9 Basic Features You Should Consider Before Buying Your Next

Laptops are the natural evolution in the ever changing world of the computer. The improvement of technology has allowed the computer to shrink from being as big as a house, to the size of book.

Their compactness, and portability makes the laptop particularly useful to the professional, the person on the go, and the student. However, laptops can get rather expensive so you should take care to choose a laptop with the right amount of features, but not so many that they needlessly inflate the price.

Here are 9 basic features that you should consider before you purchase your next laptop:

1. Weight and Size: When it comes to weight and size, you should consider that the bigger a laptop is, the heavier it is. A small enough size should be chosen, but not so small that it's uncomfortable. The smaller the laptop, the more awkward it will be to type on that tiny keyboard.

2. Display: The display, or screen is directly tied in to the size of the laptop. You should choose the biggest display possible. Also, a decision has to be made between Active, and Passive Matrix.

Active Matrix is more expensive, but is recommended since pictures come out sharper and moving images play out smoother. Passive Matrix is cheaper, but the picture quality is not as good.

3. Batteries: There are 3 main types of Batteries. They are Li, NiMH, NiCad. What those letters stand for is not important. All you need to know is to always choose Li since they are higher quality, and provide a longer life. However, they are slightly more expensive. If one is strapped for money, then NiMH is acceptable. They're slightly cheaper, but must be recharged every hour or so. Under no circumstances should NiCad be chosen. They're extremely low quality, and have no staying power.

4. Hard-Drive: Most laptops start with at least 4.3 gigabytes, or GB, of hard drive space. However, you can get more hard-drive space if you think you