Laptop: The best bet in today's computer market

Tag : Silicon Keyboard

There are four general classes of laptops on the market today, and picking the one that's right for you is more important than a particular brand or specifications. At the highest -- and least portable -- end are desktop-replacement machines. They can do everything a desktop computer can do. And at 8 to 10 pounds, they weigh almost as much. If there's a recent grad in your house, or you're one of the many buyers who think they can get a better deal at midyear than during the holidays, chances are good that you're looking for a computer. And your chances of finding a good one for a reasonable price are good indeed.

For that we can thank Moore's Law, which should more accurately be called Moore's Bubble. Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, predicted decades ago that the number of transistors that engineers could cram onto a wafer of silicon would double every 18 months for the foreseeable future. Moore's Bubble has created a market for ever more powerful computers at lower prices, not to mention a generation of cheap, pocket-sized gadgets.

Let's talk about the best computer choice for your student -- or for you. Thanks to Mr. Moore, it's likely to be a laptop Relevant Products/Services machine today, rather than a desktop. And if you don't like an idea of a laptop because the screen and keyboard are too small, here's my advice: buy a laptop, hook up a keyboard, monitor and mouse, and use it as a desktop machine. Laptops, of course, offer portability, and that increases the price. But on the whole, when the average price of a computer is now in the $600 to $700 range, a 20 percent to 30 percent premium for portability doesn't mean as much as it did when PCs were selling for $1,500 to $2,000.

There are four general classes of laptops on the market today, and picking the one that's right for you is more important than a particular brand or specifications. At the highest, and least portable end, are desktop replacement machines. They can do everything a desktop computer can do. And at 8 to 10 pounds, they weigh almost as much, or so it seems whenever I lug one through an airport. They start at less than $1,000, although you can easily spend two to three times that much.

Most of these computers have 17-inch, widescreen liquid crystal displays, which makes them a good bet for students who have limited space and want an entertainment center that will play DVDs or even bring in TV broadcasts with an optional tuner.

But the sweet spot for most laptop customers is still the all-purpose machine. Most weigh 5 to 7 pounds and have brilliant 15.4-inch displays. So pervasive has the playing of DVDs become that it's getting harder to find one with a screen in the classic 4-to-3 aspect ratio -- the market has gone widescreen even at this size.