Hello there.  When looking at laptop notebooks, you may want to be extremely careful in your review.  This is so because you will have your notebook for a long time.  You will learn about a variety of laptop notebook point here.  Later, you will be able to use these points to buy the best notebook for you.  The first thing that you should consider is what type of operating platform to have on your notebook.  Today, they are generally limited to either a Windows operating platform or a Macintosh operating platform.  Both platforms are good but people find that it is harder to learn Macintosh but when learned it is easier to use.  Most people find that Windows is an easier platform to learn but it is a bit more complicated than Macintosh.  What will probably make your decision for you is what platform you are currently using.  This is because your existing files and your existing programs are based in either Macintosh or Windows.  You cannot go back and forth between them.  As such, you should probably choose to use whatever platform that you are currently using.You have a wide variety of manufacturers of laptop notebooks.  They include the most common brands of Hewlett Packard, IBM, Toshiba, Gateway, Dell, Sony, and the Apple by Macintosh. Take a look at each manufacturers’ site to learn about them and what comprises these units.  You will learn a whole lot about them.Let’s talk about some essential hardware that you should have.  I highly suggest that you purchase as much random access memory, (RAM), as possible.  It is so cheap today and it permits your programs to grab as much memory as it needs to run quickly and flawlessly.  It helps to speed up the whole computing process.  I also recommend purchasing at least a 250GB hard drive.  I remember back in the late seventies when a 40 meg hard drive was sufficient.  They are very outdated now.  Perhaps, in the future a 250GB drive will be outdated but I do not see that happening for a long time.I always like to buy a fast processor but with a twist.  I always buy the second fastest processor available for two reasons.  First, you will spend a bunch more money on the top performing processor due to its newness.  Second, the second fastest processor is usually not second in speed by much in comparison to the fastest processor.I recommend buying a notebook with at least four and preferably six universal serial bus, (USBs) ports. These ports will allow your notebook to perform many other functions with peripheral devices such as cameras, printers, scanners, GPSs and card readers.  Having six give more room for future devices.I recommend that you should not only buy a CD player but also a CD player that also plays DVDs.  I also recommend that such CD/DVD player also have the ability to write or burn such disks.  You can use this device to do many tasks such as backing up files, transferring files from notebooks to computers as well as copying music and moves.  Please remember about Copyright laws though.I have some final miscellaneous advice to consider when looking at laptop notebooks.  Try to purchase audio and visual cards that are upgraded.  They will allow your multi-media programs and games to run quickly and without hesitation.  In fact, some of these cards have their own processors on them to make them faster and take away some of the computing functions from the main processor.  This makes them fast and keeps the main processor cooler.  One final component to consider is a wireless Internet receiver.  You can move your laptop notebooks from room to room without being attached to an annoying cable.  Try to buy a N rated receiver as this is the highest performing wireless connection available today.Well, I hope that these point have helped.  I wish you the best choice when reviewing laptop notebooks