A lot of factors, which go beyond performance and connections, should be considered when you shop for notebook computers. You have to consider additional variables as size, weight, screen dimensions, battery life, and keyboard quality.

Processor: Notebooks using dual-core processors perform faster than notebooks using single-core processors, particularly when multitasking.

System memory: A new notebook generally includes 512MB of system memory. Many notebooks today are available with 1GB of RAM which will help extend its useful lifetime.

Graphics memory: A 128MB of dedicated video RAM is ideal. Make that the memory dedicated for graphics use, rather than being pulled from main memory (shared memory). Gamers should look for advanced 3D graphics chips, with 256MB to 512MB of graphics memory.