Processor
Type of Processor (Pentium iii , Pentium 4 , Via , Amd etc) : One of the most important factors in deciding your laptop .The processor is the heart of your laptop .The right processor can make it a work horse of a slow machine . There are different brands of c.p.u that laptops come with namely : Intel, Amd athlon , Via c3 etc.The newer laptops come mostly with p-4 , p-4m , pentium –m , centrino , Dothan or Sonoma (laptops with this processor are yet to be launched ) processors .They are better in the ascending order i.e Dothan is better than centrino and so on But what is the difference ?? See the comparision chart Core 2 Duo, Intel Quadcore Core 2 duo latest laptop Has two cores inside the c.p.u equivalent to having 2 c.p.u's inside the laptop L7000/T7000/U7000 seriesUp to 800 MHz2/4 mb cache Highly energy efficient c.p.u Duo Core latest laptop Has two cores inside the c.p.u equivalent to having 2 c.p.u's inside the laptop
T2000/L2000 series 533/667 MHz2 mb cache Solo Core latest laptop Single core cpu inside
Sonoma latest laptops Light weight , longer life , has all features of Dothan , additionally it uses the 915 chipset hence supports ddr-2 ram and also pci express based graphic cards giving better graphic performance High end graphic users , business power users , gamers etc. Dothan High Speed latest laptops with wi-fi * Light weight , longer battery life , has all features of centrino and has double cache (2 mb cache) than centrino High end graphic users , business power users , gamers etc. Centrino High Speed latest laptops With wi-fi * Light weight , longer battery life , Centrino is basically a combination of intel 855 chipset , wireless and and a Pentium-m processor High end graphic users , business power users , gamers etc.. Intel Pentium M High Speed latest laptops without wi-fi * Light weight , longer battery life , low power consuming than p-4 m High end graphic users , business power users , gamers etc..(Only thing less than centrino is the wireless lan or wi-fi Mobile Intel Pentium 4-M Desktop-replacement, thin-and-light notebooks Very fast but allows for only mediocre battery life when compared to the above ones Useful for Students , home use , capable of playing games etc.
Intel Pentium 4 Desktop-replacement notebooks but very heavy laptops A chip intended for desktops, the Intel P4 is very fast and is less expensive than Pentium 4-M and PM chips, but it runs very hot and allows only poor battery life. An absolute replacement for desktops can perform like them .Useful for Students , home use , capable of playing games etc
Mobile Intel Celeron Budget notebooks Extremely inexpensive, slightly slower than Intel Pentium chips . absolute value for money .Mobile Celeron can give you better battery life than Intel Pentium 4 desktop c.p.u and can at times feel equally powerful. Useful for home use , students , and word processing and similar use Mobile Intel Pentium III-M Old notebooks Less expensive than many other processors but not as powerful. Longer battery life allows for lower system weight Useful for home use , students , and word processing and similar use Apple PowerPC G4 Apple Power books Performance and desktop-replacement notebooks Excellent performance and reasonable battery life but expensive, and clock speeds top out at 1ghz. Mainly used for high end graphic designers . Apple PowerPC G3 Apple ibooks Budget notebook Long battery life and relatively inexpensive, but slower clock speeds limit performance, especially under OS X. Mainly used for graphic designers . AMD Athlon XP-M Desktop replacement, thin-and-light notebooks Very inexpensive, weaker performance than Celeron and Pentium chips. Useful for home use , students , and word processing and similar use Mobile AMD Athlon 4 Budget notebooks Inexpensive but a bit slower than Intel Pentium chips, Useful for home use , students , and word processing and similar use AMD Athlon 64 Desktop replacement, mainstream notebooks Supports 64-bit computing; slightly faster than Intel chips for gaming but slower with productivity and office apps.
Screen
Most screens sold today are TFT active matrix LCD screens. TFT active matrix is a technology in which each pixel has a transistor attached to it to control the backlight shining through it. Each pixel is made up of 3 sub-pixels (red, green and blue) with each having its own transistor. Each of these pixels turns on and off and filters light through colored sub-pixels which results in an image. The more pixels or higher the resolution a screen is the crisper the image. In addition, higher resolution screens allow more of an image to be viewable. Laptop screens are usually of the following sizes (in inches) 12.1, 13.1,14.1, 14.4 (wide screen ) , 15, 15.4 (wide screen) , 16, 17 .You may take a screen size of your choice , the advantage of choosing a larger screen is in terms of the resolution support you get on them , to state , the bigger the screen the higher resolution it supports .More than the size of the screen it is important to see the brightness and the resolution aspect ratio .Most manufacturers offer bright screens at a premium. They have different names xbrite in sony ,Clear Super View (CSV) in Toshiba etc.
Battery
Battery is one the most important consumable of a laptop . Check if the battery is li-on or ni-mh( only for old laptops as all new laptops come with li-on battery) .In new laptops check if the laptop comes with a 6-cell ( most common) or 9 -cell ( some laptops) or 12 cell (very few laptops) battery , naturally the more cells the more battery life you get. Also if you are a very mobile user check if the laptop has an option to take in additional battery .You may also want to check the price of additional battery pack.
Speakers
For music lovers an important criteria .The best speakers for laptops are Jbl pro or harman/kardan, Altec lansing and others are also fairly good . Try the sound quality of the laptop before you buy.
Optical Device (cd, dvd, dvd cd r/w ,dvd writer)
Most laptops these days come with a dvd cdr/w commonly called as a combo drive .This is considered a bare essential these days .Indeed a writer is must these days since it comes in very handy to backup or carry data along. The latest laptops these days come with a Dvd R/w .They usually come with a slower speed as compared to desktops as on date the maximum speed available is 8x while on desktops speed of 16x is also available .Look for dual layer support which will help you write dvds up to 8.4 gb capacity against the normal 4.7 gb capacity .
Keyboard
Before buying a laptop look for the keyboard .A keyboard failure can be a messy problem later .The quality of the keyboard can be made out by mere inspection .look for the print quality of the letters on the keyboards. The letters will fade on low quality keyboard. If your are buying an used laptop check all .the keys if they are working before buying.
Weight
Another very important consideration . The weight of a laptop is inversely proportional to the price .The lighter the laptop the heavier it is on your pocket. Heavy laptops usually are loaded with features and are made to be desktop replacements .The major weight adding components are the processor and the size of the screen .Usually the normal Pentium 4 based laptops are very heavy due the amount of the heat sink material. that goes along with it .The latest mobile series of processors like the Pentium M processor are madespecially for laptops and are lighter in weight. The screen size also adds to the weight. Usually laptops weigh around 2.5 kgs , the heavierones weigh around 3.0 kgs , and the lighter onesweigh around 1.5 kgs.
Pointing Device (Stick /Touchpad)
Look for the following: 1) Does it have a touchpad a pointing stick or both ? 2) Does it come with horizontal and vertical scroll support on the touch pad ? .
Looks
Here we dont think you need a guide because you can look at the laptop yourself and decide . While considering the looks , one thing to remember is the quality of the body .You can feel it by touching it , One the spec sheet You can check if the body type is mentioned Usually magnesium alloy bodies are very good , they are lighter and look beautiful too. The best thing to do before buying is to consult someone who has already used a laptop. Good luck and happy buying.
Warranty and Service
One very important criteria. The warranty on a laptop is a very crucial criteria .Try to buy a laptop with 3 years warranty since servicing a laptop can be usually very expensive ,if you are buying a one year warranty laptop , ask about what are the charges per year for extended warranty .Usually such extensions are expensive so try to buy a laptop with 3 years warranty .Also check if the warranty is global or local .Most laptops come with global warranty which is preferable over local.
Wireless Lan
Wireless lan of wi-fi as it is commonly called these days is getting very popular .But the popular misconception is that once you have a wi-fi you can connect to internet wirelessly without any additional accessories which isn't true. Wi-fi only means the capability to connect wirelessly to your local area network which too will require additional accessories like Wireless router oraccess point .Wireless comes in three speeds ( the speed with which u can access your local area network) and are represented by differentletters. The least of them is 11 Mpbs written in spec sheet as 802.11b, 'b' indicates it supports up to 11 mbps , next is 54 Mpbs and written as 802.11g , 'g' indicating 54 Mbps speed , now by firmware upgrade speeds up to 108 Mbps can be achieved usually laptops don't come with 108 Mbps speed. All these are mutually compatible meaning you can have one laptop with 'b' standard card and other with 'g' standard and they will still work on a network .To understand wi fi in detail.
Used Laptops
Used Laptops : We buy sell used laptops which we call as required for refurbishing types. The used laptops that we buy and sell in Mumbai (Bombay) are mainly the ones who have a clear ageing effect on them. Might be Scratches on the laptop outer body, Carrybag of laptop having a bit wear and tear on it. This category of Used laptops are usually sold at a much lesser price than the what we call second hand laptops. Even though they have a bit of ageing effect used laptops are technically rigid and that’s the main criteria that we use to sell them on our Laptop shelves Second hand Laptops : Second hand laptops have been classified by us as the best condition original company sealed laptops. The secondhand laptops that we buy and sell in Mumbai (Bombay) are mainly the ones who have no sign or minute sign of ageing. There are some second hand laptops who seldom have or can be noticed as (used by any individual prior to its resale. There are cases where we have secondhand laptops which are even under warranty at the time we are to resale them to a potential buyer. Sometimes a laptop configuration of a secondhand laptop is the one which is currently being sold into the market but at a discounted price of 25-40 %. Old Laptops and Scrap Laptops : This is the biggest category of laptops that are available in the market. We have a huge requirement of people who want to sell us their laptop that is old or scrap. We are usually not that keen on selling or buying the laptops that are very old and scrap. As our main focus is Second hand laptops and Used Laptops.
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- How many usb ports does it have?
- Has a ieee1394 or Firewire port( required for dv cameras)?
- Has in-built support for bluetooth?
- How many expansion slots does it have for memory?
- Does it have in built support for card reader?
- Does it have finger print authentication?
- Does it have hard disk shock guard?
Note these are optional features and no laptop will come with all of them.Depending on your need you may decide which of these you need and which you dont .
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