Affordable laptop

By Lucky girl, 19 September, 2020

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories

Hi all,i want to buy a laptop next year. Can someone recommend an affordable laptop for blind person?

Options

Comments

By Eileen on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 23:01

It depends what your use case is.

If it's for light use, then the MacBook Air.

If you need something more capable, it's the MacBook Pro.

Whether either of those qualifies as “affordable” is likely to be a matter of some debate..

However, if you are planning on buying the Mac next year, anything said now will be out of date, as by then the first MacBooks with Apple Silicon will be available. And, if they deliver on the promise of more power and battery life, you probably won't want any MacBook which would be recommended from what's currently available.

But, tell us what your use case is, as then people can make more informed recommendations.

By Brad on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 23:01

I personally haven't used mac in years because I prefer windows and eliquence.

The laptops are a lot cheeper than macs.

By Ishkabibble on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 23:01

Like previous posters have said, Mac and Windows are both options depending on what you are looking to do with them. You can get a decent Windows laptop for $500 if you don't mind doing some research; other higher-end Windows laptops usually cost less than their Mac counterparts. However, this does not mean that Windows will always be cheaper to maintain considering accessibility costs; if you need to use the JAWS screen reader licensing costs can get very high, especially if you upgrade frequently. On Mac, the initial costs will be higher, (a decent MacBook Air will cost for about $1100 and a decent MacBook Pro will cost you about $1800). Keep in mind that if you buy a Mac, you will get most of the software you will need preinstalled; the built-in office suite and other Apple software is pretty good. In addition, the VoiceOver screen reader is free and built into every Mac you buy. I have used both Windows and Mac, and I personally prefer the latter due to the better stability and integrated Apple services, but it's a very personal decision based on budget, personal preference and the devices you already own and use. Hope this helps.

By Lucky girl on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 23:01

Thanks for suggestions. İ personally like apple products,but they are very expensive in my country. 1800 dollar macbook will cost 3000 in my country. İ’ll see what i can do. Thanks anyway

By Blind angel 444 on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 23:01

In reply to by Ishkabibble

Don’t forget this handy screen reader for windows, it’s very impressive to be free.

By Brad on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 23:01

In reply to by Blind angel 444

JAWS is very customisable but very expencive verses NVDA which is completely free and does most of teh things JAWS does.

I've used NVDA for a little while out of curiosity, and it's 90% as good as JAWS but completely free. The mechanics are pretty much the same as JAWS so it's not too bad, I am just more used to JAWS so that's why I hadn't thought of it initially. I think the built-in Narrator screen reader for Windows is decent from what I hear, although a few years ago it was a dumpster fire.