| Over the years computers have evolved from just | | | | RAM |
| about being able to fit inside the average room to | | | | RAM is the memory that handles the programs |
| being small enough to fit inside a handbag, these days | | | | running, not to be mixed up with hard drive memory |
| with netbooks and laptops most computers can be | | | | for storing files. The more RAM you have then the |
| taken on the road with us whether we are business | | | | more applications you can run at any one time, |
| users or just checking emails on the sofa. Laptop | | | | typically 2 GB or RAM is enough for the average |
| computers have become incredibly popular in recent | | | | user, if you find you use many programs at once |
| years with adults and children alike having their own | | | | then 4 GB can be preferable. |
| model and many university students choosing to take | | | | Hard Drives |
| one away to university as a lightweight workstation | | | | Hard drives are what your files and applications are |
| they can carry their work around on. | | | | stored on, obviously the larger the better but many |
| When choosing a laptop computer though there are | | | | laptop users will have a desktop machine for storing |
| a few considerations you need to make, not all of us | | | | their files or external storage to help keep their |
| are certifiable computer geeks and may not know | | | | laptop free. There are now SSD (Solid State Drives) |
| our CD-ROMs from our CPUs so this article contains a | | | | that have no moving parts and are much quicker |
| list of the basic stats to check when you are in the | | | | than the old disk platter drives, which are prone to |
| market for a laptop. | | | | damage when, shook or moved around so laptops |
| CPU Speed | | | | should really aim for SSD drives if possible although |
| This is one of the main statistics to check when | | | | they can be expensive. |
| considering a laptop, the CPU or processor is the | | | | Battery Life |
| brains of a computer, the faster this is the quicker | | | | Of course none of the above matters if your |
| the computer will be. There is a trade off though, | | | | battery runs flat and you lose all your work! Battery |
| too fast and you'll find battery life may be lower than | | | | life on laptops is measured in hours with battery lives |
| expected, whilst not fast enough and you'll be making | | | | normally closer to 10 hours being preferred. A lot of |
| friends with the egg timer icon very soon. Anything | | | | laptop owners will have their charger to hand as |
| around the 2 GHz and above should be what you're | | | | when your battery runs low it can mean a panic to |
| looking for with laptops. | | | | save all of your work before it is lost. |