As anyone who has recently tried purchasing a Notebook will vouch, its a Jungle out there ! And there are just too many Jaanwars (read Models) of various shapes and sizes (read configuration) for the buyer’s comfort.
So when I wanted to replace my 4 year old notebook, I had a harrowing time shortlisting models, checking availability and crosschecking configuration. Finally I zeroed in on the Toshiba L510-D4012 and purchased it a few months ago just when Intel had announced its new i3/i5/i7 family of processors.
To start with, I was apprehending a major lag in this model in comparison to the new breed of processors but after about 4 months of usage, and simultaneous feedback on the i3, I’m not too unhappy with my decision.
So let me take this opportunity to outline the main parameters of selection and benchmark the L510 against its peers on each of these. This might give the reader a good idea about the headaches and perils in buying a notebook.
The Processor - The single most important piece of hardware on any Notebook. You’ll probably be better off taking a live demo of different types of processors. If not from salespersons, from your
friends/relatives. Benchmarking the models on internet will also help. If you are into converting movies/playing graphics intensive games, you’ll need a Core 2 Duo (C2D). Otherwise for handling office applications and watching movies, Dual Cores should suffice. I’m told Dual Cores are very energy efficient compared to C2Ds so if battery backup is topmost on your mind, Dual Cores will likely be the best bet. The L510 has a 2.2 Ghz T6600 C2D processor which isnt a bad one for heavy processing, bettered only by the i5 and i7 line of processors, which are significantly more expensive too.
Et Cetera - With the processor in place next you’ll probably need to take a long hard look at the other features/hardware that are important in a Notebook.
(A) RAM - More RAM simply means more buffer (read temporary) memory for running applications. The L510 has a 3 GB DDR2 RAM while 2GB seems to have been the performance benchmark at the time of purchase. However, with the advent of DDR3, which is available at higher prices but gives faster responses too, DDR2 is no longer the performance norm !
(B) The Hard Disk - you’ll typically get anything raging from 160-320 GB of HD space in most Notebooks which is sufficient in most cases unless you are a movie collector. One thing however, these disks typically run at two speeds viz., 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm. The ones with 7200, not too widely sold as of now, will obviously be faster but more expensive too. The Toshiba has a 320 GB HDD @ 5400 rpm.
(C) Optical (CD/DVD) Drive - This is where you’ll need to do a bit of research in models shortlisted by you. The best Optical Drives are manufactured by Pioneer/HP/Toshiba and used by everyone else. So you can buy an HP with a Pioneer Drive. Stick to these manufacturers and you keep the problem of slow/defunct Optical Drives at bay. Fortunately Toshiba has chosen to include its own drive with the L510 and the read/write rate has been pretty nippy by notebook standards.
(D) Graphics Card - No matter how good these cards seem to be getting, Game manufacturing companies keep manufacturing games which render the best ones obsolete in days. Laptops are not for gaming if you ask me but should you want to raise your Windows 7 Experience Index beyond 1.5/2 (which is low usually on account of the Graphic Cards only), you should look for a 512MB/1GB dedicated ATI card or something similar. Got a feedback from the market that lots of Lappies having NVIDIA Cards are having trouble. The L510 has a "nothing to write home about" Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD Card with no dedicated memory of its own !!
(E) Battery life - Again no substitute for a demo but as a thumbrule, good 6 cell Li-Ion batteries should give you enough juice to run for 2.5-3 hours. When fully charged the L510 gives a backup of 3.5 hours which is great going.
(F) Weight - A very important parameter if you ask me as Notebooks can be truly mobile only when they are less than 1.5 kgs. The L510 at 2.26 kgs isnt very light but is lighter than most laptops of similar configuration.
(G) Drivers - The worst thing about DOS models, L510 being one, is that you have to do a lot of exercise to accumulate the drivers for your machine. Though this can be done online at Toshiba, not everyone is comfortable searching for Drivers for their laptop. Give us a ten rupee CD with all drivers is our eternal plea but the manufacturers just wont listen !!
(H) USB Port - guys like me who like using mini-mouses have to sacrifice a USB port for it. Ideally a laptop should have at least 3 to make you feel comfortable. The L510 has two USB ports and one eSATA/USB port. This is a welcome addition although I doubt I’ll be using the eSATA cable.
(I) HDMI Port - The L510 has an HDMI port for directly connecting to HDMI enabled Plasmas/LCDs. I suppose this would be very useful if you want to carry movies on your lappy and connect to the Hotel LCD for watching !!
(J) Inbuilt Webcam & Mic - All Skype fanatics will swear its the most useful feature of Laptops which enables you to do free/cheap videoconferencing without the hassle of connecting an external Webcam/Mic. The L510 has an integrated Mic & Webcam with Face Recognition Feature.
(K) Touchpad - the L510 touchpad is a bit odd. its just a patch of roughened plastic without any contours/boundaries which means your fingers can slip off the touch area without you realising it !
(L) Cooling - How fast a notebook heats up is a function of many things including the processor, the chipset, the FSB clock, etc. If you actually use a notebook on your lap, its a very important thing to look out for.