5 Best Laptops for Transcription in 2024
From this article, you will know what are, in our opinion, the best laptops for transcription you can buy and use in 2024.
A computer device is something that people who do audio transcription should have. Among the available computing devices, the ones that people usually use for transcription activities are desktop computers and laptops.
Many people may prefer to use a laptop though, especially if they want to be able to work much more flexibly in terms of place and time. If you are one of them and you don’t have a laptop yet to support your transcription activities, you may want to buy a new laptop now.
However, it can be hard to decide what laptop you should buy from many laptop models and specification choices out there. This is why Compute Expert has come up with a list of the best laptops for transcription you can use as your reference.
Want to know what laptops that make it into our list and why we recommend them? Let’s start discussing them right away.
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| Image | View on Amazon | Product |
|---|---|---|
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon | ||
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 | ||
| Dell XPS 15 | ||
| Asus Zenbook 15 | ||
| HP Envy x360 |
Table of Contents:
What are the Best Laptops for Transcription?
Now, let’s see what laptops we think are among the best to be used for transcription activities. Using one of these laptops should give you sufficient laptop support to optimally do your work when transcribing audio.1. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is the first laptop we think should be on this recommendation list. It has all the things you need to do audio transcription smoothly.The laptop has a 13th Gen Intel Core i5 processor and 16GB RAM. These specifications should be enough to run the software and files you need to produce your transcription results. The relatively large RAM capacity enables you to multitask more with this laptop.
As ever with a ThinkPad laptop, the keyboard is one of the best you can find out there and, thus, should make you type comfortably as you make notes from the audio you hear. There is also the popular red TrackPoint that can make you navigate your laptop display faster if you are used to using it.
This laptop is sleek and lightweight so you should be able to bring it around easily whenever you want to. All in all, this Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon can be the ideal laptop choice for you if you want to do transcription with a laptop.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 14 inches, 1920 x 1200 pixels
- Processor: 13th Gen Intel Core i5 with 10 cores and speed in the range of 1.3-4.6 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 16GB
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 13 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications to support transcription activities
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
- Solid build
- Sleek and lightweight
- USB-A, Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, and HDMI ports
- Friendly-to-the-eye display
- Stretchable hinge (up to 180 degrees)
Cons
- No SD card reader slots
2. Microsoft Surface Laptop 5
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is another professional laptop we recommend for transcription activities. It is a sleek laptop that is fast and has excellent power management performance.The battery life of this thing can run a full day on a single charge. It should help you whenever you want to transcribe without any power outlet near you. The design should also make this laptop comfortable to be put anywhere you want to work.
The keyboard is great to use and should give you a positive typing experience. Needing to type for long hours when you hear the audio you need to transcribe should be less annoying to do thanks to that. When you need to hear the audio from this laptop, the Dolby Atmos technology that it uses can make you hear it clearly.
This laptop uses a 12th Gen Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB RAM for its performance specifications, which should be enough for standard work tasks. Overall, this Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is a nice laptop and should be a good choice for you to buy and use.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 13.5 inches, 2256 x 1504 pixels
- Processor: 12th Gen Intel Core i5 with 10 cores and speed in the range of 1.3-4.4 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 8GB
- Storage: 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 18 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications to support transcription activities
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
- Sleek and lightweight
- USB-A and Thunderbolt 4 ports
- Great battery
- Good visual and sound outputs
Cons
- No HDMI ports and SD card reader slots
- Average webcam quality
- Thick bezels
3. Dell XPS 15
Dell XPS 15 is the next laptop you should consider buying if you want to do transcription optimally. Coming from the popular Dell XPS series, this laptop has everything you need to work smoothly.This laptop has a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB RAM to back its performance. With these specifications in place, this laptop should be capable of running transcription, word processing, or audio-playing software and files that you have. The storage type is PCIe NVMe SSD so you can save and load your files fast.
There is Wi-Fi 6E technology to ensure you get optimum connection speed when you need to do your work online. As for the ports, two Thunderbolt 4 ports on this laptop enable you to transfer data in and out fast.
This laptop is sleek so it should fit in your bag easily when you need to carry around. All in all, this Dell XPS 15 seems to be an excellent laptop to use for transcription too.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 15.6 inches, 1920 x 1200 pixels
- Processor: 13th Gen Intel Core i7 with 14 cores and speed in the range of 2.4-5 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 16GB
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 9 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications to support transcription activities
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
- Solid build
- Sleek design
- Two Thunderbolt 4 ports
- Great speakers
Cons
- No USB-A and HDMI ports
- Average webcam
4. Asus Zenbook 15
Asus Zenbook 15 is another laptop you might want to take a look at as well. It is an excellent laptop to work with and should be capable of supporting all your transcription work needs.Performance-wise, this laptop is fast and more than able to manage standard work software and files. After all, it has an AMD Ryzen 5 7535U processor and 16GB RAM. The processor gives a relatively stable performance as it has a base clock speed of 2.9 GHz and should be good to use when you need to work continuously for a long time.
The keyboard on this laptop is comfortable and responsive to type on. Typing while listening to the audio you transcribe should give a pleasant experience. It also uses the ErgoLift hinge that makes the keyboard angle more ergonomic while improving the audio quality as well.
When you need to connect to external devices, there are USB-A, USB-C, and HDMI ports here so you can do that easily. Overall, this Asus Zenbook 15 laptop is a great work laptop that should be suitable for you to use if you want to do transcription tasks smoothly.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 15.6 inches, 1920 x 1080 pixels
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7535U with 6 cores and speed in the range of 2.9-4.55 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 16GB
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 8 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications to support transcription activities
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
- Sleek and lightweight
- USB-A, USB-C, and HDMI ports
- Stretchable hinge (up to 180 degrees)
- A full-HD webcam
Cons
- No SD card reader slots
5. HP Envy x360
HP Envy x360 is the last laptop we recommend on this list. It is a flexible laptop you can use in a tent or tablet mode if you want.This laptop uses Bang & Olufsen technology support to make its sound outputs crystal clear. Hearing the audio you need to transcribe from this laptop should be good. As for the keyboard, it seems nice and feels responsive when you type on it.
The processor of this laptop is decent with an AMD Ryzen 5 processor. Running the software and files you need for your work should be smooth. There is 8GB RAM capacity to let you handle all the windows you want to open without much problem.
Want to use a 2-in-1 laptop for your transcription and other daily activities? Consider buying this HP Envy x360 model too.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 15.6 inches, 1920 x 1080 pixels
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7530U with 6 cores and speed in the range of 2-4.5 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 8GB
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 8 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications to support transcription activities
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
- A flexible laptop you can use in a tent or tablet mode
- Sleek design
- A full range of ports
- Great sound outputs
Cons
- A bit heavy for a 2-in-1 laptop
What are the Things We Should Consider When We Want to Buy a Laptop for Transcription Activities?
Here are the things we think you should consider when you want to buy a laptop for transcription activities.- Operating System (OS). Some popular transcription software like The FTW Transcriber can only run on Windows. Moreover, Microsoft Word, the word processing software people usually use, seems to operate more optimally on Windows too. Therefore, it might be better if you buy a laptop that uses Windows rather than Mac or Chrome OS
- Keyboard. As you mostly need to type when you transcribe your audio, it is important to ensure that the keyboard on the laptop you use is comfortable to type on. This should help you to work much more optimally, especially if you need to transcribe continuously for several hours
- Headphone jack slot. Transcribers usually use a headset when they work. If you like to use a cabled headset instead of a wireless one, then you need to make sure your laptop has a headphone jack slot. Most laptops should have it but several newer laptop models like Dell XPS 13 Plus and Microsoft Surface Pro 9 don’t seem to have one
- Processor. A laptop for transcription activities needs to have a good processor so it can run transcription, word processing, or audio playing software smoothly. We recommend a laptop with at least a late-generation i5 or Ryzen 5 processor for this
- RAM capacity. RAM capacity, besides processor, also determines whether a laptop can run software and files smoothly or not, especially if you need to open multiple of them at once. For a transcription laptop, we recommend you buy and use a laptop with at least 8GB RAM
- Storage. A laptop with SSD storage can save and load files much faster than an HDD one. As such, we recommend you buy a laptop with SSD storage. As for the capacity, we think it should be at least 256GB
Wrap Up
When we want to buy a new laptop, we may want one that can be optimally used for transcription activities. However, it can be hard to find the right laptop for that from many laptop choices out there. This is why Compute Expert has come up with its list of the best laptops for transcription to help you.To summarize, here are five laptops we think should be excellent to use for transcription.
We hope our list can help you buy the best laptop to support your transcription work!
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