My Top 10 Laptops of 2022 - Not What I Expected

 

 oh bloody hell well the laptop's right there hey guys i'm tom with techchap and we're only a few weeks into 2022 but already we've seen some incredible new laptops with out of this world designs all new hardware of course including 12th gen intel processors and ryzen 6000 series chips from amd super top ti versions of nvidia's gpus faster ddr5 ram pcie for storage as well as more oled screens high refresh rates there's a bunch of upgrades although bear in mind since i've had early access to some of these pre-release laptops i haven't been able pre-release laptops i haven't been able to properly test and benchmark them so make sure you have like and stay tuned for my full reviews coming soon and if you think i've missed out on any great laptops then let me know in the comments below okay let's start with the new dell xps 13 plus this is an all-new slightly more powerful version of what is probably the best thin and light windows laptop you can buy now with beefier 12th gen intel chips still no dedicated gpu or intel arc graphics but if you're photo or video editing on this gorgeous 13 inch 16 by 10 screen then the extra processor horsepower is certainly welcome we're also getting a very futuristic design refresh with this proper edge to edge keyboard with no spacing in between the keys and also bigger keycaps there's also a new virtual function rope at the top of the keyboard and as you can see there's no obvious touch pad the center of this palm rest is a haptic touch pad kind of like what we get on the macbook pro but new dell xps 13 plus this is an all-new slightly more powerful version of what is probably the best thin and light windows laptop you can buy now with beefier 12th gen intel chips still no dedicated gpu or intel arc graphics but if you're photo or video editing on this gorgeous 13 inch 16 by 10 screen then the extra processor horsepower is certainly welcome we're also getting a very futuristic design refresh with this proper edge to edge keyboard with no spacing in between the keys and also bigger keycaps there's also a new virtual function rope at the top of the keyboard and as you can see there's no obvious touch pad the center of this palm rest is a haptic touch pad kind of like what we get on the macbook pro but you can't really tell where it starts and finishes so i am reserving judgment for when i can spend more time with this as to whether these upgrades are actually functionally as good as they look and you'll also note that there is no headphone jack on this so it kind of feels like those concept cars that we see with unrealistically big tires and designs that you'd never actually see on the road because it's probably legal and then eventually you see the sort of paired down version come to market but with the xps 13 plus it feels like we are getting that concept so uh i'm very intrigued by this i can't wait to test it properly next up let me introduce you to the rog zephyrus flow z13 you may have already seen this in my hands-on video a couple of weeks ago but it's kind of like a gaming surface pro 8. it's a chunky 13-inch tablet with a detachable keyboard and on the inside as we get a little window into it on the back we can get up to the highest end 12th gen i9 intel chips that's the beefiest h45 series along with an rtx 3050 ti and that's with either a 4k60 or 1080p 120 touchscreen so this really is the world's most powerful gaming tablet but the real magic happens when you pair it with the xg mobile dock which comes with either a 3070 or 3080 although an updated 2022 dock is on its way with amd's new gpus of course none of this comes cheap but its cyberpunk design 1.1 kilogram weight and impressive specs this is a proper portable powerhouse all right now sticking with asus for a moment let's talk about this guy it's the new origi zephyrus g14 now these are super popular gaming laptops because well we got a 14 inch screen and a thin and light form factor which you can throw in your backpack well place carefully into your backpack and so this year we've had some tasty upgrades in the form of a new 16 by 10 screen which i'm happy to see thinner bezels as well also this year the g14 is going full team red with amd's ryzen 9 6900 hs processor paired with the rx 6800 s graphics card at the top end we also get this nifty 180 degree hinge which is handy if you're using on a laptop stand or on your knees in bed maybe and also the g14 comes with either a full hd 144 or quad hd 120 hertz screen there's other nice upgrades like dolby vision support wi-fi 6e ddr5 ram a micro sd port a webcam thank goodness and this year we're also getting a mux switch which lets you switch between the dedicated and integrated graphics oh and also the optional anime matrix lighting on the back now has 20 more leds and which are even brighter as well price is tbc but this or its bigger brother the g15 are definitely ones to look out for okay so from asus to acer i've managed to get my grubby little paws on the new swift x 14 and 16 laptops but for me i think it's the 16 inch that really stands out as this is one of the first laptops that i've seen to come with intel's new arc graphics we haven't really seen much of this yet and we haven't had any performance benchmarks but the word is it could compete with the like7 rtx 3050s and considering this is expected to cost 1100 pounds depending on the performance and also the battery life this could be one to watch however whichever laptop or phone or tablet or pc you use i would highly recommend using surfsharkvpn who are very kindly and actually they've been a long time supporter of the channel my face is even on their website as is mr who's the boss there and it's always one of the first apps i install as surf shark's clean web tool can help prevent ads tracking and dodgy malware which is particularly useful if you're out and about and using public wi-fi and of course being a vpn you can hide or change your location access different netflix or streaming services and also just one surf shock account lets you use it on an unlimited number of devices so if you fancy giving surf shark vpn a try then click the link in the description below or use the code tech chat at the checkout to get 83 off and three months extra for free there is also a money back guarantee if you're not super duper satisfied but you will be i promise so why not give surf shark vpn a try okay back to laptops and what about the good people over at apple well i can tell you that since was it november this came out the new pro 14 or 16 i've been obsessed by this i use the 16-inch pro for everything and outside of gaming i've barely touched my desktop pc the performance the mini led screen the battery the design for my money these new pros are the best laptops you can buy however they are very expensive and i maintain that the macbook air is actually the best option for 99 of people which is why i'm excited for a refreshed macbook air 2022 which could be unveiled in april nothing confirmed yet but i would expect to see a refresh maybe with a new m2 chip which well probably won't be as likely as likely as powerful sorry as the m1 max or pro you get in one of these in terms of uh the processor and the thermals and the raw horsepower it could be a lot more efficient which will also of course come with performance gains over the current macbook air which i still do highly recommend but an m2 maybe paired with a mini led screen thinner bezels and just a bit of a refresh design considering we are seeing new asus viva books and zenbooks and dell xps's with gorgeous oled screens 4k resolutions the latest processors i am very excited to see how apple can compete and what it can do with the macbook air so fingers crossed speaking of zenbooks though and while this is the third asus laptop i'm featuring i mean theseguys just make a lot of very good  laptops this zenbook 14x oled space edition is figuratively out of this world so it actually shares many of the same specs as the standard zenbook x14 oled but with a really unique and actually more durable design inspired by space and also the old russian mir space station which actually had an asus laptop onboard for a while although hopefully this doesn't end up crashing and burning into our atmosphere there's also this really cool three and a half inch feature vision monochrome oled screen on the back which you can customize or just use to look at the time and battery life we also get a 92 screen to body ratio up from 90 on the standard zen books so we're looking at slightly thinner bezels around this gorgeous 14 inch 16 by 10 90 hertz oled screen the specs are pretty beefy as well with up to an i9 12th gen intel chip that's the top end 45w h series by the way and all in a chassis either weighs just 1.4 kilos so a genuinely very cool laptop and if you do want to  okay moving on and one laptop i haven't been able to get hands-on with just yet but i am excited for is the new lenovo thinkpad zed thinkpads have always been known as the go to business laptop functionally very good but aesthetically a bit dull well the new z13 and 16 could change all that it's been developed with amd's latest hardware and comes in both 13 and 16 inch sizes and a big feature of the design is the recycled aluminium chassis which can also be paired with this recycled vegan leather exterior i think it looks great and together with an oled screen wi-fi 6e and improved webcam and on the z16 even beefier performance with a dedicated graphics card there's a lot to like here but hold up if we're talking about the most innovative laptops coming off ces 22 this thinkpad plus gen 3 is a strong shell with its ultra wide 17-inch screen and separate 8-inch touchscreen built into the keyboard and this also comes with the latest processors and is expected to come out in may i haven't really thought about this for a while but we don't see ultra wide displays on laptops ever really i mean we had the acer prayer tub three or four years ago which was very cool but very very expensive but since then it's kind of just gone away which is a shame because i love an ultra wide and i wouldn't say no to maybe a 21 by 10 aspect ratio ultra wide display on a laptop what do you think which actually seems pretty reasonable next to this which probably is the winner for most innovative laptop this year so far the zenbook 17 fold oled which looks absolutely ridiculous there's no pricing for this folding tablet laptop thing just yet but certainly we are seeing a new generation of folding tech and while with this we are only getting a low-power u-series 12th gen processor and also no dedicated graphics i am very curious to see how well this could work so what do you reckon do you think you'll be upgrading your laptop this year and if so which models do you have your eye on let me know in the comments below and as coming soon and i'll see you next time