Purchasing a Portable Computer – Features. Compare, compare, and compare. Before buying a laptop, view, use, and compare the various portables at tradeshows, computer stores and so on. Read the latest comparisons of the portables in computer magazines. There are many choices available from many manufacturers. Their utility depends upon a number of factors including budget, uses, lugability, and service. For the practitioner, the choice of a laptop depends upon ones’ needs. Analyze your work needs and then buy accordingly. One of the threshold issues is the tradeoff between the weight and cost of a laptop and the peripherals that you need. For example:
Type - Portable computers include laptops, notebooks, palmtops and handheld PCs. Portables range in size, price and features. Laptops and notebooks generally weigh 5-10 lbs. and are small enough to fit into a briefcase. Subnotebooks are similar to notebooks and weigh an average of 3-4 lbs. A palmtop computer is about the size of your palm and weighs about a pound. A palmtop may have some applications, such as spreadsheets, built in but generally are used to organize addresses and appointments. Palmtops can be linked to your desktop or portable to upload or download data. Prices - The prices have dropped to around $500 for a basic color laptop. Adding on accessories will increase the price. Where to Buy - Portables and desktops can be purchased at local retail outlets that carry the major brands, as well as many large well established mail-order vendors. Portables cost approximately 1 ½ to 2 ½ as much as a desktop with the same specifications. The Computer Shopper™ magazine and other computer magazines, found at most newsstands, provide advertisements for large mail order computer companies. Some sites to visit include Dell (www.dell.com), Toshiba (www.toshiba.com), Insight Computer (www.insight.com), and Gateway (www.gateway.com). Also, check out the automatic pricing comparison sites at ZDNet (http://review.zdnet.com/) and CNet (www.cnet.com). Warranties - Get a 30-day money-back guarantee. Determine the extent and terms of the long-term warranty and whether one has to send the computer into the manufacturer or whether it will be fixed at your location. Also, call the manufacturer’s help line before purchasing the computer to see if you can get through to a person. Are maintenance contracts available? How much are they and what period(s) of time can you purchase one? Carefully check out the stability and reputation of the vendor. Screens - Laptop computer screens are getting brighter, larger, and increasing in resolution. Active matrix screens are preferable, but sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between active and the passive matrix screen. The trend is toward brighter, larger monitors with resolutions of 1024 x 768 DPI and higher. Since one will be staring at the screen for many hours, compare the screen quality of many laptops. Also, a regular flat screen monitor can be easily attached to a laptop computer. Battery Life - Battery life is most important to those who must use a computer and are not near an AC outlet. If you are on a plane or in a courtroom, the length of time that the battery will last will be important. Consider purchasing extra batteries and a charger if you need the extra battery computing time. Most batteries last 4-6 hours. Weight - Many machines are now available in the portable line from the 1 lb. handheld PCs, palmtops, and 3-pound subnotebooks to 10-pound multimedia portables. The average weight has dropped to 5.0 lbs. Memory - At least 512 megabytes of memory should be purchased to run Windows programs. One or two gigabytes s ideal, and may be needed to view video, to use voice recognition, and other programs. One can never have too much memory. Connectors - There are generally three types of connectors that are used to connect to other peripherals - parallel, serial and USB ports. Parallel refers to processes that occur simultaneously. Scanners, printers and other devices are said to be either parallel or serial. Parallel means the device is capable of receiving more than one bit at a time. Serial data transfer transmits data one bit at a time. USB stands for Universal Serial Bus, a new external bus standard that supports data transfer rates of 12 Mbps (12 million bits per second). A single USB port can be used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, etc. It is expected to completely replace serial and parallel ports. USB ports on your computer are a must buy. Hard Drive - At least 20 gigabytes of storage should be purchased, since Windows applications take a significant amount of storage. Speaker and Sound Card – should be built in. AC Adapter - Does it have a built-in AC adapter, or does it have an external power unit? Disk Drives - Does it have a CD-ROM, DVD, and/or 3 1/2” drive? Portable Printers - Portable printers are small and weigh very little. They may weigh as little as 1.5 lbs. and print only 2 pages per minute. Some products to consider include the Citizen™ printer (www.citizen-america.com) and the Canon Bubblejet™ (www.canon.com). Keyboards - Keyboards are smaller on a laptop and decrease in size for palmtops, etc. Before purchasing a laptop, use the keyboard to see if the location and touch of the keys are acceptable to you. Remember that you can also easily attach a regular size keyboard to a laptop computer. Modem & Communication Software - A modem for a portable is a must buy. Normally, they are integrated into the laptop or are included as a PC modem card. They may come with remote communication software that allows an attorney to access all of his office resources from anywhere. See also, Chapter 3, Networking and Group Computing, Remote Access to the Network. Pointing Devices - Portable computers use different pointing devices to substitute for a mouse. These include pointing devices located in the middle of the keyboard, touchpads, and trackballs mounted in different locations. Some are difficult to use, so try them out before purchasing a computer. You also can attach a regular mouse to the laptop.
PC Cards (PCMCIA) - PC cards, formerly called PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) cards, can be inserted into special slots on laptops. These slots, available on a number of the portables, permit plug and play for a number of products. Modems, network adapters, hard disks, sound cards, SCSI, cellular phone connectors, and flash memory are a few of the products that can be activated by plugging in a device the size of a credit card to your laptop. These provide the capability of adding new functions and features as your budget permits. Thus, your use of legal applications grows. It is suggested to buy a computer with two PC Cards slots. The cards are available in a Type I, II, and III format. All PC Cards are not created equal, nor are compatible with all computers. Check for compatibility before purchasing. They generally run from $100 to several hundred dollars, depending upon the type of card. Flash memory cards consist of circuitry on credit card size cards that can then be inserted into PC Card slots in a laptop or other portable computers. Docking System - A docking system consists of a desktop station where one can insert a portable computer. Once inserted, the system acts as a desktop computer. It provides a quick connection without having to connect cables or other devices to a network, printer, etc. The docking station is generally connected to a regular size keyboard, monitor, speakers, and any other desktop peripherals, such as a CD-ROM/DVD. Also, since the body of the laptop becomes your desktop, it saves you time in transferring files between your laptop and desktop and having the appropriate software programs available. These stations should be seriously considered if you are a telecommuting legal practitioner. They provide ease of use, along with the important desktop features such as a large keyboard and monitor. The cost is approximately $200 - $500 per station, in addition to the cost of the laptop. Synchronization and Replication - One of the problems with carrying notebook computers is that when you get back to the office, your files on the laptop need to upload to the network or your desktop computer to update the old files. This involves copying the files onto a floppy or connecting a cable between the two computers and transferring them to your office system. This is time consuming and not always accurate. There are a number of solutions to this problem.
Budget for a Portable Computer and Software. Below is an example of a portable computer setup for a legal professional:
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