Six Different Types of Laptops For Sale and What You Should Know About Them

The notebook market is a billion dollar business and every brand wants a share of that pie. The manufacturers get more customers by either producing a better, faster, lighter version of the same laptop their competitor makes, or try to diversify a little. The more types of notebooks there are the better for us, customers, because we get to choose a device that fits our needs more.

Most people don't know what they really need from a notebook, usually they know they want a portable computer with that stuff that opens and shows other stuff and then they want it to connect to that wireless stuff, you know, but that's barely enough to go out and buy one. Almost every laptop computer has wireless connectivity, I haven't seen one in years that hadn't and they all have a decent color TFT screen. Most wannabe customers haven't even heard of different kinds of notebooks, and they think they are all 15" and about 6 pounds heavy. They don't know about netbooks or subnotebooks and they've never seen a tablet PC in their life. That's why I thought it would be a good idea to cover a few different kinds of the portable computer world and give a few extra options before choosing.

First of all the customer has to make up their mind about the budget. There are cheap laptops and expensive laptops, but that has nothing to do with their actual price. A gamer notebook may be a really good deal for $800 but a netbook for that kind of money is amazingly overpriced. For example if you have $400 to buy a new notebook and you are absolutely against used and refurbished computers, your best bet will be a good netbook. There are lots of them for that money, you just have to pick one. For the same price there may be a normal budget notebook, but I wouldn't keep my hopes high on finding one with proper components.

Are you going to play some recent games on your new notebook, or is it only to keep in touch with the net, read blogs and update status on facebook? Are you going to carry it around often and away from places where you can charge it? These are important things to decide on.

Starting with the cheapest type of new notebooks one can get, the netbooks or mini notebook computers. These are usually 10" to 12" small laptops with internal components that were designed for mobile use. Don't expect very much of a netbook and you won't be disappointed, but they aren't useless at all. The default setup is 1.6Ghz Intel Atom processor paired with a gigabyte memory, 160GB to 250GB hard disk drive and an integrated video card to let you know what's going on. There are more powerful models than this basic setup.

Nvidia ION is a platform made for thin desktop clients, but it's just as awesome when put into such a small shell. ION can play HD videos even in blu-ray quality without breaking a sweat. The usual ION based netbook has a 12" 1368x768 screen to fully support 720p HD playback. These notebooks run out of steam faster than the ones with integrated video, but that's up to personal preference. I personally like my normal netbook with its 6.5 hours of productivity on battery. Netbooks are really cheap to get, $329 to $500, if you have that kind of money and don't expect it to be your only and main laptop, go on and get one, you won't be disappointed I promise.

15.6 inches. I suspect that 80% of all notebooks produced falls into this category. This is the budget bunch, probably this is why everyone has or wants to buy one of these. They're cheap yet properly equipped with enough power. Default parts include dual core processor, 2GB memory and a spacious 320GB to 500GB hard disk drive. These notebooks are almost always equipped with a DVD-RW drive and all kinds of smart card readers. They're the draft horses of portable computing. Nothing is perfect though and that's the case with these notebooks as well. Value notebooks are often low on battery life, 1 hour 50 minutes to 2.5 hours between charges is normal for a cheap model, more expensive ones can run up to 4-5 hours on a charge. They're usually too heavy to comfortably carry around with their 5-7 pounds of weight. $500 to $800 gets you one of these.

Subnotebooks are the toys of the business world. These are small and portable versions of the breed described above. With normal notebook parts like dual core processors and discrete video chips stuffed into a small 13" case they're really expensive for members of the public. A businessman with the need for power and portability at the same time should buy one of these for $1500-$2500, while the average customer will be just fine with a netbook instead.

Gamer notebooks are the titans. 17" screens and the latest and best processors available really make the price go up fast, and putting everything into a 17" case doesn't help make it easy and thin either. Hardcore gamers who need to be on every LAN party have probably always wanted a notebook that can be brought on foot instead of driving a PC tower, the monitor and peripherals to the party. Dual video cards and hard disk drives in raid for maximum performance are a common sight amongst gaming laptops as is a $3000 price tag.

Buying a used laptop is a way of getting a laptop for less than it costs new. I would like to warn everybody thinking about getting one, that it is crucially important to examine it before purchase. Scrutinize every little detail you can possibly think of including screen, hard disk, keyboard. Even try the hinges if they hold the monitor in position properly. Buying a used laptop is like buying a second hand car. It's a personal item and without due care it suffers damage during its lifetime. You don't want to buy a broken laptop, do you.

Refurbished laptops are like used laptops with a bit of twist. Manufacturers often take broken devices back, fix them and sell them again for a lower price. There are also refurb laptops that the owner didn't care for and gave it back after a few days or weeks. These are usually used laptops in great condition, but don't forget to ask a sales representative why the unit is refurbished before taking it to the counters.

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