Three Stylish Laptops With Great Hardware Specs
By Dappered Technology Correspondent Paul Olson
Read More of Paul’s work at pauldavidolson.com/blog. You’ll probably learn something. I always do.
Apple used to own high-style tech. They were one of the first to wrap a laptop in titanium, they got rid of desk clutter with their iMac line, and they shocked the world with the iPhone. Things have changed. Lately, the big news at Apple is that their new iPhone 4 is cursed. It’s tough to be king.
Not only is Google taking on the iPhone with its Android OS, everybody wants a piece of the stylish laptop market. Here are a few good-looking options:
HP Pavilion DV4-2161NR 14.1-Inch Laptop (Digital Plaid) – $619.99
There’s a lot to like about this HP Pavilion laptop: 4 GB memory, 500 GB hard drive, Windows 7, 14.1-inch screen, and 4 hours of batter life. But the big news is its plaid skin. It’s subtle enough to be awesome, and only $620.
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Acer Aspire TimelineX AS4820T-5570 14-Inch HD Display – $719.99
I like Acer a lot. They offer great value and great specs. The Acer Aspire TimelineX has similar specs to the HP (just a smaller hard drive – 320 GB instead of 500 GB), but it boasts 8 HOURS of battery life and it’s less than 1 inch thick (the HP above is 1.6″ thick). It you prefer to stay disconnected longer, this Acer laptop has one of the best batteries around. And the brushed aluminum? Hot, but slightly more expensive at $720.
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ASUS U43JC-X1 14-Inch Bamboo Laptop (10 Hours Battery Life) – $999.99
Last in the list is this new bamboo-clad laptop from Asus. Note the lack of a cool name. U43JC-X1? Makes no sense. Again, slightly more money to get fairly similar specs. $999 gets you better battery life than the Acer, a big hard drive like the HP, and higher resolution screen. Bad news? It’s currently out of stock. Bamboo, however, is a fast-growing renewable resource. Expect more soon.
What do you think? How do these stack up against the shiny new MacBooks?
These are some great looking machines. I’m glad to see that Acer is stepping it up some.
But…after switching to OS X, I have no desire to ever use Windows software again. For example: I was setting up my sister’s brand-new Dell laptop. One of the first things I did was install Firefox, but in those first ten minutes or so, IE “stopped responding” three separate times…
In response to Jonathan:
I bought a Macbook Pro a year ago and a firmware update came out about 2 or 3 weeks later. After it was installed the computer became completely unusable. The spinning beach ball would just go forever. I took it in to the Apple store and they had to give me a different computer. I guess what I am trying to get at is that Apple products do break – and they break hard. I actually had less trouble with Windows over the years.
BTW – I have laptops with both operating systems. They both definitely have their strengths and weaknesses.
Kinda related — I put Ubuntu on my mom’s 5-year-old laptop and she fell in love with it.
Kevin, I’m totally aware. My MacBook isn’t perfect and I know people who have had issues with their Apple machines. But I’ve had many more problems with Windows than otherwise.
And Paul, I’ve never messed with Ubuntu but I’d like to at some point!
As an IT consultant, I would be remiss if I didn’t note that the HP laptop is an utter piece of garbage. Spec wise it is fine, but in terms of reliability I have stacks of HP laptops that have had various hardware failures. If you are using your laptop for business, buy a Lenovo T-Series (end of story). Lenovos are not the prettiest laptop, heck they look the same as IBM laptops from 10 years ago, but they will take the abuse of flights, spilling coffee on keyboard, being dropped while jogging on a treadmill and keep going. Much like a blackberry, they are not pretty, but when someone sees you with one, they know you are serious about your business. I say all this an my company is a Dell partner and Dell makes decent servers, desktops and workstation laptops, but I still recommend to all my clients who carry their laptops that they spend the extra money on a Lenovo T-Series.
The three Stylish Laptops whicn with Great Hardware Specs are so cool ,they must work fast.