[See more 2012 Christmas Tech Deals]
Everyone wants a nice laptop to buy, but so many people do not know what they are looking for in a laptop for what they do. We want to take a moment to review some laptops for you.
Now, there is a fine line here that I am well aware and I have been on both sides and think that each has their own valid points. Some people are Apple fanboys through and through. OS matters as does the sexiness of their marketing department’s commericals. Others have been Microsoft allies to the end. They need programming flexibility along with low cost parts, even if they have a higher virus infection rate.
We are not going to fight this fight and will offer two laptop choices regardless of your computer orientation. What we will not do is give in to paying too much for our laptops, so enjoy these suggestions.
VIZIO Thin Ultrabook
Cost: $849
The Thin + Light model contains a Intel i5 1.7GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB hard drive, 14″ screen, battery life of 7 hours, and weights 3.4 lbs. VIZIO has come a long way in making computers, from a seeming joke a decade ago to the top rated Microsoft laptop of 2012. Forget Alienware, you need enough power to run your browser with your blog, Facebook account, and GMail as well as Photoshop, WORD, and Spotify. Purchasing the top of the line laptop fully teched out would be a waste of money and this by far the best-buy-for-your-money laptop on the market, period.
MacBook Air
Cost: $999
The MacBook Air has the Intel Core i5 1.7GHz processor, 4GB RAM, 11″ screen, 5 hours of battery life, and weights 2.38 lbs. Whether you are writing your Seminary paper at Starbucks, doing some HTML coding on Coda 2 for your latest WordPress theme, or using Keynote ten minutes before you have to dash out to an important business meeting, this is for you. Laptops are about functionality within portability and the MacBook Air is the lightest laptop on the market and weights less than a pound more than an iPad. (and it has a keyboard!) For those on the go, this is for you.
Laptops to Avoid
- MacBook Pro You are not rendering videos constantly, you do not have video games running along with some screen capture software, and you are not trying to run parallel doctorate physics calculations while opening Photoshop CS6. You might have to pay $4,000+ for a VERY heavy and overly large computer…
- Alienware Are you going to pay $2,5000 so that your keyboard lights up? Really? Even the PC gamers have begun to let go of that brand.
- Samsung Series 9 There is a reason that Samsung makes phones. Even worse, they have a TERRIBLE tech support for your computers, so even if it seems cheap, its because they are!
- Microsoft RT Surface First off, it is a tablet and I am just putting it here to make a point. Secondly, it was not even rated a good tablet… Do not buy it.
So there you have it. We would love to hear your thoughts and reactions to our picks. Agree or disagree? Did we miss something?
Paul Clifford (@PodcastinChurch) says
We’re going to have to agree to disagree.
If you’re a videographer or graphic designer, a Mac Book Pro is ESSENTIAL unless you’re buying multiple computers. I sometimes have video transcoding while I’m writing.
An Air _can_ transcode video, but I’d only buy an Air if I was speaking as much as I’d like to AND had a beefier computer for editing, like a MacPro.
When I transcode our Sunday services, it’s a couple of our process on a MacBook Pro. It would be much slower on an Air.
Jeremy Smith says
I am confused. I think we are saying the same thing on the MacBook Pro, that it is better than the Air. I agree that videographers and photographers need a Pro… am I missing something?