Best PC Laptops for Home Use

Falling prices are making laptops more affordable than ever. Many people now use laptops as a primary computer, especially if they are constrained for space or need portability.

Factors to consider in any computer are amount of memory, hard drive size, processor type and screen size. More is better in every feature, though be aware that larger screen sizes make a laptop heavier and harder to carry. If you are running Windows Vista, expect to see a much better performance on a 2GB machine. Computers and laptops are now being produced with 4GB and more of memory. If you can afford it, more memory will enhance use and extend the life of your laptop.

A big hard drive will easily store all your music, movies and games. 100-160 GB is a great deal in a laptop, but don’t turn your back on a well-priced machine with a smaller hard drive: you can always add a USB-attached storage device. Dual core processors are faster and more powerful, but if you have fairly modest needs at home, such as internet shopping and using simple home office applications, you will do fine with a model that has a single processor and smaller hard drive.

Beware if you intend to use your laptop for gaming or heavy graphics applications, because graphics cards in laptops are not always compatible with the latest games, and are sometimes harder to upgrade than workstation computers.