Travel blogging is one of the most rewarding things you can do with your life. There are so many great travel bloggers in the world today and if you read some of their posts, I’m sure you will be inspired.
One of the most famous travel bloggers today is Matt Kepnes from Nomadic Matt. When you get a chance, read some of his amazing stories and travel tips.
Most travel bloggers use laptops for their blogging. Some will use tablets like the ones I mention in my post Best Tablet For International Travel and other similar devices to complete their writing.
For me personally, I prefer a laptop over a tablet, but that will depend on what purpose you need it for. There are so many advantages to using a laptop for your travel blogging. Choosing the best laptop is going to be a big decision for you to make.
How to Choose the Best Laptop For Travel Blogging
When choosing a laptop for travel blogging, there are so many things to consider. When you are going to be on the road, you’ll want a laptop that will be lightweight, portable, and durable with lots of storage space. We’ll go over some other things to consider before purchasing your laptop for travel blogging.
Size and Weight
For travelers, you will want a compact and lightweight laptop. Most times, the thinner laptops are lighter weight and will fit into a laptop or travel bag much easier and will be much simpler to lug around with you.
Battery Life
If you are planning to take your laptop with you, make sure it has at least eight hours of battery life. Battery life tends to dwindle over time, so take this into consideration.
Functionality
What purpose do you need the laptop to serve when traveling?
Is it a business trip where you are doing presentations and require a more powerful system?
Maybe you just need something basic to store photos, videos, and your writing. What operating system do you need? Windows or Mac?
The same thing goes for travel bloggers, not all laptops will serve your needs. Most basic laptops are great for blogging, but that will depend on your blogging plans. Take all these into consideration when choosing a laptop that’s right for you.
Our #1 Recommended Laptop For Travel Blogging:
13.3″ Apple MacBook Air – Latest Model With Retina Display
Features And Specifications:
1.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 3.66 GHz) with 4 MB shared L3 cache
- 13.3-Inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
- 8 GB of 1600 MHz LPDDR3 RAM; 128 GB PCIe-based flash storage
- Up to 13 hours of battery life
- Display resolution: 2560 x 1600
- Dimensions: 10.5 x 14.2 x 2.2 in and Lightweight 1.25 kg
- Operating system: OS X El Capitan 10.11
- Hard drive: 128 GB
- T2 security chip
- Touch ID bar
Pros
The MacBook Air is our top choice for a number of reasons. For travel bloggers, it’s a perfect size and weight: very thin, only 1.25 kg, and easy to store and bring with you anywhere you go.
It has a long battery life of up to 13 hours and 30 hours of standby time. So, if you were away for a long period, you can easily pick up from where you left off.
The 5th generation Intel Core i5 is fast and powerful. There isn’t much it can’t handle. I love the SSD storage which is 17x faster than a 5400 RPM notebook drive.
Although the cost may be a bit higher than other notebooks, tablets, and laptops, I find there is huge value in the MacBook Air. It’s well worth the investment.
Cons
There really isn’t much I can’t recommend on the MacBook Air. The one thing I would like to see Apple build into these is a retina display. MacBook Air does not have a Retina display on any model.
Update: They do now! This latest model comes with retina display. Great addition from Apple. I love it!
Best Lightweight Travel Laptop
ASUS Chromebook Flip
Features And Specifications:
- 360-degree hinge and 12.5” Full-HD touchscreen
- Extremely lightweight at 2.65 pounds
- Designed to last for up to 10 hours on a single charge
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
- Screen size: 12.5″
- Dimensions: 12 x 8.3 x 0.5 in
- Hard Drive: 64 GB
Pros
The Asus Chromebook Flip has a 360-degree hinge which allows you to use it in either laptop or tablet mode. I like the Intel Core m5 processor; it is a real performer.
You will have no performance speed issues with this laptop which bloggers will appreciate. Its small size and weight makes it easy to transport.
Cons
Even though the battery is rated to stay fully charged for up to 10 hours; that may not be the case forever. I found the Asus Chromebook Flip battery will not hold as long of a charge as time goes on.
Best Budget Travel Laptop
Acer Aspire E 15
Features And Specifications:
- 15.6″ Full HD (1920 x 1080) widescreen LED-lit Display
- 6GB Dual Channel Memory, 1TB HDD & 8X DVD
- Up to 13.5 Hours of Battery Life
- Windows 10 Home
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080
- Dimensions: 15.02 x 10.2 x 1.19 in
- Weight: 5.27lbs
Pros
I really like the Acer Aspire E 15’s battery life of up to 13.5 hrs. This is amazing for any laptop that has a 15″ screen size and even moreso at this price.
For a budget laptop, this one has impressive specs, lots of memory, and hard drive space. It’s quite a powerful laptop and it’s tough to beat for the price. If you are looking to stick to a budget, I think you will be happy with this one.
Cons
For travel bloggers, you may not like the fact it weighs over 5lbs. Plus, the larger screen size makes it a bit more difficult to carry around with you. It’s definitely not as portable as the other laptops I recommend. But is this something you can overlook to save some money and still have a great laptop? I think so.
Summary
As you can see, there are several choices of travel laptops that are suitable for bloggers. You can use either one of these for any types of travel, work, leisure and anything in between.
Our #1 recommend is the MacBook Air. If you are on a budget, I recommend the Acer Aspire E 15. I honestly don’t think you can go wrong with either choice.
Choose the one that is going to work the best for you.
Thanks for reading!
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