If you plan to use your laptop’s touchpad, touch screen, and keyboard as the primary means of control, most of the time you may never need to plug in anything other than the power cord. In this case, you’ll rely on the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections that almost every laptop offers. The latest mainstream Wi-Fi standard is 802.11ax (also dubbed “Wi-Fi 6”) and it’s an important feature to look for in a laptop to ensure fast Wi-Fi connectivity in the future. Steer clear of the older 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5), though, as it’s now being phased out, with the highest-end Wi-Fi 6E standard appearing in more premium laptop options. Serious gamers might want to opt for a machine with a Killer Networks setup. It will allow for more granular control over giving wired or wireless gaming traffic priority on your internet connection. Business users and gamers may also want a dedicated Ethernet jack. Most gaming machines will have one, and some gamers insist wired Ethernet is still the only way to go for competitive online gaming. Some laptops implement Ethernet as a full-size or fold-out jack; others may come with an adapter in the box that routes Ethernet through a USB port. And still, others come with neither, leaving wired Ethernet up to you to add via a dongle if you want it. As for other physical connections, you’ll want to examine the edges of a given laptop carefully and take count. If you have an external storage device like a thumb drive, you’ll want to pay attention to the type and quantity of USB ports. Look for laptops that have both USB Type-A and Type-C ports. Type-A is the familiar rectangular connector that has been around for decades, while Type-C is smaller, oval-shaped, and sometimes doubles as a receptacle for the laptop’s charging cable. Budget laptops may only have Type-A ports, which is a disadvantage in an increasingly Type-C world. On the other hand, some ultra-thin designs only have Type-C ports, which means you’ll need dongles to connect any Type-A peripherals you might already own. If video output matters to you, check for a dedicated port like an HDMI connector, especially if you plan to connect your laptop to your TV, desktop monitor, or lecture hall A/V system. Sometimes video outputs are implemented on laptops as micro HDMI or mini DisplayPort connectors to save space. You’ll need a special cable to use these, which may or may not be included in the box. Photographers will benefit from a built-in SD or microSD card reader for more convenient image uploading. And if you plan to use your laptop in a public, unsecured location, a security notch for fastening a physical locking cable is helpful. These fall into two types, the Kensington-cable style and the Noble-lock style. Make sure the notch type matches the kind of cable you intend to use to tether the machine to an immovable object.