Best Laptop: MacBook. It runs both the virus-free Mac OS X as well as Windows, making the world’s entire library of commercial software available to you. It’s loaded (built-in video/still camera, Wi-Fi, DVD burner, Bluetooth). Its magnetic power adapter means you’ll never drag this thing off the table by accident. And its design is light-years cleaner and smoother than Windows laptops, which are covered with so many flaps, panels and stickers, they look like quilts. (The base price is $1,100, but you should get it installed with more memory than the ridiculous 512 megs it comes with.)
I’d have said the MacBook Pro, but I find those 15- and 17-inch models too big for convenient portability; I know this is a matter of personal choice, but I always feel like I’m carrying around a serving tray. The 13-inch, extremely bright MacBook screen is just right.
But, meanwhile Walt Mossberg has some hesitation:
Apple’s two laptop lines, the MacBook and MacBook Pro, are very good. They have better built-in software than any Windows laptop I’ve seen and don’t suffer from the security issues that plague Windows. And they can even run Windows software, if you need that.
But the Mac laptops lack some features that are common on Windows portables, such as slots for camera memory cards and built-in cellular modems. And the MacBook even lacks an ExpressCard or PC Card slot.
Windows or Apple, overall Mossberg says, “First, you may want to wait to get that new laptop until later this year or early in 2008. There are a number of interesting new hardware features coming.”