Most of today’s laptops sell primarily on price. The two largest computer manufacturers in the world, HP and Acer, are not well known for their quality and have poor overall reputations for reliability. They continue to dominate (at least in terms of pure volume of sales) not because they provide the highest quality of product but because they can provide an attractive product at a lower price than most competitors.
That’s great if you’re on a really tight budget and you simply need a functional laptop that will last a couple years. But what if you are willing to lay down extra money for a really top-notch laptop, one with the best quality and aesthetics? If this is the approach you are taking to shopping for a laptop, you options are more limited, but there are a few laptop brands worth checking out.
Apple
Apple’s reputation as one of the best quality laptop brands proceeds itself, but not everyone seems to believe it. While some consumers are already converted, willing to purchase anything Apple creates, other are deeply opposed to Apple and unwilling to consider any laptop made by the company. It is often argued that Apple laptops are overpriced, and when looked at purely from the hardware angle, this is an easy conclusion to make. However, when overall laptop quality is taken into consideration it is clear that Apple is among the highest quality laptop brands.
There are several reasons for this. One is simply the build quality of the hardware. Laptops of quality are defined by their screen, their keyboard, their trackpad and their chassis. Apple claims that the Aluminum chassis of a Macbook Pro starts life as a solid block and is machined into its final form. True or not, it certainly feels like a solid block, even after assembled. The next time you are at Best Buy, pick up a cheap laptop by just one side and hold it in the air. Notice how its chassis flexes? Now go try the same thing with a MacBook Pro. A lack of chassis flex is trait found only in the best quality laptops.
Apple also has a good reputation for laptop reliability. While Apple is not the most reliable brand, it is better than average. Apple’s reliability is backed up by best-in-industry customer service. Apple’s web and phone support has been praised repeatedly by both Laptop Magazine and Consumer Reports. Worried about using OS X? You don’t have to be. While Apple would probably prefer if you used their operating system, Apple ships all MacBooks with a program called Bootcamp which makes it easy to install Windows onto an Apple laptop.
Recommend Apple Laptops:
Sony
Sony is a rare breed. They are the only current laptop manufacturer which focuses completely on delivering the best quality laptop possible. There is simply no such thing as a budget-priced Sony laptop. The least expensive Sony laptops are usually around $600, but the majority of their products are between $800 and $1800 in price. This includes laptops such as the Sony Vaio CW series, the Sony Vaio F series, and the Sony Vaio Z series.
No matter which Sony laptop you consider, there are a few common traits which make Sony laptops stand out from the crowd. First, they have quality keyboards. The “island” style keyboard which is popular on so many laptops today was popularized by Sony, and Sony is still the leader when it comes to this type of keyboard. The keys are extremely well defined, with lots of space between them to prevent mis-typing, and provide good feedback. The trackpads are some of the best out there today. While most trackpads are somewhat sticky, Sony Vaio trackpads are smooth, making it easy to quickly navigate across your Windows desktop.
Part of Sony’s approach to quality includes style, as well. Sony Vaio laptops are available in all sorts of funky colors. Even the Sony Vaio E series, Sony’s least expensive mainstream laptop,
is available in colors like “Caribbean Green” and “Iridescent Blue.” It may seem silly, but having the ability to personalize your laptop with a nice color scheme can really make a laptop feel more like it is really “yours” rather than a pointless basic model.
Recommend Sony Laptops:
ASUS
When it comes to initial build quality, ASUS laptops are not always the best, at least not when compared to Sony or Apple. They do reasonably well, and are usually much better than laptops from vendors like Acer or MSI, whose products often show significant signs that they are being sold based on price rather than quality. However, ASUS makes up for somewhat less impressive initial build quality by providing superb reliability. ASUS laptops are currently the most reliable laptops you can buy.
They also provide an impressive argument from the hardware standpoint, and not just because they are relatively inexpensive given the hardware on offer. ASUS’s thing has always been battery life, and the company’s focus on this goal has allowed them to achieve a battery life of up to ten hours with their ultraportable laptops. Now, Apple users will probably wonder what the big deal is – afterall, some Macbook Pros can nearly last this long as well. But ASUS’s laptops are less expensive, lighter and often thinner than MacBook Pros.
In addition to great battery life, ASUS ultraportables are among the best overall ultraportable laptops on the market. There are better options once you start to consider laptops which cost $1500 or more, but ASUS provides similar features for around $700. The fact that ASUS ultraportables are of very high quality is all the more impressive considering their price.
Recommend ASUS Laptops:
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