Christopher Ott

This is the second installment of a two-part column on what to look for in a new laptop computer.

For now, at least, laptop computers are still among the smallest, most expensive things you’ll ever buy.

If you’ve decided that your next computer will be a laptop or if you already own one that needs to be replaced what do you need to keep in mind?

Unfortunately, buying a laptop has often meant settling for second-best. Compared to desktop machines, laptop drawbacks include the lack of a mouse, slower speeds, higher prices and ease of theft.

But if you choose carefully, you can get a laptop that’s a worthy alternative to a good desktop machine. Here are some of the most important things to consider when buying portable:

? Try typing, clicking and dragging. Instead of a mouse, most laptops have one of two options for moving the arrow pointer: either a track pad, which is a touch-sensitive square that you drag your finger across, or a pointing stick, a rubbery peg in the center of the keyboard that you push around.

One or both of these options drives some people crazy. If you don’t already know, it’s important to figure out if you’re one of them. If necessary, you can buy an add-on like a mouse.

Keyboards also vary from model to model, so try typing the lyrics to your favorite song to give the keyboard a spin. Also try typing some telephone numbers. Laptops lack a numeric keypad, and you may be surprised how much you miss it if you need to enter a lot of numerical data.

? Think about how much you will travel with it. The amount of time that you’ll spend carrying your laptop around is important when considering how much it weighs.

Larger screens, CD-ROM drives and other options all add ounces, and together those ounces can add up to two or three pounds. If you mostly want a laptop so you can take work home, you might select more and better features at the price of extra weight.

But if you’ll be hauling it with you through every airport in North America, go for the lightest model you can get away with that still has everything you need.

? Get the best screen. There are two main kinds of screens for laptops, called active- and passive-matrix. Active-matrix screens, also called TFT (for thin-film transistor), deliver the sharpest images and can be viewed from an angle.

Passive matrix screens, also called dual-scan displays, give images that are clear enough if you view them head-on. But they start to fade at any other angle or in bright light.

The price difference between active and passive-matrix displays used to be as great as the difference in quality between them. Fortunately, however, passive-matrix displays have improved, and active-matrix screens can now be found even on modestly priced laptops.

Choose based on how much you can afford and how much you’ll be using the laptop. For frequent use, an active-matrix screen will be easier on the eyes and well worth the extra expense.

? Do you need video-out? If all you’re ever going to do with your laptop is word processing, any one will do. But if you might need to connect it to an external monitor or overhead projector think of those PowerPoint presentations be sure your laptop has what’s called a video-out port.

Not all of them do, and on some models the option to add one doesn’t exist.

? Do you need a microphone? You might not think at first that you do. But then you break your wrist and need to use voice-dictation software. Get a model that has a built-in microphone, a microphone jack, or at least the option to add one.

? Battery life. Get a laptop with the longest battery life you can, given your other requirements. But take claims made about battery life with a grain of salt. That four-hour battery has a way of somehow only lasting two.

? Does it feel sturdy? Ideally, a laptop should feel solid. Some models, when you pick them up or flip up the screen, actually make creaking sounds. This is what we call poor engineering (or manufacturing), as well as an almost sure sign of future problems.

Seams on the case of a poorly made laptop can start to open up, the plastic can actually crack, and components inside can become disconnected by strains they weren’t designed for.

Make sure your laptop feels capable of standing up to the rigors of a little travel so that its sensitive innards don’t end up shifting around.

Christopher Ott is a freelance technology writer and can be reached at [email protected].