Laptops are a hot product right now as high school, college and university students start preparing for back to school. Best Buy has hundreds to choose from and I’ve already dished on five of my favourites. Now it’s time to leverage the power of Best Buy’s website, through the customer ratings and comments left by people who have bought specific laptops. We’ve combed through the ratings and put together another list of five laptop computers, this time based on your feedback. Without further ado, here are five of the best laptops on the market, as chosen by Best Buy customers.
Hewlett-Packard 11.6-inch Touchscreen Laptop
4.5/5 (8 Ratings, 6 reviews)
HP is the PC market leader in North America, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to find one of its laptops on this list. After all, you don’t sell nearly 4.5 million computers in a quarter if you don’t offer some compelling products.
This 11.6-inch convertible touchscreen laptop makes the most of Windows 8’s touch UI while offering the ability to transform into a tablet-like form factor. Best Buy customers think its full-sized keyboard, compact size and storage make it a winner. SC from Burlington, ON sums up the advantage of this HP convertible:
| Great Unit, Best of Both Worlds
Had it about a 2 weeks now, love it. I can use it like a lap top or flip it around and it turns into a tablet. Small foot print but huge functionality. Would recommend to anyone torn between a traditional lap top and a tablet. I found all programs and applications to run smooth, start up is fast and sound is better then my previous lap top. |
Samsung XE303C12 11.6-inch Chromebook
4.1/5 (81 Ratings, 68 Reviews)
When I reviewed this Chromebook last year, it scored 5/5 for value based on the amazing price (half of what many tablets go for). It can’t run Windows software, so you need to decide whether Google Docs and other apps will take care of your productivity needs, but as a light duty and light weight laptop option it makes a great choice. In the time since that review, Chromebooks have become even more popular as Google continues to add services —including the recent launch of its educational app, e-text and digital media online store for Chrome.
Clearly, this Samsung Chromebook is popular. It has 81 ratings and 68 reviews and owners are quick to share what they like about it. For example, Noemia from Toronto ON gave the Samsung Chromebook a rating of 5/5 stars and left this comment:
| Love it
I bought it a month ago and couldn’t be more happy!! Super fast and light… If you’re looking for a laptop for internet use this is a great option! |
MacBook Pro 13.3-inch With Retina Display
4.2/5 (12 Ratings, 11 Reviews)
Apple’s 13.3-inch MacBook Pro has always been a popular model that fell into the sweet spot between the bigger 15.4-inch model and the 13.3-inch MacBook Air. It wasn’t as thin as the Air, but it’s Aluminum unibody case offered a lot more ports and upgrade options.
When Apple added its high resolution Retina Display option to the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro (a 2450 x 1600 pixel screen), that made a compelling laptop that much better. This model is super slim (just 1.8 cm thick and 1.6 kg), offers up to 9 hours of battery life, packs an Intel Core i5 CPU and uses all Flash storage for even more speed. Here’s what Lisara from Kingston, ON had to say after buying one:
| MacBook Pro
I recently purchased a MacBook Pro with retina display and I absolutely love it . It is very user friendly and the best part is no side screen pulls out when you are using it…… Windows 8. |
Note: While not everyone likes Windows 8, this MacBook Pro can run it if you’d like to, either in emulation or by using Apple’s Bootcamp to boot directly into Windows —no touchscreen support, though.
4.7/5 (34 Ratings, 32 Reviews)
Arguably the single most popular ultra-portable PC laptop, the MacBook Air sets the standard for thin. The 13.3-inch model isn’t quite as tiny as the 11-inch version (my personal favourite), but it’s tops in battery life at up to 12 hours on a charge. That’s more than most tablets can manage!
And like all MacBook Airs, this one packs an Intel Core CPU for power, all Flash storage for speed and runs OSX.
Best Buy customers love the MacBook Air 13.3-inch, based on a stellar 4.7/5 star average rating. Mike, from Cranbrook BC gave it a perfect 5/5 and left this review:
| Absolutely Amazing
Do not let the price or having to learn a new operating system stop you. This is my first Mac and I can’t believe in what I have been missing all these years. It was a struggle to talk myself into purchasing it, and I wanted to send it back. But the more I used it, the more I like it. After only a week I am Apple’s biggest fan. The MacBook Air is not even comparable to PC laptops. Highly recommended!!! You won’t be sorry. |
4.8 (4 Ratings, 4 Reviews)
Ultraportable laptops with displays of 13-inches or 11-inches are undeniably popular, but sometimes, a bigger display is called for. What makes this ASUS 15.6-inch laptop so popular (a near-prefect 4.8 score) is its value.
Despite the large display, the ASUS comes in at a lower cost than many of those smaller laptops. That means some concessions —like 1366 x 768 (HD) resolution and a Pentium 2117U CPU— but as a general purpose machine, it works well. And despite the low price tag, it still offers an optical drive, 750 GB hard drive and 8 GB of RAM.
Heidi (from London, ON) says:
| Excellent quality for the price!
Images look great on anti-glare screen, sound is good, fast speed working on Internet, keyboard a little sticky, but all in all, great quality for the cost! |
There you have it. Best Buy customers rating their laptop purchase and letting you know exactly what they like about their new computer. Hopefully, this helps you to make your own laptop buying decision.
