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Ask HN: Which laptop is best for writing?

2 points by fastbeef ↗ HN
For the past year or so I’ve had a lot of ideas for blog posts/articles but never seem to have the time to sit down and flesh them out. Between client work, family time and house maintenance there’s just so many hours and so much energy to go around.

However, I do have two 25-minute holes in my schedule a day - sitting on a commuter train. I’ve been using this time to space out and/or listen to podcasts, but could easily use it to write instead.

Here’s the problem though - opening up the laptop (which belongs to the client) takes me straight into job-mode, knocking me out of any flow I might’ve had.

I’m therefore looking for a laptop that’s:

A) light B) good keyboard C) fairly inexpensive

It seems like an impossible trifecta. Prove me wrong?

4 comments

[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 10.3 ms ] thread
trevvr
How about an iPad with a bluetooth keyboard case? I wrote the bulk of a masters thesis on one. Worked fine for me and my 40k words.
fastbeef
I’ve considered this, however Bluetooth cases seem like a huge hit-and-miss swamp. Can you recommend any in particular?
Ultramanoid
HP makes laptops with very decent keyboards even in their cheapest tiers -- starting around 200-300$, Celeron, fanless, 4GB RAM, plenty for writing; they have several light but sturdy 11 inch models, and they play nice with Linux too.
llampx
Define light, and define cheap.

I'd go for a Thinkpad X250 or later with a light Linux distro. Or a Thinkpad X1 Carbon if one of the earlier ones (4th or 5th Gen) fit the budget.