Laptop Computer Selection Criteria

Posted: 2008-06-05; updated: 2010-02-13

Laptop Computer Selection Criteria

Do not just trust sales person. Bring along the following testers to test the system yourself:
1) CPU-Z: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
2) GPU-Z: http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/
Let us test it out on LENOVO ThinkPad T60. The basic things to look for are squared in red.

mainboard

The LENOVO motherboard uses 945PM Intel mobile chipset, that means it supports a DDR2-667 RAM to the RAM's maximum speed.

memory

Multiply 333 MHz by 2 ('2' because this is DDR2) so you get 666. So the RAM is DDR2-667 type. It matches the motherboard above.

spd

The laptop has two memory slots.

gpu

See what Windows XP displays for the memory size below.
display adapter

Hmm... Even Lenovo T60 tries to dupe users. It shows 512MB in Windows but actually it has 64MB only.

I have spent a lot of money and time to know the following criteria. Please take it with you when buying a laptop computer.

Criteria to personally check on the spot instead of trusting the salesperson	Tick
Show unit: loaded with OS (or else you cannot verify the machine capability on the spot)
Keyboard: 'Backspace' not square but rectangle; right 'Shift' not on the right of Up arrow (so that you will not press the wrong button); 'O' does not look like '0'.
Palm rest: will not discolor (you should be able to guess by looking at the material, or perhaps you do not mind how your laptop looks after discoloration); no groove that can trap dirt (e.g. DELL Latitude D630 has such grooves that trap dirt).
Battery: 5000mAH (less than that means you cannot work long without power cord. You should be able to see the spec printed on the battery)
Power cord jack size: follows market majority in your area so that it is easier to find replacement in case of damage or loss. After Lenovo took over ThinkPad, it enlarged the jack size of T60 causing T60 to be unable to use T43's power cord.
Optical drive: not a writer (read-only is more durable. It is hard to change the drive so durability counts)
Volume: loud (usually a laptop computer is loud if it has speaker holes)
Mouse buttons: functional (you will be amazed that many are not working)
Stability: the system does not freeze when the power cord is pulled off (LENOVO T60 has this annoying problem)
Graphic memory: at least 128MB (use GPU-Z or install a 128MB graphic game to check this on the spot); has graphic card tag (e.g. ATI. If no tag then the graphic processing is enough for normal usage only, e.g. typing a document)
LCD screen: no dead pixel (change the background to black and check if there is tiny white dot); ratio of screen width over height is 4:3 (some full screen programs and all wallpapers are in this ratio) instead of 16:9 (this ratio is suitable only if you watch a lot of movies)
Processor: at least 4MB cache; speed and model are as claimed (I was cheated on this before: claimed to be Pentium 4, but actually just Pentium Celeron)
RAM: 2GB in one piece / stick, not two pieces of 1GB; DDR2-667 AKA PC2-5300 (for speed)
Motherboard: at least 965 mobile Intel chipset (to match DDR2-667 RAM above for speed); dual channel architecture for RAM (T60 is single channel as shown in the second picture above)
Hard drive: at least 8MB buffer (for speed)
RAM slot: at least two (so that you can add more RAM next time if you want)
USB BIOS support: available (so that OS can be installed using a USB optical drive)
USB slots: at least four
'Show windows content while dragging': smooth / no trail when dragging
Avoid purchase at computer fair unless you are sure the shop is already around for a few years and it is not far from your house (easier follow-up in case of problem)

Consumer: Other Articles
Computer Part And Repair Pricing
Do Not Pay Before Getting Full Service
Do Not Pay For Ebook
Read This Before Joining MLM
Some Poor Product Designs
Some Shopping Advice
Web Hosting Criteria
(Other categories are accessible from homepage)

Tipskey Unlock Practicality
Home Guestbook About