Laptop Buying Guide

Contents

Operating system

It doesn’t matter so much nowadays, since so much of what we do is through a browser, but…

Windows 7 is what I run on our desktop computer and is very good indeed. Easily the best operating system I've used. There's a limited version for netbooks too. Give it at least 3Gb of memory for speedy performance. The 64 bit version can address more than 4Gb of memory but is likely to be less compatible with older software, scanners etc. The 32 bit Home Premium version I use handled everything except a ten year old laser printer I was about to replace anyway.

Windows Vista (as on my laptop) is OK, although it needs a powerful PC to make it move fast.  It needs 2Gb of memory as an absolute minimum.

Windows XP works well enough but is old and will not be available for long except perhaps on tiny machines - get Windows 7 instead.

Linux is reliable and fine for basic surfing etc but can get a bit challenging when you have to do anything under the bonnet. But the web is largely run on Linux.

Suppliers

Dell are big and usually efficient. Their low headline prices soon rise quite a bit when you add in decent warranties and technical support. I got my laptop from their outlet site (returned machines) for an excellent discount.  Their prices seem to go up and down over time more than most.

John Lewis are the epitome of quality and tend to offer more in the headline price, eg 2 years warranty. They also have knowledgeable staff. They offer a 90 day technical support service with laptops for free then it’s their store IT staff who provide free support indefinitely – I’m assured they could talk you through a Windows re-install. Do get the unlimited technical support confirmed in writing.

PC World are useful for checking out what’s available but they do tend to have a few “who?” brands such as Advent and Packard Bell.

There are loads of other suppliers. The trick is finding out which ones are good value and will still be around in a few years.  If considering a new one I always put their name into Google with words such as "problem". My desktop came from PCSpecialist who have a good configurator. I upped the memory and disk size but went down a level with the processor. That saved so much that I got our new desktop and laptop machines for less than £650 the pair.

Brands

Toshiba and Compaq (now HP) were the old time top laptop brands. Acer, Asus and Samsung are also quite well regarded now. Also Sony and Apple but they’re pricey. You could be lucky with Advent or eMachines. Look at John Lewis online for a list of some reputable brands.

Whichever you choose think about noise – some of them have quite intrusive fan noise when working hard.

Support and maintenance

What you really need is someone who’ll fix the machine for the first few years and give you technical support (eg when Windows screws up your disk) indefinitely. There’s a tendency for suppliers to duck out of support obligations now – some will offer reasonable hardware waranties but will not be interested in helping if the machine is unusable because of a software fault (eg Windows needs re-installing).

So make sure, before you buy, that you know:

• How long they’ll fix physical faults and whether they come to you or you ship to them (if the latter it’s useful if they’re relatively local)
• What happens when Windows misbehaves – how much the technical support call costs per minute, where it’s based and how long does it last? What about viruses and setting up wi-fi?
• If you’re buying with a short hardware warranty period can your local computer repair shop fix faults?

Basically, ask yourself “what happens if the hardware and/or Windows goes crunch – next month, next year and after 3+ years?” And do I get a Windows/recovery CD?

Options for technical support include:

• Technically aware friends or family (often a limited resource in terms of time and patience – do remember to show appreciation via bottles of wine etc)
• Local experts offering help
  
• Extended support warranties from whoever you bought from (don’t assume product warranties cover technical support – they usually don’t)
• Support from BT, Dell, the Geek Squad (Carphone Warehouse) etc.  These will typically offer an annual fee or else charge per fix, often taking charge of your computer remotely.
  

Software

Apart from the operating system you need security plus an office suite (word processing etc) then something for images, sound, video or whatever, according to taste.

For security you can pay for Kaspersky, McAfee, Panda etc (does your existing subscription cover multiple PCs?) or else use a collection of free security software items, eg a PC Tools or Zone Alarm firewall plus Avast or AVG virus checker.

For word processing, spreadsheets and presentations there’s always the free Open Office. It’s a little slow at times but pretty good and can read and save in  Microsoft formats. Or Microsoft’s Office 2010 is around £85 at amazon uk for Word, Excel and Powerpoint (but not Outlook). It’s a pity my favourite, Office 2003, is no longer available.

For images the FastStone Image Viewer (free for personal use) is amazingly good and does some editing too. Photoshop Elements is wonderful for any sort of image processing.

Laptops

They get better and cheaper month by month and you always have to spend more to get real speed, big screens or miniaturisation (unless you go for a netbook). Make sure there are plenty of connectors, eg 3 USB is better than 2. Processors, hard disks and memory are largely a matter of what you spend. I think spending more on a bigger disk and more memory and stepping down to a less expensive processor is most effective. Make sure you’ve got an Ethernet network port. Wi-fi capability is essential, with wireless n more desirable than g. Bluetooth can also be useful for connecting to phones and other gadgets.

Battery power is a real issue with laptops. Few seem to last more than 2-3 hours away from the mains (my Dell only 90 minutes) and the batteries don’t seem to last many years. Some people say you’ll get years more from your laptop battery if you take it out any time you don’t need to work on battery power.

As of July 2010 reasonable basic Windows 7 laptops start around £350 (more with decent warranties) but you really do need to do the research to see what will suit you. And don’t consider basic laptops if you spend much time editing videos or playing graphics-rich games…

A CD/DVD writer is a must nowadays for your main machine, although external USB hard disks are better for routine backups than burning occasional data CDs or DVDs.

You can easily top £1000 for fancier laptops but that’s not necessary if you don’t do anything too demanding.  They get faster so relentlessly over time that any new machine will be pretty good beside a really expensive one from 3 years ago.

Netbooks

Sub notebooks have been around for ages but their miniaturisation has come at a price – most have been £900+. Now that a tiny laptop could well be a second machine, mainly used for word processing, email and internet browsing everything is changing and low cost little laptops are very popular. These are particularly interesting if you travel overseas a lot. If you don’t want it to be able to perform tasks such as video editing (they don’t even have DVD drives) or playing the latest games then it doesn’t have to be all that powerful.

There is plenty of choice of netbooks, with prices starting around £200. Suppliers include Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Samsung and Toshiba. Important things to look at are:

• How big a hard drive? I'd see 250Gb as a minimum, which rather rules out solid state drives.
  
• Linux or XP or Windows 7? This used to be a real choice but now why not just go for the best and most familiar, Windows 7?
  
• Keyboard and trackpad. If you want to write a novel on it you’ll need one with a good keyboard – look at the reviews. A good trackpad is a boon if you do a lot of web browsing.
• Battery life? An easy way to cut the price of a netbook is to supply it with a low capacity (eg 3 cell) battery. That makes it far less suitable for use on the move or in the garden. One with a low drain processor (eg Atom N450) and 6 cell battery can last for many hours between charges - it then feels quite natural to generally use the netbook unplugged.
  
• Network connections? An Ethernet network port is good (eg for use with a Homeplug) and wi-fi essential (the ‘g’ type should be fine, 'n' is better). If it allows mobile broadband too that could also be useful.

A good netbook I've used is the Samsung N210. With Windows 7, a 10" screen, 1Gb memory, 250Gb hard drive, excellent battery life, a good keyboard and wi-fi it's under £270 (Jul 10). With that specification it's capable of doing most things a much bigger and pricier laptop could, if the 1024 x 600 screen is not too restrictive.

In future netbooks will probably use Windows 7 at the higher end and Chrome, Android etc at the low end. I'm looking forward to getting a cheap, tiny one for travelling. Something with a 7" touchscreen would be ideal - sort of half way between a netbook and smartphone but cheaper than either. But I'll probably end up with a standartd 10" netbook because the alrternatives sem so overpriced.

People ask me lots about the Apple iPad. It's got a lovely screen, the virtual keyboard really works and they're selling fast. But I see them as larger iPhones and no substitute for a real computer. They lack a network port (so no internet at all those hotels that deliver internet that way, from Leeds to Vientiane). No USB so tough if you want to charge up your music player or connect travel speakers. No camera card slot so how do you backup your photos on holiday? No HDMI for TV connections. No multi-tasking (maybe they'll fix that in version 2?). Tiny storage capacity so you can't put all your music or photos on it without spending a fortune. And the price! They are nice for internet browsing (if wifi is available or you take out an expensive mobile contract) but the first site I tried was one showing live French motorway conditions. The iPad showed nothing useful because it can't do Flash. I don't use Flash on my own websites generally but if I offer video clips they need Flash. And Mac computers run Flash fine. Something strange going on...

Desktops

If you want more flexibility and power and are happy for your main computer to stay in one place a desktop definitely gives you a lot more speed and power for the money than a laptop – but beware power consumption. If you use a computer a lot then the extra speed, bigger screen and better keyboard and mouse of a desktop makes a laptop seem a very crude alternative.

One big advantage is that it’s much easier and cheaper to recover from hardware problems with a desktop, eg if the screen dies just get another one – they keep getting bigger and cheaper. Although I hope my squarish screen doesn't die - the wide-screen ones that are compulsory now are not very good unless you want to use your computer for watching films.

You can also use specialised desktops as media centres, although I prefer a dedicated PVR – much cheaper and simpler to use too.

There is a new generation of small desktops that are a compromise between desktops and laptops. The HP Slimline range works well in a small tower case and the Dell Studio Hybrid is very tiny indeed – although it mainly uses laptop components and is therefore a bit slow and expensive. PC Specialist do some interesting low power desktops based on dual core Atom processors.

Conclusions

Big companies know that the hardware cost of a laptop is lower than the cost of supporting its user and fixing it over its lifetime. People who buy their own laptops pay too much attention to the headline price and not enough to hardware warranty and technical support over its lifetime – say 5 years. If they have no technical support they may even end up throwing it away prematurely if a nasty virus strikes or Windows gets in a twist. So assume that sometime in the first 3 years you’ll have one serious hardware problem and one serious software one. After 3 years it’s not so drastic, because the residual value is so low and new machines will be cheaper than when you bought it as well as much faster.

One option is to go for a fairly powerful computer, perhaps a slim desktop, as your main one then a tiny, cheap notebook or netbook for emails, surfing, travelling and writing. Whatever, get an external USB hard drive and back up your data regularly. And consider online backup solutions such as Carbonite. If our house was burned to the ground while we were out we would lose no important data.