We have broken them down into the following broad categories:

• desktop replacement laptops
• home laptops
• ultraportable laptops
• gaming laptops
• business and professional laptops
• budget laptops

Desktop Replacement Laptops

These laptops are generally used at home as a replacement of the more traditional desktop computers. They are often times the only PC owned by an individual. They need to be relatively fully featured and will have the processing power and peripherals needed to handle multimedia applications. Common features in the PCs are relatively fast processors, sufficient RAM, an integrated WiFi card and large hard disk. Since they are fully equipped with hardware, they are relatively large and heavy. They are also characterized by a large video screen and a midrange graphics card. These computers will also come equipped with upgraded writeable optical drives and a large variety of ports and slots.

Home Laptops

Home laptops are the mainstream product of most computer manufacturers and are the most common laptop category. They are not built with the latest advanced components, but they are very well equipped to perform everyday computing task at a reasonable cost. By design, they are general purpose PCs and will fit the needs of most buyers. These are truly utility computers by their nature and are generally suited for the home and the small business. These computers will generally come equipped with a midrange processor, a sufficient amount of RAM and a midsized hard drive. They will also have a standard graphics card and a display that is approximately 15 to 17 inches. They cost a little more than the budget class of laptop, but are a bit more powerful and fully featured.

Ultraportable Laptops

Ultraportable laptops are designed for one thing, the smallest size and the lightest weight possible. They are primarily intended for business people that do a lot of traveling. They will generally weigh in the 3 1/2 to 4 pound range and have a display that is about 12 inches. They will be supplied with enough memory demanded by the operating system and a relatively small hard drive. The integrated keyboards are also very small and may present some problems for certain users with larger hands or poor dexterity. They will also be configured with an integrated graphics card and a minimum amount of connectivity options. But for this somewhat limited feature set, these computers are priced at the upper end because this reduced size comes at a high price. Because this class of laptop computer is used primarily by business and professional people and has sensitive data on it, they are usually safeguarded by some sort of security device. Fingerprint readers are finding widespread use and have become integrated with many of these computers.

Gaming Laptops

These laptops are targeted at a niche market and have all of the necessary components to run today's advanced and power hungry games. However, despite the advanced CPUs, the large hard drives, the increased amount of RAM and the larger display sizes, they are pretty much predominated by one common feature, namely their graphics card that will come with the latest ATI or nVidia chipset. Gaming laptops are generally manufactured with the most advanced components and therefore have the highest cost in the laptop computer market. The weight and size of these laptops is not a consideration and they usually are the biggest and heaviest of the portable computers. These PCs are usually equipped with large hard drives that are the fastest in their class. The display size on most of these computers is 17 inches since this is demanded by the gaming population. These PCs are also equipped with an abundant supply of peripheral slots and USB ports so that the gamer will be able to use their speakers, headphones, joysticks and any other gaming device that their software may require.

Business and Professional Laptops

The laptops in this category come in a broad variety of standard configurations to target the subcategories in this market segment. True business models may only need to run spreadsheets and word processors and offer connectivity for e-mail and web access. On the other hand, some of the laptops designed for the tech savvy professional will be equipped for the power user that needs to run complex software applications. The laptops in this category are usually targeted to the various niches within it. In any case, these laptops are usually equipped with safety devices, durable housings and video options for connecting to various display types in a presentation setting and long life batteries.

Budget Laptops

These laptops will appeal to the consumer that has a modest budget for a laptop computer. Many of these systems can be found at the local electronics store or directly from the manufacturer for around $500-$700 when they are on sale. They do not use any of the new and cutting edge high tech components that will be found in the gaming or business/professional laptops, but will incorporate components that are reliable and in abundant supply. All in all, these computers offers some of the best value in the laptop PC market and are worthy of your consideration if you do not have extreme technology requirements. These laptops are generally equipped with 14 to 15 edge display panels, a standard WiFi card, a small to medium hard drive and a modest amount of RAM. Some of these shortcomings can be corrected with component upgrades after the purchase.