Laptop display brightness: A bright laptop screen is usually one that drains the battery quickly. Besides, 300 nits is so bright that it's hard to look at indoors, and most users turn their display's brightness down a little anyway.

The exception? Display brightness is important for people who often use their laptops outdoors. If you do, you'll want all the brightness you can get. Related:

Amount of RAM: No doubt about it, in any computer you're better off having more RAM. A netbook with 2GB of RAM will be a lot snappier than a laptop with 1GB. If you're serious about performance, don't settle for less than 4GB--and getting 6GB or 8GB of RAM isn't a bad idea. Related:

A roomy, 7200-rpm hard drive: Usually listed in revolutions per minute, "hard-drive speed" refers to how fast the platter spins. Faster-spinning platters generate both faster data-transfer speeds and faster seek times. A 7200-rpm hard drive will often produce a more responsive feel than a 5400-rpm hard drive will. Related: