How to Buy a Laptop: Holiday 2006 Edition

I offered buying advice for desktop PCs for the 2006 holiday season a few weeks ago. At popular request, I'm turning my attention to laptops. Here's what to consider if you're making a notebook purchase in the new year.

• CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo is just now arriving on laptops, and it's the CPU of choice no matter what type of user you are. However there are some great deals to be had on Core Duo machines, most of which were released only a few months ago. Most users will find the original Core Duo plenty fast.
• Memory - As with desktops, get all you can afford. 1GB minimum, especially for Vista.
• Operating System - Same deal as with desktops. If you're planning to go with Vista, wait until 2007 to buy a notebook. Driver issues are far more complex with portables than with desktops, and you don't want to be stuck trying to upgrade only weeks after you bought the machine. See my comments in the desktop shopping story for more detail.
• Hard Drive - 160GB is tops for notebooks right now, but about 80GB is more common and less expensive. That should be plenty for most users for the foreseeable future. If you're a digital movie collector, go with the big one.
• Optical Drive - A few systems are now including HD-DVD drives instead of standard DVD, however I've found all HD-DVD laptop drives slow and very buggy. I'd stick with a DVD-RW drive now, dual layer of course.
• Graphics Card - This varies widely, as manufacturers are still putting year-old graphics cards in laptops in many cases. High end cards like the Nvidia Geforce 7800/7900 series are pricey, but they're absolutely required if you want to have any hope of playing the latest games on your laptop. Remember that graphics cards are generally not upgradeable, so it's important to get the best you can afford right when you make the purchase.
• Screen - A critical decision. Widescreen displays comprise virtually the entire market now, so don't expect to find many 4:3 aspect ratio machines for sale. The big question here is whether you want a 17-inch monster display, a standard 15.4-inch display, or something smaller. The weight of the machine will vary accordingly: Expect to carry 8 pounds and up for a 17-inch system, 6 to 7 pounds with a 15.4-inch machine, and as little as 3 pounds with an ultralight. Laptops aren't going to get much lighter in 2007, so don't hold out for anything that'll be easier to pick up.

Again, I haven't really touched on the issue of going with Mac vs. PC, but if the MacOS is attractive to you, the new MacBook Pros are outstanding (if pricey). Yes, they can also run Windows, but they have a fatal flaw: The single mouse button means you'll have to use an external mouse if you want to get anything done with the machine in Windows. (Again, for the various Mac comments below: This is an issue for those running Windows!)  Plan accordingly.

As always, feel free to send me specs or a link to the laptop you're considering via email and I'll weigh in with an opinion. Happy shopping!