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Laptop GuideA laptop contains many different components, mostly given to you as a bunch of numbers to show you speeds or capacities, which if your a 'techie' make perfect sense, but otherwise can leave you a little lost, so if all those words and numbers make no sense then check out our guide below for a better understanding of what they all mean. Wireless Most modern laptops now come with built-in wireless capability, this allows you to connect to wireless 'hotspots' either in your own home (as part of your internet connection) or in a public location such as airports or coffee shops etc. Wireless technology is constantly evolving bringing with it greater and greater speeds, when we talk about wireless speed what we mean is the rate at which devices (such as your laptop) can communicate with other devices connected to the same wireless network. In the case of your home internet connection this is the speed at which your router or modem can send and receive data to and from your laptop. Almost any new laptop you buy will almost certainly have in-built wireless, but do check with your supplier, you don't really need to be concerned with the speed that your laptops wireless will run at, as long as it has the capability. Processor When reviewing potential laptops that you are considering purchasing, you will always see the processor mentioned as one of the main components, and if you think the processor must surely be an important part of your laptop then you'd be right! The processor is the heart of any computer, including a laptop, it is truly the 'engine room'. Much is made by laptop manufacturers about the processors included in their various offerings as it is what many people believe to be the biggest indicator of the systems potential performance, and along with memory (RAM), this is correct. Currently you will see most processors are either 'dual-core' or 'quad-core', what this means is the processor manufacturers have squeezed in either 2 or 4 processors onto one processor chip, increasing the performance of the processor and the system as a whole. Along with the 'dual-core' or 'quad-core' capability, you will also see a number associated with the processor that indicates the speed at which the processor processes information passing through it. Currently these speeds range from around 1.5Ghz up to about 2.5Ghz, basically the higher the number, the faster the processor. It makes sense to buy the fastest processor you can afford when you buy your laptop, this will help 'future proof' your system in the coming years as new applications require more and more system resources. Memory (RAM) Memory, or RAM (Random Access Memory), is the place in your laptop where most of the temporary information is stored whilst your laptop is running, the contents of the RAM is cleared whenever you restart or turn off your laptop. RAM is a different kind of memory to that of your harddisk, the information on your harddisk is consistent, i.e. it remains on the disk even when you turn off the power. Harddisks are for storing information you want to keep, RAM is what your laptop uses to store temporary information you need whilst the laptop is operating. Graphics Card Hard Disk |
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