Important features

Important features(三):

Some laptops offer a connection for a docking station, a $100 to $200 base that makes it easy to connect an external monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, network, and power in one step.Most

laptops let you attach those devices anyway, without the docking station. At least two USB ports,

for easy hookup of, say, a printer, digital camera, or scanner, is standard. A wired network

(Ethernet) port is common, as is a FireWire port for digital-video transfer. An internal wireless-

network (Wi-Fi) adapter is standard. Another option is an internal Bluetooth wireless adapter to

link to a cell phone or another laptop.A growing number of laptops include fingerprint scanners

for security and as a convenient alternative to typing a password when logging in.For backing up

files or transferring them to other computers, you can use a USB memory drive (about $20 and

up), which fits on a keychain and holds as much data as a CD-R, or save files on a writeable CD or

camera-memory card. The small speakers built into laptops often sound tinny. Headphones or

external speakers deliver much better sound.