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Generally laptops no longer have with floppy drives and Zip disks. If you need them, it can always be added, but frankly you do not really need them anyway.
Laptops often missing internal expansion slots often found in a PC, it is because many laptops already come with all needed pre-installed devices (yet another reason for a laptop to has a high price). If you prefer to tweak the expansion cards in your computer, perhaps, you need a desktop PC rather than a laptop.
Fortunately the laptop has good scalability - with its USB ports, where you can add any desktop computer as an external peripheral device. But be aware! You’re buying a laptop because you need it’s compact and portable, so you likely need to get additional devices installed when you buy the laptop. Adding new device is possible, but you may risk reducing its portability.
You may want make sure your laptop has an integrated memory card reader. This allow you to access many kind of memory cards including Secure Digital and CompactFlash cards on your laptop immediately, which good when you have digital camera. You can even use them as removable storage and as a means of exchanging information between two computers, although a USB flash drive is a lot more convenient.notebook

The three basic items that you really need are

• Processor
• RAM
• Hard disk storage

The processor is the laptop’s main chip. It is not the brain of your computer. Software is the real brain. It tells the processor what to do. You want to make sure you get a processor that is fast enough to handle the applications that you need tomorrow. When more money is invested in a fast processor now, it would prolongs the useful life of your laptop, it ensures that you can run a heavy software in the future. So get a laptop with the fastest processor you can pay.

Memory is where the real action happens in a computer, it’s where the work is done. If software says he wants more than 256 MB of memory, and then gets a laptop with lots of RAM.

Hard disk store electronic documents. This includes not just the operating system, but all software that you obtain and install later, and all important files and junk files that you collect. Again, the software will tell you about disk space they need. The total space for each application must be totaled, and then at least doubled, to give you a figure for how much hard disk storage you need.

• Laptop processors are more expensive than their desktop cousins. That’s because the laptop processors must be designed to use less energy and produce less heat. It takes time, so that their development process is longer, hence it comes with an extra cost.
• When reading hardware on a box of software, always use the “recommended” values, not the minimum. For example, a program of may demand 256 MB RAM, but it really need 384 MB. If so, get 384MB RAM or more.
• RAM is important If you can not afford a fast processor, you can always to buy more RAM.
• Buy the biggest hard drive. Especially if you plan to put lots of music on your laptop, you’ll need at least 80 Gb HD.
• If possible, I recommend least 512 megabytes of RAM. If you can afford to 1024MB RAM, by all means get it. If you can afford to 2048MB RAM, get it.
• The things that consume huge amounts of disk space are graphic image files, music or audio files, video and files. If you plan on storing any of these inside your laptop, get a bigger hard drive!
• Investing with fastest processor, lots of RAM, and sizable amounts of disk space, would mean extending your laptop’s useful life. It is a good thing. You should make your laptop as a good investment for years to come.

Allow me to distill this information to you: If want to get a laptop as a substitute of your desktop, you will most probably be running the similar software in the laptop on your desk. In this case, your laptop specs should be the same to the desktop PC.

If laptop is a new journey for you, then perhaps what you really need is a laptop with basic configuration. Want to surf the Internet? An Office suite of applications? That’s about what an ordinary laptop user often needs.

In addition to the two previous examples, you must be able to run a special software inside your laptop. If so, consider what type of hardware and software you really needs. For one thing, if the software requires 256 megabytes RAM, you must ensure that your laptop has lots of RAM also a sizable storage disk, a CD-ROM, powerful microprocessor, and other things. They are listed right on the edge of the software box.

• The really important software you need is the operating system. For this blog, I guess that you use Windows XP or Vista. Generally, any laptop good enough to run Windows Vista can manage any desktop software sold.

• You have to check the software licensing to see if you are allowed to install one program at on both your desktop and laptop PC. Most of the time, which is considered acceptable by the seller, is that you are allowed to use it in two computers. But some software developers, including Microsoft, do not allow multiple installations of the same software package.
• Fortunately, most laptops come with every software you need. You’ll obtain an operating system, Windows XP or Vista. You’ll get Microsoft Office or a productivity suite programs, perhaps other software as well. Be sure to inquiry about included software before buying a laptop.
• Gamers prefer desktop systems than laptops, mainly because desktop computers can easily be modified and updated. In this spirit, if you intend to play games in a laptop, be sure to get the best video card, lots of video memory, and lots of system RAM as well. But bear in mind that, laptop is unlike a desktop computer, you can not update these things easily. Thus, you must plan in advance with your laptop specification.
• It is also noted that the portable LCD are not updated as quickly as a traditional CRT screen or monitor. The PC gamers prefer CRT.
• In the field of graphics development, advanced designers also prefer CRT monitors or traditional monitor, because they can better accurately recreate variety of colors. But note that it is possible to connect a CRT monitor with a laptop when the need arises.

To get a computer that works well for you, follow these five easy steps:
1. Find out what you want the computer to do.
2. Find the software to get the job.
3. Match hardware to software.
4. Good store service and support.
5. Buy the computer.

Two things stand out here more than others. The first - often surprising for most people - is to find the software before hardware (step 2). Because it is software that is the work done. Despite all the flash and glory of cutting-edge hardwares, software is more important. The second point is to Step 4: good service and support. More important than finding a low price or deal is to find people who will give you help when you need it and fix the stupid thing in case it breaks. That makes sense, but it’s crazy how people often forget.

The best computer, you can buy is the one who does what you need to do. To find this computer, you must ignore all sales pressure, which is more focused on brand-name computer buying. This is completely false, and a person must be intensively re-educated when he buys computers depending on their brands.
You do not buy a computer for hardware alone. Low price is not the reason whatsoever. Instead, the reason you want a computer is to perform certain tasks, to have the computer work for you, or to help you do something. When you approach the purchase in this spirit, you end up getting the best possible computer - not a brand.