Which laptop should I get?
I get asked that a lot. “What laptop should I get?” followed by a list of things that they feel they will need the machine to do well. I used to suggest that people overbuy in the laptop category since it is rarely upgradable. However, I am now starting to ask if they could get by with a phone. It is quite amazing what a phone can do these days. Take for instance, this blog post. Completely composed on an iPhone using the free Wordpress app. I have been in tech for a long time, and I and still amazed what you can do with focused applications. Also the low power usage allows for all day usage and quick recharging. Like I have said before, give me the ability for an external keyboard, and laptop sales may plunge.
Not so fast…
Even though phones are getting better, there are still some things that a laptop does better. One is storage space. They definitely have a lot more storage space. Some phones have the ability to take SD cards. But, let’s not confuse expandability with large storage. Carrying around a bunch of cards doesn’t work for the majority of users. Second is resolution. I have started to get used to the limited resolution of a phone, but make no mistake that I love the big screen. Also, it is not easy to remotely control computers with the small screen. I have been using iRdesktop and that works for simple tasks. But if I had to do real work, that would be too tedious.
Recommendations…..
For now, I still tend to only recommend laptops. I start by asking how much they want to spend. Typically I recommend that they get it locally so that they can test it out and be able to return it if necessary. Mainly because phone support has got so bad. It is much simpler to just take the machine in and demonstrate a problem. Also, it seems that some machines just have issues. For instance, my sister-in-law purchased a Dell Studio XPS laptop and the internal wireless card did not work properly. The speed was like a modem. We initially thought it was incompatible with the router. Further troubleshooting revealed that it was the card. There was no convincing the guy on the other end of the phone though! So, for now, the recommendation is pick the simpler solution and avoid calling tech support. Kinda funny considering my job 
Happy Computing!