1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,960 Our goal was perfectly simple to create a back-to-school laptop buyer's guide, 2 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:08,720 but recommending a laptop these days is anything but simple. 3 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:13,920 Let me explain. This Dell Inspiron was the best laptop, 4 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:18,480 as was this Acer Nitro, and this HP Spectre was too. 5 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:26,880 That's because the best $1,000 laptop is always going to be a $1,400 laptop on sale for $1,000. 6 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:31,680 So instead of telling you what to buy, I'm going to do you one better, 7 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:36,080 and I'm going to teach you how to buy a laptop so that you can shop with confidence 8 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:39,120 and get a great deal on the right machine for you. 9 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:43,520 We're also going to include some honorable mentions to give you guys a good starting point, 10 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:47,840 whether you're looking for a thin and light or a mobile workstation. 11 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:50,960 I'm also going to be mentioning today's sponsor, Lexar. 12 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:56,800 This entire video was shot on iPhone directly to their Armor 700 portable SSD. 13 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:03,120 It offers blazing fast performance, is IP66 rated to protect against both water and dust, 14 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:07,200 and its rugged design is built to withstand up to three meter drops and falls, 15 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:14,400 making it perfect for outdoor and extreme environments. It supports Apple ProRes recording, has a unique thermal control design to ensure 16 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,880 consistent performance, and is compatible with basically anything with a USB-C port 17 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:22,400 and comes in two attractive colors. We're going to have it linked down below. 18 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,520 The most important thing to do is be honest with yourself 19 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:29,520 and look for a laptop that excels at what you actually do, 20 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:35,280 not at what you think you might like to do someday, maybe if you have time. 21 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,840 So for most people, top of the line components aren't necessary, 22 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:43,520 and a mid-range machine will not only save you some money, 23 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:48,080 but it could be lighter, quieter, and last longer on battery. 24 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:54,080 With that said, if you are looking for performance, I would start your search with gaming laptops. 25 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:59,040 Even if you don't game, they typically have the best cooling, fastest processors, 26 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,440 and better upgrade ability than laptops that are marketed towards professionals 27 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:09,040 or creators on top of being priced more aggressively at almost every performance tier. 28 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,840 As for the gamers out there, if your primary use is school or work, 29 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:21,120 something with an RTX 4050 or RTX 3060 is going to handle 1080p or even 1440p gaming 30 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,800 in most titles, at least if you reduce the settings a little bit. 31 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:30,640 Here are a couple of budget-friendly options, with any of these being worth picking up if you can find a good sale on them. 32 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:36,000 Not everyone wants to turn down settings though, so intense gamers should buy something faster, right? 33 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,200 Well, yeah, but it's not that simple. 34 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:46,560 In front of me are two laptops, one with an RTX 4070 and one with an RTX 4060. 35 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,000 Guess which one of them is faster? Go ahead, I'll wait. 36 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:53,760 Yeah, it's the 4060! 37 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:59,280 See, these days, you don't just worry about which GPU is in your laptop, 38 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,400 you also have to worry about the wattage of your GPU. 39 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:08,640 In this G14 here, that 4060 gets fed up to 90 watts of power, 40 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:14,480 while the 4070 in this more professional-oriented Acer gets just 50 watts. 41 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:20,960 To add insult to this confusing injury, laptop GPUs share almost nothing in common 42 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:24,080 with their desktop counterparts with the same names, 43 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:30,640 and the only way to break through this deceptive branding is to painstakingly test every single one of them. 44 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:35,040 Thankfully, Jared's Tech has done all the work for you! 45 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,320 He tested a truly incredible number of games and GPUs, 46 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,600 and has made this incredible resource for the community. 47 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:47,840 And there's more good news. If your idea of gaming is planting turnips in Stardew Valley, 48 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:52,480 there's a solid chance that you can completely forget about a dedicated GPU at all. 49 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:56,080 Many recent CPUs can even handle AAA games. 50 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaking of, how do you choose the right CPU for your laptop? 51 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:03,440 Well, if you simply want the best, it's Apple. 52 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:09,840 Yeah, you're stuck with the notch and macOS, and whether the ecosystem is a feature or bug is subjective, 53 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:18,000 but their battery life is fantastic, and their M3 chips have single-core performance that is currently unmatched by Windows machines. 54 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:23,440 Getting a MacBook does have a couple of problems. You can't play many games, and they're expensive, 55 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,880 but if you're a student or you don't mind factory refurbished, 56 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:31,280 there are deals to be found out there. On the Windows side, we're going to start with AMD, 57 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:35,520 whose mobile naming scheme is so bad that we made an entire video 58 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,080 about how they are intentionally misleading consumers. 59 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,880 Their most recent chips are the Ryzen AI 300 series, 60 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,960 and these offer a small uplift in performance over the last generation, 61 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:54,640 but with a huge improvement in efficiency, with our Ryzen AI laptop getting an additional three hours of battery life. 62 00:04:54,640 --> 00:05:01,680 You can watch our full review at the link down below, but the too long didn't watch is that if you can afford a laptop with a Ryzen AI 300 chip, 63 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:08,000 you're going to have a pretty good time. Moving back a generation, though, things get really confusing. 64 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:14,640 Look at the Ryzen 5 7640U. The most important number in there is not the 7, 65 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:21,120 but it's actually the 4, which signifies that this CPU uses AMD's Zen 4 architecture. 66 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:28,320 So you could be easily tricked into thinking that the Ryzen 3 7320U would be similar, 67 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:34,240 but with a little bit less performance. But remember, I just said, the 7 means nothing. 68 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:38,640 It's going to be way slower because the important number is the 2. 69 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:42,400 It's using the Zen 2 architecture from 2019. 70 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:50,320 Yikes! So if you're looking for a deal on a slightly older Ryzen 7000 or 8000 series chip, 71 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:55,440 they can be good bets, but just make sure there's a 4 in this spot, 72 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:59,120 or that price better be really good. As for Intel, 73 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:04,240 their new Ultra 100 series CPUs actually offer a tiny bit less performance 74 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:09,680 than the 13th gen chips that they replaced, but with a big improvement in battery life, 75 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,840 making realistically either a decent choice depending on your priorities. 76 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:17,920 In the coming months, Intel is going to be launching their Lunar Lake lineup, 77 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:23,040 which they promise is going to be really, really good. But okay, what am I going to do? 78 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:25,840 Drive my Roadster 2 to the future mart and buy one? 79 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:30,320 The hard truth is Intel's a little behind on mobile right now, 80 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:35,040 but not by so much that you should buy an AMD machine with a keyboard you hate 81 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:39,440 versus an Intel one that's more comfortable. And as long as the price is right, 82 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:46,240 you can safely go back, I'd say to about 12th gen without missing out massively on performance or efficiency. 83 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaking of, we are not done yet because the laptop CPU market was just massively disrupted 84 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:58,160 by Qualcomm and their Snapdragon X chips, which offer unmatched battery life with performance 85 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,520 that is comparable to AMD's Ryzen AI line. 86 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,640 The only catch is that these are ARM processors, 87 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:08,400 and if your application doesn't run natively on Windows on ARM, 88 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:14,320 you could be looking at a 30 to 50% reduction in performance if it works at all. 89 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:18,720 We did a live stream where we tested a bunch of games on Snapdragon X 90 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:24,160 and found that only about half of them worked. And it's more than just games. 91 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:28,240 Adobe Premiere works, but only the 2023 version at the moment, 92 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:33,440 and other parts of the creative suite, like After Effects, are currently MIA altogether. 93 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:37,600 So there are two groups of people then that these laptops could be great for. 94 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:41,200 Users who know for sure that they're going to be doing things in a web browser 95 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:44,160 or just using common apps. Always. 96 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:49,760 Or the geeks who love to be the first to test obscure programs on new hardware 97 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:54,240 and then work with the dev team to resolve them. If you're in either of those categories, 98 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:58,320 hey, enjoy that laptop that you only need to plug in every few days. 99 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:04,240 We really like the Surface Laptop 7, Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge, and HP Omnibook X, 100 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:08,080 though we have a full video looking at over half a dozen different options, 101 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:12,240 which you can check out down below. Of course, if you looked at all of those and thought, 102 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:15,600 gee, there's nothing really in my budget. That's understandable, 103 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:20,640 and there's lots of options for you, especially if you're willing to consider something unconventional. 104 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:26,320 Chromebooks might not be very sexy, but will serve you very well if everything that you do can be done 105 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:32,160 through an internet browser or through Linux apps. And they tend to be better specced for their price 106 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,680 thanks to manufacturers saving on the cost of a Windows license. 107 00:08:36,560 --> 00:08:40,240 On the Windows side of things, though, there are budget-friendly options as well, 108 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:43,280 and Acer was kind enough to send us over a few machines 109 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,800 ranging from $230 to $400 110 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:50,960 to see just how much performance you can get on their most basic models. 111 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:56,400 The build quality of the $230 Aspire Go is surprisingly okay, 112 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,760 but the Intel N100 processor that powers it is... 113 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:05,680 Like, it's not just slow. It's struggling to do basic tasks. 114 00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:09,440 Meanwhile, the $300 Aspire Go with a Ryzen CPU 115 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:12,880 is literally twice as fast for not that much more money, 116 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:18,160 while the $400 Aspire 3 is not a huge upgrade in raw performance, 117 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:22,560 but gets 16 gigs of RAM, meaning it can complete our full test suite, 118 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:28,320 and actually seems very worthwhile. It uses AMD's older Zen 2 architecture, 119 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:33,440 so neither performance nor battery life are going to be on par with the most modern machines, 120 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:37,200 but it's good enough to the point where the mediocre screen 121 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,400 is more of a concern to me than the outright performance. 122 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:46,240 If you have a little more to spend, this HP Pavilion Aero is currently on sale for $600, 123 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:50,080 and the amount better it is is hard to overstate. 124 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:53,360 Of course, all of this assumes that you need to buy new. 125 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:58,640 If you don't mind giving up things like warranties, you could save a significant amount of money. 126 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:02,400 Universities and offices regularly sell surplus equipment 127 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:06,160 that is pretty decent, just a couple of generations older. 128 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:12,480 Here's a listing from the University of Utah that has laptops for half of what they're worth on the used market. 129 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:15,760 Also, if you end up with a machine that seems slow, 130 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:20,560 you could potentially give it a shot in the ARM with upgrades to RAM, storage, and Wi-Fi. 131 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:25,440 Just verify beforehand that these items are in fact replaceable 132 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:28,640 by googling laptop name Teardown. 133 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:32,560 If you're lucky, we'll have covered it on ShortCircuit, or I Fix It will have a guide. 134 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaking of upgrading RAM, how do you know if you need to? 135 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:41,040 Well, in 2024, 4GB of RAM is a complete no-go, 136 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:47,120 and despite what Apple might try and tell you, 8GB really isn't enough either, unless you're my grandma. 137 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:54,320 It is going to slow you down. Our new starting recommendation then is 16GB, 138 00:10:54,320 --> 00:11:00,240 and that's only really enough until you start getting into more professional video editing or scientific programs, 139 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:04,160 at which point you'll need significantly more. As for the exact amount, 140 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:07,840 the most important thing is that however much you need, 141 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:14,080 you'll need to get it right now, because many newer machines do not support upgrading your RAM later. 142 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:20,640 If the ability to upgrade is important for you then, look for a laptop that supports Sodium or Cam modules. 143 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:24,960 Thankfully, storage is simpler. Just get a 256GB SSD. 144 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:30,400 If you plan on doing video editing, or you want to install a bunch of games, then feel free to increase that number. 145 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:35,920 But if your budget is tight, storage is probably the first place that I would try to cut costs, 146 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:40,560 especially since it's the most likely part of your laptop to be easily upgradeable. 147 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:46,080 And even if you don't feel like cracking open your device, oh yeah, external SSDs are readily available, 148 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:52,080 like the Armor 700 from Lexar. Just plug it into your laptop and boom, more storage. 149 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:56,400 Don't cut your storage budget too much though. A hard drive might be tempting, 150 00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:03,600 since it can give you a lot of capacity for cheap, but these days it is not worth the performance hit at all. 151 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:08,880 EMMC, even though it's solid state, is actually a similar story too. 152 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:12,000 It is dog slow compared to a proper SSD, 153 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:16,560 and it's considerably less reliable, so avoid it if at all possible. 154 00:12:16,560 --> 00:12:21,840 What you might also want to avoid is scuffing up your new laptop, so it's finally here. 155 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,520 Maybe consider the all new LTT laptop bag complete 156 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:28,960 with thoughtful layout and rugged design. 157 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:34,720 Gotta freaking love it, available now at LTTstore.com. 158 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:38,560 Moving on to the display of your laptop, there's a lot to consider. 159 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:43,680 There are four main panel types, TN, OLED, MiniLED, and IPS. 160 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:47,920 TN is the technology of yesterday and should be avoided, 161 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:51,520 while OLED and MiniLED are the best if you can afford them. 162 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:55,200 OLED excels in dark rooms with its perfect blacks 163 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:59,760 and unmatched contrast, but it might not get quite bright enough 164 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:04,000 for well-lit rooms or outdoors. MiniLED is the opposite, 165 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,200 with exceptional brightness making it punchy even in bright rooms 166 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:13,120 while sacrificing contrast in dark rooms, meaning your typical use case will determine which is best. 167 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:17,840 IPS is your all-rounder, offering generally good viewing angles, color, and brightness, 168 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:22,000 and with the extra benefit of being sometimes significantly more efficient. 169 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:25,680 For instance, the IPS version of the Dell XPS 13 Plus 170 00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:29,840 got almost five hours more battery life than the POLED version. 171 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:34,480 Nice. Probably most importantly though, IPS is going to be the most affordable, 172 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:38,400 making it the right choice for most people. It doesn't suck. 173 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:41,600 Now, we mentioned brighter panels being better for outdoors, 174 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:47,440 but how do you tell what's bright enough? 200 to 300 nits will be fine for most indoor use, 175 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:50,880 with 400 to 500 nits being required for outdoors 176 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:54,560 or 600 plus for a satisfying HDR experience. 177 00:13:54,640 --> 00:14:00,080 Be careful with some laptops that might be claiming huge numbers like 1500 nits, 178 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:04,800 because sometimes that number will only apply for a tiny bright spot on the display 179 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:08,160 with a much lower brightness when the entire screen is bright. 180 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:12,720 An often overlooked aspect of a display is the aspect ratio. 181 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:18,400 For TVs, the standard is 16 by 9, but for laptops, the slightly taller 16 by 10, 182 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:23,120 or even if you're crazy, 3 by 2, have become popular in recent years, 183 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:26,720 and for good reason. This little bit of extra vertical real estate 184 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:30,320 can be a big productivity boost for office or creative work alike, 185 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:37,520 and it also tends to be a better fit in a laptop chassis, giving designers more room for cooling and large, comfortable track pads. 186 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:43,040 As for what resolution you need, we can use simple math to find the distance 187 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:49,120 at which a panel becomes a retina display, which is Apple's marketing term for the pixel density being high enough 188 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:53,760 that you can't see the individual pixels. Here's the full breakdown per resolution, 189 00:14:53,760 --> 00:15:00,160 but the gist is that full HD is good enough. Quad HD will be noticeably sharper if you have good eyes, 190 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:06,720 and 4K isn't really worthwhile, especially considering those extra pixels can negatively impact battery life, 191 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:15,040 and I care about battery life. No matter the resolution, increasing the refresh rate above 60Hz will be a worthwhile improvement. 192 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:19,040 High refresh rate displays will have the biggest impact if you plan on gaming, 193 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:22,560 though there are diminishing returns above 144Hz, 194 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:26,480 and even non-gamers will benefit. Everything you do will feel smoother, 195 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:30,000 be that photo editing, CAD, or even just making a new folder. 196 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:34,240 I do that all the time, but like so many other nice things, 197 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:37,520 it can negatively impact your battery life. 198 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:41,360 One thing that may or may not matter to you is a touchscreen. 199 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:46,560 I'm personally a fan of them, maybe you aren't, but the choice is up to you, unless you're getting Apple only. 200 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,760 The final factor to watch out for in your display is color. 201 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:54,880 A wider color space, or gamut, means the panel can physically produce more colors, 202 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:59,760 while a smaller color space can leave content looking dull and unsaturated. 203 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:04,080 Color spaces can get a bit confusing since there are a bunch of different standards, 204 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:10,480 but unless you know you need something else, aim for near 100% coverage of sRGB. 205 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:15,120 That's the standard the web uses. For those of you who do need more graphic designers, 206 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:19,520 colorists, and like, you know who you are, you'll need to be concerned not only with gamut, 207 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:25,600 but also the accuracy of your display. A poorly calibrated display might show everything with a slight magenta, 208 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:29,200 or a blue hue, and this is usually caused by slight variations 209 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:33,840 from panel to panel during manufacturing. So if you plan on doing color-critical work, 210 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,200 look into getting a laptop with a factory calibrated display. 211 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:41,120 Something like an average Delta E2000 of 2 or below 212 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:46,160 is generally considered to be accurate enough, as that's what the human eye can typically discern. 213 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:49,920 Some laptops with excellent displays are the Dell XPS 13+, 214 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:53,680 MacBook Pro, Samsung Galaxy Book, HP Spectre, 215 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:58,800 and ASUS G14 and G16. I guess that would be Gs14 and 16? 216 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:03,200 Whatever. Now for a rare simple choice, the trackpad. 217 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:06,240 Ever since Microsoft introduced Windows Precision Drivers, 218 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:10,800 almost all laptops come with a trackpad that will be accurate and not slow you down, 219 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:16,640 although the very best trackpads are large, glass-topped, and use force-touch instead of a physical click. 220 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:21,040 Standouts here include MacBooks and Windows devices with sensual trackpads, 221 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,560 like the Surface Laptop 7, HP Spectre, Dell XPS, 222 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:30,000 and Lenovo ThinkPad Z series. Well, almost certainly be more difficult is the keyboard. 223 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,560 These can be very personal though, so the best way to confirm that you like one is just 224 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:40,880 go to your local big box store and try out a bunch. The first thing to look for is that your hands physically fit. 225 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:45,200 Some 13-inch devices won't have a large enough palm rest for everyone, 226 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:48,880 or maybe there are some sharp edges on a device that will bother 227 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,400 only some folks who end up resting right on them. 228 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:57,280 After that, check the chassis flex of the machine. Soft spots can throw off your typing, 229 00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:00,400 then check how stable the keys themselves are. 230 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:06,000 Press the edge of a key. It's a fail if you can get the corner to go too low before the key actuates, 231 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:12,640 and finally just press a whole bunch of keys to see if there are any obvious differences in force required to press each one. 232 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:15,760 The ones that we like the most are the HP Dragonfly Elite, 233 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:19,440 Dell Latitude 9440, and Alienware gaming laptops, 234 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:25,680 especially if you choose the optional Cherry switches. The last big things we haven't mentioned are weight and battery. 235 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:31,520 Weight is pretty self-explanatory. Lighter is nicer to carry around, duh. 236 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:37,040 But battery is more complex. The standard measurement for battery capacity is watt hours, 237 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:42,720 but even with identical specs, you can end up with wildly varying battery life numbers 238 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:46,240 since the efficiency of every single part in the chain 239 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:51,120 and how the manufacturer has tuned each individual part plays a role. 240 00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:54,720 Adding insult to injury, laptop manufacturers, battery life numbers 241 00:18:54,720 --> 00:19:01,040 are almost always comically overstated and often contradictory on the same webpage. 242 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:04,880 All of this is to say, get your battery life numbers from a reputable source, 243 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:09,520 such as ShortCircuit, and try to use only battery life numbers from a single source 244 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:13,680 for direct comparisons since everyone tests them slightly differently. 245 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:17,280 Finally, there are a couple of nice to-haves that you might want in a laptop. 246 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:23,920 Plan on doing a bunch of meetings with your webcam? Well, Qualcomm's recent CPUs currently support much better webcams 247 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:29,680 than the rest of the CPU makers, even if not every single laptop that has a Qualcomm CPU 248 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,640 has the best implementation. If you're all about privacy, 249 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:36,400 then look for a laptop with a hardware webcam and microphone toggle, 250 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:40,240 or even one of the rare machines without a webcam at all. 251 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:44,640 For logging in quickly, look for a fingerprint reader or Windows HelloFacial recognition, 252 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,160 the latter in particular was a game changer for me. 253 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:52,400 And of course, don't buy anything until you know you can live with the I.O. 254 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:57,520 If a laptop has full-size HDMI, make sure it's 2.1, not 1.4, 255 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:02,720 and many manufacturers these days leave off USB-A ports, SD card readers, 256 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:06,880 and even headphone jacks in the name of a little bit of weight savings. 257 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:11,040 I'm looking at you, Dell. And I'm also looking at our sponsor, Lexar. 258 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,880 The Armor 700 portable SSD held up great for this shoot, 259 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:20,800 handling up to 4K 60fps ProRes footage directly from our iPhone 15 Pro. 260 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:25,680 Reminder that it comes in two colors, black and blue, and you can check it out at the link down below. 261 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:30,000 So if you liked this video, maybe check out our review of the Ryzen AI 300. 262 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:34,400 Also make sure to hit like, get subscribed, and maybe go to our forum and ask us directly, 263 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:38,080 what laptop should I get? We will be in there, and just have a great old day. 264 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,320 See you later.