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Product Title Dragon Naturally Speaking 13 P. Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars, based on 1 reviews 1 ratings. Current Price $126.99 $ 126. Sold & shipped. Apr 16, 2020 Dragon NaturallySpeaking is, in other words, like one of those amazing voice-controlled computers you see in movies, only that this time it’s on your own PC! Dragon NaturallySpeaking is an amazing voice recognition tool that lets you control the computer with. Dragon Naturally Speaking offers solutions for business professionals, and those in the legal field, allowing them to create and streamline documents for faster turnaround.
This post reflects my opinions and should only be one source that you use when looking for the best option for you.
Dragon naturally speaking is a fantastic tool for translating voice to text. It can greatly increase your productivity, and it has a lot of different use cases. Regardless of how you want to deploy the software, we want to help you find the best laptop for dragon naturally speaking.
Table Of Contents
- Best Laptops for Dragon Naturally Speaking
- 1. Best Overall – MSI GF65
- 2. Best Budget – Acer Aspire 5
- 3. Best Runner Up – Dell Inspiron 7000
- What you should be looking for
- RAM
- GPU
- Storage
- CPU
- Conclusion
I have used Dragon Naturally Speaking quite a bit, going back to version 7. This is almost 20 years ago, and I thought the program worked really well even back then. I can remember reading stories after stories out loud to train the software to recognize and interpret my voice correctly. It worked on my old laptop then, and it works on most computers now. To be honest, Dragon Naturally Speaking does not require a lot of compute power. You should be able to use pretty much any laptop, and in our guide we have tried to follow that.
We have spent a lot of time researching what we think are the best options, and we have made the assumption that you want a new laptop that obviously works well with Dragon Naturally Speaking, but also one that works well for other things. When buying a new laptop you want to make sure you get something that will last you a long time. We have gathered what we think are the best options in the low to mid price range. All these laptops are good options, at the very least they should be a great starting point for your research.
In this guide we are mostly going to talk about what we think are the main and most important components of a laptop. There are a lot of other fringe details such as the design that might be important to you. Because of that we encourage you to read through the product pages of all the options to see if there is anything in particular that catches your eye.
At the end of this post we will also get into some detail about what you should look for when doing your research. You should keep these guidelines in mind if you want to get a good deal, and a good laptop that will last you longer than just 1 to 2 years.
Best Laptops for Dragon Naturally Speaking
Based on our research, our pick as the best laptop for Dragon Naturally Speaking is the MSI GF65 (#ad).
1. Best Overall – MSI GF65
The MSI GF63 is our pick as the overall best for dragon naturally speaking. The reason why this laptop is the winner is because of the really good specs you get for the price. If you just want something simply for Dragon then check out the best budget option, if you want a really good laptop that is great for many other things then this might be the option for you.
The laptop comes with an Intel Core i7-9750H CPU. This CPU will easily be able to handle anything Dragon can throw at it. It is actually the CPU that you find in many more expensive gaming laptops. The price of this CPU is coming down a little because the new 10th generation is being rolled out. This CPU will last you for years to come, and it will be able to support future versions of Dragon Naturally Speaking as well.
Another amazing feature about this laptop is the GPU. You do not really need a GPU but it is useful in so many applications these days that not having one can be a disadvantage some times. The GPU in this laptop is an RTX 2060, which is incredibly good for this price. You will find this GPU in other laptops that cost a lot more than this one. The GPU is something that is not very easy to upgrade in a laptop, so you are sort of stuck with what you get originally in most cases. Because of this, this laptop is great for longevity because of the powerful GPU that it houses.
There is 8 GB of RAM in the laptop. This is a little on the smaller side, we recommend you get 16 GB. There is only 1 RAM chip in the laptop, so you can easily just buy one more and insert it yourself. Because of this we don’t see the lack of 16 GB RAM as a major disadvantage for this laptop.
There is also 512 GB of SSD storage, which is a decent amount and about what we recommend. A lot of laptops will only have 256 GB, but you can supplement that with either an external hard drive or some cloud storage.
Overall the MSI GF65 is a serious laptop for a great price. It gives you a lot of bang for your buck.
See the MSI GF65 (#ad) on Amazon.
2. Best Budget – Acer Aspire 5
The Acer Aspire comes in a lot of different configurations. The one we have picked for this guide is a cheaper model in order to be more budget friendly. The parts that you get for this really is a good bang for your buck. To start with, you get a 10th gen Intel Core i5-1021U. This is not the most powerful option out there, but for speech to text software this should be more than good enough. You will also be able to do most other activities you might think of. The only place where this might suffer a little is when it comes to playing video games, but if that is not a concern to you then this is a great option.
There is no GPU on the model that we picked, and that is just fine for Dragon Naturally Speaking. If you take a look at the requirements for Dragon 15 for example, there is no mention of a GPU anywhere, so this laptop will serve you just fine for this purpose.
There is 8 GB of RAM in this laptop which is the minimum amount we recommend. Most laptops that have 16 GB is going to be more expensive, so if you want to save some money it is better to get something like this and then just upgrade it yourself later if you feel you need more.
Another downside about this laptop is that it only has a 256 GB SSD. This is not a lot of space, and we really recommend that you get an external hard drive or some cloud storage to store most of your files on.
This laptop offers you what you would expect from this price class and then some. That is why it landed as the best budget option.
See the Acer Aspire 5 (#ad) on Amazon.
3. Best Runner Up – Dell Inspiron 7000
The Dell Inspiron 7000 is similar to the MSI in many ways, but it is not quite as powerful and does not look like a gaming laptop. This laptop is a great option if you don’t need the really powerful GPU for playing video games but still want something with decent power that can run pretty much anything. This laptop still has a GPU, it comes with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050, which is a decent option for many. It is not nearly as powerful as the MSI, but that is a good thing for some as you can save some money on something that is not really important for Dragon Naturally Speaking.
The CPU is the same Intel Core i7-9750H that you will find in a lot of high end laptops. The CPU is one of the most important parts of any laptop and this CPU does not disappoint. If you want the laptop to feel fresh for a long time then we recommend that you go for something that is not any older than an 8th gen. Intel are rolling out their 10th generation now, so the 9th gen that is in this laptop will be a little cheaper now. It is still a great CPU and for your purposes it is more than powerful enough. It is even good enough to power some video games at a decent setting along with the GPU.
There is 8 GB of RAM with the possibility of upgrading later if you want. 8 GB is enough for your purpose, but some might find it more comfortable with 16. More and more software are using more RAM, and having enough of it is important. RAM holds the information that the CPU needs, and if it is not available in RAM then it first has to be loaded from secondary storage (SSD or HHD). This takes a lot of time in terms of computer time, and that is why older laptops with less RAM sometimes feel sluggish.
There is a 256 GB SSD on board which should be good. A 512 GB would be better in general, but if you combine it with some online storage for media files then it should work for most.
See the Dell Inspiron 7000 (#ad) on Amazon.
What you should be looking for
We quickly want to discuss some of the main features that we think you should be looking for.
RAM
An important part of any laptop is the RAM. Typically we recommend that you go with at least 8 GB. One reason why we are not as strict on this guideline is because you can upgrade RAM quite easily in most laptops. RAM is also not that expensive any more so this is not a big concern in the long run. One way to go about this is to start out with a laptop that only has 8 GB as this will typically be a bit cheaper, then if you feel you need more you can upgrade it later.
GPU
Dragon Naturally Speaking 15
You do not need a GPU for this case. A GPU is great to have in many scenarios, and a well rounded laptop should have one in our opinion. If you want something that is good for playing video games and doing things such as video rendering, then you need a GPU.
Storage
256 GB is typically the minimum you should go for, but more would be better. If you want to save money then this is one area where cheaper laptops usually come in a bit short. If it fits in your budget, you should upgrade to the model that has either 256 or 512 GB. You have to make that decision as they have quire a few configurations to chose from. Also, make sure you get an SSD over a regular HDD. SSDs are much faster and it makes a real impact on performance.
CPU
Nuance Website
Get the best CPU you can afford. The CPU is the brain if the laptop and plays a vital role in any activity you will use the laptop for. The CPUs on the laptops in this list are all quite good, but of course the Acer one is somewhat on the weaker side.
Conclusion
Dragon Naturally Speaking does not require too many resources. You should be able to use pretty much any laptop, just make sure you check out the requirements for the version of the software you are interested in first. We highly recommend that you check out the product pages and see if there are any other features that might interest you. For example, the Dell Inspiron comes with a fingerprint reader which many will find incredibly convenient.
Dragon Naturally Speaking Support
We hope you found this guide helpful and that it helps you find the best laptop for you.