
corporate network while they're roaming around the office or in
conference rooms, the convenience of a wireless network card is
hard to beat. Home users can also use one to surf the Web while
sitting on the couch. Your Notebook computer without an EVDO card is a waste
of a large financial investment. EVDO
from companies like Sprint Nextel
offer the notebook user DSL like speeds for Internet Access wirelessly from
anywhere in America.
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