Toshiba is a big multinational Japanese company which has the headquarters in Tokyo and which is specialized in many domains such as: electronic devices and components, infrastructure and other consumer products. It was founded many years ago in 1939 by 3 men: Hisashige Tanaka, Ichisuke Fujioka, Shoichi Miyoshi and it has a good history and experience behind, so you can definitely trust this brand. It is among the top 20 producers of semiconductors and also the fifth largest vendor of personal computers in the world.

But today we’ll focus on just one of the categories of Toshiba products, the Toshiba laptops. There are 5 different families of notebooks made by Toshiba (Satellite, Tecra, Satellite Pro, Qosmio and Portege) and each family has many other series and models of laptops. So in case you want to buy a laptop from Toshiba  you will definitely have where to choose from. For today let’s take a random family of laptops, for example the Tecra, and choose one of its series, for example the A 11. You can find quite good laptops in this series, with good features but also with high prices.

The A 11 laptop has a simple, but elegant black design and can be used by any type of person (from young students to elegant business men). It is quite slim and light, and it also offers most of the features and ports you might need. On the right side of the device you can find the optical drive, 2 USB ports, the microphone jack and the headphones jack, while on the left side there is the Express Card slot, the mini display slot, the cooling vent, the USB / eSATA sleep and charge Combo port, and also another USB port. On its rear it has the RGB monitor port, the serial port, the AC adapter jack, the modem port and also the network port. And this is not all, because on the front it also has the memory card reader. It also has a built in webcam, which is just great for video chatting with friends and family over the internet.

There are 4 available models in the A 11 series, each one with different characteristics and prices. The cheapest one costs 879 dollars, while the most expensive has a price of 1349 dollars. But today we’ll discuss about the penultimate version, the A 11 – S 3530, which costs 1.199 dollars. And here are the technical details for this version:

-processor – Intel® Core™ i5-520M processor

-operating system – Genuine Windows® XP Professional (32 bit, SP3) with Recovery Media for Genuine Windows® 7 Professional

-memory – 3 GB DDR 3 1066 MHz memory

-graphics engine – NVIDIA® NVS™ 2100 M

-hard drive – 320 GB HDD (7200 rpm)

-optical drive – DVD SuperMulti drive (+/-R double layer)

-other features -   LED Backlit Display, Mini DisplayPort™, Numeric 10 key Pad, EPEAT™ Gold Compliant, EasyGuard® Technology

There are 5 consumer reports on this laptop and they are all quite good. The first user was really happy with this model and says that it is just great for any small business user. It offers quite a good battery life and a great video quality. Another user also agrees that the screen is really good and the same with the keyboard. He also loves the fact that this laptop comes with both Windows XP and Windows 7, and not with Vista. None of the model of laptops is perfect, and that’s why this laptop has some negative aspects too. But after all it is a good laptop, with an overall rating of 4 stars out of 5.

If you have decided to buy yourself a laptop, then you should know that there are many possibilities for you. First of all you need to think about the main activities you will be using your laptop for, and depending on them you can choose a special type of laptop. For example if you like to play video games, and you will use your laptop mostly for this, then you need one with a powerful graphics engine, a large display screen, and also a good processor and RAM memory.

Or in case you like doing many activities in the same time (multitasking), and also you will do advanced operations such as video editing, then you will need a laptop with a good RAM memory (about 4 GB). But in case you will use your laptop just for some simple activities, such as writing documents, mails and browsing the internet, in this case you won’t need such a powerful laptop. And to easily carry it wherever you are going, your laptop would also need to be small and lightweight.

The laptops that fulfill all of these conditions (small dimensions, good but not really powerful specifications and also a low price) are the mini laptops (also known as netbooks). You can find some of the best mini laptops on the site: geeks.com, at “Systems”  – “Laptops/ Notebooks” category. The netbooks are the first ones on the page, and their prices are beginning at 269 dollars, and going as high as 584 dollars. Some models are new, and others are refurbished, and you can find products from many companies, with all sorts of features and technical details.

In previous articles we mostly discuss about laptops from big producers such as:: Hewlett Packard, Acer, Dell, Asus, Toshiba, Apple,  Lenovo, MSI and Fujitsu, but today we’ll present a laptop from a different producer, Gateway. And we’ll choose the Gateway LT 2030u, laptop  that has a price of 289 dollars. It comes with a 10.1 inch widescreen display, which is also a LED backlit display and will offer you quite a good video experience. As you will notice in the technical details this laptop offers the basic features…it is not really powerful, but it is not weak either. It is just great for day to day activities such as listening to music, watching movies, writing emails, browsing the internet and so on. And now here are the specifications for this model:

Gateway LT2030u Atom 1.6 GHz 10.1-inch LED-Backlit Netbook
General Features:
-Color: Cherry Red
-Microsoft Windows 7 Starter 32 bit pre-installed w/ CoA
-Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz processor
-1 GB DDR 2 RAM
-250 GB hard drive
-No optical drive
-Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
-High definition audio support with built-in speakers
-Multi-in-one media card reader
-802.11  b/g wireless LAN
-Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet
-Built-in webcam and microphone
-QWERTY keyboard with multi-gesture touchpad
-10.1 inch WSVGA High Brightness LED-Backlit LCD Display (1024 x 600)
-Includes 6 cell Lithium ion battery
-Supported Memory Cards:
-Secure Digital (SD)
-MultiMediaCard (MMC)
-Memory Stick (MS)
-Memory Stick PRO (MS PRO)
-xD-Picture Card (xD)
I/O Ports:
-Three (3) USB 2.0
-One (1) 15- pin VGA
-One (1) RJ-45 Ethernet
-One (1) headphone
-One (1) microphone
Unit Dimensions:
-1.0 x 10.1 x 7.8-inches (H x W x D, approximate)
-Weight: 2.95 lbs (1.33 kg)
Regulatory Approvals:
-FCC
-CE
-CCC
-NOM
-VCCI
-GOST-R
-BSMI
-A-Tick
-WEEE
-Energy Star

Package Includes:

-Gateway LT2030u Atom 1.6 GHz 10.1 inch LED-Backlit Netbook
-Microsoft Windows 7 Starter 32 bit pre-installed w/CoA
-Power adapter (Input: 100-240 V ~ 1 A, 50/60 Hz; Output: 19 V, 1.58 A)
-Power cord
-6 cell Lithium ion battery

Additional Information:

-Notes:
-Model: LT 2030u
-P/N: LU.WDR0D.004
-UPC: 8 46154 04353 7
-Product Requirements:
-Available power outlet

Dell is a big multinational corporation from the United States of America, and also one of the best producers of personal computers and among the best brands of laptops in the world. It is based in Texas, US, but has many other subsidiaries all over the world, and a number of around 76.000 employees It was founded in 1984, and today it is the third best producer of computers in the world, but for a long period of time in the 80’s and 90’s it was the best. It offers many types of electronic products, such as: computers, notebooks, MP3 players, digital cameras, High Definition TV-s, servers, network switches, software products and many more.

Today we’ll focus on just one of the categories of Dell products and of course we’ll choose the laptops. There are a few families of notebooks in the Dell’s offer, and these are: Latitude, Vostro, Insprion, Studio, Adamo, Mini nebooks, Studio XPS and also the Alienware. Each of these family of laptops has its own features, and it is recommend for certain activities. For example the Alienware laptops are great for playing video games, the Inspiron laptops are for day to day activities, or the Vostro laptops are suited for small businesses. Today we’ll discuss more about this last category, the Vostro notebooks.

They have just the right features and technical details, and offer the right services, resources and durability to serve the needs of a small business. And since in a company you will need to buy more laptops, for each of the employees, this laptop is quite cheap and affordable. For example the Dell Vostro 1015 (with a screen of 15.6 inch) and with just the basic features, has a price of just 399 dollars.

And now here are these basic features for the Vostro 1015 laptop:

LCD PANEL   Intel® Celeron™ 900 (2.2 GHz, 1 M L2 Cache, 800 Mhz FSB)

OPERATING SYSTEM          Ubuntu Linux 8.10

COLORS        Obsidian Black LCD back cover

MEMORY       1 GB Single Channel DDR 2 SDRAM at 800 MHz,1 DIMM

HARD DRIVE 160 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)

FLOPPY DRIVE         15.6 inch Anti-Glare LED Display

OPTICAL DRIVE       8 X DVD+/-RW

OFFICE SOFTWARE            No Pre-installed Productivity Software

SECURITY SOFTWARE       No Anti-Virus/ Security Software

VIDEO CARD            Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 MHD

WI-FI WIRELESS CARD       Wireless Network Card 802.11 b/g/n

SOUND OPTION       No WebCamera included

PROCESSOR Vostro 1015 Config 13

BATTERIES    4 cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Purchase Intent Purchase is Not Intended for Resale

Processor Branding      Intel Celeron Label

KEYBOARD   US Keyboard and Documentation

ADOBE SOFTWARE 65 W AC Adapter

Resource DVD Dell Resource DVD, Vostro 1015

As you can see, it doesn’t offer really advanced or fancy features, and has just the basic ones. But these are more than enough for an office, for work related activities such as: writing documents, sending emails and so on. The processor and the RAM memory are just good enough to allow you to do these activities in a good time, without any problems. The hard drive is not really big, but it is not small either…so you will be able to store thousands of documents and other small files. It doesn’t even have such a good battery, but considering that you will be using this laptop most of the time in the office, with the AC adapter plugged in, you won’t even need such a powerful battery. Of course it has an Ethernet LAN and wireless connectivity, so that you can easily connect to the internet, but it doesn’t have a webcam. But considering that in most of the big companies there are special rooms for the video conferences, you won’t even need a webcam for this laptop.

The laptops are getting really popular these days and they are preferred by a lot of people instead of the classic desktop computer. They usually have the same specifications and features as a PC, and they are a little more expensive. But the difference in price is correct because a laptop also offers some big advantages compared to a PC. First of all it is much smaller and all of the components are integrated into a single unit. It is also much lighter than a PC, and it can work with an integrated battery, and not just with the AC adapter. So this means that you can take your laptop anywhere and use it any time you need. A PC can be used only at home or at the office, while a laptop can be used in any other place…you can use it while traveling with the plane or train, or use it while relaxing at a coffee shop, or at the beach, or in the park and so on.

There are so many models of laptops on the market, made by so many producers, so you will definitely have where to choose from. Some of the biggest names in this domain are: Hewlett Packard, Asus, Dell, Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo, Sony, Fujitsu, MSI and Apple. They all offer many types of notebooks with different prices and characteristics. Beside the special stores of each of the companies, and their official sites, you can find their products at local retail stores or at sites specialized in selling electronic products. But you can also find them as new or as used at auction sites such as ebay.com or amazon.com. So to find the best prices for laptops you will need to make some research first, at all of these sources.

A good source of cheap and good laptops is the site www.geeks.com, and today we’ll present a model from here. If you want a laptop that is both cheap and really small, then you can choose a netbook. A netbook usually has a size of the screen of 10 inch, so it is even smaller and lighter than a regular laptop. It is not as powerful as a laptop, but it is just perfect for simple activities such as writing documents, sending emails and browsing the internet.  Let’s choose one from the site, for example the Lenovo IdeaPad S 10 refurbished laptop that has a price of just 269 dollars. If you don’t trust on buying a laptop from the internet, you don’t have to worry because it comes with a 90 days warranty. And in this time you can definitely figure out if it is working good or not. This one has a 10.1 inch display screen with is quite enough for the activities we mentioned before. But of course if you want you can also watch a movie on your netbook, but the quality won’t be as good as on a laptop with a larger screen. It has quite good technical details which will allow you to easily do all your work and even more. And it even comes with Windows XP Home edition pre-installed. And of course it also has wireless capabilities, so you can go online any time you have the chance. And you can even make a video conference and communicate with friends and family from a big distance, thanks to its built in webcam.

And now here are the complete technical details for this small and elegant laptop:

• Lenovo IdeaPad S10 Atom N270 1.6 GHz 10.1-inch Netbook
• General Features:
• All black design
• Microsoft Windows XP Home pre-installed w/CoA
• Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz CPU
• 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM (supports up to 2 GB)
• 160 GB hard drive
• No optical drive
• No floppy drive
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• Integrated audio with built-in speakers
• Broadcom Fast Ethernet
• Broadcom 802.11 g Wireless LAN
• Built-in Ericsson 3 G Broadband Modem (SIM card and suitable data plan required)
• Built-in SIM card reader
• Built-in Webcam and microphone
• Built-in digital media card reader
• Keyboard with TouchPad
• 10.1 inch WSVGA AntiGlare LED-backlit TFT LCD (1024 x 600)
• 16:9 aspect ratio
• Supported Media:
• Secure Digital (SD)
• Memory Stick (MS)
• Memory Stick Pro (MS PRO)
• MultiMedia Card (MMC)
• I/O Ports:
• Two (2) USB 2.0
• One (1) 15-pin VGA
• One (1) RJ-45 Ethernet jack
• One (1) Microphone jack
• One (1) Headphone jack
• Ericson Mobile Broadband Modem Specifications:
• Form factor: PCI Express mini card
• Modes: HSPA/ WCDMA/ EDGE/ GPRS
• Bands: WCDMA 2100/ 1900/ 850 MHz/ GPRS/EDGE 850/ 900/ 1800/ 1900 MHz
• Speeds: HSPA Data speed, D/L 7.2 Mbps, U/L 2.0 Mbps
• GPS: Supports stand alone and assisted GPS
• Antenna: WCDMA receiver diversity
• Connectivity: Advanced receiver – GRAKE2, USB 2.0
• Drivers: MS Windows XP, Vista, MacOS, Linux
• Regulatory Approvals:
• FCC
• cULus
• CE
• BSMI
• VCCI
• CCC
• Gost-R
• NOM
• C-Tick
• WEEE
• Energy Star

Package Includes:

• Lenovo IdeaPad S 10 Atom N270 1.6 GHz 10.1 inch Netbook
• Microsoft Windows XP Home pre-installed w/CoA
• Power adapter (100-240 V, 50/ 60 Hz)
• 3 Cell 11.1 V, 28 Wh Li-ion battery
• Power cord
• User Guide
• Setup Poster

Additional Information:

• Notes:
• Series: Idea Pad S10
• UPC: 8 84343 90187 9
• Product Requirements:
• Available power outlet
• SIM card and suitable data plan required for 3 G sevice

How should we establish who makes the best laptops? Is the price, the brand trust, the performances or it’s important what kind of needs a laptop satisfy ? Generally speaking, people consider that the best laptops are the most expensive or for some of us laptops are evaluated after playing a few games on it. Everyone will have a different answer to the question who makes the best laptops. As a possible answer we can confront two brands: Sony Vaio and Asus.

Sony Vaio offers a combination between technology and a fashionable design. Beside the multimedia purpose these laptops are actually very powerful, but their uniqueness has a higher price. Designed for persons who appreciate the elegance without affecting the performance, Sony Vaio is in the top of the most reliable laptops and only the brand awareness manages to impose a certain type of respect and adds value to the statute of client, and that’s loyalty.

It won’t be wrong to consider Sony Vaio one of the best laptops. Their marketing strategies underline the constant effort to differentiate their products. Sony also developed MYLO (My Life Online), a new wireless service. For sure, Sony Vaio laptops are well toggled in the technology industry.

Asus laptops represent great deals for average buyer. The performance price ratio is confirmed even by the best warranty that you could receive for a laptop: two years limited hardware warranty and one year for accidental damage protection. The durability of Asus laptops is anticipated by the favorable results obtained at the tests they make.

These tests also prevent recalls and assure a good reputation between other important brands of laptop. Other qualities that should be mention are the compactness of Asus laptops, Blu-ray disk compatibility, different sizes. The popularity of Asus laptops is increasing and the voices of pleased clients are often heard, especially in the online space.

These two examples illustrate the reality from the laptop market. You can pay more to buy a Sony Vaio and its unique features or you can make a long term investment in an Asus laptop. Each person understands different the notion of the best laptop. Some people just want to buy a laptop so that can satisfy their needs according to their activity and other people are exploring this world of gadgets at another level and they have other expectations.

Deciding on who makes the best laptop so that we could establish a general rule is impossible. Everyone opinion is full of subjectivity and the personal experience will always influence ones perception and creates a believe that can’t be easily changed. When you are talking about laptops is very important to know exactly what you want from a laptop and only then you can start classify your favorite laptops.