It’s no secret – mobile computing has almost become a necessity for truck drivers. More places on truck routes now have cheap or free wifi, hundreds of truck stops have Redbox or Blockbuster DVD kiosks, and Skype is quickly becoming one of the go-to apps for truckers to stay in touch with their loved ones. Most of these things can be done easily on some of the newest smartphones, but we have to say, there’s no substitute for a good, durable laptop with a large screen.
With the advent of tablet computers, laptop makers had to bite the bullet to create a lower price point and a way to get more features into a thinner case. There was simply no room for bulky, slow laptop computers when anyone could get 80% of the functionality in a tablet computer like an iPad or Samsung Galaxy tablet using the Android OS. The newest models have to be light, fast, attractive and durable.
Fortunately, it seems as though most computer makers have been up to the task. We’ve noticed several models by marquee brands like Dell, Toshiba, Gateway, Lenovo and HP that have great price points and lots of tricks under the hood.
So let’s look at a few of the big winners of 2012, shall we?
| Acer Aspire 15.6″ laptopIntel® Pentium® Processor B940 (2.0GHz) Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 500GB Hard Drive 4GB DDR3 Memory 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED | Samsung ChromebookIntel Celeron_867 Processor 1.3GHz 4 GB RAM 16 GB Solid State Drive 12.1-Inch Screen, Intel HD Graphics Google Chrome OS,color: Silver | Dell Inspiron i15NIntel Pentium_B970 Processor 2.3GHz 4 GB DIMM RAM 500GB 5400rpm Hard Drive 15-Inch Screen Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit |
| Gateway NE56R12uIntel Pentium_B950 Processor 2.1GHz (2MB Cache) 4 GB SDRAM RAM 500GB 5400rpm Hard Drive 15.6-Inch Screen, Intel HD Graphics Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit | Lenovo G575AMD e_series_dual_core1.65GHz 4 GB DIMM RAM 320GB 5400rpm Hard Drive 15.6-Inch Screen AMD Radeon graphics Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit | Toshiba SatelliteAMD 2.3 GHz 4MB Cache 6GB DDR3 1600MHz memory 750GB disk drive 15.6″ diagonal widescreen TruBrite TFT display AMD Radeon HD 7660G |
| HP Pavillion G6-1D80AMD Processor 1.9GHz 4 GB SDRAM RAM, 3 USB 2.0 640GB 5400rpm Hard Drive 15.6-Inch Screen, AMD Radeon HD 6480G Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit | Apple Macbook Pro2.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 processor 8 GB DDR3 RAM; 750 GB Hard Drive 15.4 inch LED-backlit display, 1440-by-900 resolution NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1GB Graphics | Sony Vaio EAMD E_Series 1.7GHz 4 GB DDR3 RAM 500GB Hard Drive 11.6-Inch Screen Windows 7 Home Premium |