Mac's stylish offering. Photo By Dan Taylor

South Africa is teeming with multinationals setting up business or satellite offices in major cities around the country. For laptops, notebooks, desktops, and computer peripherals the choice is surprisingly varied. Apple has its authorized distributor, Core Group; while Dell, HP, and Toshiba have either offices or dealers marketing their products; and Mecca computers, a South African brand, operates under the business giant, Mustek Pty Ltd.

Apple Laptops

While Apple has a designated official distributor, there is another company known as Digicape, which is the largest independent Apple laptop seller in the country. Core Group is known in South Africa not just for being the Apple face in the country, but also a company that gives back.
One of their pet projects is the iSchoolAfrica, and includes 13 schools all over the country.

Aside from providing computers to the school, they are showing the children the technology to get ahead. The children and teachers get to use the best equipment Apple has to offer. These would be the MacBook laptop (loaded with software), and all other necessary hardware needed to learn just like children in developed countries.

For professionals looking for the best laptop Apple has to offer, it would be a unanimous answer: the MacBook Pro.

Dell Laptops

Dell has been in the business of computer hardware for so many years, it’s a brand everyone recognizes. Their laptops, the Dell Latitude LaptopsStudio, are known for being a good brand in terms of value for money. However, Dell laptops have a tendency to overheat if used for long hours and the weather is not cool enough.

HP Laptops

HP is more popular for their printers and so it is a struggle for them to be recognized for laptops. However, it’s surprisingly well performing if one wants to just do basic computer work. Definitely, it would be a struggle for HP laptops to handle memory-heavy, data-intense files.

The HP Pavilion is the top of the line laptop the company has to offer, but it is the popular HP Mini which is flying off the shelves everywhere in the world.

HP is also known to offer some of the best and most appealing promotions from eye-popping give-aways to fantastic vacation getaways. The current promotion on South Africa has a prize of an all-expense paid beach vacation, complete with limousine and transfer services.

Toshiba Laptops

Toshiba laptops are popular because they are affordable and some models have 3D features. The most common negative feedback about their laptops is its exterior design which is ho-hum and boring.

Sony Laptops

Sony is a Japanese brand well known for TV, gaming, and audio/video equipment. Their venture into laptops and computers came much later. In South Africa, Sony started as a joint venture with Malbak Limited in 1996, but a year later Sony bought the shares of Malbak and became a fully company-owned business. Aside from laptops and computers, they are popular in South Africa for their recording equipment, data media, camcorders, cameras and home entertainment. Their most popular laptop is the VAIO Notebook.

Mecer Laptops

Mecer started out in South Africa in 1987 and was soon recognized as a brand leader. They have expanded outside of South Africa and are able to hold their own against the industry leaders.