If you just bear with me for this long and detailed review and I’ll help you know which is the best laptop for blogging. Promise.
Every kind of work requires a special machine. That machine helps in making the process a little bit automatic and mainly in doing related work at a speed.
Blogging isn’t any new kind of business when you try growing it. It requires the same level of intention, marketing strategy, content strategy, financial help, and, of course, required machines. All these things are part of any business.
Once you master certain initial levels of blogging then it is normal to think of growing, and you should. Everyone does that and that’s how we evolve and grow further.
Now, content strategy, marketing strategy, and financial help needs to be taken care of. But, most importantly, you need to buy a new machine.
A computing machine. The best laptop for blogging, right?
It should be of a top-notch standard (or, at least, good) because unlike other businesses, everything is depending on it. Each and everything we write, do, share, are doable through that computing machine we have.
How I went from dual-core 2009 Computer to MacBook Air (2014)
During my initial two years in blogging, I learnt a lot. I had a dual-core CPU powered Windows computer (just a medium one), and needs weren’t that much at that time.
As I grew, I learn how to type fast and how to do other things faster. And, one day I recognise that I’m having better speed than my computer.
Then I bought a Sony branded VAIO running Windows 8. Soon, I found that this system isn’t for me. It wasn’t that good, maybe because of culprit Windows 8 OS or just 2GB of RAM.
Once we have jobs to do like content strategy, online marketing strategy and other blogging related works, then we tend not to get in details with any other.
That’s what stopped me from getting deep into the system configuration and I was always looking for an overall performance.
Then came an Intel Core-i3 (3rd Gen) powered CPU with 4GB of RAM. I even managed to buy genuine Windows 7 and MS Office for the same.
The result, I got a PC with good speed, better software and on top of all, a machine that no more bring its annoying own annoying needs.
The Story doesn’t end here!
Soon, I was able to increase my typing and working speed further and then I realized that my current computing machine wasn’t that good anymore.
It wasn’t offering any annoying experience, but I was again looking for speed and increased performance.
And then, research started again!
Finally, after weeks of researching and lots of freelancing work to make a financial background, I bought a MacBook Air (late 2014 model).
I never used an Apple product before that. And as a Tech Geek, I was aware that it is awesome, but comes at a cost.
But, I was prepared for it. I wanted the SPEED.
I wanted a machine that can no more bother me of its own need and it also have genuine software and operating system. And I went for the purchase through Amazon.in
MacBook Air (2014) Review as a Blogger
Let’s start with the review now!
As a blogger, we have following tasks to do on daily basis.
- Write fresh content.
- Manage WordPress blogs.
- Manage hosting and server related things.
- Manage social network profiles.
And, this is just a glimpse. The list goes on! If I’ve to write each and every work a blogger needs to do, then it’s beyond the scope of this article. I know I already bored you with my long story above.
Now to do all these things regularly, we need to have a computing machine of following features.
- It should have the genuine software.
- It should have powerful and simple to use OS.
- It should be of latest standards.
- It should have a decent battery life.
Exceptional Battery Life
I live in India (so do you. No? Great, I got a foreign visitor :D) and power cuts are very common.
As you can see on this blog, I mostly cover News. And even if a blogger isn’t covering News, still he/she needs to stay updated with every new thing going on the internet powered digital marketing world. And, this is how the battery life factor becomes very crucial.
So, the very first part of my MacBook Air review starts with battery life.
This Apple machine delivers a battery life which a normal smartphone does. Yes, if you continuously use your beloved smartphone, no matter how expensive it is, it will not last more than 10-12 hours (of course, there are exceptions).
How if I told you that this Mac can last for that long too?
No, I’m not kidding! Apple claims a 10 hours of battery life (technically 12 hours in the model I own) and it delivers that.
I’m writing this guide after one month of using this ultrabook from Apple and it is god damn awesome.
I even traveled to New Delhi in a single day trip and was still writing articles during travel hours (8.5 hours). Yes, my Mac was there with me alive, throughout the day.
Charging it again from 0 mark takes just 2-2.5 hours. So, another impressive feature, right?
So, no matter you’ve to travel or you’ve a power cut of 5-10 hours, you have your computing machine running. No more frustrations!
And what makes MacBook Air further best, is that there is no other Windows-powered machine with such a long battery life.
Design, Weight and Portability
As a blogger, you do check Apple’s website at least once in a week (or maybe in a month, but you do that). How do I know this?
Trust me, I know! Everyone does that!
So, it’s useless to describe how gorgeous this Mac looks. You all have seen lots of its commercials, reviews and pictures. Believe me, walk into an Apple store and see this beauty in real life.
I don’t remember how much exactly it weighs for the moment (you can check official specs here if you really care, you should) but I can assure you that you don’t have any lighter laptop than this.
It is not just that light in weight, but it is also very thin. During my initial two days, I was always wondering how Apple managed to fit this powerful machine in such a thin body.
Now, since it got 10+ hours of battery life, weighs less and very thin in size, so no doubt, it’s the best portable machine.
Also, it is made up of the high standard of Aluminum material, which makes it strong as well. So, it can easily absorb minor bumps.
But, I do keep it in a protective cover as this is among precious things I own.
OS X and Software (Ok, Apps)
Apple calls its operating system OS X and right now, I’m using Yosemite version.
Maybe because I invested that huge amount in buying this, or maybe because of the gorgeous design it has, or maybe because it weigh less, or due to any other reason, I found that OS X is very simple, elegant and yet powerful.
I never share any technical details or specifications of the Apps (Apple calls Software as Apps) with my friends, which I found in my Mac, rather I was always sharing the experience I had.
As a blogger, we need a powerful Office software. OS X has iWork app which consists of Pages (Word), Numbers (Excel or Spreadsheet) and Keynote (PowerPoint).
All three premium applications come preloaded and none of them ask for any money. They are completely free to use.
I did found them less powerful than of MS Office, but still I’m yet to find a feature which isn’t included in iWork. Microsoft calls a feature differently, and so does Apple, but all functional needs are meet.
Mail app was there for easier email management. I did start using that but as it doesn’t support label and tab system, so I have to switch back to the browser version of Gmail.
As a Windows user, I have to do a lot of things to update installed software. And I do like keeping things updated as it minimises the vulnerability. You should too!
But OS X comes with an inbuilt App Store where I found dozens of free apps, games and on top of that, an update centre was there.
This update centre is central and can help you keep apps up to date with a single click. That’s right, you don’t need to go again with the whole installation process.
In fact, if you install apps from App Store, then you don’t need to go along any installation process. Simply click on install button and watch it getting downloaded and then installed, on its own, cool, huh?
Apps like Chrome, VLC (two of my favourite) weren’t there on App Store, so I’ve to download them from their individual platforms.
Also, using Chrome can decrease the normal battery life MacBook Air offers. I was experiencing a drop down in the battery life and then I came to know that it was Chrome which was the culprit, see this complete report by The Verge.
Installing an app like this requires you to follow a short trip through the installation process (just a little one) and it was again pretty simple.
Other cool features are also there and you can add new ones too. Since I never used anything else, so I won’t talk about them.
Now the best laptop for blogging should have a better operating system which is simple to understand and should offer high standard user experience. Agree?
Keyboard and Touchpad
MacBook Air holds onto a standard size QWERTY keyboard and a TouchPad. The keyboard is good enough to allow you type at any speed and I didn’t experience any lags till now.
There is also a backlight feature which lightens up each and every key when it gets dark. Again, you can work comfortably in dark (remember those power cuts I was talking earlier?).
Touchpad below the keyboard is the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced using on a laptop. It is kind of a touch screen on which you can tap, zoom and do a lot of swiping.
Yes, it understands gestures and that’s the coolest thing. All those gestures are well judged by the OS X and this is how you can do a lot of things in few gestures.
Pinch to zoom in or out, use four fingers to swipe between full-screen apps and different desktops, two finger swipe opens up notifications, single finger tap does selection work, two finger tap opens up sub-menu, and the list goes on.
The cookies aren’t over yet!
I can even set those gestures according to my usage. Yes, I can set gestures for a specific function. These settings are all there in System Preferences.
Again, I recommend you to test MacBook Air’s TouchPad in the nearest Apple Store and experience the joy yourself.
Performance
With all those impressive features and good looks, last major factor remaining is the performance scorecard.
I do find that it isn’t the fastest computing machine (considering its price) but it never lags. At the price of 73k INR (MacBook Air’s 13inch price in India), we have dozens of options with a faster processor and more RAM.
But they don’t offer any of the above benefits at all. Still, I will go with this Apple product because it is well capable of holding onto all blogging requirements.
Name any chore related to a blogger life and this machine won’t disappoint you. You can even do a little bit of photo editing and video editing too. But don’t expect it to work charmingly in this case as you need to consider buying MacBook Pro for that.
For all my purposes, writing articles, editing few pictures, taking screenshots, reading Feedly updates, using Evernote and Wunderlist, using Skype and above all browsing, this machine is perfect.
I have been using it with 20+ tabs opened in the Chrome and even other applications running, and it never showed any single lag or flaws yet.
Also, comparing it with Windows laptops, it’s pretty silent and doesn’t get that warm. So, it won’t hurt you that even if you keep it on you lap for long.
Final Words
You don’t Apple? No worries. I get that!
Everyone has his/her choice and it should be. But according to me, MacBook Air (13inch 2014) is the best laptop for blogging.
Convinced? Buy it for yourself
If you have any other better opponents in mind or used in past or using now, then do let me know via discussion. I’d love to update my knowledge.
Or, if you agree with me on the fact I tagged above, then let’s start praising Apple together. Peace.