Buying Guide »


Introduction

Who could live without their laptop computer? Today everyone from gamers to grannies has their own laptop, complete with personal preferences from screen size to colour. Many of us prefer our laptops to desktop computers, even if we don't take them out of the house.


The days of complaints about poor battery power and over-heating are far behind us as innovation ensures all the essentials process effectively. Whether you’re a Mac fan or a die-hard PC lover, your ideal laptop is out there waiting for you to find it!


However, many laptop specs can seem confusing if you’re not familiar with the numbers and terminology used by vendors – and let’s face it, most of us aren’t. Luckily only a handful of these facts and figures are really essential; many are only useful if you’re after something particular from your laptop, for example, if its primary use will be playing networked games, or if you’re a designer looking to run a particular software package.


So what are the terms you do need to look out for? Our handy guide below will equip you with all the necessary information to identify what you really need from your laptop.


The essentials
1. CPU

The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is, in a nutshell, the ‘brain’ of your laptop. Working alongside the Operating System, the CPU processes the instructions you give the laptop and fetches data from the RAM to allow execution. Intel and AMD are the most well known brands of CPU.


2. RAM

Random Access Memory (RAM) provides space for your laptop to read and write data to be accessed by the Central Processing Unit (CPU). When people refer to a computer’s memory, they usually mean its RAM. The more RAM a computer has, the less often the CPU has to read data from the hard disk, allowing the computer to work significantly faster. If you’re planning to use the internet and several applications/software programs outside the core Microsoft Office suite, you should look for at least 2 Gigabytes of RAM. If you work with image, video or audio editing software you may want to increase this to as much as 4 Gigabytes to help improve running speed.


by RAM Installed Size



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Reviews of Laptops »

Acer Really Impresses!

Advantages: Very good price compared to other laptops of the same quality, durable
Disadvantages: Could use a bigger hard drive, but that's just my opinion.

...In my honest opinion, I never thought much of this 'Acer' brand. Of course, I have never owned or used an Acer product before. I must say, I prefer this laptop over my former Dell laptop, which I paid about $1,000. There are ways, when building a computer ...

jp2544 19.10.2011 · Read full review
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Review of Acer Aspire 5750G

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Acer Aspire 5750

Advantages: Bright clear screen
Disadvantages: Speed of item is a big let down, button layout is of bad design

I recieved this Laptop in January, within hours of setting it up i could see that i was going to have to return it for a refund or a replacement. I kept getting error messages and messages on the screen saying that the internet has dissconnected when it w ...

lhelneli 13.05.2012 · Read full review
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Review of Acer Aspire 5750G

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The Toshiba Satellite is a great computer in general

Advantages: great performance and generally a good computer for the average person.
Disadvantages: battery life doesnt last long and hard to clean keys.

in my opinion its a great laptop that takes the place of a normal desktop. to me, it doesnt have a very long battery life. its very tough, ive dropped it over and over again, and theres no damage, except for maybe a scratch or two. i think that it is very ...

cowchase 31.07.2011 · Read full review
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Review of Toshiba Satellite C660-118

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Brilliant Computer!

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: None

This computer is brilliant. I have had it for about a year. It comes with Windows 7. The computer is light and can be carried easily in a breifcase. The battery lasts for ages and the graphics are excellent. Downloads don't take long and watching films is ...

benhc123 23.03.2011 · Read full review
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Review of Toshiba Satellite C660-118

Speed

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Comfort & Portability

Robustness & Durability

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Toshiba Laptop

Advantages: Sleek desgin, various capabilities - windows 7 etc.
Disadvantages: no webcam - oh well, not a big issue.

I recently purchased is laptop on a whim really - i was contemplating buying the ipad (which i probably still will) but i defenately needed a laptop that i could use for essay writing ect. This laptop (available in may shops, argos, currys etc) was somewh ...

xstarryangel94x 02.06.2011 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Toshiba Satellite C660-118

Speed

Look & Feel

Comfort & Portability

Robustness & Durability

Value For Money