2. What's A 17" Notebook Good For, Anyway? Continued

A larger form factor also makes more room for system components inside the case, and for more ports and connections on the outside. That explains how our test candidate for this articlethe HP Pavilion dv8000zcan offer all the ports and connectors that you could reasonably expect from any modern PC as well as two hard drives.

A photo of the MSI S270 12.1" notebook next to the HP dv8000z.

So why not just buy a small form factor (SFF) PC with an external 17" TFT monitor instead? First, a SFF PC needs more desk or tabletop space for its components. For another, an SFF-PC and external monitor are more not less difficult to handle when portability is an issue.

The footprint for a 17" notebook is smaller than that of a complete SFF PC.

This illustrates another advantage for transportable notebooks. Even though the notebook can't be upgraded or extended like a PC, it will still meet the needs of more than 90% of users. And when you stop to consider that a system like this test machine costs around $1,800 this laptop deserves at least a second look.