Thinking about buying yourself a notebook? We don’t blame you! We can think of more than one reason for you to switch from your old PC to a new laptop. Name it: portability, mobility, productivity, plus all the good stuff compacted in a way smaller, thinner, and lighter (whoopee!) computer. Tired of bringing the whole PC gang to your service center whenever there’s a problem? Then it really is time for you to get a notebook.

But how do you choose which is the right one to buy? Read on.

Memory Installed. It’s quite simple, actually. If you have more memory installed, you can run more applications simultaneously. The performance of a notebook is greatly dependent on how much memory it has. Opt for a notebook that has a big preinstalled memory, than a notebook which is upgradeable.

Processor. The processor determines how quickly a notebook can run applications. It also performs on-screen tasks. At present, Intel’s Core 2 Duo is one of the fastest in town. Unless they release a Quad Core for notebooks all of a sudden.

Screen Size. A notebook’s LCD screen is quoted as a digital measurement. You get a higher maximum resolution when your screen is larger, and you can also view more information at once. Right now, most notebooks have wide-screens. But if you’re not so particular with screen size, a notebook with a standard-aspect screen will do.

Hard Drive. If you want to store more data, get a larger hard drive. But most people don’t need more than 80GB. Unless you work with databases, spreadsheets, or digital photo or video files, 80GB or less will be just fine for you.

Expansion Bays. You will have more options on switching in new optical drives / other storage drives if the notebook has more expansion bays. High-end ultra-portables generally have no extra bays, but you can always purchase external drive for these types of notebooks.

Optical Drives. Currently, available notebooks come with rewritable DVD drives to offer you full flexibility. But if this feature is not extremely important to you, you can opt for the notebook that has a DVD-ROM / CD-RW drive because these are usually cheaper.

Warranty. I bought myself an ASUS just because of their two year global warranty. I opted for this since I know that my notebook will take power user “abuse” with all the applications I’ll be running. And I want that extra insurance that I’d have support over the next two years. Most brands, however, offer it for only a year. Unless, of course, you pay extra.

Remember that the economy of buck per band may not be necessary for your purchase. It’s more of what you need and what are going to use it for. For simple word processing and web surfing work, heck, a Core Duo, 512MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive might be more than enough for you and at their current rates you can get these babies cheap.

Oh, considering a Mac? Read Michael’s How to Switch to a Mac post.