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Before we discuss what to look for in a business
laptop, you should figure out whether you need a
laptop at all. Desktop PCs typically cost hundreds
of dollars less than laptops, and if you're able to do
all of your business comfortably from one location,
you need not shell out extra cash for a portable
form factor.

What advantages does a laptop offer?
A portable computer provides access to your files
and applications wherever you are--every corner of
the world becomes an extension of your office.
Riding the train or sitting in an airport, you can be
just as productive as if you were sitting in your desk
chair.

Laptops mix business and pleasure
Your laptop can handle much more than just e-mail,
spreadsheets, and word processing. Here are a
few of the roles a laptop can fill:                 

 Presentation maker: Display your PowerPoint
deck anywhere, anytime.
DVD player: Whether you're waiting in the
terminal or on the plane itself, watching a movie
makes flying much more entertaining.
Gaming machine: The most powerful
business laptops are primed for gaming on the go.
Jukebox: Invest in Internet radio, a CD drive,
and a big hard drive for MP3s, and you'll never be
without your music collection.
What are the disadvantages to using a laptop?
On top of the premium price tag, there are a few
other drawbacks to buying a laptop rather than a
desktop PC. For one, laptops are not as easy or
inexpensive to upgrade as their desktop brethren.
While it's relatively simple to add a bigger hard
drive or a DVD burner to a desktop, on a laptop,
the operation can be more expensive, more
complicated, or both. Here are a few other
limitations to note:
You'll be working on a smaller keyboard,
looking at a smaller screen, probably sitting in a
less-than-ergonomic position. You'll have to become conscious of battery life, an issue the desktop PC user doesn't have to worry about.  You'll need a separate network hub and a backup solution; laptops aren't optimized for those functions.   

What can I expect to pay for a laptop?
There's a laptop for every class of business user.
Currently, the least-expensive and
least-sophisticated laptops start at $600 to $700.
The smallest and lightest laptops can run to $2,000
and beyond. Very roughly, laptops cost about twice
as much as their desktop counterparts. So all
things considered, you should expect to pay
between $1,000 and $1,500 for a nicely outfitted
business laptop. Are there hidden, recurring, or long-term costs of owning a laptop? Because a laptop is likely to log many more miles than a desktop PC, it's inherently more vulnerable to wear and tear. You'll be susceptible to ailments such as worn-out hinges, broken keys, busted screens, and mangled optical drives. In the past, nearly all business laptops came with a standard three-year warranty on parts and labor; these days,

some models include only a one-year warranty, with
the option to purchase an upgrade. Read your
warranty information carefully before you make a
purchase.

Processor:
Intel's Core 2, Dual Core, Pentium and AMD Athlon
processor offer business users the best balance
between performance power, batterylife, and weight.
For less demanding computing, an
Intel Celeron  processor will do the trick.
Bare minimum: Regardless of what kind of
processor you decide on, you'll need at least
1.73GHz of processing speed.

Memory:
You'll want enough memory to run a few
applications at a time. The more memory you buy
up front, the longer your laptop will be able to
handle current (and future) applications.
Bare minimum: 512MB.

Video card:
For most business users, video memory is one
area where you can afford to cut corners. Unless
your system will be doubling as a gaming machine,
you don't need to shell out extra money for a
high-end card with its own memory.
Bare minimum: An integrated graphics card that
shares memory with the system chipset.



Hard drive:
E-mail archives, spreadsheets, and Word
documents add up. If you plan to carry music and
video on your system, consider 80GB  to 320 GB.
Bare minimum: 60GB, 5,400rpm.

Optical drive:
The least-expensive laptops come with fixed drives
that cannot be removed. A swappable drive bay
offers more flexibility: you can easily pull out a
CD-ROM drive and swap in a combo DVD/CD-RW
drive (or even a second battery).
Bare minimum: If you're totally indifferent to the
prospect of mobile movie watching, a CD-ROM
drive will get the job done. But we strongly
recommend upgrading to a CD-RW/DVD combo
drive, which will let you burn CDs and watch DVDs.




Screen size:
Depending on the type of work you do, you'll want
to make sure your screen fits the job. Graphics and
spreadsheet tasks call for larger screens, while
e-mail requires very little space.
Bare minimum: 14-inch display.

Weight:
A few ounces here, a few ounces there--carry your
laptop around the airport for an afternoon, and it all
adds up. You may be tempted to get a larger
notebook that seemingly offers more bang for the
buck, but trust us: for the business user, less is
more. Ideal range: 4 to 6 pounds.


Laptop batteries don't last as long as they should.
Even the best-performing systems top out at about
six hours, and most last half as long. Read more
about laptop battery options.
Bare minimum: One lithium-ion primary battery.

Networking:
Today's business demands online connectivity. All
laptops come with an Ethernet connection, and
almost all come with built-in wireless connectivity.
You'll want both. If work takes you away from both
office and hot spot, you can buy a laptop with an
integrated WWAN card, which connects to a
cellular data network--but that feature can be quite
costly.
Bare minimum: Ethernet LAN connection and
integrated wireless (a.k.a. Wi-Fi) card. This top
rated guide was created by J.JAFFEE

Home users are increasingly turning to notebooks
as second or third PCs for the home. Notebooks
can offer similar performance and features to those
of a desktop PC, but they can be easily moved
from room to room. Two types of notebooks are
suitable for home users: mainstream notebooks
and desktop replacements.