Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Which laptop feature matters least?

Interesting. I asked this question from Louis, Jeff Somogyi, and Jim:

I'm building an HP laptop to use for our Facebook giveaway, and I'm working within a budget. Which one of these features would you think matters least?
  • 512MB ATI Radeon(TM) HD 4530 Graphics (compared to default graphics)
  • Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer (compared to DVD burner)
  • 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (compared to 6-cell)
Each person gave me very different answers:
  • Louis: "Hmm, if it's a 16" or bigger [it is], I'd say the battery is least important. Those machines are too clunky too lug around. Esp w/ a video card ... you're gonna want to plug into an AC outlet otherwise battery will wipe out fast."
  • Jeff S.: "Hmm ... looks to me like of each of those choices would benefit from the others, but I'd have to say graphics. Long battery life is a great feature, as is Blu-ray. And the graphics card shouldn't matter TOO much, unless someone wants to do video editing.
  • Jim: "For me, it would be Blu-ray. You can't ever replace the graphics, I give that a high priority. Everything else can be upgraded later."
Wow, three PC users (Jim and Louis also use Macs) who share a lot of interests, and three completely different answers.

I decided to take Jim's advice and dump Blu-ray. The fact of the matter is, I just don't think as many people care about having a laptop play Blu-ray movies compared to having faster graphics (especially for games) and having a longer battery life. But if I'm wrong, a Blu-ray drive can usually be added later.

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