Laptops (15'')

Laptops (15'')

A 15 inch laptop is pretty much the standard size and consequently there is a wide variety of models available from a 400 pound budget machine to a fully functional desktop replacement with the latest processor and dedicated graphics card.

In the cheaper end of the market, most will come with around 256 MB of memory and an integrated graphics card, this is not the best for hardcore gaming but can provide the user with more than enough power for general word processing, surfing the internet or playing music and video files. The processor on such machines will be a low power mobile chip which will prolong the usually not so fantastic battery life.

A more expensive laptop will have a high capacity battery that means even with a more powerful processor and a full complement of extra accessories, such as wireless networking or bluetooth, they can last for anything up to four hours and beyond.

Many of the low cost models will come, perhaps unsurprisingly, with a low cost, low quality screen. Viewing angle and readability in sunlight are the deciding factors here and even with some high end machines can leave a little to be decided. A resolution of 1024 x 768 is the minimum, a costlier device will often have a higher pixel count but remember that on a small screen the writing can become too small to read on some webpages.

When looking for a good quality laptop pay attention to the processor, for a new machine a 64 bit or dual core processor should not be skipped over in favour of an older one with a higher clock speed. Modern processors are less power hungry and are often much faster. This means you can get more done and still have enough battery power left to get in a few games of solitaire before the warning light flashes and it is time to get back to a plug socket.