Laptop guide are the essential part now days there hundreds and thousands of the laptops in the market, certainly this laptop Buying Guide will help you to buy best laptop. The laptop is on the rise and there are many manufacturers who attempt to penetrate this promising market. Consequence of this trend: the references multiply and it becomes very difficult to identify the machine of his dreams, or at least, one that offers the best value on a given segment of the offer. This guide aims to help you become aware of the criteria for choosing a laptop and you suggest some models identified by our editorial staff as the outgoing batch.

As always, it is better to have a clear idea of its real needs before embarking on the purchase of a laptop. I use it in the mobility or will it intended to replace a desktop computer? Am I a player or a keen supporter of design? To help you in your quest, we chose several categories relating to the use you make of your computer, the criterion of price is often related to such use.

* The multipurpose portable at less than 700 USD
* Those whose price ranges from 700 to 1000 USD
 * Other models for a price of 1000 to 1500USD
* The machines for players
 * For those who want a big screen
 * Let unlike Ultraportable
 * Even smaller: the netBook

What format for what purpose?

Trivial, the question of size? Maybe not. Class usually on laptops depending on their size in three categories. The ultra-portable ", first, the machines generally meet with a diagonal screen displays up to 13 inches, and weighing less than 2 kg. These of course are for the followers of mobility, considering a move or almost daily with their work environment. Originally reserved for professionals, the ultra-portable appealing now that the public welcomes this opportunity to work or watch a movie in good conditions, be burdened with a large briefcase. If the first ultra-portable "classic" is now trading around 700 USD, this segment remains the flagship of the manufacturers who combine the latest technologies for machine ... much less affordable.

With its Eee PC, Asus has opened at the beginning of last year a new market segment: the netBook, or UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC for). These laptops with less than ten inches provide a level of performance relatively small but have a price, usually between500 and 700 USD. They are small, light, relatively autonomous, and well adapted for use in a mobile situation. Adjoignent their distributors are often a USB key to connect to 3G networks.

Then there are "portable", the wholesale market, with computers ranging in size from 14 to 17 inches. They typically weigh between 2.5 and 4 kg, a range of over two hours and satisfactory performance; it is no longer necessary to sacrifice the miniaturization. Here, the offer is bloated. Once the size of your dreams, he does have to adjust the level of equipment and quality of the finish tailored to your budget. The player will start for example on a machine equipped with a dedicated graphics card and a fast hard drive, while the professional will perhaps look for technologies dedicated to the protection of personal data.

With screen sizes ranging from 17 today and 21 inches, the "portable" laptop that has the name, as some machines show up to seven or eight kilograms on the scale. It is of course possible to move with such computers, as it is possible to strap a tower on the back office ... but it is difficult to talk about mobility. Having to replace a PC or set to take place in a fair, these machines generally have a high level of equipment, and for example, it is not uncommon to find configurations with two hard drives mounted in RAID.

Processor, graphics card, hard disk ... key

Unlike the PC fixed, it is always possible to open and edit, and a laptop must be understood as a whole. While it is possible to increase the storage capacity or upgrade to a new hard disk faster, but it generally keeps his laptop in the original condition. Therefore, all directly target the configuration that suits us.


As for processors, the trend is clear to Intel Core 2 Duo, present in all the manufacturers at the expense of AMD solutions, which are often confined to machinery input range. Taking care not to move towards a product is now obsolete as a Celeron, the processor is often the limiting factor on a laptop, unless you have a relatively advanced use of the machine. The recent introduction of Penryn processors, engraved in 45 nanometers, blows a breath of fresh air on the Centrino machines, as this allows greater finesse best fitted frequency, while maintaining warm and moderate power consumption.

In terms of memory, there are few manufacturers who still offer machines equipped with only 512 MB, 1 GB or 2 GB are the standard today, a rise in capacity favored by the low prices of DDR2 memory. Simply put, it is quite possible to settle for 1 GB in use, but the presence of a second gigabyte provides comfort that is not superfluous in many cases, especially when l 'practice to use multiple applications ... or the one opted for a machine with Windows Vista. Manufacturers incorporate more and more frequently 3 or 4 GB of RAM on their high-end chassis. Recall that 4 GB are attractive on paper but they have little interest when they are associated with a Windows XP or Vista in 32 bits.

Most machines of entry and mid-range card board integrated graphics chipset on the motherboard. Quite capable of handling 2D displays and multimedia, these controllers are absolutely unable to run a recent game in decent conditions and support the decompression of high-definition streams. For those that put off the game, the question does not arise, but for others it will consider buying a machine equipped with a dedicated graphics card, logically signed NVIDIA or ATI.

Now, almost all of the machines are equipped with a wireless Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and a memory card reader, a TV output and USB 2.0. Unless you are using a particular card format, these criteria should not particularly taken into account in choosing a machine. However, hard disk performance may be important. In order not to encumber the autonomy of their machines - and reduce costs, manufacturers may opt for hard drives 4200 rpm, which consume little, but deliver fairly narrow, which can slow down the execution of heavy applications. In general, we consider that hard drives offer 5400 revolutions satisfactory performance, but some may prefer to turn to models 7200 tours. Unless you choose the attractive, though expensive, disk-based Flash memory, the SSD?

Autonomy, ease of use, design?

Last criteria, not least, autonomy, comfort and design. The autonomy will depend greatly on the type of machine chosen and your budget. It is to say that machines are transportable for approximately two hours. Laptops, 13 to 17 inches are most often comprise a range between two and four hours. Finally, ultra-portables are capable of the worst of the best. The machines sold just 700 USD generally three or four hours of battery life in use, but the high-end computers which combine a battery six or nine cell technology as the greedy little LED screens sometimes over 10 hours 'real self, which are indispensable for professionals in permanent mobility.

If we can easily agree on the innovative design of a machine, it is impossible to assess objectively the appearance of a computer. However, you can stop on comfort, which is particularly close to things like the keyboard, the touchpad or the location of various ports, or the quality of materials used.

These elements are often those who make the difference at the time of choice. Understand that a laptop is not just a stack of components that it is sufficient to analyze performance to determine which machine offers the best value for money. Some manufacturers are able to enter the portable market, which charged less than 1500 USD, have similar features to other sold more than 1500 USD in a competing firm. Attractive, these products do not enjoy a comparable level of finish and some elements, such as the LCD, may have been left to chance to cut corners. Consideration should be given a laptop as a whole whose parts cannot be ignored and prefer the machine with a smooth configuration to that which a detail is put forward at the expense of the rest.

And the warranty?
Finally, we too cannot advise you to inquire the conditions under which the guarantee applies to the distributor and manufacturer of the machine you buy. Some practice for example, a systematic guarantee of two years on their laptops. Toshiba has set up in 2007 a security "breach of screen" a year, which allows the free replacement of a slab in the event of an accident. Some are particularly known for the quality of their service, while in others the leaves return management seriously inadequate. Arguments that might help you decide your final choice once the first selection.