How to Choose a Notebook Based on Hard Drives, CD and DVD Drive Options
Notebooks can come with generally have a hard disk and optical drives. Floppies are pretty much non-existent in the portable market now. Sometimes when reading the specifications or ads for a notebook you may see a reference to spindles. Each drive in a notebook constitutes a spindle. Thus a system with a floppy, hard drive and CD-Rom drive would have 3 spindles. But what do you need to know when reading the specifications for a notebook computer?
Hard Drives
The first factor is the speed of the hard drive. In most cases, notebook hard drives spin at a 4,200rpm speed. Some higher performance systems and desktop replacements will feature 5,400rpm drives. The high spin rate allows for better performance but also uses up more battery life when not plugged into an outlet.
Notebook drives are typically 2.5" in size and can range from 20 up to 160 GB in size.
Most systems will have between 40 and 80 GB of data size that is more than enough for the standard notebook system. If you are looking at a desktop replacement class notebook to be a primary system, look at getting a 60GB or larger hard drive with the computer. Some of the ultraportable systems use the newer 1.8" PC card style hard drives. These range in size from about 10 to 60 GB.
Drive accessibility matters in case you plan to upgrade your hard drive or to replace a damaged hard drive. Many notebooks available in the retail channels have the hard drives installed internally. This means that only an authorized technician will be able to open up the computer to either repair or replace a damaged hard drive. This generally isn't a problem for many people, but in a corporate environment it can cause increased down time for a worker. Notebooks that have drive bays that are accessible or swappable have the advantage of easy and quick access for upgrade or replacements.
Optical Drives
The optical drives are the key drive choice to make when purchasing a notebook system. How the system is to be used is key to the selection of the proper optical drive for the system. It is pretty much a requirement to have an optical drive either in the computer or attached externally. Without an optical drive it will not be possible to install new software onto the system. So if you are looking at an ultraportable, make sure to get an external drive or docking station with an optical drive or you will run into problems.
But what type of drive should you get? Whatever type you do get, it really should be compatible with DVDs. One of the great advantages to notebook computers is their ability to be used as portable DVD players. Anyone who flies regularly has seen at least one person pull out a notebook and start watching a movie during the flight. A basic CD-ROM drive will be sufficient for loading applications and playing audio CDs, but why loose the functional of a movie player.
CD-RW drives are useful for some people who require high capacity removable storage for backing up applications and data or for the individual wanting to create custom mix music CDs. This is good for a desktop replacement or a heavily used notebook system. Once again, if you are looking at getting a CD-RW drive, try to get one that is a combo drive. Having the ability to playback DVD movies on the go is a must.
What about a DVD writer drive? These are great multifunctional drives that can be used to read and write CDs as well as play or record DVDs. Be warned that even that fastest notebook burners are far slower than a desktop burner. Dual or Double Layer drives are also starting to show up in systems for those requiring support for the 8.5GB storage discs. Any DVD burner in a notebook should be compatible with both the +R/RW and -R/RW media.
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