Lightest Laptops: A Buyer's Guide

Consider your needs. Write down what you need, what you'd like, and then consider what you can afford. 

Its all too easy to be swayed by the all shiny, all dancing, newest and greatest hype. USB3.0 is lots of time faster than 2.0 - but if you never transfer large files, and don't have a problem with 2.0 - then you don't need 3.0 on your must have list. 

Weight

Its not just the laptop you will carry with you: its also a case, a power cable, network and USB cables.

Battery Life:

There is not always a convenient power point particularly in coffee shops, planes and airports. A solid state hard drive (SSD) will use less power than a conventional spinning hard drive.

Boot Up Speed:

There is nothing more frustrating than waiting forever for the machine to boot - as you will close the lid and move far more often then you would in your own office or home. 

Rigid Case:

Its rough being a laptop on the road - the most damaging thing you can do for a laptop is to bend it. Here you get what you pay for - but a aluminum body will be much more robust than a cheap plastic construction. 

Screen Quality and Brightness:

A bright shiny screen is almost impossible to read outside, or even near large windows. If you are using a laptop away from a regular office/school environment then look for laptops that will allow you brighten up the screen (this will cost you in battery life) or preferably are not shiny (few and far between).

Backlit Keyboard.

This is very handy if you tend to work in poorly lit conditions e.g. if you partner is trying to sleep and you have jetlag! I nice to have, but worth it for some. Worldwide warranty. There is not much point in a warranty if you have to return to the US to get the laptop serviced. 

If your light laptop has to be your desktop replacement then its likely that you will want to plug in an external monitor, keyboard and mouse. Plus you will probably want access to a optical drive. Check that the there are sufficient ports or a dedicated docking station available. 

This often becomes a religious war - but I'm an atheist. The OS is pretty irrelevant - it does nothing for you - what you want to know is will it run the software that you use. If you love Microsoft Outlook for calendar management - there is little point in buying a Mac! If you are into a high-level graphic design- then a Mac is probably your answer. 

If you really don't know computers then either Windows or Mac have a learning curve. If you already use Windows why bother with that learning curve unless there is something specific that the Mac offers that the PC doesn't ? 

For more on choosing a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro book - check out my article: Macbook Air v. Macbook Pro: Comparison