Q: I’m 13 years old, I’m going into high school next fall. It’s tradition in my family to receive a computer when entering high school and the child always get to chose. So, I was wondering if maybe you had some advice for choosing the right laptop, because this laptop is supposed to take me through college or until I can buy a new one with my own money. Plus the laptop can’t be too pricey (I'm looking for something about $500 max). If you can help me I would be grateful. Also, I have some preferences for my first laptop, some of them being that the laptop can’t have any plastic, a full keyboard is required, a camera, and it has to be durable. Thank you so much even if you can’t help me, I appreciate you taking time out of your day to read my email.
A: Ok, so sorry that I took a little while to respond but I wanted to make sure that I had done my research and asked around before I started making recommendations. Finding an all metal (or non-plasticy) laptop for around $500 is actually really hard, and quite near impossible actually. When you said non-plastic I immediately thought of the MacBook Air by Apple, however, with a price tag of around $900 for the 11” entry level model it is hardly within your price range. But first, since you also said that you didn't know much about computers I just want to provide you with a little info on what the differences are between different laptops these days.The operating system or OS which a computer uses is a very big thing when it comes to choosing a computer. While there may be hundreds of different computers available to choose from, there are only three main operating systems which you can choose from: Google Chrome OS, Mac OS, and Windows 8. Though Apple only allows Mac OS to come installed on computers that they make, Google and Microsoft let computer manufacturers like HP, Toshiba, Asus, Lenovo, Acer, or Dell to ship their computers pre-installed with Google Chrome OS or Windows 8. Because each of the three operating systems available are so radically different from each other, I would personally recommend you take a trip to your local computer store (Staples, Target, RadioShack, etc) to try out some computers and see which one you like.
Rather than now spend the time to try and explain all of the other features of a laptop which you might want to consider such as screen size, battery life or memory, here’s a link to a website which explains it all rather nicely. Anyways, I hope that somewhat helped to clear it up. Here are the laptops I thought looked the best that fell within or near your price range:
Microsoft Windows OS:
Google Chromebook OS:
Apple Mac OS
I hope this helps give you a good direction to start looking. Good luck!
SAN FRANCISCO—October 22, 2013—Apple® today announced that OS X® Mavericks, the 10th major release of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system, is available for free from the Mac App Store℠. With more than 200 new features, OS X Mavericks brings iBooks® and Maps to the Mac®, includes a new version of Safari®, enhances multi-display support, introduces Finder® Tabs and Tags and delivers new core technologies for breakthrough power efficiency and performance.“Mavericks is an incredible release, which introduces significant new apps and features, while also improving the performance and battery life of your Mac,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “We want every Mac user to experience the latest features, the most advanced technologies, and the strongest security. We believe the best way to do this is to begin a new era of personal computing software where OS upgrades are free.”OS X Mavericks introduces innovative new features, including:
- iBooks, which gives you instant access to your iBooks library, more than two million titles in the iBooks Store™, and works seamlessly across your devices;
- Maps, which brings powerful mapping technology to the desktop and lets you plan a trip from your Mac and send it to your iPhone® for voice navigation on the road;
- a streamlined Calendar that estimates travel time between appointments, and provides a map with weather forecast;
- a new version of Safari with Shared Links, which helps you find what’s new on the web by consolidating links shared by people you follow on Twitter and LinkedIn;
- iCloud® Keychain®, which safely stores your website usernames and passwords, credit card numbers and Wi-Fi passwords and pushes them to your trusted devices so you don’t need to remember them;
- enhanced multi-display support, which makes using multiple displays easier and more powerful, with no configuration required;
- interactive Notifications, allowing you to reply to a message, respond to a FaceTime® call or even delete an email without leaving the app you’re using;
- Finder Tabs, which help unclutter your desktop by consolidating multiple Finder windows into a single window with multiple tabs; and
- Finder Tags, a powerful new way to organize and find your files located on your Mac or in iCloud.
Mavericks also includes new core technologies that boost performance and improve the battery life of your Mac. Timer Coalescing and App Nap intelligently save energy and reduce power consumption. Compressed Memory automatically shrinks inactive data to keep your Mac fast and responsive. Mavericks also delivers significant performance enhancements for systems with integrated graphics through optimized OpenCL support and dynamic video memory allocation.Pricing & AvailabilityOS X Mavericks is available today for free from the Mac App Store. Any Mac capable of running OS X Mountain Lion can also run Mavericks. You can upgrade to Mavericks for free directly from OS X Snow Leopard, Lion or Mountain Lion. For a complete list of system requirements and compatible systems, please visit www.apple.com/osx/specs. OS X Server 3.0 requires Mavericks and is available from the Mac App Store for $19.99 (US).
