Let’s suppose a teammate approaches you, asking for the best recommendation for a laptop scheduled to endure at least three years in the future. The teammate is going to travel and live cross-culturally, create video/audio content to report to supporters, and communicate via secure messaging platforms like Signal, Zoom, and Telegram. Your buddy wants to use work platforms like MS365 – and don’t forget — he wants to edit his own videos quickly (and they need to be suitable for megachurches, too – so … at least high-def, if not 4K). He will travel extensively, so durability, weight and size are key factors for him. Security is important too. He asks for your recommendation – and your first question is, “How much can you spend?” He says he’s received a gift from a donor. He’d like to stay under $3000 if possible. To see where we go with this question, click Read More.
First, we suggest you meet with your buddy to come up with some preferred features. What would be on your list? Take a moment and think it through – and then see how yours is similar to or different from ours. Here’s the list we came up with (below). Keep in mind: These are *preferred* features. Once we go to the pricing step, we might have to cut back here and there:
Apple or Windows PC (Your buddy needs to tell you which; for the rest of this example, we’ll assume he asked for a Windows PC; Would someone be able to provide the variation for Apple please?)
Operating system: Windows 10 or later, Mac 13.0 Ventura or later
64 Gigabytes of RAM – the “thinking power” of the laptop
2 Terabytes of SSD hard drive space – the *storage* drive part. (This is bigger than the typical laptop due to the video editing in high res.)
At least an Intel i7 or AMD Ryzen 7main processor chip
A discrete graphics co-processor chip with at least 4 gig VRAM
14″ screen
4 pounds or less
1″ or thinner
Thin travel-sized
What else? What are we missing?
So now we go from vendor to vendor, looking for the best price and package.
In my research, Lenovo Thinkpads were too big. But there were Dell and HP models that might do. [Either way, please note – we aren’t trying to promote any one particular notebook – and we aren’t receiving any kickbacks or promotional fees from anyone. We’re just trying to search out a good path for others – if they need to purchase this kind of notebook.]
I guess, for now, we’ve settled on an HP Zbook Firefly 14 G11 for starters — to satisfy this prototype. We configured it here….
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/ConfigureView?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&catEntryId=3074457345621246821&urlLangId=&quantity=1
As you can see, it configures to $5263, but if you watch this page, you can catch this exact configuration on sale. Plus, if you call HP and speak to a live person (who loves you), you’ll also receive a healthy discount from the sales person in the form of a great coupon. We just were able to pick up this workstation for $2500 — around $500 under the $3000 goal.
What did *you* come up with? Please click comment below and share what you would have done differently. It’s the only way we’ll all learn!!
We typically went with Lenovo- thinkpad. Yes, they were larger than you had in your spec, but at the time we thought it was important. We never had any troubles with them. Our primary reason for choosing the Thinkpad line was that they claimed you could get service even when overseas. We never had to test that out. The service we saw in Africa was pretty poor, so I do not think this had to be as high a priority as we had made it. Certainly a business-class machine. And certainly a rugged machine.
If you are doing hi-def video work, you will probably want a machine with more internal space. The laptop I have has two M2 slots and an internal SATA slot. I would probably add a second 4TB SSD. External storage is a huge pain, particularly when dealing with super large files. Large files of that nature are really challenging to send via the internet.
I travel quite a bit – love my lightweight LG gram 16″ though a smaller model would be good when I cannot get into an exit or economy plus seat.
I have been super happy with my Dell XPS 15″ laptops for heavy workloads including cotent creation. It offers one of the best displays on the market in terms of brightness and color accuracy (I opt for the touchscreen display, which you don’t think you need or want until you have it). Unlike the MacBook Pro, it is also upgradeable (RAM, SSD), and it even has a slot for a second SSD. And yes, it supports 64GB RAM, discrete graphics, 3 (not 1) Thunderbolt 4 ports, microSD card, audio jack (mic/headphones), and is thin, light, and durable. It’s a business class laptop with power/performance that also looks good. Keyboard is solid, too. And… the XPS line now offers 13″, 14″, 15″, and 16″ models. To get the best bang for my buck, I look at available refurbished models, for which there are often great coupons, and then get a 3 or 4 year “complete care” warranty that covers drops, spills, etc. All this said, I’ll be in the market again next year, and am eager to see what others are finding worthwhile.
BTW, for storage, I always recommend something like the Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD (https://amzn.to/4dWHxNT), currently around $150 for 2TB of super-portable, super-durable, blazing fast storage that works with both my phone and my laptop. For content creators, these are awesome. They are more than fast enough for demanding photo & video projects.
I switched to Mac over 10 years ago. They last longer and therefore are worth a higher cost. They work seamlessly with other Apple devices. My current MacBook Air is M1-2020. There were some glitches at the beginning with crashes. I don’t think they had the bugs worked out of the M1 chip. I rarely have a problem these days – now over 4 years later. I forked out for the maximum memory at the time 16GB and glad I did. I have 13.3 – lightweight for travel. Storage is 1 GB (which is plenty for me). I have a 27″ Dell Monitor at home.
I tried a few adaptors for external connections (USB, HDMI). Nothing built in except for 2 USBC. I will keep going with this model as long as I can.