In Search of the Perfect Laptop

By Tom McNichol

Finding the perfect laptop is a bit like finding the perfect car--it depends greatly on what your needs and tastes are. In a laptop, a high-powered corporate attorney will probably want a lightweight but powerful machine that can handle large files and memory-hogging programs without crashing. A litigator might go with a laptop that features a large screen, multiple ports, and memory chips optimized for the graphics capability that courtroom presentations require. A technophobe lawyer (I'm talking to you, Mr. I Still Have a Rolodex) probably will opt for an inexpensive, somewhat underpowered "netbook" that runs simple, stripped-down versions of popular software programs. And an increasing number of attorneys have adopted the laptop equivalent of the two-car garage: buying two laptops--one full-featured machine for everyday computing; and a second, cheaper mini-laptop to take on the road.

The first decision in choosing a laptop is the most important one: Mac or PC? This is a bit like choosing whether to be a prosecutor or a defense attorney--one will just feel right to you. For decades, PCs running Microsoft Windows have been the overwhelming choice of attorneys. Most law firms still use Windows as their in-house operating system (97 percent, according to the latest International Legal Technology Association survey), and lawyers have naturally gravitated toward laptops that are similarly configured.

But lately, thanks in part to the popularity of the iPod and the iPhone, Macs have begun chipping away at Windows' dominance--especially when it comes to personal use. Last year Apple dominated the U.S. retail market for high-end computers, selling two out of every three computers priced above $1,000. Mac laptop sales increased more than 50 percent over the previous year, and desktop sales grew 45 percent. During the same period, the Windows PC market showed zero growth in laptop sales and a 25 percent decline in desktop sales. Mac's overall U.S. market share has risen and is now close to 10 percent. The days of the Mac being a niche machine are over.

For the power user who wants a full-featured laptop, with all the digital bells and whistles, the new MacBook Pro is the clear choice. The Pro doesn't come cheap--it retails for $1,999 to $2,499, depending on the amount of memory and size of the monitor--but you'll never have to worry about whether your laptop is underpowered for any task. The new Pro weighs five and a half pounds and features a slimmer design than its predecessor, a brighter and more power-efficient LED-backlit screen, and a buttonless trackpad. The latter takes a little getting used to. The entire glass trackpad serves as a button, so it's clickable everywhere, but that actually makes cutting and pasting faster once you get the hang of it. The trackpad also lets you perform functions with multitouch gestures, similar to the way an iPhone lets you sweep images across the screen and manipulate them. The Pro's screen is drop-dead gorgeous--sharp and bright--thanks to its LED backlighting. Too many laptop makers skimp on the monitor because it's one of the most expensive components in any model. But the screen is what you stare at for hours on end, and the Pro's state-of-the-art monitor is easy on the retinas.

Mac users looking for a second, backup laptop will find that the new entry-level 13-inch MacBook fits the bill. It's the first Apple laptop ever to be priced under $1,000 (it retails for $999--thanks for that dollar in change, Steve Jobs). The MacBook comes encased in white plastic rather than metal, and it features a smaller version of the same LED-backlit screen the Pro has. It's less than an inch thick and weighs only four and a half pounds. Apple sells an even lighter laptop, the MacBook Air, which weighs only three pounds. But it costs about $800 more than the 13-inch MacBook, without delivering anything close to $800 more worth of performance. So for Mac-loving attorneys with a two-laptop garage, it's hard to beat a Pro for your full-featured machine and an entry-level MacBook for your on-the-go portable.

If, on the other hand, you are more of a Windows kind of person, the laptop choices are more complicated. Hey, whenever Microsoft is involved, you have to expect that. But on the plus side, you probably won't spend as much money on a Windows machine as you would on a Mac.

The hardest choice of all in Laptop Land: Which is the best full-featured Windows laptop? There are scores of machines to choose from--from major manufacturers like Toshiba, Dell, and Sony to minor players like Elonex International and Eee PC. One top-of-the-line Windows laptop that consistently gets good buzz among attorneys is the ThinkPad. The ThinkPad is a line of portable laptop and notebook computers originally manufactured and sold by IBM, but since 2005 it has been manufactured and marketed by Lenovo, which purchased the IBM PC division.

The premier attorney-ready ThinkPads are the so-called T-Series, particularly the T60 and T61 models. Prices range from $859 to $1,349, depending on the configuration (at www.lenovo.com you can customize how much memory you want and what size screen).

By all accounts the ThinkPad has blazing speed and is particularly well adapted to handle the sometimes-temperamental Windows Vista operating system. The T61 is available with an optional Web camera, smart card reader, and media card reader, and some T61 models even have a fingerprint reader, which replaces security passwords. Many ThinkPad users have high praise for the feel of the keyboard and the overall design of the computer. All told, the ThinkPad is a superior machine, and though there are plenty of cheaper laptops out there, it delivers a lot of bang for the buck.

Right behind the ThinkPad are the 17-inch HP Pavilion laptop and the Sony Vaio. The HP is fast and powerful, if a bit heavy at seven and a half pounds, but it's hard to beat a 17-inch screen if you work on your laptop every day. The Sony Vaio is a nice, not-too-big-or-too-small choice for a laptop, and it even comes in pink, if that's how your taste runs.

The big buzz in laptops lately is on the low end, with the introduction of so-called netbook computers. Netbooks are small, inexpensive, low-power laptops that tend to run the older Windows XP operating system rather than the new and barely improved Windows Vista. The chief attractions of netbooks are price and portability. You can buy a decent netbook for $400 to $500, and they weigh a scant two or three pounds, making them ideal as a travel computer. And because they run the older and less complicated Windows XP, they're a good choice for technophobe attorneys who just want something simple.

Netbooks are best used as mobile computers or as backups, since they lack the functionality of a full-featured laptop. To keep the cost and weight down, netbooks usually don't have an optical drive, so you won't be able to run CDs or DVDs on them. Most netbooks also don't support Bluetooth connections, but they usually have Ethernet and Wi-Fi, so they're fine to use at the airport or in a Starbucks that has a wireless network.

One netbook that's getting high marks from users lately is the Acer Aspire One. The nine-inch model is consistently among the best-selling computers on Amazon, as it costs about $400. The Aspire comes with just enough memory to get by without breaking a sweat--1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive--and is powered by a six-cell battery, good for up to five and a half hours of use on a single charge. The machine weighs just over two pounds and slips easily into a backpack. The screen is on the small side, but it's got an LED-backlit display, which keeps the images fairly crisp.

Best of all, the stylish Aspire looks like a much more expensive machine, so you don't have to worry about people making negative assumptions about the state of your practice. Now, that's a perfect laptop.

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