Although a laptop purchase isn’t a very long term investment, it’s still a hefty one. Here are some things to consider:
First, let’s assume you have already chosen your OS and you know how much power and hard drive space you need. Remember, many people have good intentions about “upgrading later,” but never do. You should also keep in mind that, unlike desktops, you’re fairly locked-in with internal storage and completely stuck with your graphics processor.
Size
Size, it matters. You’re going to need to seriously decide how big you want your laptop to be. Is it going to be a desk machine, rarely leaving one spot, or, do you want to be on the go? If you end up carrying around a 9lb. beast all the time, you’re going to hate it. Make comparisons, too. A pound can make a big difference, at the same time, the footprint for a 15in laptop versus a 14in laptop may be the same.
Sandy Bridge
These are Intel’s 2nd generation of Core-i. They came out last March, so you may still find first generation Core-i’s on the cheap. So, when you’re doing your price comparisons, be sure to keep this in mind. Sandy Bridge cores run about 5-10% faster, while at the same time, run cooler and use less battery power. If you’re looking at a machine without dedicated GFX, Sandy Bridge performs better as an integrated solution, too. If it’s just about dollars and cents, this doesn’t matter, but if you want the most for your money, be sure to keep this in mind.
Solid State
If you have the money, get it. They are faster, have lower latency, silent, and have no moving parts. That’s an unbeatable combination. Unfortunately, a Solid State Drive will push your price point up.
Screen
How valuable is screen real estate to you? Figure out a good balance, and stick to it! If you don’t have enough screen space, you’ll find yourself frustrated all the time. You need to think about how you’re going to be using it. If you’re going to surf the web and write blog posts, you may not need much, but if you’re going to do graphic work, you need room for your image and all of those toolbars. Keep resolution in mind, too. A 15in display can give you more screen real estate than a 17in display by way of resolution. Remember, you can’t upgrade your screen. If you plan on doing graphic or video work, take the RGB LED back-lighting plunge. RGB LED back-lighting is going to give you a purer white and richer colours, especially with your green and blues.
Chiclet Keyboards
They’re not just for cool people, anymore. Less dust, less fluff, less crumbs, less breakage. They are more comfortable, and your 2-year old can’t pop them off as well (true story). Plus, many times they are back-lit, which is great for low-lighting situations.
Build
Apple owns the market on this. They are sturdy. HP has since released a “look-a-like,” but it isn’t just about looks. Plastic can be tough, too. If you can get your hands on it, do it. If you found a machine you like online, try to find it at a local store, so you can really get a feel for it. Why? You will drop your laptop. It’s a fact. It may be in your bag, it may be in your car, it may be out of your chair, but you will drop it, and you want it to hold-up!
USB 3.0
Get it. The chances of using any kind of external storage for your laptop is fairly high, so if you end up with an external drive (or device), you certainly won’t mind 3.2 Gigabits per second versus the 400MB per second that USB 2.0 runs at.
When you’re looking for a laptop, what are the top things you consider?
[HT: Make Use Of | Images via Djenan Kozic & Jessica Garro]
Matthew Snider says
The only thing I consider is Air or Not? Macbooks are the only thing I will buy till I die!
Eric Dye says
LOL! That’s awesome. Macs are very nice.
Allan White says
The way I see the “Mac/PC” question, when I get asked: you buy a Mac, you can run both. Heck, decide later. It’s just good hardware that can run nearly ALL the desktop software out there (Mac/Win/Linux).
Eric Dye says
True.
Henry Happ says
After just taking the plunge and moving to a Macbook Pro after a lifetime of PCs, I agree: you can run both. The cool part is that I was able to import my Win7 install into a Fusion VM and retained all of the PC specific tools and apps and almost all of the speed. (Unity is really cool!)
The hardware is really nice, but there is a definitely a learning curve. But this is a digression from the original point. 🙂
Eric Dye says
It’s great to hear from others experiences. Thanks for commenting!
Dustin W. Stout says
I’m ashamed to say that I am a graphic designer working on a 2yr old, $500 dell laptop that I got from my parents for Christmas 2yrs ago.
I am currently saving up to get a MacBook Pro. This was a great post (even though it made me loathe my current machine even more). 😉
Eric Dye says
Hang in there, man. The machine doesn’t make the man. 😉
Jared Erickson says
psshh it’s not about the machine it’s about what you can do with it 😉
Eric Dye says
Oooohhhhhh!!!!!!!
You dropped some knowledge down on this!
Allan White says
Thunderbolt is changing the game a lot. For event and video production at the Luis Palau Association, it’s been a pretty solid requirement to have a 17″ or 15″ MacBook Pro with Firewire 800 and an ExpressCard slot (for video breakout stuff).
Thunderbolt is going to change all that, I think. We can now (or will soon) bridge to eSATA, Fibre Channel, 10gigE, etc. Matrox I think already has a T’bolt interface for their MXO 2 box.
So, that means for that usage, size is less of a factor. Having a big HD screen for running ProPresenter is really nice, I will say.
For web & presentation computing, or travel photography projects, a MacBook Air might even work. If I was doing all web dev all the time, I might choose that.
Can I have both? =)
Eric Dye says
Great add, Allan. That would have been an excellent add to the list, for sure. Thanks for adding more value!
Allan White says
You’re welcome! I get this question so much (from inside & outside our .org) that I’ve had to create an “Ask Allan” category for emails. I really should make it an “ask a question” area on a tumblog.
Eric Dye says
You should consider weaving some post for ChurchMag.
Allan White says
Thanks man, I’m open to it. Email me; I’ll share areas I think I could offer some value, and perhaps you (or your readers! There’s a post idea) could share what they’re interested in.
Here’s a few sample posts in my Art of Presenting category on my blog. Been too busy to write lately!
Eric Dye says
Nice! You can email me at the address found at the bottom of this page: https://churchm.ag/contribute/
Chris Langille says
I was so torn between PC and Mac. I didn’t believe all the hype about Mac, but at the recommendation of a good friend, I finally decided to spend the dough and get the 13″ MacBookPro. It’s my first ever Mac and I must say, I will never own another PC as long as I live. I was worried about the 13″ screen but it’s actually the perfect size for a laptop, and the internal specs are all I need for blogging and video editing.
Eric Dye says
I hear this more and more. Mac’s are tight, really tight. When you can build your hardware and your OS hand in hand, it’s slick.
Eric J says
Definitely agree about the SSD, i’m never going back!
As the “tech guy” for most of the people i know i tell them to get at least a core i-3 and 4gb of ram with their laptop build. Since most of them are playing casual games, and using ms office a core i3 and 4gb is perfect for them.
Eric Dye says
Nice knowledge drop!
10pts for you.
Casueal says
Chiclet keyboards are certainly not more comfortable than traditional ones. Also, Lenovo owns the market on build quality, not Apple.