Laptops For Dummies. Gookin Dan

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      ✔ I recommend a laptop with at least 300GB of mass storage. If you need more storage, you’ll have to go with a traditional hard drive because high-capacity SSDs are expensive.

      ✔ Tablet PCs don’t require as much storage as traditional laptops. That’s because tablet PCs are used primarily for nonproductivity purposes – reading email, browsing the web, or enjoying digital entertainment.

      ✔ To save space as well as battery power, most laptops don’t come with an optical drive. Once these drives were necessary for installing software, music, and movies. Today that task is handled over the Internet. It’s still possible to get an external optical drive, if you really need one.

      ✔

By investing in the latest, fastest processor, lots of RAM, and copious amounts of mass storage now, you’re extending the life of your laptop. That’s a good thing. You want your laptop investment to last for years. Pay more now, and you earn it back down the road, when you’re still using your laptop while others are forced to buy a new one.

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GB is the abbreviation for gigabyte. It means 1 billion characters of computer storage. A GB is approximately 1,000MB. MB is the abbreviation for megabyte, or 1 million characters of computer storage. One MB stores about one minute of music, a 3-by-4-inch digital photo of low quality, or as much text as you’ll find in a typical novel.

Communications options

      Your laptop must have gizmos that quench its communications thirst. Here are the options, in order of importance:

      Wireless networking: It’s a given that your laptop must come with some type of wireless Ethernet adapter. Connecting to a Wi-Fi network is a must. See Chapter 16 for details.

      Wired networking: Traditional laptops come with a wired Ethernet port, allowing you to connect the device to a wired network when one is available. Most of the time, the laptop uses the Wi-Fi connection. Ethernet ports aren’t available on netbooks and many tablet PCs.

      Dialup modem: Once the mainstay of mobile computing, few if any laptops come with a dialup modem. The problem with this type of connection today isn’t the laptop but rather a lack of availability of a hardline phone connection as well as dialup Internet access.

      Another communications option is for the laptop to share a smartphone’s mobile data connection. That process is covered in Chapter 16.

The green laptop

      As human beings, it is our duty to be good stewards of the environment. If you care about your other mom (that would be Mother Earth), you can be wise about how you spend the planet’s resources when you make your laptop-buying decision. Two issues are important: power usage and materials.

      In power usage, laptops have always been ahead of the computer desktop curve when it comes to getting the most from our planet’s energy resources. See Chapter 10 for information on power management.

      Beyond power usage, you can check the greenness of your laptop’s materials: Some laptops are designed from environmentally friendly materials or at least contain no lead, mercury, plutonium, mayonnaise, or other toxic materials. Even better, some laptops are designed to be recycled. The only way to know is to check with the manufacturer; they love boasting about such things.

      Service, Support, and Warranty

      The issue of service and support is much more important for a laptop than for a desktop computer. A laptop is a unit. It lacks the easily replaceable components of a desktop. As such, it’s not an item that just anyone can fix.

      To ensure that you start out your laptop experience on the best foot possible, I have three recommendations.

      First, determine where your laptop will be repaired. Odds are good that it won’t be in the back room at the local Mega Price Mart where you purchased the thing. The laptop will probably take a trip through the mail. If that’s not what you want, ensure that you buy an on-site support option when you buy the laptop. (Yes, some manufacturers offer this service.)

      Second, research how the support for your laptop is offered. Most manufacturers offer phone support. Is it good? Terrible? In your native tongue? Maybe a superior support option is available for an extra price. If you need it, buy it.

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