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Product Survey: Laptops
Everybody has their own definition of the perfect laptop computer, but it often boils down to the age-old compromise between performance and portability.
Florent Alzieu
Updated: November 17, 2009
Our Tests
Before we look at its technical performance, we like to get a feel for each laptop, checking the case and finishing. It's easy to get seduced by promises of high speeds, but sooner or later, a faster model will come round at the same price as the laptop in question, so we think spending a bit of time thinking about what using the computer will be like to use in real life is worth it. That's why we pay a lot of attention to the screen -- you will be looking at it the whole time you use your laptop, after all -- checking its viewing angles, how well it handles colours and whether or not adjusting the settings can improve on the default configuration.

After that, before we get on with the benchmarking tests, we make sure the operating system is completely up to date and that any useless bundled software has been removed so we can ensure a fair test.

As well as the traditional Futuremark benchmarks and those included with Vista, we also try as many practical tests as we can. We play some games, watch movies, edit photos in Photoshop and copy files from an external hard drive. We time all of these different operations to get an idea of how they perform in real life.
Laptops--or notebook computers, for some--are an intriguing type of product. Manufacturers take a collection of components and cram them together to make computers that often aren't as innovative as we might hope.

You should, then, make sure you know what you're looking for. Here's a very simple list of things to consider:
  • The brains of your laptop are in its processor, or CPU, which performs all of its calculations and has a direct bearing on everything you might use your laptop for, from controlling the Artificial Intelligence engine in a game to running advanced image editing software.  The Intel Celeron M and AMD Sempron are entry-level processors suited to basic office use. Faster processors like the Intel Core 2 Duo and AMD Athlon and Turion are preferable.
  • The hard drive is where all your data will be stored, including software, photos and games. 80 GB should suffice for office documents and photos, and anything above 250 GB is more generous.
  • Your laptop's RAM, or memory, runs between the two. For Windows Vista, you'll need at least 1 GB, but we would strongly recommend 2 GB. 
  • The graphics chip has a direct bearing on how fluid games are and how much detail is visible.
    • Finally, the size of the screen can be anywhere from 7" to 20". The smaller the screen, the easier it will be to move your laptop around. A larger screen will be less portable, but easier to use for extended periods. The performance in games can also suffer on large screens where there are more pixels to control.
It's also worth noting that, apart from the RAM and the hard drive, many laptop components are very difficult to replace.  Repairing a laptop can be very expensive, and the one year warranty that's usually offered isn't very long at all.

Misleading Specs

Putting blind faith in manufacturers' claims can get you into trouble.  Reducing the quality of components to try and save on power consumption or reduce heat is one widespread practice.  That's why it's important to test the machine in real life to make sure that it matches up to expectations.

Using Your Laptop

How far can you go on a laptop?  In theory, absolutely anything you can do with a desktop computer is possible on a laptop. Any laptop on the market today will be capable of getting online and running simple office software. Editing videos and photos should be possible on the majority of models, as long as you have 2 GB of memory. And as long as you strike the right balance between a good graphics chipset and a modest-sized screen, you should be able to play the most recent games.

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