Laptop screens come in a wide variety of screen sizes ranging from 11″ all the way to 19″. Find out what you want to use the laptop for before deciding on the screen size. If you want to watch movies and play games then you would want a bigger screen. Be careful, though, because a larger screen means a heavier laptop. If you plan on hauling the laptop around to many different places (i.e. school) then you may want to factor in the weight that a large screen brings. On the other hand, a smaller screen will provide ease of portability but not a great entertainment tool. If you’re not sure what screen size you want then stick to somewhere in the middle (i.e. 15″ – 17″).

Once you’ve narrowed down the screen size you’ll want to make sure you have the power capabilities that you want. The CPU and RAM provide the computing power inside of a laptop and will determine the overall speed of the notebook. As I’m writing this, a dual core processor should be the minimum as well as 1GB of RAM. The Pentium dual-core and Intel’s Core Duo are somewhat out-dated processors. Try to stick with Intel’s Core2 Duo or AMD’s X2 Series CPUs. And as stated before, 1GB (gigabyte) of RAM should be the minimum amount of memory. The more RAM you can get the better!

Once you have narrowed down those features, the rest is up to your pocketbook. I would say 99% of the time, you get what you pay for. There is one exception to this rule for buying laptops; Acer brand laptops tend to run cheaper than most but still retain relatively high quality. When was the last time you saw an advertisement for Acer? You haven’t? That’s because they do very little advertising and let word-of-mouth do the selling, while you reap the benifits of their cheaper prices. Be wary of other brands you haven’t heard of, though. Getting replacement parts or service from other off-brands may be near impossible. Do some reasearch before you buy an off-brand laptop (other than Acer, of course).

Toshiba has long been a leader of quality when it comes to electronics and their laptops are no different. They’re not going to “wow” you with looks but it’s what inside that counts, right? They are smartly built with an emphasis on today’s technology, unlike Dell whose sole emphasis is keeping the price down

Sony is another brand that screams quality. The Sony VAIO notebooks are some of the best in the business. Unlike Toshiba, Sony’s laptops look great and will definately turn heads (of course that’s not always a good thing).

 If I had to choose between the two I would go with Toshiba because I have no need for flash and looks, just speed, power and reliability.

Laptops I would NEVER buy because of the vast amount of problems in the past include: Dell, Compaq/HP and Gateway brands. All three laptop makers seem to sacrifice quality for lower cost during mass production. I have encountered many, many problems with these laptops over the years and I will avoid them unconditionally.