WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.960 Our goal was perfectly simple to create a back-to-school laptop buyer's guide, 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:08.720 but recommending a laptop these days is anything but simple. 00:00:09.280 --> 00:00:13.920 Let me explain. This Dell Inspiron was the best laptop, 00:00:13.920 --> 00:00:18.480 as was this Acer Nitro, and this HP Spectre was too. 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. 00:00:26.880 --> 00:00:31.680 So instead of telling you what to buy, I'm going to do you one better, 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 00:00:36.080 --> 00:00:39.120 and get a great deal on the right machine for you. 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, 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:47.840 whether you're looking for a thin and light or a mobile workstation. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:50.960 I'm also going to be mentioning today's sponsor, Lexar. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:56.800 This entire video was shot on iPhone directly to their Armor 700 portable SSD. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:03.120 It offers blazing fast performance, is IP66 rated to protect against both water and dust, 00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:07.200 and its rugged design is built to withstand up to three meter drops and falls, 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 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:18.880 consistent performance, and is compatible with basically anything with a USB-C port 00:01:18.880 --> 00:01:22.400 and comes in two attractive colors. We're going to have it linked down below. 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:25.520 The most important thing to do is be honest with yourself 00:01:25.520 --> 00:01:29.520 and look for a laptop that excels at what you actually do, 00:01:29.520 --> 00:01:35.280 not at what you think you might like to do someday, maybe if you have time. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:39.840 So for most people, top of the line components aren't necessary, 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:43.520 and a mid-range machine will not only save you some money, 00:01:43.520 --> 00:01:48.080 but it could be lighter, quieter, and last longer on battery. 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. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:59.040 Even if you don't game, they typically have the best cooling, fastest processors, 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:03.440 and better upgrade ability than laptops that are marketed towards professionals 00:02:03.440 --> 00:02:09.040 or creators on top of being priced more aggressively at almost every performance tier. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:13.840 As for the gamers out there, if your primary use is school or work, 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 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:24.800 in most titles, at least if you reduce the settings a little bit. 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. 00:02:30.640 --> 00:02:36.000 Not everyone wants to turn down settings though, so intense gamers should buy something faster, right? 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.200 Well, yeah, but it's not that simple. 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. 00:02:47.200 --> 00:02:50.000 Guess which one of them is faster? Go ahead, I'll wait. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:53.760 Yeah, it's the 4060! 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:59.280 See, these days, you don't just worry about which GPU is in your laptop, 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:02.400 you also have to worry about the wattage of your GPU. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:08.640 In this G14 here, that 4060 gets fed up to 90 watts of power, 00:03:08.640 --> 00:03:14.480 while the 4070 in this more professional-oriented Acer gets just 50 watts. 00:03:14.480 --> 00:03:20.960 To add insult to this confusing injury, laptop GPUs share almost nothing in common 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:24.080 with their desktop counterparts with the same names, 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. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:35.040 Thankfully, Jared's Tech has done all the work for you! 00:03:35.040 --> 00:03:38.320 He tested a truly incredible number of games and GPUs, 00:03:38.320 --> 00:03:41.600 and has made this incredible resource for the community. 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, 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:52.480 there's a solid chance that you can completely forget about a dedicated GPU at all. 00:03:52.480 --> 00:03:56.080 Many recent CPUs can even handle AAA games. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:59.520 Speaking of, how do you choose the right CPU for your laptop? 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:03.440 Well, if you simply want the best, it's Apple. 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, 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. 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, 00:04:23.440 --> 00:04:26.880 but if you're a student or you don't mind factory refurbished, 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, 00:04:31.280 --> 00:04:35.520 whose mobile naming scheme is so bad that we made an entire video 00:04:35.520 --> 00:04:38.080 about how they are intentionally misleading consumers. 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:42.880 Their most recent chips are the Ryzen AI 300 series, 00:04:42.880 --> 00:04:46.960 and these offer a small uplift in performance over the last generation, 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. 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, 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. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:14.640 Look at the Ryzen 5 7640U. The most important number in there is not the 7, 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. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:28.320 So you could be easily tricked into thinking that the Ryzen 3 7320U would be similar, 00:05:28.320 --> 00:05:34.240 but with a little bit less performance. But remember, I just said, the 7 means nothing. 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:38.640 It's going to be way slower because the important number is the 2. 00:05:38.640 --> 00:05:42.400 It's using the Zen 2 architecture from 2019. 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, 00:05:50.400 --> 00:05:55.440 they can be good bets, but just make sure there's a 4 in this spot, 00:05:55.440 --> 00:05:59.120 or that price better be really good. As for Intel, 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:04.240 their new Ultra 100 series CPUs actually offer a tiny bit less performance 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:09.680 than the 13th gen chips that they replaced, but with a big improvement in battery life, 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:13.840 making realistically either a decent choice depending on your priorities. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:17.920 In the coming months, Intel is going to be launching their Lunar Lake lineup, 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? 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:25.840 Drive my Roadster 2 to the future mart and buy one? 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:30.320 The hard truth is Intel's a little behind on mobile right now, 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 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:39.440 versus an Intel one that's more comfortable. And as long as the price is right, 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. 00:06:46.320 --> 00:06:52.080 Speaking of, we are not done yet because the laptop CPU market was just massively disrupted 00:06:52.080 --> 00:06:58.160 by Qualcomm and their Snapdragon X chips, which offer unmatched battery life with performance 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:01.520 that is comparable to AMD's Ryzen AI line. 00:07:01.520 --> 00:07:04.640 The only catch is that these are ARM processors, 00:07:04.640 --> 00:07:08.400 and if your application doesn't run natively on Windows on ARM, 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. 00:07:14.960 --> 00:07:18.720 We did a live stream where we tested a bunch of games on Snapdragon X 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:24.160 and found that only about half of them worked. And it's more than just games. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:28.240 Adobe Premiere works, but only the 2023 version at the moment, 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:33.440 and other parts of the creative suite, like After Effects, are currently MIA altogether. 00:07:33.440 --> 00:07:37.600 So there are two groups of people then that these laptops could be great for. 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 00:07:41.200 --> 00:07:44.160 or just using common apps. Always. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:49.760 Or the geeks who love to be the first to test obscure programs on new hardware 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, 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:58.320 hey, enjoy that laptop that you only need to plug in every few days. 00:07:58.320 --> 00:08:04.240 We really like the Surface Laptop 7, Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge, and HP Omnibook X, 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:08.080 though we have a full video looking at over half a dozen different options, 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, 00:08:12.320 --> 00:08:15.600 gee, there's nothing really in my budget. That's understandable, 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. 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 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 00:08:32.160 --> 00:08:35.680 thanks to manufacturers saving on the cost of a Windows license. 00:08:36.560 --> 00:08:40.240 On the Windows side of things, though, there are budget-friendly options as well, 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:43.280 and Acer was kind enough to send us over a few machines 00:08:43.280 --> 00:08:46.800 ranging from $230 to $400 00:08:46.800 --> 00:08:50.960 to see just how much performance you can get on their most basic models. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:56.400 The build quality of the $230 Aspire Go is surprisingly okay, 00:08:56.400 --> 00:08:59.760 but the Intel N100 processor that powers it is... 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:05.680 Like, it's not just slow. It's struggling to do basic tasks. 00:09:05.680 --> 00:09:09.440 Meanwhile, the $300 Aspire Go with a Ryzen CPU 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:12.880 is literally twice as fast for not that much more money, 00:09:12.880 --> 00:09:18.160 while the $400 Aspire 3 is not a huge upgrade in raw performance, 00:09:18.160 --> 00:09:22.560 but gets 16 gigs of RAM, meaning it can complete our full test suite, 00:09:22.560 --> 00:09:28.320 and actually seems very worthwhile. It uses AMD's older Zen 2 architecture, 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, 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:37.200 but it's good enough to the point where the mediocre screen 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:40.400 is more of a concern to me than the outright performance. 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, 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:50.080 and the amount better it is is hard to overstate. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:53.360 Of course, all of this assumes that you need to buy new. 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. 00:09:58.640 --> 00:10:02.400 Universities and offices regularly sell surplus equipment 00:10:02.400 --> 00:10:06.160 that is pretty decent, just a couple of generations older. 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. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:15.760 Also, if you end up with a machine that seems slow, 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. 00:10:20.560 --> 00:10:25.440 Just verify beforehand that these items are in fact replaceable 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:28.640 by googling laptop name Teardown. 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. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:36.640 Speaking of upgrading RAM, how do you know if you need to? 00:10:36.640 --> 00:10:41.040 Well, in 2024, 4GB of RAM is a complete no-go, 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. 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:54.320 It is going to slow you down. Our new starting recommendation then is 16GB, 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, 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:04.160 at which point you'll need significantly more. As for the exact amount, 00:11:04.160 --> 00:11:07.840 the most important thing is that however much you need, 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. 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. 00:11:20.640 --> 00:11:24.960 Thankfully, storage is simpler. Just get a 256GB SSD. 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. 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, 00:11:35.920 --> 00:11:40.560 especially since it's the most likely part of your laptop to be easily upgradeable. 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, 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:52.080 like the Armor 700 from Lexar. Just plug it into your laptop and boom, more storage. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:56.400 Don't cut your storage budget too much though. A hard drive might be tempting, 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. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:08.880 EMMC, even though it's solid state, is actually a similar story too. 00:12:08.880 --> 00:12:12.000 It is dog slow compared to a proper SSD, 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:16.560 and it's considerably less reliable, so avoid it if at all possible. 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. 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:25.520 Maybe consider the all new LTT laptop bag complete 00:12:25.520 --> 00:12:28.960 with thoughtful layout and rugged design. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:34.720 Gotta freaking love it, available now at LTTstore.com. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:38.560 Moving on to the display of your laptop, there's a lot to consider. 00:12:38.560 --> 00:12:43.680 There are four main panel types, TN, OLED, MiniLED, and IPS. 00:12:43.680 --> 00:12:47.920 TN is the technology of yesterday and should be avoided, 00:12:47.920 --> 00:12:51.520 while OLED and MiniLED are the best if you can afford them. 00:12:51.520 --> 00:12:55.200 OLED excels in dark rooms with its perfect blacks 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:59.760 and unmatched contrast, but it might not get quite bright enough 00:12:59.760 --> 00:13:04.000 for well-lit rooms or outdoors. MiniLED is the opposite, 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:07.200 with exceptional brightness making it punchy even in bright rooms 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:13.120 while sacrificing contrast in dark rooms, meaning your typical use case will determine which is best. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:17.840 IPS is your all-rounder, offering generally good viewing angles, color, and brightness, 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:22.000 and with the extra benefit of being sometimes significantly more efficient. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.680 For instance, the IPS version of the Dell XPS 13 Plus 00:13:25.680 --> 00:13:29.840 got almost five hours more battery life than the POLED version. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:34.480 Nice. Probably most importantly though, IPS is going to be the most affordable, 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:38.400 making it the right choice for most people. It doesn't suck. 00:13:38.400 --> 00:13:41.600 Now, we mentioned brighter panels being better for outdoors, 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, 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:50.880 with 400 to 500 nits being required for outdoors 00:13:50.880 --> 00:13:54.560 or 600 plus for a satisfying HDR experience. 00:13:54.640 --> 00:14:00.080 Be careful with some laptops that might be claiming huge numbers like 1500 nits, 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:04.800 because sometimes that number will only apply for a tiny bright spot on the display 00:14:04.800 --> 00:14:08.160 with a much lower brightness when the entire screen is bright. 00:14:08.160 --> 00:14:12.720 An often overlooked aspect of a display is the aspect ratio. 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, 00:14:18.400 --> 00:14:23.120 or even if you're crazy, 3 by 2, have become popular in recent years, 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:26.720 and for good reason. This little bit of extra vertical real estate 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:30.320 can be a big productivity boost for office or creative work alike, 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. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:43.040 As for what resolution you need, we can use simple math to find the distance 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 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:53.760 that you can't see the individual pixels. Here's the full breakdown per resolution, 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, 00:15:00.160 --> 00:15:06.720 and 4K isn't really worthwhile, especially considering those extra pixels can negatively impact battery life, 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. 00:15:15.040 --> 00:15:19.040 High refresh rate displays will have the biggest impact if you plan on gaming, 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:22.560 though there are diminishing returns above 144Hz, 00:15:22.560 --> 00:15:26.480 and even non-gamers will benefit. Everything you do will feel smoother, 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:30.000 be that photo editing, CAD, or even just making a new folder. 00:15:30.640 --> 00:15:34.240 I do that all the time, but like so many other nice things, 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:37.520 it can negatively impact your battery life. 00:15:37.520 --> 00:15:41.360 One thing that may or may not matter to you is a touchscreen. 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. 00:15:46.560 --> 00:15:49.760 The final factor to watch out for in your display is color. 00:15:49.760 --> 00:15:54.880 A wider color space, or gamut, means the panel can physically produce more colors, 00:15:54.880 --> 00:15:59.760 while a smaller color space can leave content looking dull and unsaturated. 00:15:59.760 --> 00:16:04.080 Color spaces can get a bit confusing since there are a bunch of different standards, 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:10.480 but unless you know you need something else, aim for near 100% coverage of sRGB. 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, 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, 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, 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:29.200 or a blue hue, and this is usually caused by slight variations 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:33.840 from panel to panel during manufacturing. So if you plan on doing color-critical work, 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:37.200 look into getting a laptop with a factory calibrated display. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:41.120 Something like an average Delta E2000 of 2 or below 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. 00:16:46.160 --> 00:16:49.920 Some laptops with excellent displays are the Dell XPS 13+, 00:16:49.920 --> 00:16:53.680 MacBook Pro, Samsung Galaxy Book, HP Spectre, 00:16:53.680 --> 00:16:58.800 and ASUS G14 and G16. I guess that would be Gs14 and 16? 00:16:59.520 --> 00:17:03.200 Whatever. Now for a rare simple choice, the trackpad. 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:06.240 Ever since Microsoft introduced Windows Precision Drivers, 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:10.800 almost all laptops come with a trackpad that will be accurate and not slow you down, 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. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:21.040 Standouts here include MacBooks and Windows devices with sensual trackpads, 00:17:21.040 --> 00:17:24.560 like the Surface Laptop 7, HP Spectre, Dell XPS, 00:17:24.560 --> 00:17:30.000 and Lenovo ThinkPad Z series. Well, almost certainly be more difficult is the keyboard. 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 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. 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:45.200 Some 13-inch devices won't have a large enough palm rest for everyone, 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:48.880 or maybe there are some sharp edges on a device that will bother 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:52.400 only some folks who end up resting right on them. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:57.280 After that, check the chassis flex of the machine. Soft spots can throw off your typing, 00:17:57.280 --> 00:18:00.400 then check how stable the keys themselves are. 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, 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. 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:15.760 The ones that we like the most are the HP Dragonfly Elite, 00:18:15.760 --> 00:18:19.440 Dell Latitude 9440, and Alienware gaming laptops, 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. 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:31.520 Weight is pretty self-explanatory. Lighter is nicer to carry around, duh. 00:18:31.520 --> 00:18:37.040 But battery is more complex. The standard measurement for battery capacity is watt hours, 00:18:37.040 --> 00:18:42.720 but even with identical specs, you can end up with wildly varying battery life numbers 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:46.240 since the efficiency of every single part in the chain 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:51.120 and how the manufacturer has tuned each individual part plays a role. 00:18:51.120 --> 00:18:54.720 Adding insult to injury, laptop manufacturers, battery life numbers 00:18:54.720 --> 00:19:01.040 are almost always comically overstated and often contradictory on the same webpage. 00:19:01.040 --> 00:19:04.880 All of this is to say, get your battery life numbers from a reputable source, 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:09.520 such as ShortCircuit, and try to use only battery life numbers from a single source 00:19:09.520 --> 00:19:13.680 for direct comparisons since everyone tests them slightly differently. 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:17.280 Finally, there are a couple of nice to-haves that you might want in a laptop. 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 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 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:32.640 has the best implementation. If you're all about privacy, 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:36.400 then look for a laptop with a hardware webcam and microphone toggle, 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:40.240 or even one of the rare machines without a webcam at all. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:44.640 For logging in quickly, look for a fingerprint reader or Windows HelloFacial recognition, 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:48.160 the latter in particular was a game changer for me. 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. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:57.520 If a laptop has full-size HDMI, make sure it's 2.1, not 1.4, 00:19:57.520 --> 00:20:02.720 and many manufacturers these days leave off USB-A ports, SD card readers, 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:06.880 and even headphone jacks in the name of a little bit of weight savings. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:11.040 I'm looking at you, Dell. And I'm also looking at our sponsor, Lexar. 00:20:11.040 --> 00:20:14.880 The Armor 700 portable SSD held up great for this shoot, 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:20.800 handling up to 4K 60fps ProRes footage directly from our iPhone 15 Pro. 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. 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:30.000 So if you liked this video, maybe check out our review of the Ryzen AI 300. 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, 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. 00:20:38.080 --> 00:20:40.320 See you later.