Everyone wants a laptop because it’s portable, but there are some important aspects of travelling with your laptop that you need to remember.  The last thing you want is to damage your laptop or have it stolen, so keep some of these things in mind when you’re on the go with your computer.

•    Invest in a good laptop bag.  No matter how careful you are, chances are at some point your laptop bag, with your laptop in it, will get dropped or will swing out and hit something.  While you don’t need to invest in the most expensive bag out there (and there are some very expensive bags), you should get one that protects your laptop and has enough room in it for all your cables and accessories.

•    Never leave your laptop unattended.  While it may be tempting to run to the restroom or to go order something while working at a restaurant or café with wireless, don’t do it.  If you aren’t with someone who can watch your laptop, take the time to pack it up and take it with you.  Even if you’re only stepping away for a few minutes, that’s all it takes for someone to steal your laptop.

•    Be sure to take your power cord with you if you’re going to be working for several hours.  You never know when your battery is going to run down.

•    Keep your virus scanner and other security programs up to date.  Since you’ll be logging on to a variety of networks, you should never trust that they will be secured or have any sort of firewalls active.  Protect your own computer; don’t rely on others to do so.

No matter what type of laptop you buy, you’re going to want it to last for several hours or more when it’s running on battery power.  If it doesn’t, you may find that you can’t use your laptop on the go or that you lose information if you don’t keep an eye on the battery level.  However, there are some things you can do to increase your laptop’s battery life.  Here are a few of them.

•    Turn down your screen’s brightness.  Most newer laptops automatically dim the screen when on battery power.
•    Turn off your Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth connections if you aren’t using the internet.
•    Look at your laptop’s power options to be sure they’re set appropriately.  For example, you may want to set your laptop to turn off the hard drive and screen after several minutes of inactivity.  Put your laptop in stand-by mode if you won’t be using it for an hour or so, but have it hibernate if you will be away from it for a longer period of time.
•    Disconnect USB devices and other external hardware.  Using your laptop’s touchpad instead of using a USB mouse will also save power.
•    Turn down or mute your speakers.
•    Install programs to your hard drive instead of running them off of CD/DVD.
•    Shut down scheduled tasks such as virus scans.  You can also save on power by turning off Auto-save.

If you need to make hard copies of anything you do on your laptop, you’re going to need a printer.  This is especially true if you’re a college student or if you use your laptop for business.  When it comes to buying a printer for your cheap laptop, there are a few things to keep in mind.

•    Do you need to print in colour?  You can often buy black and white printers for much less, especially if you’re looking at a laser printer.  If you won’t need to ever do anything in colour, you may be able to get a good deal on a simpler printer.

•    Do you need a portable printer?  Some companies make very small printers designed to work specifically with laptops.  You can pack up these printers and take them with you.  If you’ll need to print while on the go, you might want one of these.  They work very well for people who set up their laptops at trade expos or other types of conferences and need to print things for potential customers.

•    Do you need a laser printer or an inkjet printer?  Laser printers are more expensive, but the toner lasts longer.  If you’re a small business owner, it may be an investment worth making.  Most standard users, however, won’t need an expensive laser printer.

•    Will the printer work with your laptop?  Check to make certain the printer works with the operating system, and make certain it will connect to your laptop.  Most new laptops and new printers use USB cables, but older printers use the larger serial cable.  Newer laptops generally don’t have a connection for this.

When purchasing a cheap laptop, you may be asked if you want to look at docking stations or port replicators.  If you don’t know that much about laptops, you may have no idea what the sales representative is talking about.

A docking station is a device that you actually plug your laptop into.  It features extra ports, connections, slots, and even some drive bays.  Some are about the size of a laptop (and are often called a media slice), while others are a little larger.  More or less, a docking station is meant to give your laptop all of the connections that a full PC has.  You simply set it up on your desk and plug your laptop into it when you’re working at home.  You can attach a larger monitor, a full-sized keyboard, an external hard drive, and other devices, including printers and scanners, to the docking station.  This way, you don’t have to unplug any of these things when you want to take your laptop on the road.  A docking station isn’t really a necessity, but it is nice if you use your laptop as your primary computer since you don’t have to plug and unplug cables all the time.

A port replicator is basically a scaled down, smaller version of a docking station.  It only features additional ports, including USB, video, and memory card slots.  One form of port replicator that is very popular is often called a USB hub.  You plug one end of the hub into a USB port, and the other end features four (or even more) USB ports, allowing you to effectively turn one port into many.  Port replicators are useful because laptops usually don’t have room for a large amount of ports.  Some port replicators, like the USB hubs, are very small, while other port replicators may be about the same size as a docking station.

One reason many people purchase a laptop is so they can access the internet anywhere.  To that end, they need to have some way of connecting to the internet.  When it comes to cheap laptops, you may have one of several different ways of getting online, depending on how new the laptop is.

The first and most common way of connecting to the internet is via a wireless card.  Many of the newer laptops have these cards built in, and all you have to do is make certain they’re turned on (there’s usually a small switch to press to enable or disable the wireless card).  Older laptops, though, may have an actual card that you have to insert into one of the slots on the laptop.  These cards do the exact same thing as a built-in wireless card does.  In fact, some people never remove them from their laptop.

Another way of using your laptop without an actual cable is to purchase a USB wireless card.  The only real difference between these and the type of card discussed above is that they plug into a USB port instead of a specific slot.  In fact, many of the newest computers no longer feature a slot large enough for one of the older type wireless cards, so you may have to get a USB wireless card if you need one.

Finally, the last option for getting online with your laptop is the least fun.  Laptops do feature an Ethernet port, so you can plug your laptop directly into your modem or router.  While this takes away the portability of the laptop and ties you down, it does work.  This limits your ability to access the internet in some places, though, because you may not always find a port to plug in to.

When it comes to laptops (or any type of computer, really), many companies lump users into one of several categories.  You can use these categories to get an idea of what type of laptop is best for you.  Just pick the one that seems to match you best.

The Home User is the user who plans on using their laptop as their main PC, mainly because they can move it from room to room as they desire.  These users want a fast processor, at least a gigabyte of memory (more if they’re running Vista), and a good sized display.  A wireless network card is also necessary.

Students, on the other hand, generally want a lightweight, small laptop that they can carry anywhere.  They also need a good processor and memory, although since they will be using their laptop mainly for typing and doing online research, they may not need a high-end graphics card.

The Traveller will also need a lightweight laptop, plus they may want a laptop that has a good amount of hard drive space since they might need to take a lot of data with them.  A laptop with a very long battery life is also a good idea for frequent travellers.

If you’ll be using your laptop mainly for business, you’re going to want many of the same features.  However, you may also want to make certain your laptop comes with a DVD burner so you can back up all of your data. 

Finally, there’s the gamer and the artist.  Both need great graphics cards, a large amount of RAM (possibly even 4 GB), a large hard drive, and a top of the line processor.  A large screen size is also helpful, as is a full-sized keyboard for some gamers.  While other laptop users can get away without the newest and best, those looking to use their laptops for graphic arts or games need the best.

When you head into a store to look at a cheap laptop or search online, you may read some comments and reviews that just don’t sound right to you.  These laptop myths are often believed, but a smart laptop buyer (i.e., you) will know better.

1.    Laptops are always more expensive than the desktops.  While this is often the case, it’s not always true.  Many laptops are inexpensive these days, and while buying a top of the range laptop is going to be expensive, buying one that has been on the market for a year or so should be well within your budget.

2.    Laptops have very short battery lives.  With older models (ten years older or more), this is probably true—those laptops often needed to be charged every few hours.  However, some modern laptops can last as long as six hours or more.  Most of them now include power-saver settings.  If you dim your screen, for example, your laptop will be able to run longer.

3.    Laptops cannot be upgraded.  This one is somewhat true.  It is more difficult to upgrade your laptop’s processor and graphics card, but it’s not that hard to add more RAM.  Many laptops’ CD/DVD drives can be easily removed and swapped out for a new drive, too.

4.    Laptops don’t feature everything a desktop does.  On the contrary—some laptops actually feature more.  Laptops today are as fast as desktops and feature large hard drives.  You can get DVD burners and Blue Ray drives for laptops, plus most now include built-in microphones and web cams, two things many desktops don’t come with.

When buying a cheap laptop, many people latch on to things like the processor speed, the amount of RAM, and features like DVD burners, external mice, and touch screens.  However, two things some people fail to consider and later regret are the size and the weight of the laptop.

If you’re going to be travelling a lot or carrying your laptop around, you’ll want to think about how much your computer weighs.  College students, for example, may want a light laptop since they will be carrying it around campus.  If you’re not going to be taking your laptop to other places very often, weight may not be a consideration.  However, if you will be, know that your laptop’s weight will very quickly become an issue, especially if you’re hauling it through airports or train stations.

Another consideration is the size of your laptop.  Some small laptops might actually be too small.  If you’re doing graphic arts or playing games, you might find that the small screen size makes it too difficult to really see everything.  However, larger laptops, especially those that have a full sized keyboard, may not fit in standard laptop bags.  If you have any question about a potential laptop fitting in a bag, ask a sales associate for assistance.  If you’re purchasing your laptop online, check the dimensions for both the laptop and any bag you are considering seeing if it will fit.

Finally, don’t let either of these considerations dissuade you from purchasing a laptop that has everything you want on it.  You can always find a good sized bag for your laptop, and you may find that hauling around a heavy laptop is a price you’re willing to pay.

Some of the best cheap laptop deals are online, but there are some people who are hesitant to purchase anything over the internet.  While some of these people are simply hesitant about giving out their credit card information online, some want to actually see the laptop before they buy it.

But is that really necessary?  Well, there are some perks to being able to walk into a shop and play around with several laptops before buying one.  However, in the minute or two that you try out the laptop, it’s not exactly possible to get a true feeling for how the laptop is going to work.  Mainly, you get to see what neat extras that particular model has.  You generally can’t tell how well the laptop will perform after you’ve had it on for hours and are running three memory-intensive programs.  You also can’t get an idea for how long the battery will last.

There are some benefits, though.  You can pick up the laptop and see how heavy it is, and you can see if the screen is too small for you.  You can try out the touchpad so you know if you’ll like it or if you want to buy a mouse to go with your laptop.  You can also talk to the sales representative and clear up any questions you have right away.

Is it absolutely necessary to shop for a laptop in a shop instead of online?  Of course not.  Many people love the laptops they’ve purchased on the internet.  In fact, sometimes buying a laptop online is the only way to easily customise it.  Manufacturers usually allow you to add more memory, upgrade the hard drive, and more without any difficulty.  You can’t easily do that to a laptop you buy in a store.  In the end, it really comes down to your personal preference.

When you purchase a laptop, you know it’s going to come with a small touch pad that functions like a mouse—you move your finger around the pad to move the cursor, and the two small buttons under the pad allow you to left and right click.  However, some people don’t like the pad, and for those people, laptop mice exist.

However, laptop mice are yet another expense, and if you’re looking for a cheap laptop, chances are that you’re on a budget.  Do you really need a laptop mouse?  If you just need your laptop for basic functions like email, word processing, or accessing the internet, you may not.  Even though you don’t like the touchpad, you may be able to adjust to it.  Many people have difficulty using it at first, but after a few weeks, they find they can use the touch pad just as well as a mouse.

However, there are some instances where a mouse is needed.  If you’re doing graphic design or image editing, a mouse gives you a little more control than a touch pad does.  Likewise, if you’re going to be doing a lot of gaming with your laptop, you may need to have a mouse to actually play the game.  Touch pads also often don’t have anything that acts like the scroll wheel on a mouse does, so you may want that feature.

There are specific mice made for laptops.  They are generally a little smaller than standard mice, and many of them are now wireless.  However, regular computer mice work just as well with laptops, and you may be able to find one of those cheaper than a laptop mouse.  As with anything, do a little comparison shopping before you buy.