Laptops have become so high-tech that they can be very expensive. If you are on a budget, you will need to set a limit on how much you are willing to safely invest in a laptop. Three hundred dollars is a good price for a laptop that performs all the basic functions you should need.

For the least expensive laptop option under $300 that only provides the basics, laptops in the category of mini notebooks will do the trick. At just 7 inches, these little notebooks will run you about $100. Although they typically allow you to perform basic functions and are wi-fi compatible, they are not very powerful do not allow for much variation.

Mini laptops are decent netbooks that cost about $300. If you shop carefully, you can find fairly standard mini laptops that have a decent battery life. Because length of battery usually plays a significant role in the price of a laptop, you will have to determine how important it is for your purposes. If you will be able to keep your laptop plugged into an outlet the majority of the time, it will be easier to find a cheaper laptop. If you need one with a long battery life, it will be more difficult to find such a laptop for less than $300.

The significance of battery life depends largely on the intended purpose of the laptop you will purchase. For example, if you will be using your laptop primarily at home where you can keep it plugged in at all times, you will not require a long-lasting battery. If, however, you are a college student and will be using your laptop in classes, at the library, or the local coffee house, you will need a computer with a solid battery life. Because you can’t be guaranteed access to an electrical outlet everywhere you go, you will need a laptop that won’t die at inopportune times.

A great option when looking for cheap laptops is to shop for refurbished ones. After only a few months of initially coming out, refurbished laptops can sell for considerably less – sometimes only half of their original purchase price. Numerous netbooks, a popular choice for their decent capabilities and lightweight portability, are available for well under $300 in refurbished condition.

When considering whether or not to purchase a refurbished laptop versus a brand new one, you may be worried that it will not perform as well as a store-bought computer. But rest at ease – all refurbished laptops are tested to meet specifications via a battery of performance tests. You can know that a refurbished laptop will perform well, having successfully passed through a process of tests. Also, when you purchase a refurbished laptop, you receive all the same accessories that come with new laptops.

Although children as young as 12 years old use their laptops to complete schoolwork, it is really the college or university student for whom a laptop is a must-have. The majority of professors automatically assume that every student owns a laptop and use several online programs throughout the course of his class. Professors post numerous homework assignments that can only be accessed via the Internet, while others require that online assignments be completed – such as forum posting.

Notebooks are a popular laptop choice for college students. These laptops are well known for being easily portable, usually weighing less than 5 or 6 pounds. As this is lighter than some textbooks, these little notebook laptops are perfect for carrying around on campus. In addition to lightweight convenience, notebooks also tend to have a decent battery life.

This provides students with plenty of time in which to complete class assignments before needing a charge, which enables them to devote more time to studies and spend less time being stranded with a dead laptop.

When students shop for laptops (whether expensive or cheap laptops) to take with them to college, they will need to consider how much of a battery life they will need. A long-lasting battery is convenient for allowing students to take their laptops to environments that are more conducive to their homework. Students may need to work on their laptops in classrooms, in the quiet solace of the library, in the chill atmosphere of a coffee house, or in the peaceful shade of a park tree. Although some of these places may have electrical outlets, they may not always be accessible.

Various laptops provide different lengths of battery. Obviously, a longer battery life will be more convenient for students. Laptops have battery lengths anywhere from 4 to 6 to 9 hours. Some Apple MacBook laptops have battery powers that can last up to 10 hours. Usually, the longer the battery, the more expensive the laptop.

Art and design students need laptops that can handle the design programs needed for their training, while music students will need laptops with good speakers and music capabilities. The typical student will require a laptop on which he can write papers and one on which he can comfortably store all his schoolwork. If a laptop does not have enough memory on it, it will soon begin to run slowly as a student begins saving assignments to the computer. Students also require wi-fi capacity since the Internet plays a big role in assignment research. It is important that students be able to work online whenever free wi-fi is available.

The importance of laptop computers is evident on every college campus in America and most across the world. For those dedicated to successfully achieving their college degree, the portability of these electronic devices have greatly helped students complete their schoolwork. Instead of having multiple notebooks full of homework, students can easily complete most schoolwork on their laptops and print off whatever they need for class. All of a student’s course work can be organized on single unit laptops to avoid losing it amongst other dorm room contents.

Furthermore, laptop computers allow students the freedom to easily transport all of their schoolwork and research anywhere they need. Libraries now have Wi-Fi so that students can access the Internet on their own laptops to begin working on homework instead of having to wait for a library computer to become available. If a student owns a laptop, he need not worry about a library’s closing hours because he can simply pull up the information he needs on the computer from the comfort of his own dorm room. This saves considerable time that can better be dedicated to schoolwork.

Because laptops today weigh less than some textbooks, college students can easily tuck them in their backpacks or under their arm for transportation to class and back. Using a laptop to take notes during a class lecture allows a student to quickly and easily record a lecturer’s important points without breaking his pencil lead, running out of ink or paper, or developing a hand cramp. The features on a computer can be specifically tailored to an individual’s preference to allow for optimum and efficient organization of files and information. This is easier than dealing with hard copies of files, papers, and folders, enabling students to be more organized than they might otherwise be.

Laptops play an important role in the business world as well. Just as with college students, businesspersons are able to keep all their important work files in the compact dimensions of a laptop. They can easily use their laptops in the office to pull up whatever information is required for the workday and then carry it home at the end of the day or on weekends if there is any leftover work to be finished that night.

Laptops also provide business individuals with the convenience of pulling up presentations and information at meetings or conferences. Should an individual be called away on a business meeting, there is no need to pack up the entire office. A businessperson can simply scan or upload any information he may need into his laptop and have access to all necessary files whether on a plane or in his hotel room.

A precursor to the personal laptop computer, the Dynabook was designed and invented by Alan Kay in 1968. Kay referred to it as a “personal portable information manipulator.” Later, in 1975, IBM developed the first commercially available portable computer. The Osborne I, invented in 1981 and priced at $1,795, is considered to be the first official laptop computer. It weighed a hefty 23.5 pounds, had a 5-inch display screen, and had no battery. Later that year, the Epson HX-20, the first laptop-sized portable computer, made its appearance. The Epson introduced the world to the rechargeable laptop battery, increasing the convenience of laptops.

Flip down screens, a feature that protects the laptop computer screen, was not a characteristic of laptops until the 1980s. The Dulmont Magnum, released in 1982, was the first to flaunt this new ability. The Dulmont Magnum was not available for commercial use until 1984, however.

After 1983, laptop technology continued to become more and more advanced to allow touchpad, the pointing stick, and handwriting recognition capabilities. Battery life, as well, has been improved over the years. Laptops now use minimum power and last up to several hours to allow its users the convenience of utilizing them anywhere for extended periods of time. This capacity is in direct contrast to desktop computers that do not have batteries and must remain plugged into an electrical outlet at all times in order to be functional.

Laptop technology has also diminished the size of these computers to add to their portability. Full-sized laptops are about 11 inches in length to accommodate a full keyboard. The energy efficient NetBook is a smaller, lighter version of a typical laptop. Most laptops that measure less than 11.6 inches are considered NetBooks. Tablet PCs have touch screens. This means that their display screens can be rotated and flipped down to be used as a slate with a pen stylus for writing. This feature allows for a more diverse range of functionality. Another class of laptop computers are designed so that they can be operated in harsh environments. These laptops are able to withstand shock, extreme temperatures, and wet or dusty climates.

Currently, the most lightweight laptop computer is manufactured by Fujitsu. The Fujitsu LifeBook Q2010 weighs in at only 2.2 pounds and has a display screen measuring 12.1 inches. The most advanced laptop computers have DVD burners, DVD and BluRay players, Wi-Fi capabilities, and low power consumption.

The most significant convenience of laptop computers is in what their name implies – they are easily portable. Although laptops have always been portable by definition, it was not always the case that they were as convenient to carry and use as they are now. The first laptop computer, developed in 1981, was the cumbersome Osborne I. It weighed a hefty 24 pounds and had a display screen measuring only 5 inches. Even three years later in 1984, IBM’s newest version of the laptop weighed in at a whopping 30 pounds.

Today the lightest laptop computers weigh less than a small puppy. The Averatec AV2260 weighs 4 pounds while the Dell Latitude D420 weighs only 3 pounds. But the lightest of all laptop computers is currently the Fujitsu LifeBook Q2010 which weighs a slight 2.2 pounds. All of these ultra lightweight laptops have display screens of 11 or 12 inches – a big difference from the Osborne I.

In addition to being portable, laptop computers are convenient smaller versions of desktop PCs. While desktop computers have a number of bulky elements, including display, keyboard, mouse, battery, and tower, laptops require none of that because all components are included within it. Single unit laptop computers can be easily folded up and transported wherever they are needed whereas desktop computers can only be used in the room in which they have been installed.

Another advantage of using a laptop is in its battery life. A laptop’s rechargeable battery can power a laptop computer for quite some time independent of needing to be plugged into an electrical outlet. This lends to the portability of laptops, allowing its user to operate it outdoors, at restaurants, in the car, at the bus stop, or anywhere else. Furthermore, as technology progresses, batteries of laptops are able to last longer and longer, even up to several hours, so that laptop owners yield even more use from their computers. This freedom to have computer capabilities anywhere for extended periods of time is a convenience singular to laptops.

The majority of laptop computers are usually about 1.5 inches thick and their overall size ranges from 10×8 inches to 15×11 inches or more. Even the heaviest laptops weigh only 12 pounds – half of what the first laptop did. Because they are no bigger than a large book at most, they are extremely popular with teenagers and college students who can simply slip them into their backpacks or in between schoolbooks. Even most adults find them the most convenient option for almost any work situation since they can be easily taken from office to home to complete any unfinished work.

The importance of being careful and quite considerate when it comes to selecting a gaming laptop is therefore unquestionable. You will need to know what you really need to be looking out for and therefore the following considerations are essential:

Graphics Chipset

The most important factor to consider when selecting a gaming laptop is the graphics adapter that comes with it. It will also come with names like graphics card, video card, video adapter or controller. This is specifically dedicated for the processing of graphics and images which is very important for gaming. High end graphics adapters are the best for 3D gaming applications and are equally expensive. You should go for the laptop whose quality graphics card is upgradeable considering that technology is changing very fast. The card should at least support the modern HDMI output technology so that you can extend your gaming on large monitors or HD TV for the highest resolution of 1080 pixels. The graphics quality standards to look out for include the latest NVIDIA or ATI GPUs. You might specifically be interested with ATi Mobility Radeon 9700 or NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX. Details of considerations here have to do with which card gives you the highest performance while consuming less power to save the battery. It is also very important to find out the amount of RAM dedicated for graphic or video applications. This should at least be 256MB but 512MB is better.

Processor or Speed

Generally, the processor is a major consideration for your gaming laptop choice. This is compared to as the “brain” of the laptop, rightly referred to as the CPU. It determines the speed of your laptop measured in clock speed or Megahertz (MHz), though presently it’s Gigahertz (GHz). One of the best specifications for gaming is 3.4GHz. Currently look out for duo cores or for extreme capabilities the quad cores. The Intel Pentium ones will not disappoint for your choice.

Memory or RAM

RAM (Random Access Memory) or working memory is very important as it temporarily holds or stores the huge information of your running gaming application. This includes the inputs to your processor and graphics card as well as the processed results. Laptops are also increasingly coming with integrated graphics which employ the concept of shared memory or RAM. For these reasons you have to go for as much RAM as you can afford. Most laptops will come with 2GB-6GB, upgradeable to 8GB sometimes. For your secondary memory, consider laptops that come with Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives as opposed to Parallel ATA (PATA). Serial Technology unlike PATA is not limited to particular clock speeds and transfers data 30 times faster.

Display Size and Quality

The laptop screen with LED backlight is definitely not the least. Go for the crisp display of the highest resolutions you can get. 17 inch size is a good starting point for gaming laptops if the budget allows. The display quality is however much dependent on that of the graphics adapter on the laptop.