Choosing laptops a serious business
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
So you decide to buy a laptop but then stop dead in your tracks when you actually go to the local computer store to pick one out.
Given the plethora of laptops available today, choosing the right one to suit your needs could indeed prove to be as intricate and daunting a task as choosing, perhaps, a life-time partner.
And unless you're an Britney Spears-Warren Beatty kind of person, who sails through the opposite sex like a boat through water, you are likely to find that the relationship with your significant other will far outlast the one with your portable PC.
Girlfriends and boyfriends, husbands and wives, don't go out- of-date after a couple of years and need replacing -- although some of you out there may disagree.
Part of the limited life problem is that unlike desktop computers, whose components are more flexible for later upgrades, with laptops, you're most likely stuck with the specifications when you first bought them -- save adding memory and some external peripherals -- so optimizing the specifications from the start would likely ensure the longest lifetime.
The main consideration is keeping that "does it suit my needs" phrase in mind while asking yourself such questions as: "What is the laptop for?" and "Do I even need a laptop?" If you only need to organize your contact numbers and jot down some notes, a personal digital assistant (PDA) -- or those new snazzy cellular phones that nears becoming PDAs themselves -- would probably do.
Carrying on, laptops -- like boxers -- are classified accordingly to their weight. And unlike the debatable question on male sexuality, size and weight does matter for laptops, as it has a trade-off relation with their performance and mobility. Laptop prices, however, has a rather queer relation with the other variables.
Standing in the heavy-weight class, are the "power notebooks" or "desktop-replacements", weighing up to 3 kilograms or more, which are little beasts packing a performance that matches those of grunty desktops (hence the name).
Next comes the "standard laptops", the vanilla-flavored notebooks weighing between 2 and 3 kilograms with performance running on a laptop-tailored processor.
Finally, there are the "thin-and-light laptops" and the "ultraportables", the flyweights of portables, weighing 2 kilograms at the most, and stripping out almost everything except the bare necessities.
We could also add to this list the "sub-notebooks"; but laptop purists are likely to object, complaining about their inconveniently small displays and cramped keyboards.
As a rule of thumb, if you are going to use the laptop for light browsing, email and text editing, consider purchasing a standard, budget notebook.
The following are tips for laptop components, which are of course basic in nature, but since you've been reading this far, it is worth continuing, rather than ditching The Jakarta Post and grabbing a more comprehensive computer review magazine.
Processor: The Central Processing Unit (CPU) can be likened to the computer's brain. Most laptops today come with the mobile versions of the Intel Pentium (the Pentium-M) or AMD XP (the XP- M). There are also mobile Intel Celeron and AMD Sempron for budget laptops. Only choose the mobile Pentium 4 or AMD 64-bit processors if you really need the power. As for the "Intel Centrino" buzz we've all been hearing about, it is not actually a CPU by itself but a package of technologies consisting of the Intel Pentium-M, the Intel 855 or 915 chipsets and the Intel PRO2100/2200 WiFi board.
System Memory: Random Access Memory (RAM) is where data resides when computers are on. Laptops today commonly come with 256 megabytes (MB) of RAM, and stick to that, as most software packages need at least 128 MB to run.
Video Memory: Most laptops implement a "shared" 64 MB video memory, which is adequate for ordinary users. However, opt for "dedicated" memory for more powerful display needs.
Harddisk: The norm is 40 GB today, though budget notebooks suffice with 20 GB. Get a bigger drive if you have a huge library of data.
Other drives: Keep the DVD or CD-ROM drive to install software. Floppy drives are becoming obsolete as flash drives gain popularity.
Connectivity: Most laptops today come with Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) cards and the Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0) -- to connect those popular flash drives and other peripherals -- replacing the legacy serial port, while parallel ports are becoming obsolete as well. Consider a FireWire (IEEE 1394) port and memory card readers if you have a digital camera.
Batteries: Opt for lithium ion (LiON) over nickel metal hybrid (NiMH) ones, as they last longer on a single charge, have a longer lifetime, and are relatively more environmentally friendly (though any battery technology is always debatable for environmentalists).
Lastly, the places to look for your laptops.
The Mangga Dua shopping complex in West Jakarta is the city's computer capital. Another place worth browsing around is the Mal Ambassador in South Jakarta, particularly if you're looking for refurbished or used laptops. Ratu Plaza is also gaining a reputation for looking for anything "computerish", having stores Apple products with for all you Mac lovers. The Bhinneka website (http://www.bhinneka.com) is also a comprehensive place on the Internet to browse around.