New laptop. - what to look for

[alice]

Not for gaming, what are the key numbers now to look at. Any advice welcome

[Spartacus]

Dwiwnds in what you want it for 

Also if you have a Windows or Mac preference or need. 

Personally 32gb ram, half a Tb ssd hard drive 

Good graphics card for videos

If you do a lot of office type stuff, i7 chip (windows) 

[Twoddle]

16GB RAM to be comfortable. 32GB RAM is overkill unless you're an enthusiast doing stuff that requires it. 4GB RAM is not enough, 8GB is probably enough to get by for now.

Bear in mind that many laptops use will use a chunk of RAM for graphics memory or VRAM, for example, if you get a laptop advertised as having 8GB RAM, while true it may actually only have between 5 and 6GB free for the user.

For storage it really must have an SSD, Solid State Drive, otherwise it will crawl running Windows 11. Get an SSD with at least 256GB capacity, go higher to 512GB and beyond if you've got loads of videos and pictures to put on it. Or you could get a laptop with a hard drive for storage, say 1TB, alongside the SSD for running the OS and installing programs on.

Apart from that make sure it's got a fairly up to date CPU and a nice screen. Also depends on how much you wanna spend and what size screen.

[Sephiroth]

I've been a windows user most of my life - but when Apple released the M1 MacBook airs I heard good things and gave them a whirl. 

No going back now for me - yes adjusting to new OS took a few moments but the battery life, immediate wake up from sleep and overall performance (even basic 8gb/256SSD) have remained rocketed after 2 years+ (whereas windows laptops clogged up with all manner of cruft in that time). Graphics work (like video editing on large files) doesn't even break a sweat (and it's completely silent - you won't hear a fan whirr up )

 

I know one people will never countenance an apple - but for me it was a game changer - these days you can find one for 7-800 pounds

[Pagey]

interesting , been thinking about making the switch , really frustrated with Windows constant upgrades and peformance degradation.. sometimes I've spent my entire weekend trying to sort out basic windows issues .. total nightmare 

[Spartacus]

28 minutes ago, Pagey said:

interesting , been thinking about making the switch , really frustrated with Windows constant upgrades and peformance degradation.. sometimes I've spent my entire weekend trying to sort out basic windows issues .. total nightmare 

Welcome to win doze 

[Twoddle]

Apple devices "just work" but then you're tied to Apple and you have to go to a licensed Apple store for repairs who in turn must use approved procedures and components.

You can't repair your own kit with conventional tools, you don't fully own your device once you bought it and there's a huge EULA you must agree to. I'm not fine with this personally, it's not what I'm into computers for at all.

[alice]

Thanks all. I thought I’d got some clarity after the first couple of posts. But now more confused.  

[Spartacus]

I guess you need to summarise what you want it to do then it might be easier to work out what will work for you ! 

[Sephiroth]

20 hours ago, Twoddle said:

Apple devices "just work" but then you're tied to Apple and you have to go to a licensed Apple store for repairs who in turn must use approved procedures and components.

You can't repair your own kit with conventional tools, you don't fully own your device once you bought it and there's a huge EULA you must agree to. I'm not fine with this personally, it's not what I'm into computers for at all.

"you don't fully own your device once you bought it"

 

I really doubt this, given there is a thriving second hand market

 

And you aren't "tied" to apple at all

 

 

[Sue]

If you change from windows to apple,do you then have to change from an Android phone to an iPhone?

Edited October 5, 2023 by Sue
Grammar

[Sephiroth]

1 hour ago, Sue said:

If you change from windows to apple,do you then have to change from an Android phone to an iPhone?

Nope

 

 

[alice]

And if you’ve already got an iPhone would an apple laptop be smoother 

and what about the online only laptops are they a 3rd option?

[Sephiroth]

If you only ever wish to browse the internet or use web versions of places like Netflix and never intend to do anything remotely useful (maybe download a song or two?  Photos? ) then they might do a job

 

I’ve  used two over the years and hated every second 

I wouldn’t worry about mixing and matching apple/windows/android products too much   As it happens I have migrated dummy into apple ecosystem and there are some benefits but there are still a mixture of Android/windows devices  around the house and everything is usable   (It’s just imo, some things are more usable than others   I can never get over how long a windows laptop takes to wake up after opening the mid compared to instant on a Mac   Similarly, 12 hours of battery life on a recent Mac compared to 5-6 ish on windows laptops   Plus that fan noise)