Sort of User:
Laptop users fall into six general types. Once you identify which category you belong to, it’s just a matter of taking into account what applications you are going to be running, how powerful your machine needs to be and what connections you’ll need for your peripherals.
Home User
A typical home user will use their laptop for a wide range of purposes, from surfing and messaging to storing home photos and playing music. You might even be running VOIP applications, so the best machine will be a mid-range multi-purpose laptop. If the laptop is to be shared with other members of your household, portability may also be a factor in your decision.
Suggestion: Pentium Dual Core or Celeron processor by Intel with 2GB RAM, (try to stretch to 3GB). These days you’ll want a hard drive with a minimum capacity of 100GB. 250GB would be better, especially if you’re sharing with other users.
Business User
Business users will need something that can run typical office applications such as word processing and spreadsheets, so, again, a mid-range machine should suffice. Portability could be important, especially if the user is commuting with the laptop, or your job involves a lot of travel. Ideally, a business user will be looking for a sturdy machine that is capable of running any applications specific to their company’s business.
Suggestion: Core2Duo with a minimum processor speed of 2Ghz; more, if your company is using power-hungry applications. 3GB of DDR2 memory should do the job, along with a hard drive of at least 100GB capacity. Choose a machine with 802.11g wireless and a good battery life for working on the move.
Gamer
Gaming laptops might be used primarily for fun, but these are serious machines with state-of-the-art CPUs and high-end video cards – essential for running the latest PC games.
High performance means advanced cooling systems and many professional gamers believe only a desktop PC can deliver the goods when it comes to gaming. Powerful video cards tend to be bulky and games played on a laptop generally won’t have the resolutions of games played on desktops. Laptops do offer a next-best-thing solution for those who travel to participate in gaming events.
Suggestion: Get the highest spec machine you can afford. Look out for a high end video card with a minimum of 4GB of super-fast RAM. Serious gamers will have no choice but to go for a high performance desktop.
Design/Music User
To run design and music recording applications, you are going to need a high-end machine. More specifically, for music recording applications, you’ll be looking for a top-of-the-range sound card, perhaps with a break-out box for interfacing with instruments. Designers working with applications such as Photoshop will be looking for a powerful CPU and a high end video card. Both design and music applications require big hard drives for storage, masses of memory and a powerful CPU.
Suggestion: Many users believe that Apple’s range of laptops, such as the MacBook Pro are tailor-made for design and sound applications.
Desktop User
Laptops have come a long way in the last five years, both in power and aesthetically, which begs the question: why bother with a desktop PC at all? Generally, they take up much more space and involve unsightly wiring. Many of today’s laptops come with the same specification as mid-range desktops, so many users are replacing bulky, unsightly desktop computers with stylish high performance laptops. These machines tend to be a lot bigger than traditional laptops and obviously aren’t as portable. Large tiltable screens (sometimes with touchscreen functionality) of 20 inches or more are the norm, very often in widescreen format for watching movies.
Suggestion: Models, such as Sony’s Vaio series offer high processing speeds, Blu-ray optical drives and the power to run high-definition video. These are the sort of features you should be looking for if you are looking for a laptop to replace your home desktop PC.
Student
The ideal laptop for a student user will largely depend on the subjects being studied. Design, music and gaming applications will obviously demand a higher end specification. Most students, however, will want to combine portability along with economy, so if the machine is just for study, surfing and word processing applications, the best option here may be an ultra-portable Netbook. These are generally low power systems with a small CPU – but big battery life.
Suggestion: Small, portable and sturdy is important here if the machine is going to be commuting to college daily. A Netbook with a built in webcam would be ideal. For something with more power, something similar in spec to the business user’s model will be able to handle the most arduous student tasks.
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