Portable laptops have always been something to be desired ever since they came into play. Even now, there are many people who are constantly looking for a good laptop daily. Due to the sensitive nature of laptops, there has always been a trust factor when dealing with laptops. This is regardless of the function that they would like to buy their laptops for; whether is it is to do with graphic design or music production the foundation is still the same: buyers want to by from companies that they can trust. So, the question is: who are some of the top manufacturers in regards to portable laptops?

Dell

Dell is one of the leading laptop manufacturers in the world. It has established its reputation as a first-rate company dealing in both laptop and desktop computers. Dell has got two greatest strengths: convenience that it offers to its customers and great new and innovative products that make it retain its top position. Another thing that has greatly lifted Dell’s reputation is its relationship with the software giant – Microsoft Corporation.

2. Hp-Compaq

This is also another laptop that has greatly benefited from a solid relationship with Microsoft Corporation. It has also established its reputation as no-nonsense laptop and desktop manufacturer. However, it is interesting to note that Hp’s reputation did not stem from computer manufacturing, but from the manufacturing of printers. They are well known for having lovely products that deal with printing of digital photographs.

Acer

Acer is a relatively new company in the minds of many consumers. However if you were to ask the entrepreneurs who have stayed with it ever since it was formed in the 1970’s, they would obviously disagree with you about that.

The thing that made Acer to rise to the top was its ability to target the low-end market and supply the world with stripped down versions of the portable laptops. The mini-notebooks have got very few functions compared with the normal portable laptops.

4. Toshiba

Toshiba pride themselves as producers who have been in the business for a long time. What their greatest value is, is that they have a solid reputation of delivering quality products, hence have a pretty loyal following. However of late, the company has been facing a rather stiff competition from companies such as Acer, Dell and Hp.

Toshiba laptops are usually known for specific features rather than whole laptop goodness. For example, It is generally acknowledged that Toshiba laptops usually have quite impressive built-in speakers.

Fujitsu

Though not as popular as many other laptops, Fujitsu laptops are a good deal of to work with. They tend to focus more on what the consumers need rather than trying to develop products that consumers were not even aware that they existed.

To crown it all, it is not all about the manufacturer of the laptop. The biggest man you’ve ever seen was once a baby. Even so, next decades top laptop manufacturer is probably still an idea in someone’s mind.

Unfortunately, every good thing has an end. No matter how much we try it always seems like the things we treasure most are the very things that have a tendency to vanish at the time we are getting attached to them. The same is the case with portable laptops. Can you remember the time you bought your very first laptop? It could probably be years ago or it’s probably quite recent. You could even be reading this article with it. Well, the case is pretty same for many of us: we were simply excited. We didn’t want to get away from it lest someone with some itchy fingers spoilt it. We made sure that we obeyed the manufacture’s warning and suggestions to the letter.  Now your laptop is getting old and every one of your friends is getting a pretty fancy laptop: when should you replace your aging machine?

When you want to make drastic changes in use

Before you purchase a laptop, it is always recommended that you consider the use of your laptop: why do you want a laptop? What job are you going to use it for? Well, let’s assume that you bought a pretty simple notebook that was meant for typing and reading college notes. The laptop is probably stripped down and cannot handle heavy graphics. Its time to change your laptop. It does not matter how much you

You spent on your laptop or how recent that was: past costs are irrelevant. If what you are going to spend on will be important to you, go for it!

When you want to upgrade your programs

There are cases whereby you would like to continue using the laptops for the very same purpose that you were using before, but you want to start using more advanced software than what you were using before. What will happen here is that you will be used to a lower version but the new version which has got better functionalities may require a different operation system which may not augur well with the features of your current laptop.

When your laptop becomes unserviceable

We all know that buying a new portable laptop can be expensive. Many of us would try as much as we can to postpone that hustle. However, if you are using a laptop that is spoilt and spends more time with the repairman than with you, its probably time you bought a brand new laptop.

I wish that the decision of when to buy a new portable laptop would solely rest on these three factors. However, we know that it usually takes more than just a simple checklist to make such a decision. Before you buy a laptop you need to go through the basics off choosing a laptop. Look at factors such as: when will I be ready to start using a new laptop? How much will it cost me? What lessons have I learnt from the last time I bought a new laptop? All these questions will help you make the right decision this time.

If you currently don’t own a portable laptop, then you may not understand the frenzy about size. Normally, bigger is better. However when it comes to laptops, the situation is a bit more complex than it is for a car.

Again, there are other irrational factors that come into play when buying a laptop – just like with many other assets. Just when your pockets are itching with money and you want to buy a great laptop, you get bombarded with people offering you differently sizes and each giving you a different lecture about size and functionality. Hoping that you don’t have much money now to make you confused, lets look at the relationship between size and other laptop features.

Size and Functionality

Generally, laptop manufactures aim to come up with laptops by compressing the features of a desktop into a laptop. However, this is not an easy exercise as it requires greater technology than for a simple machine. So, the general rule is simple: the smaller your portable laptop, the less functions it has. This is usually the case for the development of mini-notebooks which have got many functions and features of laptops removed so as to bring down the prices. On the other hand, gaming laptops are usually bigger in size compared to the average laptop because they heat up rather fast. This means that they need a larger cooling system compared to the average laptop.

Size and Portability

Portable laptops should be just that – portable. In fact, this is their single most important advantage over desktops. Obviously, the larger the laptop, the bulkier and more difficult it is to carry around the large laptop as it would mean carrying around a few extra pounds. On the other hand, the smaller the laptop, the easier it is to carry it around.

3. Cost

The issue of cost is also pretty confusing. Here, size and functionality must come together before you can determine the effect of size on cost. The smaller your laptop, the more portable it will be for you and the more difficult it will be for the manufacturer. This means that you will be getting more benefits –portability, while the manufacturer will be incurring the cost of expensive technology. Automatically, this translates to higher prices for smaller laptops with the same functionality with their bigger counterparts; however, having a smaller laptop may also mean giving up certain laptop features so as to get the cost benefits – as it is with mini-notebooks.

4. Power consumption

The larger you portable laptop is, the more likely it is that it consumes huge amounts of energy. This comes because the functions of a large laptop may demand more power compared to that of a much smaller laptop.

Like any other machine, there are more than just one or two things that are needed to be considered when buying a new machine. You must be able to balance between convenience and functionality if you are to have a machine that will serve you for a long time.

Generally, when you hear of the phrase “portable Laptops,” most of what comes into your mind has mainly to do with their advantages. In fact, what we usually see is perfection – beautiful creatures with big brains. You will think of things such as portability, smallness in size, integrated battery system and many more. However, laptops are not as perfect as they are usually portrayed. There are areas which make them a one-step-back technology compared to the old ugly desktops.

Overheating

There is no such thing as a free lunch – that’s a common saying, in case you are wondering. Well, the portable laptop prides itself in portability. Unfortunately, this has also turned out to be the greatest source of its weaknesses. This is what happens: as manufacturers try to outdo each other in the small-is-better race, they end up trying to reduce each and every component of the laptop by compressing it and integrating each feature as much as they can. What this means is that there is little spacing within the machine and hence causing the laptop to have little airing. The size of the laptop fan is also small hence compromising its performance.

Expensive

Laptops are usually more expensive compared to equivalent desktops with the ability to perform more functions. The price of a laptop could even be twice that of an equivalent desktop. In fact, it was only until companies such as Acer and dell came up with stripped down versions of laptops that the treasured machines became more affordable. Even though many peoples still feel that they are being ripped off for no particular reason, the truth is that the technology need to compress the functions of the desktop into a laptop is still very expensive. The problem comes with the fact that the components of the laptop cannot be prepared independently. Each part of the laptop e.g., the monitor, the battery, motherboard, and the hard disk must incorporate with one another while at the same time ensuring that the laptop is safe enough to be handled by the average person.

Fragility

They are sleek and beautiful: yes, but they are also very fragile. It is the classic case of the ugly old suit that you are comfortable with compared to the beautiful new suit that you are afraid of putting on. Portable laptops tend to have very delicate designs and in many cases, are hard to patch up. You simply don’t go around doing all sorts of experiments with your pc as you would with your desktop. Due to the high level of integration that is found on laptops, it is quite easy to spoil a laptop compared to spoiling a desktop. If you are dealing with a monitor of a PC, it is just that: a monitor but if you are dealing with the monitor of a laptop, then it becomes a totally different story whereby you may find that you have actually spoiled a good component of your portable laptop.

Despite the several disadvantages that we can all see with this thing, it is pretty obvious to say that portable laptops are here to stay.

Portable Laptops are some of the modern workplace’s most important innovation. And it is not only in the workplace, but it has also transformed learning, and home entertainment. They have pushed the one time n thing – desktops – to the periphery. In fact, there are currently more laptops than there are desktops. The portability that comes with them has turned into a necessity rather than a special; feature. So, what are the things that things that have made laptop computers so advantageous in comparison to desktop computers?

Portability

Compared to desktops, Laptops are extremely portable. This translates into greater flexibility to the average office worker. With the availability of cheap and affordable internet solutions, you can easily access your workstations while you are at home. This has also lead to greater creativity as entrepreneurs can easily work on their ideas on the go. You simply need to see the many online advertisements of “internet gurus” on how you can make money on the beach for you to understand how deep portable laptops have gone into the average person’s psyche. With the desktop computer, this is practically an impossible situation since its bulkiness alone is enough to tire you down.

Size Advantages

Another advantage of portable laptops over desktops, is that  portable Laptops are much smaller in size. Apart from the obvious advantage that smallness in size offers – portability, it also means that you can easily store them or set the up in an office without worrying much about space.   In these days when organizations are seeking on ways to cut down on all costs, the small size of portable computers endears them to the companies.  Recently, laptop manufactures have come up with even smaller versions which are commonly referred to as netbooks. These laptops have got fewer functions but are much smaller and less expensive.

Excellent for wireless internet services

Portable laptops have an upper hand compared to desktop computers when it comes to matters of wireless internet connectivity. With the advent of the internet, portable laptop manufactures wanted to provide the mobile workers a chance to enjoy the very same benefits that they would, were they to work in a normal office. It is for this reason that the process was hastened and heavy investment into research. This technology has even gone beyond laptops and even serves mobile phones and desktop computers. Without the need for wireless internet connectivity, such developments would have probably remained a mirage.

The advantages of laptops will of course vary from person to person. The degree to which the advantages will make sense to you will depend on what you use your laptop for, and how much resources you have. If you do all your work in the office and leave your laptop there, then portability is not such a great benefit after all, no matter how much people talk about it. If on the other hand you have a small office and you are always on the go, making presentations and stuff, then a portable laptop is probably the greatest thing in your world after sliced bread.

All of us have our reasons for buying laptops. For some, it’s a way to socialise online after a hard day’s work, to catch up with friends spread all over the world, check out the latest news and also to book tickets. However, there is also a breed of people who want a laptop just for the sake of gaming. For them, no plain jane laptop would do. Only state-of-the-art features, combined with flashy looks and top-notch gaming hardware will cut the ice for these game geeks. Speed is of the essence and so is top-drawer graphics and high resolution. So which is the laptop that will fuel the excitement of a serious gamer — a machine that he must possess to be the king of the cyber gaming jungle?

This search for the dream machine for the serious gamer brought us to the 17-inch Alienware M17x. Most game geeks swear by the laptop, an award-winning product which boasts of the best in the business gaming hardware and is the best in its category with flashy designs. It truly is a top draw for 3D gamers.

But here’s the catch. Although the base model Alienware M17x comes for $1,800, it’s unlikely that serious gamers will fall for the stripped down version. To leverage the full power of the machine, the buyer has to cough up a lot of dough, in fact as high as $4,000. That’s the upgraded version that’s available for testing to most of the reviewers and it comes with Nvidia GeForce GTX graphics, a high-resolution display and Blu-ray drive. These add-ons can redefine one’s gaming dimensions with the in-built NVIDIA® SLI™-Ready GeForce® 8800 graphics processors.

Gaming is a simulation of reality. It takes one to places that one wants to be in real life but cannot be. With the world’s first DirectX® 10 GPU in the Alienware M17x, there is now an embedded feature of a powerful synchronised architecture that creates an unbelievable true-to-life gaming experience driving the games at record speeds and giving the gamer an adrenalin rush. This results in game maps with vivid HDR lighting effects and helps to attain a 16x full-screen anti-aliasing at the drop of the hat.

These upgrades take the laptop to a different zone altogether, with many reviewers hailing it as the “fastest gaming laptop ever tested”, only to be pulled down by the machine’s sheer weight and the equally heavy price tag. Although the Alienware M17x is technically portable but lugging the machine around can be a pain since, at 11 pounds, it weighs like a stone. And the expensive price tag may also prove to be a dead burden on the pocket but for the serious gamers, every penny shelved out is worth its weight in gold.

The big debate over printed books becoming obsolete thanks to the portable e-book readers, has been on for the longest time. That fear, however, has proved to largely unfounded as publishers continue to flourish and printed books are still flying off the bookshelves.

But that does not mean that we do not move ahead technologically in sync with the times. The romanticism of leafing through a classic on a mellow Sunday afternoon remains a pleasure to be treasured by a bookworm. But in that quest of knowledge and pleasure, what’s forgotten is the damage it causes to the environment. For remember that every piece of printed paper is produced by the destruction of trees. And hence, if an eco-friendly, technologically advanced form of reading is the way forward, so be it.

But whatever we do, it should be done in style. Although the market for different eReaders has been swelling rapidly, leading to the market being swamped by a variety of eReaders, most of them are not even a patch on the aesthetically pleasing physical form of a book. But that’s about to change.

The aesthetics department of an ebook reader can now boast of a real cool super-thin, ebook reading/music playing hybrid. And its name could not be more apt than this. Called the COOL-ER eBook Reader, it has a black and white e-ink display. And when it comes to memory, the expandable 1GB storage can hold as many as 500-800 novels. That sure is a lifetime supply of books.

The COOL-ER is blessed with compact features. It boasts of a large 6 inch display but at the same time, is only 7.2 inch (183mm) tall, 4.65 inch (118mm) wide and 0.43 inch (11mm) thick. At 6 ounce, COOL-ER is like a breeze and it’s almost unbelievable that the tiny device can hold MP3 music files along with PDF, RTF, TXT, HTML, JPG and many more.

But what’s actually cool about the COOL-ER looks? The answer may put you off but the knockoff of iPod is the USP of COOL-ER. The reader also includes a form of Apple’s scroll-wheel, an innovation which was meant for easy navigation and arrangement of music files. The scroll-wheel now comes handy to leaf through tables of content and pages. The Lithium-Polymer battery of the eReader takes about three hours to charge and that can last you for 8000 page turns. And if you think 500–800 novels are not enough for a lifetime, additional storage space can be created by adding another SD card.

Apple Mac sales slumped early this year before recovering to post record figures in the second half of the year. But the recovery has not ironed the creases on the Apple boss’s forehead. For the earlier slump may prove to be a pattern that’s been emerging ever since the portable laptops entered the computing arena two and a half years ago.

The Mac slump came at a time when portable laptop sales went through the roof. According to IDC, the global orders for portable laptops saw a tremendous growth in the first quarter of 2009 and even by conservative estimate, the order count will not be any less than a whopping 22 million by the year-end. And going by the run rate till date, the sales seem to be keeping pace with the ticking clock.

You think these are significant signs of things to come? Actually, these are ominous signs of competition — both for the Mac as well as laptop makers. The slump for Mac sales was the first in more than five years and it does not seem that the recession had a bearing on Mac sales. If that was the case, then the same logic would have also applied to portable laptop sales figures, pulling them down drastically. The effect, has been quite dramatically opposite.

And in spite of the Mac recovery, there are no visible slowdown signs for the ultra portable laptops that have seen unprecedented demand. In fact, the portable laptop makers are finding it hard to keep pace with spiraling demand from the tech savvy consumers who want a smart and snazzy machine that is cheap, easy to lug around and yet, is not completely a no-frills and stripped-down version of the big brother, powerful laptop.

Clearly, the portable laptop is not a fad as predicted and written off by many industry watchers. The prophecy that the arrival with a bang will whimper off to oblivion has not come true. In fact, such has been the meteoric rise of the machine that the boot has now literally shifted on the other foot.

But what’s the secret behind the mini machine’s success? Many analysts believe that people are now coming to terms with computing that’s good enough to satisfy their basic demands. The vendors have also taken the hint from the consumers that their machines need not be an all-frills super comp rattling off numbers at the blink of an eye. What’s the use of a Core 2 Duo CPU if all a person does on his machine is basic computing?

What people did not have earlier was a cheap option that gave them the right tools to do the job required of them. And since a good enough machine is now available for a cheaper price, the non-geeks now prefer a simpler machine that are stripped off the flashy stuff and extra power but have the right add-ons to get their job done.

So what’s the way forward for competition? A stripped down version of the popular franchise or a lowering of the price tag? That’s for the tech gurus to ponder.

The portable laptops from Asus stable keep flying out thick and fast. And here comes the latest — the Asus Eee PC 1005HA. At this rate, it will soon be impossible to tell one Asus model from another. These days, it’s more about a little tinkering here and there and voila! There you have another Asus machine at the shelf store.

So what are the differences, if there are any, in the Asus Eee PC 1005HA? To begin with, it’s a thicker and slightly cheaper version of the Eee PC 1008HA. The new edition costs you $50 less than the 1008HA. It’s slightly rotund near the waist and at 1.4 inch, is not exactly sleek. The VGA port is hitched to the side and there are no flaps covering the ports. There is nothing out of the ordinary with an ethernet hookup, three USB ports, an SD Card reader, and headphone and microphone jacks. So this is not really for the fashion-conscious geeks who fall for the looks.

The inside does not really offer anything extraordinary from the present default configuration of portable laptop machines. But let’s just line up the usual suspects for self satisfaction: an Intel Atom N280 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Bluetooth and 802.11n Wi-Fi. The performance is standard and anyway, it was never quite meant to set the hearts racing. The basic office programmes and internet requirements have been adequately addressed.

But the biggest change comes in the form of the six-cell battery a sure bet at guaranting a much longer battery life. If critical reviews are anything to go by, the machine has a back-up of nearly eight hours, almost catching up with Toshiba’s NB205-310 which reportedly has a 10 hour battery span.

The keyboard seems slightly larger than required and at 92% of full size, there was potential for improvement. But undoubtedly the layout is good and the buttons are user-friendly. The touchpad comes with its touch of innovation like the 1008 and has tiny bumps which actually help to have a good grip on the mouse pad unlike the flat metal strips in other machines where the finger often slips.

There is nothing much to write home about the 10.1 inch screen which seems fine given the requirements. Asus actually had a chance here to improve the display quality and cut out the colour pop outs when the screen is tilted at a right angle. The overtly glossy screen is bit harsh on the eyes when the surrounding illumination is high.

Finally, there are goodies in the form of a software suite that breaks down into an Asus download store and there’s also good news in the form of access to a free 10GB of online storage.

Samsung does things in style. And that holds true for its new portable laptop NC10 too. If the exterior matte and chrome finish is not something seen till date, the inside too boasts of hardware that’s par for the course for any portable laptop in its class. The NC10 has an Intel’s Atom processor with either 80GB or 160GB hard drive. Along with it comes WiFi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, built-in 1.3 Megapixel webcam and a 10.2 inch 1024×600 LED backlit display. The machine runs on Windows XP Home OS. In a nutshell, the NC10 is going to snap at the heels of Asus Eee 1000H with its chic looks and comparable mobility as well as same configuration hardware. Priced at a very competitive 400 euro, this one looks like a show stealer.

When it comes to standard ports, the Samsung NC10 has the same portable laptop ports as in the ones in its category. There are three USB 2.0 and a VGA, audio ports which account for both a headphone and a microphone. There is also a LAN connection which adds to these ports. And finally, the compact portable laptop comes with a custom SD cardreader at the front. However, the positioning of the single ports is a bit of a bother. Both the USB ports on the left are placed practically at the front and the third port is on the right. Now this may lead to cables and plugs getting tangled on the side when the machine is placed on a desk and is wired.

One of the best advantages of the machine is simple navigation menu. A simple tap on the FN+F4 keys and the menu springs open. The clear instructions are a good enough guidance for any user and even connecting an external monitor to the portable laptop is a cakewalk. The integrated GMA 950 graphic solution has the capacity to support display that has a maximum resolution of 1248×1536 pixels.

It is to be noted that the external display should come in for special remark when it comes to stability. The display hinges, although enclosed in fake metal plastic covers, look robust enough and holds up well to any compression pressures. But that does not hinder the maneuverability of the display in any way.

As for the main memory, the NC10 has more or less the usual configuration of one gigabyte DDR2 RAM. This is probably one area where Samsung could have improved a bit and did not provide the maximal upgrade possible for the RAM. Whereas a limited 1024MB has been referred to in the specs but a 2GB memory stick is also sold as an option. And it makes sense to use the 2 gigabyte memory module with the portable laptop which brings out a noticeable improvement in performance, needless to say that this depends on the task in hand.