13 inch laptop recommendations (laptops, desktop, RAM, hard drive)

[Oakley7677]

I am getting sick of my Macbook Air, and I am looking to return to the PC world. I'm looking for something with a 13" screen, 256GB or better SSD, and Windows 10. Bonus points for a backlit keyboard. I really like the construction of my Macbook, along with the keyboard and trackpad, but I'm sick of the OS.

Thanks

[John7777]

Originally Posted by Groundpounder

I am getting sick of my Macbook Air, and I am looking to return to the PC world. I'm looking for something with a 13" screen, 256GB or better SSD, and Windows 10. Bonus points for a backlit keyboard. I really like the construction of my Macbook, along with the keyboard and trackpad, but I'm sick of the OS.

Thanks

There's no shortage of Windows based PCs to chose from. But I'm at a loss as to why you're sick of the Mac OS. That's the only reason to have a Mac, really.

[Oakley7677]

Originally Posted by John7777

There's no shortage of Windows based PCs to chose from. But I'm at a loss as to why you're sick of the Mac OS. That's the only reason to have a Mac, really.

Just sick of it. Can't hook my android phone up to the computer and transfer files. Can't hook my ipad up and transfer files without using iTunes. What the heck is Launchpad, Finder and Mission Control? Just give me a start menu, I don't need all this extra crap. If I have multiple windows open, and lets say I want to click on a hyperlink, I need to click on the window first, then click the hyperlink. I can just click the link on a PC. I will say the construction on the mac is much better than I have found on any PC, but no HDMI or a SD card reader is complete BS. I understand why people like Mac's, but it's just not for me.

Originally Posted by Groundpounder

Can't hook my android phone up to the computer and transfer files.

Yes you can, although last time I tried it, Google's utility for doing so was still a piece of garbage that was apparently written in an afternoon by some intern.

Can't hook my ipad up and transfer files without using iTunes.

Windows will be no different.

Anyway, since your beef is with the OS and not the hardware, have you considered just installing Windows on your existing laptop? I still haven't found a PC laptop (though perhaps one exists) that matches the design and build quality of Apple - even high end business models come with poorly lit screens, awful keyboards, unresponsive touchpads, etc.

[IanHagen]

I find very hard to come to terms with the idea of someone disliking OS X unless you're a disgruntled gamer (although preferring Windows over it is perfectly acceptable).

You can hook your Android phone and transfer files. I do it all the time. All you have to do is to install Google's file transfer: https://www.android.com/filetransfer/

As for the iPad, why won't you simply sync it wirelessly using iTunes? It's much better than having to plug it in. And Jason is right, Windows isn't going to change the fact that you'll be basically forced to use iTunes.

Finder haven't anything to do with a start menu. It's just the equivalent to Windows' Windows Explorer or one of the several Linux's file managers/browser. Every system have a file browser.

Mission Control actually have a clone in Windows 10 to alternate through windows and desktop spaces. Linux also had it for years. By no means it's an OS X idiosyncrasy and is definitely helpful. More, if you don't like it there's nothing forcing you to use it. You can alternate windows without using mission control just fine.

As for Launchpad, I don't like it as well, but again by no means OS X forces us to us it. I prefer to launch my programs by popping spotlight and quickly typing the first two of three letters, exactly as Windows 10 expects us to do using the new start menu.

As for the hyperlink thing, that's an OS X con indeed, but in OS X when you want to send a file through a file form you can just drag it to the opened form from another window and it'll behave nicely. Windows will friggin' copy the file to the location of the current file form file tree, which is irritating. What I mean by this is that there are trade-offs in both systems.

-

Now, Jason is right. MacBooks do make great Windows machines. If you really don't like OS X after all, you could simply install Windows 10 in it.

Also, if you really like the Windows task bar but otherwise think OS X is okay, this is a pretty neat little utility...

uBar

If you're really committed to getting a new laptop though, the Dell XPS 13 gets pretty rave reviews, aside from the stupidly placed camera.

[harhar]

Yeah, all of my Android stuff I do with Google, so since its all web based that stuff is easy to acquire on a Mac.

Launchpad is actually a start menu that resembles an iPad.

In any case my wife and I liked the Dell XPS13 and the ASUS Zenbook ux305. Slightly favoring the ASUS because it was the closest to the Macbook Air in terms of form factor/quality. The screen on the Dell however is pretty cool. If you want Windows those were our top contenders. These Windows laptops also had bigger hard drives, 8gb of RAM, etc.

In the end, as I posted in another thread, we picked a refurbished Macbook Air 2015, for a few reasons. Mainly my wife is more familiar with OSX and the keyboard was a touch better and the trackpad was a touch better as well. Plus it has an i5 and not Intel M which I think the ASUS has.

My only complaint is the paltry 4gb of RAM and 128gb SSD. But we'll just use cloud storage (or I'll build a NAS). And we won't be doing anything super RAM intensive on it.

So for you I'd recommend the ASUS, because I think it hits the most buttons.

[lepoisson]

You are able to install Windows on a Mac. This would prevent you having to sell your machine, just to turn around and buy another one.

But, I would suggest for you to give OS X another try. Windows 10 is a great operating system, but OS X has it beat by a bit.

[metalmancpa]

Can't really answer without a budget.

If it were me I'd be all over a Microsoft Surface Pro 4, and very well may be in the near future. I am still happy with my Surface Pro 2 so not quite ready to pull the trigger yet.

Originally Posted by metalmancpa

Can't really answer without a budget.

If it were me I'd be all over a Microsoft Surface Pro 4, and very well may be in the near future. I am still happy with my Surface Pro 2 so not quite ready to pull the trigger yet.

The Surface Book is also intriguing, especially if using it on a lap is important.