Anyway, Why buy a laptop? 
Only buy a laptop when you need the maneuverability - Laptops have the disadvantages to desktops:
Smaller, easier to drop and smash, or get stolen
Lack of sufficient cache to handle applications
Lack of good cooling in lower-end laptops
Small screen that overheats at bright settings
Performance lacking through underdeveloped processors
Hard to PiMP
First of all, special credits go to Apple's iMac. iMacs are almost as portable as a laptop - In fact it is possible to connect a generator or battery to power it on the go!
iMacs are also:
Bigger, impossible to drop
The cache of desktop processors - I mean bloody hell? It's a bloody desktop
A decent fan, enough to keep it cool while running some CS3 apps, a virtual machine with performance-googoogubbing hardware and a lot of things =P
Rather bright screen that can be dimmed
The performance you get from a normal PC
Wow, that alone evens up what you lose buying a laptop!
Well, the main times laptops are purchased:
Little kids who don't know the performance deficit
Students who need it on the go
Certain workmen
Stores such as Harvey Norman who buy them hoping to sell more than one a week
First of all, when buying a laptop
Consider:
Is it a Penryn?
If yes - Carry on
If no - Drop it and walk out of the store
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Is it a Toshiba?
I know 7 people who have purchased a Toshiba laptop this year - All seven of them broke within two weeks of general use.
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Do you use heavy applications, such as hardout games, heavy applications?
Do you need a better cooling sytem or power supply?
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Do you need to run a secondary Operating System?
Such as majority of people who purchase a MacBook or MacBook Pro run Windows either via Bootcamp, VMWare or Parallels.
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Do you need ultra portability?
Do you bring it around with you a lot? Are you always on the go? Do you hate carrying large or heavy things?
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Do you need graphical or sound performance? Are you into that industry, such as movie editing or using your laptop to handle a sound mixer, lighting scripts or just need the extra performance? Do you need a standalone graphics card or would a basic chipset do?
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What features do you need?
Webcam? Microphone? Decent built-in sound? Bluetooth? Useless fingerprint scanner that WILL break rather soon?
How about custom-building a laptop so you don't pay for stuff you'll never use?
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Looking at Hardware
Let's start with the processor - In the laptop industry Motherboards don't do much, How much CAN you fit into a laptop which you want as thin as possible?
Pentium
Celeron
CoreDuo
Core2Duo
Core2Duo Penryn
Core2Extreme
First of all, look at your general use. If it's a display model,, perhaps a $50 Pentium would work? Do you game a lot? Handle a lot of applications? Do you use your laptop to watch movies or burn CDs/DVDs/BDs?
What is the most cost-effective thing to buy? A refurbished Core2Extreme if you need the performance, perhaps?
RAM
What kind of RAM do you need? How much? Do you need latency boost?
Do you need to run a secondary OS?
What is your primary OS going to be?
Recommendations
Windows 2000 - 1 GB
Windows XP - 1.5 GB
Windows Vista - 4GB RAM
Mac OSX Tiger or leopard - 1 GB
Linus - 1.5 GB
OSX + XP 2GB
OSX + Vista 6GB
XP + Linux 4 GB
Add more if you watch movies, play bigger games or you do a lot of graphical/picture editing, etc, and you could do with a bit less if all you do is turn your laptop on and off all day.
Hard Drive
How much do you need?
Most laptop hard drives are only 5400RPM - Some 7200, Do you need 10 or 15k of a solid state?
Is most of your stuff stoned - Do you need to access your files often? How about getting an external to save on some cash?
Any OS on its own, I'd recommend 120GB would be enough for the average user - Bring it to 160 for Vista.
If you frequently download stuff, make a hell lot of movies - Seagate's 320gb disk is pretty cheap and good too.
Graphics
Simple - Do you need a standalone or would a chipset do?
Consider all of these - Buying a laptop is rather different than buying a camera. Look at what you need, have a look at manufacturers' websites - If you're considering a laptop you can provide specifications or the link to the model on the website, I can provide excellent advice in buying a laptop for almost anyone ^^
Credit : exirenz@warez-bb
