TOP DEVICES DO EVERYTHING
Generous parents, gift-givers and anyone in the market for a back-to-school computer may quickly find themselves overwhelmed by endless high-quality options. The easiest way to make sense of it all is to understand that you’re not really shopping for a computer. You’re shopping for a creation and communication device.
You’ll hear the phrase “all-in-one” thrown around, because that’s what the best devices on the market do: everything. There are tablets that convert to laptops and smartphones and cameras. And giant, pricey touchscreen desktops that can accommodate a digital Picasso while simultaneously streaming live television.
Unlike what amounted to a hardware minefield in years past, hybrid devices have hit their stride. Software is increasingly intuitive and user-friendly. Microsoft and Apple both offer smooth operating systems, with incremental, over-the-air updates instead of big jarring changes.
That’s not to say that there aren’t perfectly good classic laptops. And they’re dirt cheap, too. For under $200, you can get a Chromebook that respectably performs the basic tasks of word processing, email and web surfing.
Two standouts this year are from Samsung: the 12inch Galaxy Book ($1,199.99), a workhorse laptop replacement that runs Windows 10, and the Galaxy Tab S3 ($499 and up), the gorgeous Android-powered tablet that approaches laptop levels of productivity.
The Tab will feel like a familiar friend to anyone who owns a Galaxy smartphone. It operates up to 12 hours on a single charge and features a vivid 9-inch HD screen and top-of-the-line mobile camera. A keyboard cover is sold separately at $129.99. Microsoft apps have come a long way on Android, with Word, Excel and PowerPoint offering a great productivity experience.
For a larger screen that’s kinder to tired, late-night eyes — but still offers maximum portability — the Galaxy Book is an excellent, albeit pricier, choice. Thankfully, it comes with a keyboard cover. Compared to the Tab, the Book is more of a Microsoft Surface clone, with a beefier processor. Both the Book and the S3 come with the pressure-sensitive S Pen stylus for easy note-taking.
But if you want the sturdiness of a classic laptop, and if your student is going to be running Adobe Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop or InDesign in addition to Microsoft Office programs, you’ll want something beefier. Two good choices are the Microsoft Surface Book ($1,349 and up) and Apple’s MacBook Pro ($1,799 with Touch Bar). Both are powerful beauties, but they live in two vastly different ecosystems.
The right decision may depend on which smartphone the user owns. If your student is engrossed in the world of iPhones and iPads, then it’s hard to resist the MacBook Pro. The seamlessness of iCloud storage, FaceTime and iMessage just make life easier. At just .6 inches thin and 3 pounds, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is also the more portable option. The screen is more vivid than the Surface Book, and it performs slightly faster.
The Surface Book’s big advantage is the touch-screen display that detaches from the keyboard. It works with the excellent Surface Pen, and the screen doubles as a handy note-taking tablet. Windows Hello also provides a much faster log-in using facial recognition.
I believe the MacBook Pro has the edge, but it would be hard to disappoint someone with the Surface Book.
The only warning I’ll give to those Apple lovers is to resist the temptation of the iPad Pro as a productivity device. I’ve had mine eat too many PowerPoint presentations and Word documents due to finicky integration with the Microsoft Office suite of apps. Also, many iOS apps aren’t built for landscape view, too often rendering the keyboard useless because of the vertical orientation.
Gird your wallets: Many parents may find themselves buying both a desktop and a portable device, or an ultraportable device and a laptop. In that case, a MacBook Air can be a wonderfully cheap option to pair with another device, for well under $1,000 depending on the model.
For a desktop choice, I’m a huge fan of the 21.5-inch iMac, which, at $1,499 is a stunner. With a 1TB fusion drive and Retina 4K display, it provides enough multitasking power for any student. And it should get them through all four years of college or high school.