It amazing to think that the first computers, were the size of large rooms and now they can fit in your lap. Recent developments in computer technology have allowed for the miniaturization of electronic components and as such smaller devices such as notebooks.

Since laptops are a lot smaller than desktops, the need for the bits and bobs inside them had to be smaller. As such repairing or upgrading them became more difficult.

Processors had to be specifically designed for the task of being in a laptop. They were required to consume less power, produce less heat and be physically smaller. The first chip on the market was the Intel Celeron. These days though the technology has advanced to such a stage that the technical specification between the notebooks and desktops is practically the same.

The choice between whether or not to purchase a laptop or a desktop now is more a matter of preference than it is about power. Personally I’d always go for the desktop but that’s because I’m careless and couldn’t stand the thought of losing it.

I will just give you a brief overview of some technical things that you should know about so that you will be able to make a more informed judgment on which notebook to buy and the differences between prices.

The main part of the laptop is the processor as is with all PCs. This is the item that performs tasks such as opening word or playing a song. Basically the faster the processor can run the faster the PC will run.

The RAM is the part of the computer that feeds the processor its tasks. The more RAM you have the more tasks you can feed the processor at once.

Notebooks either have a dedicated graphics card or on-board graphics. I would advise trying to get a laptop with a dedicated graphics card purely because on-board graphics uses part of the RAM to operate whereas the dedicated graphics has its own separate memory to use. Now let me go back to my plate analogy, if we think of the on-board graphics as a smaller plate with someone else’s food on it and placed it on our larger plate there would be much less room for us to place our food meaning I wouldn’t be able to eat as much at once.

I hope you feel you know a little bit more about notebooks and that you are able to now distinguish between different specifications and why the prices vary so much.

Andrew Johnson is an expert in electronic products. If you want more information about types of notebooks or are searching for a trusted computer retailer please visit http://www.ebuyer.com