Author: Zyg

Choosing the Best laptop for QuickBooks

Working with QuickBooks on laptop
QuickBooks logo is Intuit trademark. Use of it does not imply any affiliation with them.
This year I had to start doing my own taxes for my freelance work. To get everything cleared up, I had to talk with an accountant that I’ve helped out multiple times with various computer problems. Since I’m a “computer person“, she asked to help her out with building a new PC for accounting or picking a new laptop. After all, it shouldn’t be that hard to find the best laptop for accounting software, like Quickbooks.

The first idea that popped into my head was “oh that’s easy, accounting software shouldn’t require anything special“. But then I remembered the problems she faced with her previous PC. And then I started recalling the problems I have when dealing with spreadsheets…

That’s what this post will be about – the problems that should be taken into account (heh) when searching for the best laptop for Quickbooks. On the second half of this post, I’ll give some great laptop models depending on your budget and needs.

Enough of my stories, let’s get this post rolling.

Word of caution. This post is very strictly focused on accounting and not on very demanding 3D/audio software. This post will focus on a laptop for Quickbooks and other accounting software, whether it’s on the web (online) or desktop (offline). Since Quickbooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise do not demand high-performance components, the laptops I’ll recommend will be great for the desktop versions and QuickBooks Online. Worth noting, I am assuming that the laptop will not be a part of client and server setup.

These requirements will also guide as to good enough laptops to smoothly run other accounting/business software, such as Microsoft Office, TurboTax, Lacerte etc.

What am I looking for in a best laptop for Quickbooks?

Official system requirements for Quickbooks Premier 2016:

  • 2.4 GHz processor
  • 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
  • 2.5 GB of disk space
  • Internet access
  • CD/DVD-ROM for CD installations (optional)

Meanwhile, requirements for Quickbooks Online are practically non-existant.

It doesn’t take a genius to notice that if a computer is good enough to run QuickBooks Premier, then it will be good enough to run Online version. I’ll just make sure that the laptop will be able to run any QuickBooks product that it will need to (Desktop or Online).

But these requirements are just the start. How these official requirements translate into exact parts I’m should be looking for? And what else is needed for a QuickBooks laptop?

Major requirements for an accounting laptop

Major requirement Mid-range processor

QuickBooks performance depends almost entirely on the processor. At the same time, there’s no need to go for an expensive power-hungry CPU – Quickbooks will work very well even on a lot cheaper hardware.

I do, however, recommend not going for the cheapest CPUs. As time goes on and additional software piles up, low-end processors start taking too to long to respond to commands. And if we’re shopping smart, we can find that the price difference between a low-end and a decent mid-range processor can be negligible.

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What is the best laptop for League of Legends

How to choose a laptop for League of LegendsOne of the best things about League of Legends is how well optimized it is for cheap laptops. That’s why you don’t have to break a bank if you just want a notebook for casually playing LoL. Apart from that, League scales pretty well into better hardware (except for multi-core usage, but that’s a problem for many games with lock-step engine). But if we want to find the best laptop for League of Legends, there’s some research to be done.

Quick update. Last guide update: November 15. I’ve decided to refresh the guide with the latest laptops with the new Intel Core 7th gen processors and Nvidia GTX Pascal video cards.

In short, expect to spend under $800 for a basic laptop for League, powerful laptop – under $1300 and around $1500 for some of the best laptops for League of Legends. The latter will be able to handle gaming way beyond LoL.

So what are we looking for?

LoL requirements

League of legends has ridicoulously low minimum and recommended requirements. That’s why even most entry-level laptops will be sufficient to play LoL.

At the same time, there are plenty of reasons to get a more expensive laptop for LoL if you’ve got the budget for it.

Obviously, you might need a laptop with better specs for other games. Few PC games are as accessible as League is, so you’ll need to spend some cash on latest hardware if you like to keep on top on the latest releases. But since you’re getting a laptop for LoL now, I guess you’re sticking with it for a while and I won’t assume that you need a laptop with a top-notch graphics card.

But even if you only see yourself playing League of Legends for the next few years, you might need a better rig if you’re considering streaming. Even if you’re not dreaming about going pro, having an occasional stream for a couple of your best mates can be fun.

Now I’ll break down all main requirements one-by-one.

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What is the best laptop for Computer Science student? (2017 August)

Notebook for computer science studentsI have been a computer science student for about as long as I’ve been blogging about laptops – I’m close to finishing my 2nd year. In that time, I’ve seen what laptops suit this course the best. Sadly, I bought my laptop before the course started and in a way, I’ve made some mistakes in my judgment – but I’m here to make sure you don’t make them.

August 2017 update. I’ll go in-depth on what type of laptop you should be looking for and at the end, I’ll give a few of top-notch suggestions that I’d pick if I’d be buying a laptop today.

Without further ado, let’s dive in.

So what are we looking for?

Major requirement Powerful processor

As a computer science student, you’ll probably have to code in several languages:

  • Java
  • Some scripting language (PHP/Python/Ruby)
  • Some functional/logic language (Prolog/Haskell)
  • Likely some C/C++/Objective-C

In all of these cases, your laptop performance will not limit the execution of your code. Yes, it might take a second longer to compile or 5 seconds longer to start a Java server but that’s not a good enough reason to stretch your budget for a better processor.

Even though a basic mid-range 2 core processor should suffice when compiling your code. So why am I edging you towards a fast processor? There’s one important reason on why you should aim for a higher-end CPU if possible. Responsive and snappy workflow actually makes you a better and a happier programmer.

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10 Best laptop solutions for Go Pro video editing in 2023 (March edition) ($640-$6,000)

background for Go Pro video editing

If you're looking for a great way to document your adventures, you can't go wrong with a GoPro. But, capturing footage of your exploits is only half the fun. To relive and share those incredible moments with your loved ones, you need to edit your videos. With so many video editing software options, which one should you choose? More importantly, which laptop would give you the best experience for GoPro video editing?

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9 Best Laptops for Lightroom (240+ Laptops compared)

Choosing a laptop for Lightroom
Choosing a laptop for Adobe Lightroom is not particularly hard – having a high-end graphics card is not necessary, laptops with larger and faster hard drives and memory are now commonplace. But it gets problematic when you have to take into consideration screen and upgrade potential.

Surely no sane man would go through all new, well-received and best selling laptops to find out what is the best one for Lightroom. But you’d be making a mistake if you call me sane.

So I compiled a list of 244 laptops (most of them are outdated, but they are always down in the list when comparing metrics). Then I compared them to their performance (using real benchmarks), storage, screen quality and weight. I have weighed all of these metrics according to what’s important to Lightroom – so you know these laptops are the best for their purpose.

In this post I’ll cover 8 best laptops for Lightroom and what’s so great AND what’s not so perfect about them. Also, I will make sure that anything above budget options will also be a viable option for other software you might end up using (khm khm.. Photoshop).

This time, unlike any other, I’ll start off with the laptops and then I’ll write about how did I end up choosing them. Finally, at the bottom of the article, I’ll give you the link to the spreadsheet covering all the quantified comparisons of these 240 laptops ranging from $370 to $3700!

Here we go!

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In-depth guide to 6 Best Laptops for Revit (2018 Summer Update)

What is the best laptop for Revit?The upside of Revit is that it doesn’t require a powerful graphics card and that makes Revit a lot more suitable for laptops. Knowing that I’m going to guide you through the requirements for a good Revit notebook and my picks for the best laptop for Revit.

2018 June 3rd update. Updated CPU, GPU write-ups, replaced all laptops and updated the spreadsheet!

What are we looking for?

I’m very glad that Autodesk put in the effort to outline various levels of Revit hardware/software requirements instead of just putting up a list of minimal requirements. This allows us to understand which parts scale better than others and where we should put our focus on.

Major Requirements for the best Revit laptop

Processor

Autodesk makes it very clear that the processor should be #1 priority:

“Highest affordable CPU speed rating recommended.” – Autodesk

Unlike other visual software (AutoCAD, Solidworks etc.), Revit does not need a powerful graphics card for rendering the drawings.

So what do I recommend?

For an entry model under 950$ – a higher-end Intel Core i5 model is a necessity. Anything above that should have a 5th-7th generation “i7” processor. In some rare cases (covered at the end of the guide), there are laptops under $900, that come with a fast i7 H-series CPUs.

Exact models, I am talking about are:

  • Intel Core i7-7700HQ, i5-8300H, i7-8750H or equivalent for 950$+ models
  • Intel Core i5-7300HQ, i7-7500U, i5-8250U for anything under 950$

Memory

As per usual, 8 GB of RAM should be your starting point and 16 GB is the magic spot where you don’t have to worry about the memory (for the most part).

Right now, 1000$ is a good line to draw for what amount of memory is acceptable. Any laptop under 1000$ can have 8 GB of RAM and anything over that must come with 16 GB on board.

It does not matter much whether memory is DDR3/DDR4.

Solid State Drive

For Point Cloud interactions, it is required to have either a 10,000+ RPM hard drive or a SSD. Since laptops don’t come with HDDs over 7,200 RPM, that leaves us with only 1 option – a Solid State Drive. SSDs have fallen dramatically in price and apart from budget laptops – should be a part of any Revit laptop.

Now you need to draw a line on how much storage you need – 250, 500, 1000 GB? Most likely, something like 250/500 SSD + 1 TB HDD is enough. In that case, your OS, Revit, and projects you’re working on should stay on the SSD while older projects and general media can be moved to a spacious HDD.

There are some well-rounded laptops that don’t come with an installed SSD. In that unfortunate case, I recommend keeping 100$-200$ extra for 250/500 GB SSD (I’ve had the best experience with Samsung drives, but there’s plenty of good brands to choose from).

Minor Requirements for the best laptop for Revit

We’ve got down our 3 major requirements – processor, memory, and storage. Now any leftover budget should go towards making sure it lasts long, it has a great screen to look at and it can perform well when using other professional software apart from Revit.

Screen

You’ll be looking at it throughout the day (and once in a while – throughout the night), so we might as well make sure it looks good.

A good screen is essential in 3 simple ways:

  • it allows working during bright sunlight without straining your eyes
  • it helps you see your work as it should be seen (as it will be in real life and how your clients will see it)
  • it makes your work a bit enjoyable

Every screen can be broken down by its resolution, contrast, brightness and color gamut.

When talking about the resolution – go for Full HD (1920×1080). There’s not much reason to go above Full HD, especially when Revit developers do not recommend going above 150% DPI scaling. That simply means, that fonts and buttons in Revit will not scale properly at high resolutions.

Contrast should be 800:1 or more, average brightness should be 280 cd/m or more (which is ~20 cd less than usually advertised maximum brightness). Good contrast and brightness are mostly important when working outside or near a bright window.

Finally, color space/gamut is not usually mentioned with other specifications but some reviewers measure it. In that case, 90%+ sRGB coverage and 60%+ Adobe RGB coverage indicate a wide color space. That means that the screen can produce vivid colors. In some cases, you might need to manually calibrate the screen to minimize its color bias – tendency to be a bit too blue/green or red.

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Ultimate guide to 6 Best Laptops for Streaming

Searching for the best laptop for streaming can be very problematic as it requires comparing benchmarks and reading a lot of reviews. When you consider that even the best laptops will get some negative responses, it’s borderline impossible to find a universally acclaimed model.

A quick sidenote on what type of streaming I refer to

This post is not about watching Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, HBO or anything else of that matter.

Don’t get me wrong – every laptop I’ll recommend is easily more than enough for this type of streaming. But this post is for you if you want to stream video to other people – likely on Twitch via apps like OBS. This includes gameplay, gaming talk shows and streaming creative work.

But since you’re already here and you simply want to stream movies/clips – the following laptops will be way too good (and way too expensive) for just that. For basic streaming over Netflix, HBO Now, Youtube there are 3 basic models.

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The best laptop for Solidworks (2017 Edition)

Solidworks can be very demanding even for a dedicated PC. That makes it problematic if you want to keep your budget low. Also, Solidworks is designed to take advantage of professional CAD graphics cards which introduce even more variables when looking for a proper laptop. Despite this, I’ve decided to take up the challenge to find the best laptop for Solidworks even if you have to keep your spending tight! So without further ado, let’s jump right in..

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Best laptop for programming

laptop-specs-code I have written a few posts on choosing a laptop for producing music and AutoCAD. These are just some of my hobbies and whenever I buy a new laptop – I make sure it suits them.

Meanwhile, programming is more than just a hobby to me – it’s my primary job. I have been working mostly on my laptop for the past 5 years and I take my time when upgrading my hardware. That’s why I didn’t want to rush out a guide for best developer laptop.

In this post, I’ll guide you through my train of thought while looking for the best programming laptop, which developer laptops I recommend and why.

What is your coding lifestyle?

Before you proceed, you should evaluate how you see yourself using this laptop.

Here’s a little graph I made for locating what laptop category should match your needs.

What laptop type matches your needs?
When you think about it, an ultrabook isjust a better and more expensive version of “regular” laptop.

Programming laptop comes down to two key requirements – performance and mobility. If you need only one of them – congratulations – you’re in the clear! There’s quite a few great programming laptops if you don’t try to “have it all”. But if you need performance and portability – well… finding the best one won’t be easy, especially if you’re on a tight budget (under 1300$).

  • Powerhouse – Performance is everything
  • Convertible/hybrid/2-in-1 – Flexibility is my top priority
  • Classic laptop – Balanced laptop with great value
  • Ultrabook – I’ll pay extra for the best of both worlds

For example, laptop for me is my main workstation. That’s why I prefer having superb performance (so no convertibles and regular laptops). I also lean towards having a lot of screen space for multiple windows and I don’t mind adding 1-2 pounds of weight if that gives me significant performance boost (so no ultrabooks). Finally, I live/work in 3 different cities throughout the year and having a dedicated external monitor setup for each place just isn’t practical. That’s why I have 17.3″ laptop though 15.6″ laptop wouldn’t too bad if it had enough juice in it.

From my experience, a laptop for programming depends on what kind of a developer you are:

  • Coding on a laptop – bulky and powerful laptop (15″ – 17″)
  • Coding on a dedicated PC/Mac – ultrabook for coding on the go (13″ – 15″)

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8 Best Hackintosh Laptops with Guides and Comparison (July Update)

hackintosh-logo-big
by thu / www.ecliptic.ch

Recently, I was searching for a hackintosh laptop – I wanted to learn making iPhone apps (and Swift seemed as a neat programming language).

I already had tried out Mac OS X using virtualization. It seemed just the right time to upgrade my laptop anyways and the idea of a hackintosh captivated me. And I didn’t want just any laptop – I wanted the best hackintosh laptop within my budget.

When searching for the hackintosh compatible laptops, the most irritating bit is that most recommendations and lists are polluted with outdated and discontinued laptops or notebooks that often cost even more than the MacBook itself. The lists I found were full of loose ends with little help on what to do beyond the purchase.

And there’s a reason for it – it is hard to compile a list of recent laptops and it is even harder to find all the resources required to kick-start this usually exhaustive laptop transformation.

That’s why I ended up writing this guide. I quickly weeded out the laptops with a set of strict criteria. All laptops I’m going to recommend:

  • have 4-th and 5-th gen processors (Haswell and Broadwell)
  • are compatible with OS X Yosemite
  • are still in the market
  • are cheaper than MacBooks themselves or equivalent (at the time of writing all are under $1,000)
  • have step-by-step guides specific for their EXACT models or at the very least for their type of laptop with people known to have successfully used them
  • have alive forum threads with people who were/are in your current situation

Since most of the laptops I have selected are rather new in the hackbook market – there are risks involved.

So here goes a word of caution!

This is not a list for best hackintosh laptops off ALL TIME. Yes, there are a few a lot more compatible laptops from 2010 – 2012 era but this list is not for that. There are enough guides about these old computers anyways.

I’ll focus on laptops with either good documentation or laptops that are more welcoming to OS X and in result require less manual work to work properly.

There is no perfect laptop for hackintoshing. If you’re building your own tower PC, you can get “golden builds” – a set of parts with either no or minimal issues when installing OS X. In the laptop world – forget about it.

Do not expect that it will install easily and without any problems. You can pray that it will, but do not expect it. If you want 100% compatibility – buy a MacBook.

I’m also here to get you ready for the journey by showing you the best path to a hackbook that was already proven by other people.

If you’re new, you’ll be pleasantly surpised by the hackintosh community. There are many hubs where these wonderful people gather. In this post you’ll see quite a few links to TonyMacx86 since there you can find most guides to laptop hackintoshing.

hackintosh-tony
Isn’t lion the best? I know, right?

But no matter how amazing this community is – you’ll have to solve the technical problems by yourself at the end (or maybe your tech friend).

OK, I’ve got it. What now?

Well, I’ll start off from the key requirements for your new PC/MacBook hybrid, the common difficulties and finally – an EXACT list of laptops that you should consider.

Let’s jump right in.

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