I always get phone calls about laptops and how to know if it is a good laptop or a dud. There are several things I look at before I purchase a laptop.

1. Amount of memory – I will not purchase a laptop without at least 1GB of DDR memory. (I Prefer 2GB in order to have my laptop running super fast)

2. Hard Drive – Now this depends on what you use it for but for a family computer in today’s market 120GB hard drive or higher is what you should be looking for because music downloads, Internet surfing, and pictures will fill a hard drive faster than you think.

3. Brand – Stick with the names you can trust: HP, Compaq, Dell, Acer, Sony, Toshiba are my top companies for laptops.

4. CPU Speed – Since it is hard to tell these days the speed of a motherboard due to AMD verse Intel, and new technology, just shoot for 3.0Gz P4 or higher. I have used AMD and Intel and they both get the job done, so I will save the money and get the AMD Processor instead in most cases.

5. Ports – make sure that is has all the ports you will need. USB 2-4 ports, if you have firewire devices make sure it has a firewire port on the laptop so you do not have to purchase one later.

6. DVD Burner: I suggest getting a computer with DVD Burner on it so you can easily back up your computer, plus burn huge files when needed.

These are the top things I look for then I compare prices and purchase the best deal, for more information please check out my website www.cmcomp.com