With my laptop needs shrinking, a 17-inch, fully-loaded monster just isn’t what I need for my daily work flow any more. I previously ran AutoCAD and 3DMax, making dual hard drives and lots of screen real estate a huge plus. But with a recent career change and different needs, I jumped ship from the “desktop replacement” laptop and went to a more suitable 15.4” alternative.

In selecting my new laptop, I kept in mind not only the work I was doing, but what things I would want to do or add over the next year. I knew I was going to be checking my e-mail, editing my many websites, and of course playing current and older PC games. That gives me an idea of what major components I need to spec in my new laptop.

• Graphics
• CPU
• Memory
• Storage

It’s easy to get confused on each of the items. Each vendor offers different types of hardware with crazy descriptions that lead you to believe you’re getting the best of the best, which is not always the case. HP, Dell, Toshiba, Gateway and many others are famous for misleading the average consumer on product offerings, and with big box companies like Best Buy and Circuit City pushing them, it is easy to get blind-sided by them. This brief overview will steer you toward better systems for the same price as basic models.

Screen size and resolution

I knew I wanted a 15.4” screen. Why 15.4 inches? Gaming on anything smaller just isn’t fun, and editing websites on a smaller screen is a task that your eyes won’t like. It all really depends on you as the consumer and how much space you want to work with while running programs. Maximizing space is something I have been good at.

Most vendors offer laptops with 15.4” screens, but will than have a huge range of resolutions. For instance, you can get a 15.4” screen that has a max resolution of 1680 x 1050 and a minimum resolution of 1280 x 800. The difference in these screen resolutions really defines how crisp the image is going to look as well as just how much working space you’re going to have. An extra 400 vertical and 250 horizontal pixels is a big deal for my work, so I want to get a system that has the highest screen resolution possible, which is the 1680 x 1050 offering.

Graphics

The item controlling the screen resolution is the graphics processor (GPU) that is in the laptop. Most laptops come with an integrated GPU. “Integrated” means it is mounted on the motherboard of the system and cannot be removed or upgraded. You have to be very careful when looking for laptops that spec out some high-end GPUs that are integrated. Nine times out of ten, these GPUs share memory from your system, which cuts down how much memory you have for everyday applications and Windows (or whichever operating system you prefer). The alternative, a dedicated GPU, can also be set up to use system memory, so both options have a negative effect on your system. Keep and eye out for dedicated GPUs with dedicated memory. With this option, the GPU is using memory that is installed on the motherboard or separate card which is only for the GPU to use, leaving the system memory to the system. Some options from NVIDIA also allow you to set the card to use both dedicated memory and system memory, which in turn has a better effect on the performance of both the GPU and the system, but may not be perfect for some applications and operating systems like our new friend Windows Vista.

I opted for NVIDIA’s new mobile line and picked out a sweet 8600M GS 256MB. The GPU’s memory is dedicated and will suit my needs for gaming and data processing. This card also offers my system a top resolution of 1680 x 1050, which allows me to utilize my 15.4 inches to the max. As an added bonus, the option I chose also gave me video outputs including DVI, S-Video, and VGA, which allows me to hook my laptop to an external monitor or even a TV/HDTV or projector.

Processor

I can now focus on the system processor (CPU). This choice is not easy with all the options on the market, and it will also confine my choice of memory. My ideal CPU is not going to be in the bargain basement; I need a CPU that can handle my gaming. My options include Intel’s single and dual core offerings, and AMD’s single and dual core offerings. Intel currently has a significant edge in speed and power consumption within the laptop market, so my choice was clear from the beginning. However, if my above needs didn’t include gaming, I might have gone with an AMD setup since they can be found for hundreds of dollars less. You need to consider how big your pocket book is and if that 15% performance gain is worth $150.

With Intel offering both Core Duo and Core 2 Duo, it can confuse the consumer a bit. To break it down, the Core 2 Duo is a refresh of the Core Duo architecture. The Core 2 Duo line is roughly 5-15% faster than the comparable CPUs in the Core Duo line. The Core 2 Duo line also offers support for a higher front side bus (FSB) rate, which in turn means faster processing. The jump in front side bus speed from 533MHz to 800MHz is pretty big. I ended up going with Intel’s Core 2 Duo T7500, which is clocked at 2.20GHz and supports the full 800MHz front side bus which allows me to jump up to better memory.

Memory

Most laptops ship with half as much memory as they need to really make them run smooth. The average is still 512MB for XP systems and 1GB for Vista systems. These are sub-par. Windows will use half that amount just booting up and sitting ideal, leaving almost nothing left for applications (let alone gaming). I choose to go with Vista Home Premium, mainly because it was the only option I had. I have been running Vista Ultimate on my current laptop, a HP dv8000t, and love it to death. But, my system shipped without enough memory, so I was forced to upgrade to meet my requirements.

With my requirements (Vista and gaming), I am going to need at least 2GB of memory if not more. My processor and system can support up to 4GB of memory, but until 2GB sticks can be set at an affordable price I will stick with 2 x 1GB memory sticks. The system setup I have chosen also is able to support DDR2 800 (PC2 6400), which is the fastest you can get for today’s setups. I opted to purchase two 1GB sticks of Kingston memory to make sure I maximize the full potential of my system. They cost just under $60 each, making them a steal in my opinion.

Storage

Our last component is a critical component in a laptop and is usually the first thing that breaks or that needs to be upgraded: the hard drive. Most laptops on the market are still set with a stock 40GB or 60GB hard drive running at 5400RPM. In all likelihood, both the size (GB) and speed (RPM) of that drive will be insufficient.

Many people own a digital camera or camcorder and want to save their thousands of photos and videos on their laptop. In that case, the standard 60GB isn’t going to give you much room after the operating system and basic programs are installed. That 60GB hard drive has just dropped to 35-40GB and will quickly get gobbled by those high-resolution photos and vacation videos. I would never get anything smaller than 120GB.

RPMs indicate how fast the drive can spin to find the files you’re looking for. A 5400 RPM drive is often the number one performance inhibitor in a laptop. If you’re just surfing the Web and writing documents, 5400 will be fine. If you’re working with big media files or gaming, look for 7200 RPM minimally (or even 10,000RPM in a high-power laptop).

What I got

With all of the above in mind, I took to the web and did a bit of searching and found a couple of options. I stuck to my priorities (Graphics, CPU, Memory, and Storage) and found a laptop that fit my specs: the ASUS F3 Series (model F3SV-B1), which I will review in my next article.

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Tags: systems