Should your next computer be a notebook?
By Jonas
LD Writer Notebooks are all the rage lately. Their sales have been increasing at the expense of desktops, and prices have dropped over the last few years to more affordable territory. Heck, I even bought my first notebook a few months back (after I had firmly decided several years ago only to purchase computers I could build myself). In this article I explore and explain the reasons for this shift. 
The adage for notebooks a few short years ago was “half the computer for twice the price.” They used previous generation, ultraexpensive processors, had antiquated optical drives, very short battery lives, terrible graphics, and few (if any) expansion options. A handful of newer technologies allow notebooks to catch up in many areas to desktop capabilities. When notebooks became available below the “magic” $1000 price point, they became accessible to the masses. Also, the hardware has temporarily outgrown the software, so there is no need to have the ultimate processor and other hardware in home computers, except for the most demanding tasks (such as video editing and the very latest games).
Some of the key breakthroughs that help make this all possible:
A heavily reworked Pentium III core combined with a very large on board memory cache makes this a potent processor. The low voltage design and Speedstep technology allow for longer battery lives. 
The newest games demand the newest graphics solutions. The latest notebooks come with this PCI express graphics allowing recent notebooks to get up to date to play the latest games, watch DVD movies, and even to some simple graphic and video editing. 
Notebook drives are now typically 60 or 80 gigabytes, and available around 100 gigabytes. If that’s not enough storage, external drives are also now cheap and available via both fast USB and Firewire connections. With a cavernous drive capacity, a notebook can function as your only computer, not just an overpriced peripheral.
Notebook optical drives, while slower than desktop drives, are more than adequate for most users. My notebook features the LiteOn 852S DVD+/-RW drive. It rips and cd’s as well as dvd’s with no problem. While my desktop writes CDs at 52x (currently the fastest writing speed on the market), when I compare the 6 minute write time on the notebook at 24x to the 3 minutes on a desktop, it hardly seems significant. Being able to watch a DVD movie on the move is also a key selling point for a notebook.
One might wonder how this is a notebook breakthrough, but I believe it is. Anyone with experience with either mp3s or digital photo files will realize that USB drives were an essential development for today’s larger file sizes. Just today I needed to get a 17MB photo file to another computer. These inexpensive USB drives are so easy to use to shuttle files around. Only a minority of notebooks are connected to printers, so the USB drives become the “pack mules” for data transfer.
While we’re on the topic of USB, these common ports allow notebooks to expand in all sorts of ways. Many notebooks come with 2 or more USB ports. If you need more storage or backup, you can plug in an external hard drive, or a DVD+/-RW drive. If you need better audio, there are USB sound cards. Not to mention such mundane expansion options like optical mice, flash card readers, and interfaces for digital cameras and mp3 players. Five short years ago, USB was used for printers, and none of these other things even existed for USB!
Just about every notebook sold today comes with an Ethernet port, a 56k modem, and wireless networking. Between the three connection options, I can be connected all the time. The “killer application” is the wireless networking. I can be connected from anywhere in the house, and am online all the time. It is truly a pleasure to be able to bring the computer to whatever the task at hand is. The notebook as a mobile web surfing machine may be worth the price tag alone, and is a primary force behind the recent surge in notebook sales. Wireless “hotspots” are available at such diverse places as airports, McDonald’s, Starbucks, many hotels, college campuses, and now even my local public library.
For the reasons outlined above, I see no end to the trend of increasing notebook sales over desktops. The majority of folks looking to live the digital life will benefit from their next computer being a notebook. I would like to point out there are a few niches that may benefit from a desktop instead.
If you need the latest most powerful processor, buy a desktop. You can put in more and faster hard drives with larger capacity. It is cheaper to keep it upgraded, and have access to the largest variety of peripherals.
While there are cheap notebooks for purchase, I recommend you pass them by. They often feature read only drives, no wireless support, desktop processors (heat issues), inadequate RAM and small hard drives. While the “Dell Dude” may make it sound like a bargain, it seldom is. If your budget is under $800, forget the mobility, get a desktop computer that isn’t out of date before it’s even unboxed.
Notebooks definitely need careful handling. An LCD screen gets attached at only 2 points, via (usually cheap) plastic connectors to the notebook body. One good drop and this all falls apart. Literally. This is why we spend the bucks for those nice padded notebook bags. I’ve heard of two children, one 6 and one 9 years old getting given notebooks recently. In my humble opinion, their parents may have done better by getting them a desktop, which will inherently be more durable. We’re not talking about college students bringing their computers on campus or even high school here. In this younger age group, something that can more easily grow with the child is going to be more cost effective.
So what is the right answer for me? I have a combination of power needs, as well as mobility and connectivity. A home built desktop, and a midrange notebook are the only way to have the best of both worlds without compromising, or lugging around a desktop. Some of us will be using both desktops and notebooks for some time to come to meet all of our needs.
Finally, here are some recommendations of some specific notebook computers.
The soccer Mom needs a notebook with power and mobility. This computer provides an effective solution. It features the Pentium M chip (part of the Centrino package) which clocks at 1.6 GHz. This Toshiba also features an 80 GB hard drive, and a DVD+RW drive to store and back up all that data. The 15.4” inch screen will be more than adequate for emailing the teacher, word processing, and surfing the web at the local Starbuck’s. The 5+ pound weight makes it portable enough to take out to the soccer games. This notebook solution would also be ideal to meet the needs of a high school or college student.
Don’t buy this computer for the inexpensive price tag. Weighing just 4.5 pounds it’s perfect for the worker always on the go. However, very little is sacrificed to reach that weight as it features an 80 GB hard drive, 512 MB of RAM, wireless and wired networking, and a dual format DVD writer that even will write to dual layer DVD+R discs. The Athlon XP-M 2200+ processor will give decent computing power, and still allow a 2.5 to 3 hour battery life on a single charge. The 12.1” screen will keep our salesman from watching DVD’s all day. This notebook’s combination of diminutive size with great full size features at such a low price point makes it a standout.
If you could have only one computer, this would be a great pick as it bests most people’s desktops. In business, time is money, and our worker will wait very little as he or she has an Athlon 64 3200+ mobile chip as the heart of the system that will be up to just about any task. The 80 GB hard drive, 512 MB RAM, wireless card, and DVD+/-RW drive round out the comprehensive package. It even has an ATI 9600 64 MB mobile graphics card for any video to look its best (and after hour gaming). A 15.4” display helps to keep the weight of the system to 7.5 pounds, light enough to tote this to that important meeting. Our worker will be very successful with this kind of hardware at their disposal, and his or her coworkers will be very jealous.
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