Recently in Notebook Category

During my ride with the train today I had the chance to discover once more how foolish some advertisers must be. Today's example comes from HP, well known manufacturer of different IT devices. Among the devices they sell also relatively cheap / affordable notebooks (but also some high end devices).

However - I had to discover an advertisement in the current edition of a Swiss Weekend Magazine called "20 Minuten Friday", which is freely distributed at the train stations and covers different topics (mostly about fashion and glamour talk). Because they are lying around everywhere in the trains on the weekends I scan this magazine every weekend and read some articles from it.

And there it was - one of the most stupid advertisements I as an IT-Pro have ever seen in the last few weeks! But look for yourself at the picture below:

The most basic question you have to ask yourself is the following:

Know what you want to use your notebook for

When you know this, then the other considerations are really easy, even if you do not understand too much of computers. Here are a few hints about what you have to think:

• What are typical applications I am using? (Sometimes does this also include your operating system)
• Will I or do I have to take my notebook with me outside of my 'office'?
• Do I have to write a lot or just occasionally?
• What and how many connections do I need (USB, WLAN, Bluetooth, Infrared, FireWire, Ethernet, Smartcard etc.)?
• Do I need additional communication features (webcam, microphone etc.)?

When you are more or less sure about these points (for which you can draw a nice matrix and evaluate different possibilities) you have to decide how big you budget is. There are a lot of brands and models available, so there is something for everyone. You just need to find it.