The Basics
While most users think of laptop computers as desktop computers you can carry around, that's not always the case. True, some laptops are designed as desktop replacements, offering similar power and performance on the go. But many laptops have other tricks up their sleeves, serving as tablet PCs or multimedia players in a fashion that their desk-chained brethren could never match.
While most users think of laptop computers as desktop computers you can carry around, that's not always the case. True, some laptops are designed as desktop replacements, offering similar power and performance on the go. But many laptops have other tricks up their sleeves, serving as tablet PCs or multimedia players in a fashion that their desk-chained brethren could never match.
But first, we'll talk about the similarities between laptop and desktop computers and what you should look for when you're shopping for a portable PC. Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system came out this year, and it is available across the industry in new laptop computers. There are several variations of Vista, ranging from a Basic to an Ultimate Edition, but most laptop computers ship with either Vista Home Premium or Vista Business. These mid-range operating systems offer lots of multimedia tools and corporate features respectively, packaged in the sleek Aero interface with its translucent windows and Mac-like animations.
Any OS upgrade requires a little extra fire in the belly, and Vista is no exception. Luckily, laptop computing power continues to grow at a rate as fast--in some cases even faster--as their desktop counterparts. Most new laptop computers ship with dual-core processors, which are CPUs that pair two processing cores on a single chip. These processors speed up performance nicely, especially with more intensive applications and multitasking. Most of these processors are also 64-bit, which means that they can handle Vista to its fullest potential (the OS is available in both 32- and 64-bit versions) and are ready for upcoming applications. Dual-core, 64-bit processors are available from both AMD and Intel, so which version you want comes down to personal preference.
We'll talk about the rest of the components you might find in a laptop computer in our How to Shop section, but first, here are five questions you should consider before buying a laptop.
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