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Choosing a reliable and versatile laptop is an important but difficult task for many professionals. The laptop needs to provide exceptional service, support, and functionality to serve the professional. Of course, not all laptops will fit the professional category. What exactly is considered a professional laptop? Ideally, it laptop will have features and performance capabilities above the average laptop. However, any laptop can be used as a professional laptop if it is able to perform seamlessly for professional needs. Professionals do not need a machine that will play the latest games flawlessly – what they need above all is something that they can rely on. So which is the best laptop for the mobile professional? The answer will depend on what the mobile professional is planning on doing with the laptop. If the user plans on multi-tasking through various programs and applications running simultaneously, RAM is of the utmost importance. The RAM is a sort of temporary storage space used when opening or manoeuvring between running applications. A professional laptop should have at least 1GB of RAM, but more is better. Certainly any less leads [again from experience] to a very frustrating working experience. As programmers develop more resource intensive software, so the hard you use to run it needs to keep up. If the mobile professional desires a laptop that will operate quickly and smoothly – a good processor is indispensable. The processor controls how fast an application is opened or how quickly the laptop is able to interrupt the commands the user gives the laptop. If the mobile professional desires to see things as bright and big as life, then the viewing screen needs to be of sufficient size. Also, the professional should take into consideration that many of today’s new laptops offer a viewing screen that can rotate for easy docking as well. The size of the screen will also affect the weight and dimensions of the laptop. Almost all professionals will find a large hard drive a necessity. The larger the hard drive, the more storage capacity the laptop will have. Usually, the hard drive is large on professional laptops because the applications necessary for professional use are many and they take up a lot of disk space. I suggest a professional laptop have at least an 80 GB hard drive. The ASUS R1F-K008E is one example of a good, reliable laptop designed with the professional in mind. The 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 1GB of equipped RAM is great for us on the move. The 120 GB hard drive really is exceptional for a laptop and means a lot of room for storage of work and pictures. The 13.3” viewing screen offers a crystal clear display monitor. An addition perfect for the professional can be found with the Bluetooth capabilities and a rather useful fingerprint reader for added security [this reviewer is able to say from long-use that the fingerprint reader is far from a useless gimmick]. The ASUS R1F-K008E is approximately £1,200. The Acer TravelMate 3043WTMi Laptop is another respectable laptop with the professional in mind, but a bit more cost effective with a price of approximately £900. The 1.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 1GB of equipped ram is designed specifically with the mobile professional in mind. A healthy 120GB hard drive and slightly smaller 12.1” viewing screen means the professional is getting a lightweight, mobile laptop with lots of storage space. This laptop is also Bluetooth enabled, offers a Firewire port, and has a docking station interface. The Samsung X60 Laptop is an exceptional laptop for the mobile professional and at a price of approximately £1,400, the professional is sure to be pleased. The 2.16 (x2) GHz Intel Core 2 Dup processor offers easy navigation; while the 2GB of DDR2 Ram offers smooth navigation between the internet and numerous running applications. The 120GB hard drive is as seen on all the above models . The 15.4” TFT viewing screen is anything but normal, however, and this is where it really goes to the top of the class. Strangely, though, the Samsung X60 Laptop does not come Bluetooth enabled which is something many mobile professional desire. Deciding which laptop is best for the mobile professional will of course depend on what the professional needs. The Samsung X60 Laptop, the Acer TravelMate 3043WTMi Laptop, and the ASUS R1F-K008E all offer specific pluses depending on what the mobile professional needs. One suggestion all mobile professionals should take is to insure all laptops are under warranty and insured in case of damage, theft, or loss; many manufacturers will offer this, but it is worth reading the small print to see exactly what is included.
Staff editor, Electronics Section, March 2007 |
