Some laptops feature switchable graphics, using an integrated chip to preserve battery life, and a dedicated graphics card for maximum performance. You'll find such switching tech available with both AMD and nVidia processors, and for Windows and Mac notebooks.

Operating system: Windows laptops are less predictable when recovering from sleep and usually appreciate shutting down then restarting on each use, a process typically taking several minutes.

For instant-on accessibility, look to Apple's MacBook portables with their Mac OS X operating system. These also require less maintenance such as file defragmentation, and do not demand resource-hogging anti-virus software.

Interface devices: the rubber-tipped trackpoint was once popular, a small steering stick lying flush within the keyboard. These only tend to feature on some business laptops now. Most notebook computers use trackpad/touchpad sensors to allow the finger to control the motion of the on-screen cursor.

Multi-touch control, once only found on Apple portables, is now appearing on Windows laptops too in basic form. To make comfortable use of muti-touch, look for a decent size touchpad, at least 100 x 45mm.