Chips By Russell Holly Dec. 20, 2013 10:31 am
While there’s certainly plenty of us out there that can’t leave the house without more than one gadget tethering us to the digital world, there’s at least as many people out there who appreciate the internet from a more casual perspective. These users don’t need the most powerful experience or the most mobile one, but instead desire something that just plain works. We’ve taken a look at some of the best laptops for home use, meaning something you can enjoy using while wasting a Saturday on the couch, preparing a big meal in the kitchen, or curled up in bed.
The home laptop (what was once dominated by clunky “desktop replacements”) is a unique category because it is currently in the middle of a serious shift. When your work computer is your dominant computer, the machine you use at home is usually just for fun. With the rapid increase in the capabilities of smartphones and tablets over the last couple of years, the computer you use at home may not be a laptop at all — it may be a tablet, whose job is to offer you mostly entertainment.
Tablets are fully capable of being laptop replacements for some people, but not everyone is ready to detach the keyboard just yet. As a result the devices that made it to our list of best laptops for home use may not be laptops in the most conventional sense, but that’s really due more to how we use these devices today than anything else.
[h=3]Acer C720 Chromebook[/h] If the purpose of a home use laptop is to be dependable, simple to use, and capable of surviving eight or more hours of being tossed around the home, Acer’s C720 Chromebook easily offers the best bang for your buck. At $200, this 11.6-inch laptop is more than capable of handling tasks like browsing, instant messenger, streaming video, and anything else you would do on the web.
It’s a Chrome OS laptop (aka a Chromebook) so you won’t have access to things like Steam unless you get a little crazy and install full blown desktop Linux on it, but as a strictly browsing machine it is light and fast. Plus, at $200 you won’t cry too much if it falls off of the makeshift perch you made for it in the kitchen while trying out a new recipe.
[h=3]Apple MacBook Air[/h] Being light and thin with decent battery life are important parts of a home use laptop, but if you’re looking to occasionally do a little more with your laptop there’s a good chance you’re looking for a MacBook Air. The Haswell-powered 11.6-inch sliver of dense aluminum that is a MacBook air does a really great job being a decent all around laptop. It feels nice and durable, it’s powerful enough to handle gaming or browsing, and the battery life on this machine outclasses most other laptops on the shelves today.
You won’t get something this nice without shelling out for it, so if the MacBook Air is what you think you need in your life, be prepared to spend $1000 for the base model and work your way up for more storage or a larger display.
Next page: Some of the best home use laptops aren’t even laptops…
More...
The home laptop (what was once dominated by clunky “desktop replacements”) is a unique category because it is currently in the middle of a serious shift. When your work computer is your dominant computer, the machine you use at home is usually just for fun. With the rapid increase in the capabilities of smartphones and tablets over the last couple of years, the computer you use at home may not be a laptop at all — it may be a tablet, whose job is to offer you mostly entertainment.
Tablets are fully capable of being laptop replacements for some people, but not everyone is ready to detach the keyboard just yet. As a result the devices that made it to our list of best laptops for home use may not be laptops in the most conventional sense, but that’s really due more to how we use these devices today than anything else.
[h=3]Acer C720 Chromebook[/h] If the purpose of a home use laptop is to be dependable, simple to use, and capable of surviving eight or more hours of being tossed around the home, Acer’s C720 Chromebook easily offers the best bang for your buck. At $200, this 11.6-inch laptop is more than capable of handling tasks like browsing, instant messenger, streaming video, and anything else you would do on the web.
It’s a Chrome OS laptop (aka a Chromebook) so you won’t have access to things like Steam unless you get a little crazy and install full blown desktop Linux on it, but as a strictly browsing machine it is light and fast. Plus, at $200 you won’t cry too much if it falls off of the makeshift perch you made for it in the kitchen while trying out a new recipe.
[h=3]Apple MacBook Air[/h] Being light and thin with decent battery life are important parts of a home use laptop, but if you’re looking to occasionally do a little more with your laptop there’s a good chance you’re looking for a MacBook Air. The Haswell-powered 11.6-inch sliver of dense aluminum that is a MacBook air does a really great job being a decent all around laptop. It feels nice and durable, it’s powerful enough to handle gaming or browsing, and the battery life on this machine outclasses most other laptops on the shelves today.
You won’t get something this nice without shelling out for it, so if the MacBook Air is what you think you need in your life, be prepared to spend $1000 for the base model and work your way up for more storage or a larger display.
Next page: Some of the best home use laptops aren’t even laptops…
More...
