Well, it’s that time. It’s time to retire the old laptop and go with a new model. My old Compaq Evo N1015e was getting somewhat long in the tooth and for a machine that is 4 years old, still performed quite well, but suffered a little with Office 2007 and Internet Explorer 7.
I saw an ad in the Sunday paper for a laptop that was nicely loaded for a really low price, so I went on a hunt. That particular laptop and its ordering process had some rather concerning issues, so I dug deeper into the ads to see what I could find. One that caught my eye in particular was a Gateway product with 160GB hard drive and 3GB of RAM for a little over $600. This was at a big box store with quantities limited so I hustled down to the store and got lucky enough to pick one up. Just in comparison, My Compaq was ordered direct from Compaq, in 2002, had 512MB RAM and 40GB hard drive. I paid $1200 for that machine and felt I got a great deal.
Normally after the holiday season is a great time to buy a new computer, and particularly a laptop. The stores are clearing out the inventory from the holidays and you can get a great machine for a deeply discounted price. Do you homework and shop wisely. Brand is not really an issue; however I’ve always liked Gateway machines even though I felt their quality suffered when they were purchased by eMachines. Gateway laptops were always big and heavy compared to others, but this machine is very light and streamlined. Obviously weight is something to consider when lugging a laptop around from place to place. So just what do we look for when we are considering a laptop?
Most everyone has a favorite brand, but beyond brand are features. Obviously you want the most bang for the buck, so compare carefully. With most all laptops coming with Windows Vista installed, a large amount of memory, or RAM, is vital. Memory in the range of 2GB would work well. Next would be storage capacity; most laptops are coming with large hard drives in to 200GB range. Another feature that is almost commonplace in today’s laptops is the ability to write DVDs. Be sure the machine you look at can do this. The balance is user preference. I would get wireless networking standard and internal, any screen size over 15” is good, and a good number of USB ports is essential. Despite what salespeople tell you, battery life on a laptop is somewhere around a hour, claims of two to three hours is exaggerated unless you get an upgraded battery pack. Warranty is big for a laptop. Most companies include an year’s warranty but I would opt for a two or three year extended warranty (from the manufacturer, not the retailer) to make sure that machine is serviceable now and for the future.
Desktop machines (towers) can be purchased for much less, but then there’s the portability issue. Carting one of those around in a backpack is counterproductive! The time has never been better for looking to replace that old beater of a computer. Check the sales ads…you never know what you will find!
From: Gary L. Brelsford
School of Technology and Design Program Advocate
Pasco County Campus