Should you look at speed or capacity when buying a vehicle?

Should you look at color or size when buying a shoe?

Should you look at the cleanliness or volume when buying water.

Should you look at the pitch or size when buying a saxophone.

Should you look at…

Really it depends on what you intend to do with the laptop. A high-end CPU says “I can execute a lot of instructions per second so I make the computer very fast.” A large RAM says “I can keep track of a lot of applications and data and make them available to you at any point in time so I make the computer very fast.”

If you find yourself running a lot of apps (or a few heavy ones) at the same time, you’ll definitely benefit from a large RAM. If you find yourself rubbing apps tubed to take advantage of hardware acceleration, you’ll benefit from a good GPU. If you find yourself running apps tuned for multi-core processing, you’ll benefit from multiple core CPUs.

There are a lot of other factors like OS, crapware (useless apps, widgets and toolbars that often plague Windows), viruses, disk, etc.

If your laptop slows down when it’s not plugged in, it’s probably because you have a power saver plan which spins down your system resources to conserve battery.
If what you need is a laptop for the library or coffee shop web surfing and you’re willing to invest some cash, you should probably get a Macbook Air. Word on the streets is that it can do 12 hours on battery.

Your problem isn’t the CPU or the RAM, but the battery life.

So you might not need to buy a new laptop: buying a new battery for your existing laptop might be enough (battery life diminishes over time, as you keep recharging it).

If you want to buy a new laptop, choosing a model will depend on your budget and onhow you plan to use the laptop: you mention browsing at the coffee shop, but are you also retouching pictures, while listening to music, Skyping and downloading files? Or are you just browsing with no other processes running? And even then, is Chrome running “bare” or with 30 extensions?
Because each process/program will contribute to draining the battery faster., so as some have explained above, learning how to manage/optimize your battery performance based on your location is important.

Rather than choosing a model based on the CPU or the amount of RAM, compare models for their autonomy, knowing that sub-notebooks/netbooks tend to have a better autonomy than full laptops (and a smaller screen, compared to the 15+ inches you’re currently using).
Note: these days, I wouldn’t buy a regular laptop with less than 8GB of RAM, which is pretty much standard for entry-level laptops. For netbooks, it’s different, since you’re trading “computing power, memory, and hard drive” for “small, and versatile” (often, the netbook will not be a full substitute, but rather a complement to your laptop).

Also, if your problem on the move is mostly about finding a plug, but still prefer having a regular laptop, you might consider getting an external laptop battery (ex:Amazon.com: Energizer XP18000 Universal AC Adapter with External Battery for Laptops, Netbooks, and More: Computers & Accessories). I had one of those to work in the park more than 10 yrs ago, and was very happy with the extra-autonomy it gave me. I’m guessing today’s models perform even better.

One last thought: Does it have to be a Windows Machine? If not, look at chromebooksand other machines running Android, and – at the other end of the spectrum – look atMacs. Keep in mind that since Apple moved to Intel chips, you can always have Windows on a partition of your Mac. Yes, Macs are (much) more expensive, but once you’ve had one, you’ll never go back if you can afford it.

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