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What’s the best laptop, netbook or tablet platform for you?

The desktop computer may not be dead, but it’s certainly suffering from life threatening wounds.(dell inspiron 9400 battery)

If the desktop crawled into its nearest field hospital, the triage nurse would have to think very carefully about whether to rush it into surgery, or to lay it down gently in a corner and wait for the inevitable.(HP pavilion zv5000 battery)

It’s impossible to ignore the rise of mobile computing over the past few years. Gone are the days where a notebook computer meant questionable performance and an astronomically high price.(dell latitude d400 battery)

Notebooks are only the tip of the mobile computing iceberg, and the market is quite confusing for anyone who’s looking for a portable PC. Besides all the different notebook form factors – desktop replacement, ultraportable and so on – there’s the increasingly popular netbook category to consider. And as if that isn’t enough, you also have to consider tablets and the new smartbook category.

NB: Smartbook is a registered trademark of Smartbook AG in Germany, but here we are using smartbook as a generic term for a device which falls between smartphone and netbook.

So which platform is right for you? We’ve put together a breakdown of each mobile computing platform, highlighting the benefits and deficits of each, so you can decide which platform is best for you.

The best notebook or best laptop for you

The notebook, or laptop, is the most widely recognised and understood mobile computing device available. Although there are several categories of notebook, they all share distinct similarities, often pertaining to the hardware platform that drives them.

The vast majority of notebooks are based on Intel technology, but systems based on AMD hardware are also available at the lower end of the market. Intel has pretty much dominated the notebook market since it launched the Centrino platform back in 2003.

Not only did Centrino provide notebook manufacturers with a great mobile computing platform to build on, it also made Wi-Fi the de facto feature that it is today.

There are basically three categories of notebook – desktop replacement, ultraportable and, well, general use notebook. The desktop replacement is, as the name suggests, an alternative to a desktop computer.

As such it will come equipped with a large screen, a full size keyboard, perhaps with a full numeric keypad, a powerful CPU and a generous complement of memory.

A desktop replacement notebook will be able to do pretty much anything that a full size PC can, with the exception of playing high-end 3D games (unless it’s a specific gaming notebook).

The downside is that battery life is generally bad, probably bordering on nonexistent. Even if battery life wasn’t bad, the system is likely to be so bulky and heavy that you wouldn’t want to carry it anywhere anyway.

The ultraportable category includes all those slim and sexy models that people like to show off in executive departure lounges, or in Starbucks while they’re sipping a decaf latte. An ultraportable notebook is generally well under 2kg in weight, with many dipping below 1.5kg. They tend to sport screens that are 13.3-inch or smaller, often with LED backlighting to ensure a thin casing.

They often sport low or ultra-low voltage CPUs to ensure that the most time can be squeezed out of the thin and light battery. And they tend to be the design highlight of any notebook manufacturer’s range.

The most obvious downside of the ultraportable notebook is that all that thinness, lightness and gorgeous design comes at a price, and usually a pretty high one.

 

Also, those low power chips aren’t designed for heavy duty use, and can start to struggle under the weight of excessive multi-tasking. And let’s not forget that the supermodel-thin chassis doesn’t leave much room for features, with many ultraportables having no optical drive and very limited connectivity options.

Thankfully, there is a happy medium, in the shape of the general purpose notebook – the kind of workhorse machine that’s bigger and heavier than an ultraportable, but far smaller and lighter than a desktop replacement. Also, while it’s not as super-powerful as a desktop replacement, it can be far more well endowed in the processing department than an ultraportable.

General purpose notebooks tend to sport 14 or 15-inch screens, along with full sized keyboards, integrated optical drives and plenty of connectivity options around the chassis. They generally weigh around 2.5kg, which means they’re noticeably heavier than an ultraportable, but still light enough to be carried around in a backpack.

It’s always worth taking a close look at the specification of a general purpose notebook though, since some models that look like bargains are often equipped with ageing and underpowered hardware. As a general rule of thumb, anything with an Intel Core processor and upwards of 2GB of RAM should be able to cope with most things you’re likely to throw at it.

You should expect to see a DVD writer built in, at least three USB ports, integrated Wi-Fi and possibly Bluetooth. It’s pretty common to see a webcam built into the lid to facilitate video conferencing too. There was a time when a well built notebook with those features would have set you back over £2,000, but these days you can pickup something from the likes of HP or Samsung for around £600.

The netbook

When Asus launched its Eee PC back in 2007, it created a whole new product category that took the tech world by storm. Within a matter of months, pretty much every technology company was rushing out a netbook product, to try and grab some of the new market share.

However, whereas the original Eee PC was designed to be a very basic mobile computer at an affordable price, the netbook has evolved into a larger, more feature rich and ultimately more expensive device.

The important thing to remember about a netbook is that no matter what size it is, or how good the screen is, it’s still limited by the hardware inside it. Most netbooks come equipped with Intel’s Atom processor and are limited to 1GB of RAM – the reason for the meagre complement of RAM, is that in order to qualify for a cut price “netbook edition” of Windows, Microsoft insists that a netbook can not ship with more than 1GB! Of course that doesn’t mean you can’t upgrade the memory post purchase.

But even with more memory, a netbook is still suited to basic computing duties, such as email, web browsing and basic document creation. So, if you’re looking to buy a computer that you can use to, say, edit your home movies and photos, a netbook simply won’t be up to the job.

AMD is also hoping to gain ground in the netbook space with its Vision range.

In many respects a netbook is best suited to those who have access to another, more powerful computer. That way the netbook can be used when you’re out and about, or relaxing in the garden, but when you need to do something a bit more heavy duty, you can use something with a bit more juice.

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