Best laptop for art historians?

[lindsey10]

Hi everyone,

 

Pretty basic question. I'm a year into my PhD, but I am shopping for a new laptop right now. I was using a 7 year-old Dell laptop from undergrad, but it is no longer meeting my needs. I don't really need a top-notch processor or the ability to run fancy software, but the screen quality should be as great as possible. Of course I'm looking at a lot of images, so the clearer, the better. I am also reading a lot of digitized books, which are usually 200-250 years old and full of engravings. My poor netbook, which I've been relying on, can't handle these books.

 

Can anyone recommend a laptop that might fit this criteria? Price is of course a consideration but I want to gather some candidates and price them from there.

 

What do you use? How happy are you with it as an art historian?

 

Thanks!

[biisis]

Apple purports to have superb image quality in its newer line of laptops, but it's technological politics are pretty abysmal so it's hard to endorse them for anything. Honestly, most anything made in the past few years will be able to keep up with your needs. Eye-strainy screens are few and far between. It's scan quality that can be the most limiting... 

[fullofpink]

I have a 15 inch Sony Vaio touchscreen computer with way more gigs than I will ever ever use. I like the touchscreen because I hate using touchpads and carrying an external mouse is also awkward. Of course, this means Windows 8 but it's not really as bad as everyone makes it out to be, especially since you can just access the desktop. I like the size because I can have a powerpoint and my notes up on the same screen without having to switch the windows (as opposed to a netbook or something slightly smaller.) The only deterrent is that it's much heavier than other models, but I leave it on campus and don't travel with it. I have an Ipad that I use for traveling/stays at home for netflix.