Notebook PCs have come a long way since their introduction in the late 1990s. Their are many manufacturers out there with various types of notebooks and the question always arises on which notebook is best for me. This short but informative guide will help you decide the easiest way to choose one.

1. The Company:
Dell or HP? Toshiba or Sony? Acer or Asus? There are many choices here, but they all have something in     common, all these companies use the same components inside each of their notebooks and all these components have the same origin: China. Throughout my experience of building and repairing PCs, the same problems have come up despite the different companies styles and building techniques, but the important factor to what causes something to go bad leads us to the next point...

2. The Warranty:
The better the warranty, the better the machine is built, or so they say. Asus has one of the best warranties in the business at 3 years, but HP and Acer also build quality products with optional extended warranties,so in reality, if you dont actually destroy the laptop yourself, it will last you. So now that we have taken care of the "sales" point of view on what advertisers throw at you, lets go into the more interesting stuff.

3. The Processor:
Processors in notebooks range by category: Budget, Ultra Portable, and Desktop Replacement. We will break them down below.

Budget Processors:
All of the processors listed here should be able to do all the basic computing tasks including web browsing, email, word processing and presentation. They are also very capable at being used for DVD playback as well. About the only thing these processors will not be able to do well is gaming and high-end graphics applications. Here are some of the processors to look for in this range:

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-53 and Higher
• AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-55 and Higher
• Intel Core Duo T2050 through T2400
• Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 and Lower

These processors usually are incorporated with Shared Video Memory (we will discuss this later) and usually never top 1.8 GHz operating speed.

Ultra Portable Processors:
Ultra portables are systems that are designed to be as light and compact as possible yet powerful enough for most common business applications such as e-mail, word processing and presentation software. These systems are geared towards those people who travel a lot and who want a system that is not very cumbersome. They are willing to sacrifice computing power and peripherals for portability. There are few choices in this category, but it makes comparison very easy. Below are the processors.

• Intel Core Duo L2300E through L2500
• Intel Core Duo U2400 and U2500
• Intel Core Solo U1300 through U1500
• Intel Core 2 Solo U2100 and U2200
• Intel Core 2 Duo L7300 through L7500
• Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 and U7600

These processors are usually found on notebooks that are less than 14" and that usually include a longer battery life than most other notebooks.

Desktop Replacement:
Desktop replacement systems are designed to be a complete system that has the equivalent processing power and capability to a desktop system, but in a mobile package. They tend to be larger and bulkier to fit all the components to allow the system perform at almost the same level as a desktop in all aspects of computing. In general a desktop replacement will perform exceptionally well and will even be able to run 3D games. Mobile gaming is getting close to desktop performance, but the cost is much greater and still not the same as the top end desktop graphics. Here are some of the processors that can be found in this category of machine:

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-55 and Higher
• AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-56 and Higher
• Intel Core Duo T2600 and Higher
• Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 or T7300 and Higher
• Intel Core 2 Extreme X7800 or X7900

These processors are included in many notebooks that feature separate video cards and do not use shared video.