If you’ve been following our blog for a while, then you already know we’re a team of serious bloggers! We love writing. And today I want to share some things that you should consider before deciding which device is best for blogging and sharing your message to the world.
Let’s start with laptops since they seem to be more popular devices for blogging. Starting with our top picks!
Best laptop for blogging
These are more on the “affordable” category for us. These will work great if most of what you’ll be doing is writing and browsing the internet. Not so great if you want to do video or image editing, they just won’t have sufficient power or speed. So please keep that in mind.
ASUS
Asus Laptop L406 | Windows 10 S-
Color: Blue
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Thin and light (2.87 lbs)
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Screen size: 14"
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2.6 GHz Intel Celeron
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RAM: 4 GB DDR4
Acer
CB3-431 | Windows 10-
Color: Silver-Aluminum
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Thin and light (3.42 lbs)
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Screen size: 14"
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1.6 GHz Intel Celeron
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RAM: 4 GB DDR3
HP
HP Stream | Windows 10 S-
Color: Aqua Blue
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Thin and light (3 lbs)
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Screen size: 14"
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1.6 GHz 8032 (AMD)
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RAM: 4 GB A8
As you already know, as a blogger, having the right device for blogging is important. That’s because you’ll use it to perform all aspects of the “blogging” process – from outlining to writing, designing, editing images, posting, and even recording video footage to complement your blog post. If you’re stuck with the wrong device or an awkward, clunky one, the blogging experience won’t be rewarding and you won’t feel as excited about your work. Compare it to writing poetry with a pen that doesn’t feel comfortable in your hand, or which writes scratchily. *shudder*
In this post, we’ll compare the options available on the market – phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops, and see which one’s best. Later on, we’ll discuss the best laptop for blogging – since laptops continue to be popular among bloggers. Me personally, I still use my old refurbished Macbook Pro from like 2016, and it works great! I take it everywhere I go and has never given me any issues when blogging while traveling.
But what are the pros and cons of a laptop? Find out by reading below!
What would your hardware and software requirements be?
So first let’s discuss what you’d need in a device to make it suitable for blogging. Here is my list of requirements based on personal experience, and what I think most people would need if they were keeping things fairly simple.
1) Internet access and browser
Internet access is super important – for posting, research, downloading photos, communicating…practically everything. So the device must have internet access and a browser. That’s an easy one.
2) A good keyboard
Blogging requires lots of writing, so the device must be one you can easily type on. Whether the keyboard is virtual or otherwise, doesn’t matter at this stage. The device, if it doesn’t have a mouse or trackpad, must have a good touch screen so editing is easy.
3) Simple image editing programs
Do you create images for your blog? Whether it’s a splashy picture of the title, images of quotes, or infographics – lots of people like to do this. For that you’d need basic image editing programs on which you can make simple charts, headers etc.
4) Storage space
I always advise having a copy of your blog posts and other media (images, videos, audio recordings), so if anything goes wrong with the website and you need to set up another blog or restore it, you can. So you need a little storage space. Another easy one.
5) Video recording and editing capability
Some people like to create vlogs to complement their blogs, or to make videos in the case of how-to guides and such. So you’d need to be able to record and edit videos. Nothing fancy, just an outro insertion, text overlay, adding background music and the like.
6) RAM
You don’t want the device lagging and freezing. So let’s throw this in to make sure the system’s fast enough to not be annoying. Shall we go with 2 GB? If you tend to keep many tabs and programs open, make that 4 GB.
Which device is best for blogging?
Now we come to the real stuff. The requirements above were easy – all but severely outdated devices made it through. So now let’s discuss the most popular options available today, and see which one works for what type of user. And then we’ll look at the best laptop for blogging – the point you’re all here for.
Phones?
all on Amazon.com
Blackberry's?
Tablets?
Laptops?
Desktops?
Phones – mostly nay, but good for some things
Mobile phones are ideal as note-taking and idea-capturing devices. They’re also excellent for taking pictures and videos. So if you post about places or incidents, they can be a helpful accessory. But would I recommend them as an ideal blogging device? Frankly, no. Mobile phones just don’t do it for me.
However, phones may work in certain cases – say, for example, if you post mostly photos with a short caption. The WordPress app is easy to use, so you can create and post blogs from your phone regularly. Another instance in which it might work is if you mostly write during transit. If you don’t want to carry a laptop around, smartphones are a great alternative. If your phone’s battery is decent and you have suggestions turned on, typing should be easy-peasy.
The Exception! The BlackBerry
The only exception I would really add here is our old friend (from like 10 years ago!) – the BlackBerry. The keyboard makes it a lot easier to quickly type on a small device if you don’t want to carry around a bulky laptop, and there are many options available, believe it not in 2019! Let me give you an example of how this could look like for you.
Say you are sitting on the bus, or traveling by train, or even laying in your bed. When all of a sudden you get a blog post idea, and the urge to write it pours all the way down from your mind to your fingertips! Pull out the BlackBerry and start typing. The mere fact of punching those physical keys on the phone’s keyboard will make it feel real!
Tablets – great for some
Tablets, I’d say, are not the ideal blogging device. Being someone who writes on a physical keyboard, I simply can’t imagine a virtual keyboard being nearly as good. In fact, I find tablets a little bit worse than phones while typing. That’s because the keyboard is wider than your hand so you need both hands to type, but it’s a touch keyboard so you need to hover your hands in the air half the time. I find that uncomfortable.
Tablets are excellent in some respects, however. They’re easy to carry, super lightweight, and they can double as a chopping board in an emergency. Just kidding – don’t look at me like that! Plus, you can take pictures and videos with them. Some might argue that you can do the same with a laptop, but I’d like to see them taking a sunset photo with one.
Laptops – because of course!
In my opinion, laptops are the best device for blogging. They don’t win by a large margin though, because the others have their plus points – as you’ve seen above.
The best laptop for blogging would be a lightweight one that fulfills all your needs. Luckily laptops are more-or-less perfect for bloggers, so that should be easy. When buying my laptop, I just decided my budget, the amount of RAM I needed, and all laptops that met those criteria were mostly perfect. In the end I bought the one with the best texture. There simply weren’t any other factors that mattered very much.
I think laptops are great for people who need to move around a lot while blogging – whether they like to travel, or write in a café or snuggled up in bed. Another great thing about laptops is the physical keyboard. I’m very partial to them – and I genuinely think they’re better for typing in the long run. A touch screen can lose sensitivity and will be costly to replace, but a keyboard doesn’t often have issues, and if it did, replacing it would be both simpler and cheaper.
To find out the criteria for the best laptop for blogging, read below!
Desktops – not the best, but not the worst either
So desktops are geezy old clunkers, right? Super outdated space hogs? Maybe not. So here’s the thing – the definition of ‘outdated’ or ‘modern’ is subjective. When it comes to blogging, since the requirements are so few and desktops have evolved so much since the early 2000s, they’re actually perfectly usable.
The best computer (for blogging) needs to have fast internet, a good keyboard, a decent monitor, and reasonable RAM. As long as your computer isn’t over a decade old, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
The only real downside of a desktop is that you can’t carry it anywhere with you. So if you need to take your computer places, this one’s definitely not an option. For others, the best computer for blogging might very well be a desktop! Not the coolest device to own, but utility beats coolness every time!
How to choose the best computer for blogging?
When choosing a laptop for blogging, you have a lot of freedom. The way I see it (and the way it’s been in my experience), blogging might sometimes necessitate the use of photo and video editing software, but for the most part it’s just writing. If your blog is primarily text-based, you can go with just about any laptop that has an operating system you’re comfortable with. Make sure the trackpad isn’t too small, though. If you don’t use a USB mouse, a small trackpad can be a pain to use while editing.
For those of you who like to create videos, you may need something a bit more high-end. So when selecting the best laptop for blogging, go for something with at least 4 GB of RAM, and a Core i3 processor. These are pretty standard specs now, so you shouldn’t have to shell out too much money. If you’re partial to a particular software package, you’ll want a laptop that comes with a compatible OS.
Opting for a desktop? Great! The best computer for blogging would be one that has a sufficiently large monitor – I’d say the ideal is between 15.6 to 17 inches. Make sure you don’t go too big, or it can feel weird and overlarge. You’re buying the system for blogging, after all, not to watch TV. Apart from that, try to make sure the RAM, hard disk and graphics are sufficient – especially if you’ll be doing photo/video editing.
Avoid getting a system with PS2 ports for the keyboard and mouse, as they’re rapidly getting outdated and are susceptible to damage. If you use a USB mouse/keyboard and flash drive, invest in a good USB hub to avoid loosening your USB ports over time – that’s a pricey problem! Lastly, if you tend to use your devices roughly or are unfamiliar with how computers work, you may want to buy from a company that has service centers near your home.
So this was a quick guide on how to find the perfect blogging device for your needs. We hope the suggestions here will help you make the blogging process easier! If you’d like us to cover any particular subjects in the future, comment them below or send us an email with the idea!
