Watch this BEFORE You Buy a Laptop! (Late 2021)
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hey guys i'm tom of techchap and i think
okay so first up do you really need to
spend top dollar on the latest 2021
laptops with the newest tech does it
really make much difference
well yes actually i had originally sort of researched and written this point to
this tip to say no it doesn't because really in the last couple of years the biggest jump we've seen is in terms of
graphics performance particularly integrated graphics on the processors as
well as new gpus of course but aside from that nothing really night and day
but then i went to look to see if i could actually get some good deals on
you know older 2020 2019 models and unless you're happy to buy a secondhand
used model off say ebay maybe with little to no warranty
most of the time i would say actually buying the newest one is a better bet take the latest dell xps 13 for example
900 quid right now and that's actually a really good price for what you get and
it's hard to
find an older model that's significantly better value so yes if you can buy the latest models because you'll get a better spec it'll be faster to use so it'll last you longer a fresh warranty and as i say outside of buying second hand you're not really paying that much more or at least
in my experience
number two diy upgrades this is really important actually whether you're buying a new one or you've got an old laptop that's seen better days because upgrading the ram or the ssd yourself is not only often more cost efficient but you'll get better performance and it'll give your laptop new life so every laptop is a bit different when it comes to upgrading it and uh well don't even think about it with the likes of a macbook so make sure you do your research and maybe read a few reviews to see if your laptop is actually capable of being upgraded they mostly are although you can always just take the bottom off and then have a look for yourself but i can't recommend enough what a difference a fresh faster ssd can do or you know upgrading from four or eight gigs of ram to maybe 16. now bear in mind that you can't really upgrade the cpu the graphics or the screen on laptops at least not easily so concentrate on those specs first when you're buying a new laptop maybe pay a little bit extra for the i7 or the higher quality screen and then don't worry too much about if you only have eight gigs of ram and 256 storage because assuming the laptop supports it
you could always just upgrade that down
the road okay tip number three and
speaking of macbooks apple is in this
weird transition right now from using
intel's chips to their own silicon and i
get a lot of messages saying should i get the intel or the m1 version of the
macbook air or the pro well here's a couple i made earlier i've got the uh and the pro here and this is nice and easy 100 million percent get the m1 unless there's a very specific app or program that you use that you know will only work on intel's architecture although you could maybe just go into an apple store or book a genius appointment and test it there go with the m1 you're looking at anything up to double the performance and double the battery life with almost no heat or fan noise it's really no context oh and while i've got these in hand the question of should you go with the air or the pro well we are expecting new refresh pros in september october time so keep an eye out for those but right now when anyone ever asks me this i always say get the air the main difference with the pro is you have a touch bar which rumors are getting rid of anyway soon so that's not a big deal also a slightly brighter screen and a fan inside the air is fanless but it doesn't make that much difference really that finally comes into play uh if you're doing sort of sustained load uh tasks like you know rendering videos or playing games then you'll get a sort of more consistent frame rate or performance less throttling but for everyday use i think the thousand pound macbook air with the m1 is the one to go for tip number four and this could be a
itself but let's keep it nice and simple what specs should you go for in a laptop well very high level i would recommend the latest 11th gen intel i5 or i7 processors pair that with 8 gigs of ram and ideally 512 gigs of storage and your set that is pretty much all you need and actually the integrated graphics in these latest 11th gen chips and amd cpus are actually pretty decent you can get away with some 1080p medium gaming in the likes of rainbow six siege or overwatch or some you know all the less demanding games if you do need a little more oomph though for you know creative apps or rendering aim for 16 gigs of ram and ideally a laptop with a dedicated graphics card like an rtx 3050 3050 ti or 3060. for gamers, you'll definitely want an RTX 3000 series card for the more horsepower but also better game drivers and RTX extras like glass plus very important for a gaming laptop make sure you get a high refresh screen they mostly do these days and for around a thousand pounds maybe 1200 you can get something with an RTX 360 and a 1080p 144hz screen and that's probably all you need for more serious gamers though I think the sweet spot right now is an RTX 3070 although keep in mind your tgps uh the total graphics power because uh different cards have different power levels you can check out my little uh tips for buying a gaming laptop video bear that in mind but I think an RTX 3070 with a quad HD 165-hertz screen it's kind of like the sweet spot right now but you know depending on what kind of gamer you are if you're into esports then you're going to want something with you know 300 hertz 360-hertz full HD screen to get that smoothest fastest experience okay so this is the new Samsung galaxy book pro 360. and a big thank you for giving me the chance to play with the 360. and it's one of three new galaxy books all with the latest 11th gen intel processors and fast iris xe graphics and also both pro models boast gorgeous amoled screens but as it says on the tin the 360 is the only one that could compete at the olympics with its twisty turny fully rotating hinge so you can basically use it any way you like tent mode is handy for watching movies if you're maybe tight on space or maybe in tablet mode if you're drawing or designing or you know just pretending to be important and walking around the office with it in your arm so with this we get a 13.3-inch 1080p amoled screen instead of your regular lcd so deep inky blacks and accurate colors and that's along with a nice big responsive trackpad comfy keyboard and all the latest specs including wi-fi 6e thunderbolt 4 plus this thing weighs just 1.04 kilograms and thanks to the more efficient hardware we're looking at a solid nine hours of real-world battery life with this so it really is the perfect travel companion and with that 360 hinge you've got a ton of flexibility in how you actually want to use it and I'll leave a link below if Do you want to check out the galaxy book pro 360. oh and also if you're wondering this is actually the galaxy book pro the non 360 so we've got the regular clamshell hinge here still without gorgeous amoled screen so this is definitely worth having a look at it as well but while i've got this in hand this uses intel's 11th gen processors with the pretty decent iris xc graphics but it's not going to blow you away when it comes to gaming so there is another way you can play games on laptops any laptop in fact whether it's a macbook or a chromebook and that's by streaming whether it's geforce now or google stadia through chrome or even something like a shadow which it gives you a full streamed windows experience all these do require a fairly fast and reliable internet connection but with something like geforce now you can essentially play the best most demanding games fully maxed out on any laptop regardless of the spec and
because it's all streamed you don't need any of that powerful hardware in your
physical laptop also doesn't heat up or use much battery and it's a great alternative for gaming okay tip number six and while I do love a good laptop I have to be honest when i come home to the office dining room currently because the new the studio is being built I prefer using my desktop pc not just for the extra power because I've got 3090 in there but actually because of this guy I've got a 38 inch38-inch ultra wide monitor which makes well everything I do feel a whole lot
nicer and easier so whatever laptop you have I can't recommend highly enough getting a good second screen I mean even a basic inch 1080p for a couple hundred quid gives you so much more screen real estate and it makes the laptop feel less confined now sticking with screens and actually one of the best trends in laptops over the last couple of years is this switch to a 16 by 10 aspect ratio and serve you regular old 16 by nine and it means you get a little bit more vertical space on your screen which means especially on smaller 13-inch laptops like this it's again just a lot more comfortable to use and so we've got the likes of the dell xps range msi z16 and also of course macbooks have been using that aspect for years now where possible I would
recommend 16x10 it's just quite a bit nicer to use
tip number eight and as well as that also, think about the actual quality of
the screen itself because you have the best laptop most powerful thing in the
known universe but if you've got a really rubbish panel that has sort of grays instead of blacks and rubbish
color accuracy and it's really dimmed you can't use it outside it's not going to be good so most laptops are full hd now aka 1080p and that's fine but look out for color accuracy which is usually
measured by how much of the srgb adobe
rgb and dci p3 color spectrums are the
screen covers so if color accuracy is important to you then look for a laptop
that has something in the area of 100 srgb and anything really above 90 adobe
rgb and p3 the higher the better and also at least 350 nits of brightness
but ideally four to 500 nits so it's comfortable to use out and about and also, think about matte versus glossy because the former is genuinely better
for gamers and the latter for a more vibrant contrasty look but bear in mind you'll probably end up making friends with you in reflection okay number nine
and consider different form factors because while pretty much all these are
your regular clam shells you've also got flippy tiny fancy 360 ones like the galaxy bug pro 360 which naturally comes with a touchscreen and they mostly offer stylus support as well or even crazier maybe think about a dual screen laptop the asus zenbook duo is worth a look or even their super high-end gaming
oriented rog zephyrus duo you are definitely paying a premium for these but if you're working or gaming on the go and don't have a ton of room for
a proper second monitor having a second will be a smaller screen on your actual the
laptop can be really useful for your discord your media files your emails and
I really hope this is a trend that we only a handful of laptops like this or a bit of a curveball here what about
an ipad this is the new uh pro 12.9 so
it's got that fancy mini led screen and the m1 chip inside now all together this
costs like 1400 pounds or something so it's a lot of money but you don't have
to spend that much the 4th gen ipad air the current ipad air also is compatible
with the magic keyboard so I think that's a great combination uh for an almost a
laptop like an experience i still don't think they fully replace it because we
are on this mobile uh ipad os you can't get full desktop apps like premiere pro
but at the same time having this gorgeous touch screen and obviously it's
120 hertz with the pro models which makes it a bit more responsive if you're
going to pair it say with the apple pencil if you're a designer doodler
drawer kind of person and together with
the incredible app store with obviously
a ton of really good creative apps out
there this could be depending on how you use it as a better option than a regular
old laptop so it's worth considering
okay last but not least tip number 10
and try it before you buy I think this
is pretty self-explanatory because don't spend you know hundreds or thousands of
pounds on a laptop when you might not
actually like it goes into a store uh and
try the keyboard to see if it feels good does the touchpad have a nice texture to
it does the fans we're up as soon as you
open a single chrome tab what's the a screen like a lot of stuff you won't
really appreciate it unless you're in the person or maybe you watch a ton of reviews from people like me perhaps or
buy it and return it in the uk at least we have this thing called the dsr the
distance selling regulations so you can actually, buy it test it and use it as if
you were in a store and then if you don't like it you can return it as I say
don't abuse those policies but they're there for a reason to help consumers out
so this is obviously a pretty big investment buying a new laptop so you
want to make sure it is the right one for you
and breathe that was it my top 10 tips hopefully, that was helpful fingers crossed if not then we've well both wasted a whole bunch of time there if Do you think I've missed out on any great tips then share them in the comments below so the rest of the tech chap the community can uh enjoy your wisdom bay- Get link
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