The Basics

There are four main types of laptops:

Ultralight

  

• Pros: Very portable  Cons: Very expensive, minimal power

Tablet

• Pros: Swiveling touch screen, compact   Cons: Limited power, small screen, expensive

Budget

• Pros: Good prices, good power, lots of features   Cons: Less portable

Desktop Replacement

 

• Pros: Very powerful, large screens Cons: Very expensive, very heavy, poor battery life

Laptop for Online Poker Players

The Dell STUDIO 17 (N0073501) is an excellent choice for gamers and especially those who want to play online poker on a serious level. The powerful processor will allow you to run several online poker rooms simultaneously, and you will also be able to use advanced statistical software, such as PokerTracker. Other Dell STUDIO 17 features such as memory, the screen, graphics and keyboard are more than sufficient to fit the online poker player’s needs.

The Important Bits

Screen Size

• The bigger the screen the heavier the laptop. Biggest and smallest screen laptops are the most expensive

Weight

• For travel - lighter and thinner the better
• For home - bigger screen is better and it can be heavier

CPU & RAM

• Go for a multicore CPU but avoid the very fastest as they can be pricey
• Install as much RAM as you can afford

Battery Life

• Most vendors sell secondary batteries for extra power

Extras

• Optical drive for burning CD / watching DVD
• Media card reader for camera cards
• Video card for games

The Jargon

Celeron 

• Intel’s budget CPU, cheap but doesn’t perform that well

Centrino

• Intel’s technologies including CPU and wireless

Core 2 Duo

• Intel’s latest CPU (part of Centrino)

DVD

• Digital Versatile Disc

Turion

• AMD’s primary laptop chip, cheap but doesn’t perform that well

TFT

• Thin Film Transistor, also know as LCD

WiFi

• Wireless networking with a limited range (approx 200 feet, part of Centrino)

Wireless Broadband

• A built in technology allowing high speed access across the phone network

DL DVD

• Dual Layer DVD, capacity of 8.5GB

HD DVD 

•  High Definition DVD, capacity of up to 30GB

Express Card 

•  Business card size slot used for some peripherals

HDMI

•   High Definition Multimedia Interface, single cable digital connection for video and audio

 Blu Ray

• HD optical standard, many Blu Ray drives allow you to save up to 50GB of data to disc