Laptops have moved from being just drool-worthy gadgets restricted to the hands of a few, to devices having mass acceptance. This popularity is due to the notebook being a device of mass appeal; everybody wants a notebook, whether they really need one or not. It's one of those devices that has drool value and for many people being seen with a notebook is considered a status symbol. Falling prices are the other reason behind the sudden surge in market acceptance. Notebooks used to cost upward of Rs. 50,000; you paid for the exclusiveness of owing a notebook. Taxes relating to their import have fallen and coupled with the reducing cost of components as market acceptance worldwide increases, a notebook is now much more affordable than you might think.

Netbooks, an exciting and special (read cheap) category of notebook are also available. These are very new entrants in the market and are based primarily on Intel Atom processors which consume hardly any power (2.5 to 4 watts). These netbooks are therefore available in very small sizes — 8.9 inches to 10.1 inches. Netbooks are mighty cheap and although you cannot get the same productivity out of them that a more powerful notebook PC would provide they are a serious option for those on a really small budget. Prices of netbooks range from Rs 20,000 to Rs 26,000.

Ergonomics

Sure, a notebook is the sum of all its components but it’s much more than that as well. For us, a notebook is as personal as a PMP or cellphone and special attention needs to be paid to the usability and ergonomics of the notebook rather than just its components. In fact, the more you use a notebook the more discerning you become towards any ergonomic shortcomings. For example, the inclusion of dedicated switches/buttons to switch on/off WLAN and Bluetooth and dedicated multimedia keys is a real plus point.

A dedicated switch to turn off the track-pad is another plus; since while typing you don’t really need to use it and accidental brushes with your wrist can have undesired results. The layout of the keys on the keyboard is also worth mentioning; obviously this is highly subjective depending on personal tastes and what you are used to.

Segregated keypads
This design concept is used mainly by Sony and Apple. Such keypads have smaller keys and the bevelling is usually minimal. This is because the adjacent keys have a small gap between each other so false key presses are minimised.

Some people find such keypads much easier to work with; others do not. But you have to try them and find out which type suits you best. While you can get used to even a bad keypad, you will immediately notice the difference between one that suits your fingers and one that doesn't.

                                   Keypads

Bevilled keypads
Such keypads are used by all other major vendors including Dell, HP, Lenovo, Fujitsu and Toshiba.
The keys are bevelled and are very close to each other. The bevelling and a small depression on top of each key allows you to avoid false key presses. Opinions on comfort and usability differ.

Multimedia keys
Having buttons for playback, next and previous tracks, stop, pause and volume mute is very convenient. Even non-multimedia notebooks should have them.

                          Multimedia keys

Switches and buttons
Buttons are switches should be present for the most common functions such as launching your browser, opening the media player or even switching WLAN on and off. Convenience is the name of the game here.

                  Switches and buttons

Dedicated keys
Some notebooks will have dedicated keys for some applications; these are usually configurable using software.

                             Dedicated keys

Screen size
When you choose a notebook one of the first considerations is what screen size do you need. A bigger screen may seem like the obvious choice, but notebooks are supposed to be portable. Imagine the horror of lugging around a 17-inch laptop. However, there may be those who do not need to carry their notebook with them everywhere and for such people a large notebook is definitely better. Such large-screen, bulky notebooks are called desktop replacements; mainly because they sit still on your desktop. Such notebooks are usually of a screen size of 16-inches and above. 17-inch notebooks are the most common.

A screen size of 15.4-inches is considered a de facto size for notebooks although some people regard this size to be a little too large for enabling true portability. 14.1-inch notebooks are becoming the new de facto size category; striking a good balance between flexibility in performance and size and weight.

The compact segment (aside from netbooks) is generally the hottest category because such notebooks bring extreme portability along with good performance. Notebooks with screen sizes of 11.1-inches, 12.1-inches and 13.3-inches are the most common ones. Generally, the smaller the screen gets, the costlier the notebook tends to become since shrinking of size means more attention to other factors such as heat dissipation and actual fitment of components.

                                        Screen Size

Extending battery life
A few notebooks have a dedicated switch for switching between an integrated video solution and the discrete graphics solution. Since an onboard solution will consume one fifth the power this is handy when operating on battery juice.

                                       Battery

Storage
Notebooks do not use the same hard drives that desktop PCs use. A smaller form factor, i.e. 2.5-inches, is prevalent. Notebook hard drives also come with different spindle speeds; faster speeds mean better performance at the cost of extra heat generation and more importantly possibly lower battery life. The three common speeds are 4,200 rpm, 5,400 rpm and 7,200 rpm. Stay away from 4,200 rpm drives; these are a little too slow for most users. 5,400 rpm is what you should look at; remember that 7,200 rpm drives are better, albeit costlier, and some very compact notebooks cannot utilize these hard drives for fear of overheating.

The Solid State Drive (SSD) is a relatively new technology that has first found its way into the notebook space. The biggest advantage with SSD is the lack of any moving parts; this allows SSDs to enjoy very low power consumption and yet have higher performance than any normal hard disk drive. In fact, the read and write speeds of SSDs are three times higher than the fastest HDDs around - a very solid performance increment. The only downside with SSD is that it is a new technology and is very costly. Data density is also not as high as HDDs. The highest capacity SSDs are in the region of 250 GB; these cost fifty times more than a hard drive of the same capacity. However, smaller capacities like 32 GB and 64 GB are a little more affordable and if you want extreme performance and better battery life then you may opt for an SSD storage based notebook. Many manufacturers are offering such drives as optional upgrades on various notebooks.

When it comes to storage there is no optimum figure although 160 GB is a good place to start. Real data hogs may need to invest in a 320 GB hard drive. Opt for a SATA drive if your notebook supports it; Serial ATA is a faster interface. Most notebooks today feature SATA connectivity.

                                 Storage

USB Ports
USB ports are important for all notebook users. Although you may initially feel that a couple of USB ports are more than enough, a couple of days of use may change your opinion forever. There may be a case where a user may need to simultaneously connect four USB devices such as a USB mouse, printer, thumb drive and their PDA; this means that four USB ports would be required. We figure most regular users will need at least two ports; so given future expansion three ports would be just right.

Almost all notebooks come with memory card readers inbuilt; this is a real boon for anyone looking to hook up their memory cards directly to the notebook as it frees up one USB port. Users wanting to back up a lot of data fast may want to look at a faster alternative to USB; many notebooks come with FireWire ports and although rare, notebooks with E-SATA connects are also available.

                                    USB Ports

Video Connectivity
A notebook will always have some form of video connectivity; depending on your usage this may not be a factor or it may significantly the buying decision. A D-Sub port is usually de facto for connection to a larger monitor. With large screen LCD monitors becoming common we figure DVI is one connector your notebook ought to have; this is because many of the newer LCD monitors do not have D-Sub connectors at all. Either of these connectors can also be used with a projector; this is useful for presentations. HDMI connectivity is also a huge plus since this allows direct connection with large LCD and plasma panels and is important if you wish your notebook to double as an HTPC.