An Ultraportable Or Mainstream Notebook – Which Is Best For You? Article

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An Ultraportable or Mainstream Notebook – Which is Best for You?

The typical computer user’s ideal notebook would fall into one of the two most popular categories – ultraportable or mainstream. Ultraportables are pretty and trim, generally weigh less than 4 pounds, and can be carried almost anywhere. Mainstream notebooks deliver a good balance of portability and power. Between the different manufacturers, models, and sub-models, consumers are faced with a variety of notebooks to choose from, varying greatly in price, features, design, and performance.

Author: Jerry Costas

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Performance, dictated by the quality and power of the components, was once the major factor in choosing a mainstream notebook. For ultraportables, performance was not a selling point, because the small sizes did not permit parts that ran faster. Today performance is less of an issue, so most notebooks of either type don’t need to be pushed to their limits. Although the gigahertz rating and the amount of RAM included in a notebook are still important purchasing factors, other elements like looks, multimedia features, and cheaper prices are more significant than ever to consumers. Here we’ll look at some of the hottest ultraportable and mainstream notebooks on the market, and show how they are selling more than just power and speed.

Not too long ago, notebooks were considered underpowered, poor relations of desktop computers. Yea, they were a great portable solution to moving your work around with you, but nobody expected them to be powerhouses. Usually, buyers found themselves paying a premium of $2000 or more for mediocre components, limited features, and so-so battery life. As far as styling went, you could forget pretty. Most notebooks came in black, or black, like the old Model T Fords.

Times have changed! Now, notebooks have become the primary computer for many people (I am writing this article on my notebook which is my work computer), and buyers demand more. The market has responded, and manufacturers are now offering notebooks with a wide range of features for under $1000. If the notebook is selling for over $1500, it had better have a high-definition optical drive. Mainstream systems are packed with cool and powerful compnents but now rarely weigh over 6 pounds, while the ultraportable notebook field is bubbling with innovative features, from hyper-thin optical drives and LED backlit screens, to super small hard drives. Design-wise, notebook manufacturers are pulling out all the stops, with curving chassis, innovative alloy frames, and a plethora of color choices.

Mainstream notebooks offer the best blend of features and portability. They used to be 14 inch screen models with limited resolution, but now offer high resolution screens in a variety of formats and sizes. Using smaller components and 13.3 inch widescreens is making the units lighter,, and even 15.4 inch widescreens can be used without going over the 6 pound level. Resolutions are now being advertised as “HD ready,” where the most generic resolution meets the 720p criteria.

Almost all mainstream notebooks now offer built-in web cams. When is comes to still pictures, webcams give poor resolution compared with most digital cameras, but that doesn’t really matter because they are most useful for videoconferencing. Some units are even offering fingerprint readers for personalized security. And today’s mainstream notebooks can utilize a single hard drive that can hold up to 320GB of data.

Whichever you decide on, a sleek ultraportable like the new Apple MacBook Air, or a mainstream notebook like the HP Pavilion dv6500t, make sure to get the maximum amount of RAM, either from the factory, or aftermarket from a reputable seller, and you will be happy with your purchase for a long time.

About Author

Jerry Costas is a writer for UpgradeComputerMemory.com and has over 20 years of experience in the computer memory industry. UpgradeComputerMemory.com is a leading provider of Memory Upgrades.

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An Ultraportable or Mainstream Notebook – Which is Best for You?