My current laptop (Dell Latitude) has served me really well for almost four years! It's a workhorse! I use it all day long at work and at home. I did make some upgrades to it and had to do some repairs over the years, but Dell's warranty support has always been superb!
As my current laptop is starting to show its age, I am getting ready for the next one! I am not in a rush: I would love to have it by Christmas, but don't mind waiting another 2-3 months in order to catch the next wave. And since this will be my main machine for the next 3 or perhaps 4 years, I want to go with a higher end model and make sure it has some room to grow.
Note, I am not looking for any brand or model recommendations here! The model I will end up buying has probably not been announced yet! Instead, I'd like to focus this discussion on features. I'll share my thoughts about what new features I am looking for and you are welcome to share yours. So, let me start:
RAM
Currently I am maxed out at 4GB. For the next laptop I'd like to go with 8GB (so I could run multiple Virtual Machines and work with other memory-intensive applications). However, it would be nice to have a room for future upgrade to 16GB. This is a big problem though: most of laptops available today cannot go beyond 8GB and I don't want to be maxed out right off the bet. Memory is one item I definitly want to be able to upgrade down the road. (Remember, you need 64-bit Windows to take advantage of bigger RAM!)
USB 3.0
USB 3.0, which is 10 times faster than USB 2.0 is finally becoming a reality: hard drives, flash drives and adapter cards are already available. New USB 3.0 products are announced every month. I think in the next year or so USB 3.0 will go mainstream. The main delay right now is actually caused by Intel who still does not offer USB 3.0 on the motherboard. But this will change soon. And according to some rumors, very soon!
SDXC card reader
It is very convenient to have a built-in card reader to transfer photos and videos and also as an external storage. SDHC is limited to 32 GB. The new SDXC spec breaks that limit and supports cards up to 2 TB.
Video
A good video card and dedicated video RAM of 512 MB or 1 GB is an important requirement. I am not into computer gaming, but even with not so graphics-intensive applications, I found the graphics card to often be the performance bottleneck. This is the easiest requiremet to meet though, as most computer manufacturers offer good choices in video.
UPDATE: The new Intel Sandy Bridge architecture is expected to have very good built-in graphics. So, dedicated graphics chip may no longer be needed unless you are into some extreme gaming.
Display
15" is what I am used to. Not looking for extremely high resolution, but I want to make sure the display is bright and sharp.
Hard drive
I am thinking, 500 GB 7200 RPM as a starting point. But I am really intrigued by the SSD technology - just wish it was more affordable. Hybrid drives are starting to appear (that combine a classic HD drive with an SSD buffer) - this might be a good compromise!
UPDATE: Another great option is a dual drive configuration: a small system SSD drive and a bigger hard drive.
SATA III (6.0 Gb/s)
Not so important for HDD, but for the latest SSD drives this faster SATA interface can make a difference. I suspect, some hybrid drives will be able to take advantage of the SATA III as well. I hope the next wave of laptops will have this feature.
CPU
Core i7, probably quad-core. Core i5 may suffice, but the price difference is not that big, so I will go with i7. I don't think I need the Extreme Edition, as it seems way overpriced.
Other common features
These features are pretty standard these days: HDMI output, built-in webcam, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (preferably 3.0), ideally a backlit keyboard.
These are some of the features I am looking for. I will probably expand my list as time goes by.
Which important features have I missed? What are you looking for? Feel free to share your thoughts!
As my current laptop is starting to show its age, I am getting ready for the next one! I am not in a rush: I would love to have it by Christmas, but don't mind waiting another 2-3 months in order to catch the next wave. And since this will be my main machine for the next 3 or perhaps 4 years, I want to go with a higher end model and make sure it has some room to grow.
Note, I am not looking for any brand or model recommendations here! The model I will end up buying has probably not been announced yet! Instead, I'd like to focus this discussion on features. I'll share my thoughts about what new features I am looking for and you are welcome to share yours. So, let me start:
RAM
Currently I am maxed out at 4GB. For the next laptop I'd like to go with 8GB (so I could run multiple Virtual Machines and work with other memory-intensive applications). However, it would be nice to have a room for future upgrade to 16GB. This is a big problem though: most of laptops available today cannot go beyond 8GB and I don't want to be maxed out right off the bet. Memory is one item I definitly want to be able to upgrade down the road. (Remember, you need 64-bit Windows to take advantage of bigger RAM!)
USB 3.0
USB 3.0, which is 10 times faster than USB 2.0 is finally becoming a reality: hard drives, flash drives and adapter cards are already available. New USB 3.0 products are announced every month. I think in the next year or so USB 3.0 will go mainstream. The main delay right now is actually caused by Intel who still does not offer USB 3.0 on the motherboard. But this will change soon. And according to some rumors, very soon!
SDXC card reader
It is very convenient to have a built-in card reader to transfer photos and videos and also as an external storage. SDHC is limited to 32 GB. The new SDXC spec breaks that limit and supports cards up to 2 TB.
Video
A good video card and dedicated video RAM of 512 MB or 1 GB is an important requirement. I am not into computer gaming, but even with not so graphics-intensive applications, I found the graphics card to often be the performance bottleneck. This is the easiest requiremet to meet though, as most computer manufacturers offer good choices in video.
UPDATE: The new Intel Sandy Bridge architecture is expected to have very good built-in graphics. So, dedicated graphics chip may no longer be needed unless you are into some extreme gaming.
Display
15" is what I am used to. Not looking for extremely high resolution, but I want to make sure the display is bright and sharp.
Hard drive
I am thinking, 500 GB 7200 RPM as a starting point. But I am really intrigued by the SSD technology - just wish it was more affordable. Hybrid drives are starting to appear (that combine a classic HD drive with an SSD buffer) - this might be a good compromise!
UPDATE: Another great option is a dual drive configuration: a small system SSD drive and a bigger hard drive.
SATA III (6.0 Gb/s)
Not so important for HDD, but for the latest SSD drives this faster SATA interface can make a difference. I suspect, some hybrid drives will be able to take advantage of the SATA III as well. I hope the next wave of laptops will have this feature.
CPU
Core i7, probably quad-core. Core i5 may suffice, but the price difference is not that big, so I will go with i7. I don't think I need the Extreme Edition, as it seems way overpriced.
Other common features
These features are pretty standard these days: HDMI output, built-in webcam, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (preferably 3.0), ideally a backlit keyboard.
These are some of the features I am looking for. I will probably expand my list as time goes by.
Which important features have I missed? What are you looking for? Feel free to share your thoughts!
