The WORST Laptops We've Reviewed

[@JustJoshTech]

👉 Our Favorite Laptops: www.justjosh.tech/best-tech/ 👇 All Our Favorite Laptops & Deals - Best for Programmers: www.justjosh.tech/best-tech/Best-Laptops-for-Coding - Best for Students: www.justjosh.tech/best-tech/Best-Laptops-for-Students - Best for Gamers: www.justjosh.tech/best-tech/Best-Laptops-for-Gaming - Best Deals on MacBooks: www.justjosh.tech/best-tech/Best-Apple-MacBook-Laptops - Best 14inch Laptops: www.justjosh.tech/best-tech/Best-14inch-Laptop ► Follow Me: - Josh's New Channel: www.youtube.com/@JustJoshBusiness - Instagram: instagram.com/justjosh.life - X: twitter.com/JustJoshLife - TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@justjoshtech - Discord: discordapp.com/invite/MHrS4wG 👉 Our KZbin Gear: www.justjosh.tech/best-tech/Our-KZbin-Gear

[@kestonsmith1354]

As a guy whose laptop recently died, I will gladly take one of those bad laptops off your hands for free. I call it a win-win

[@lucutes2936]

Ze

[@rishikbellala851]

“Go buy this laptop, you deserve it” 😂

[@ArthropodSpidey]

Always a great thing when a content creator insults their own viewers lol.

[@livedreamsg]

They really do. Calling that thing a MacBook "Pro" is a joke.

[@ArthropodSpidey]

Thanks for letting me know that Josh is actually Jesus and knows the purchasing habits of each one of his viewers. He was actually talking to his viewers who still don't find the 8GB to be a problem.@@Garrus-ub7mf​

[@AceLordy]

That was epic! The ones justifying Apple’s behaviour indeed deserve that 8 gig mac model.

[@monogameplay3]

​@@ArthropodSpideyif even after being his viewer you still buy that crap, you aren't his viewer anymore, but only in name. And you do deserve it. 😂

[@clairem730]

This video is kind of terrifying for me as a non-techy prospective laptop buyer - so many pitfalls when buying such expensive products! At least I can learn from videos like yours. Still feels harder than it should - like the manufacturers deliberately try to make it hard to understand what you’re actually getting.

[@Fetidaf]

Best thing I could recommend to do is to find one you like and then look at a review rather than trying to find a review of one you life.

[@magnus9316]

@@Fetidafyes unfortunately there are quite a lot of videos that are just sponsored by the manufacturer in which their products are praised and compared in the most misleading way possible. Dont look until you find good reviews about it and stick to reliable channels that truly show the negatives like this video. You ll probably find the most praising videos about every single laptop in this video

[@Yayaloy9]

get a g14, 2022, 2023 is all good, 2024 if u dont care about reduce performance and more about battery life and the looks and feels of it.

[@atetraxx]

It's not too hard. Just don't buy a 8gb ram

[@bryans8656]

Thanks Josh, that was brutally honest, and actually kinda fun.

[@JustJoshTech]

You got it. I wanted to close out the year with an epic video :)

[@duungyang]

This is a great topic to speak on, Josh. Nice content since we as consumers are not only want to know the good laptops but also how to avoid spending ridiculous amounts of money for mediocre products 👏

[@dylandreisbach1986]

My father loves apple and always had for longer than I have been alive. While I do agree I like iPhones more than androids I have always used windows machines. He does a lot of photoshop and editing and it pains me that he spends so much on a work laptop when he could get an amazing powerful machine for the same price. Yes I know a lot of professionals use Mac’s and they are great machines, but for the price is it worth it? He also only has 8gb of ram! How does Apple get away with that! Ram isn’t expensive and they put the least they can in supposedly enterprise level laptops. More than anything I wish apple had better laptops so he could still use macOS with a decent machine that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

[@detecta]

​@@dylandreisbach1986people keep buying laptops with garbage configurations, so they keep making macbooks like that

[@MangoReader]

This is by far my favorite channel for laptops, and has been for years. I bought my Yoga Slim 7 (4500u) three years ago because of your advice, and am now looking for a successor as I am graduating soon and need more power. I thoroughly enjoyed this laptop for the past years, and even though I did not need a new laptop a the time, still watched your videos as they are a joy to watch. Thanks for your fantastic videos, I already look forward to the next one :)

[@JustJoshTech]

Thanks for the nice comments

[@StashiaMass]

Asus and Lenovo had none. Pleas continue this series, very insightful.

[@danieloshea3326]

I got a Lenovo brand new with windows 11 for $120 bucks from best buy and it's great for casual use

[@davidnewton3528]

To add to your criticisms of the Dell Inspiron 16, I bought it paying nearly £1000 GBP. Some of the USB ports didn't work out of the box, one of them 'stuttered' a problem I have never seen before. After several calls to dell they started going on about me having to reinstall windows, which I didn't think would even fix it. I sent it back as I would expect the USB ports to work on a £300 laptop.

[@miniDrew4]

I almost bought an xps 13 plus and a surface 5! Thanks for your good advice Josh. I ended up getting the Asus Zenbook 14x for $699 from Best Buy.

[@cameronbosch1213]

My sister was very interested in the XPS 13 Plus. Thank goodness I was able to talk her out of it and got her a 2022 laptop with an AMD Ryzen 6800 HS CPU and an RTX 3050. That laptop is far better and at under $1000 (it was on sale at Costco), it was a steal, especially as her laptop was from 2017.

[@ArjunRavi]

Me too, finally ended up getting the framework 13 amd

[@bbearvii]

how is it so far? i’ve been wanting to buy the asus zenbook so i just wanted to hear someone’s opinion

[@miniDrew4]

@@bbearvii I'm happy with it. The screen looks great and it works fine for office work and general tasks. I don't do any creative work on it but that's not what I got it for. I will say the battery life is actually better than most people have said, for what it's worth.

[@bbearvii]

@@miniDrew4 ahh i see thank you for the fast response! do you do gaming by any chance btw? i’m not a big time pc gamer but i was wondering if it could even run small games such as minecraft or roblox do you think. unless it really depends on the processor you get. and what about the fan noise?

[@mdrashid6949]

Excellent review as always josh! It's a shame that companies won't focus on what consumers really want and instead attempt to gain that extra 5% of performance that the average consumer probably won't notice.

[@RedBeardedRabbit]

edited for language In my opinion many XPS laptops (maybe Dell in general) should be avoided. I have read about and experienced too many common issues that stretch across multiple product lines and Dell hasn't fixed in years. Rattling speakers, broken waves audio driver, fans constantly spinning on and off every few seconds, power delivery issues that causes constant reboots (especially waking from sleep). List goes on and on. Signed, a regretful XPS 9500 user. If you still buy any Dell after reading all this, I can only warn you to get an extended 3-5 year warranty. You'll probably need it.

[@Kysen10]

Yep I use a 9500 for work and the fan is constantly running on the most trivial of tasks. I actually was considering buying one for personal use a few years back but im glad i didnt'

[@brian5238]

I recently purchased the Latitude 9440 and it is has none of the issues you are describing. Matter of fact it is the quietest and the great thermals keep it cooler than any other high or low end laptop I have ever owned--and I have had multitudes of them. I also have an 8th gen top of the line Precision and that at the time was the best laptop ever owned. But I will give it to Josh that XPS 13 plus (i7, 32 ram), which I had for one week and returned, was so pretty to look at but was waay too hot, and the fans ran way too much and battery life was atrocious.

[@electricmiragemedia]

Cosign. Their DACs are horrible quality as well, really ruining music. It's like they cheap out as much as they can on things that can't be seen.

[@padiau78]

Yep, I had XPS laptops for ten years and unfortunately, they got worse and worse over time. My latest XPS 17 (2022) model suffers from pretty much every single issues you listed plus the display already broke twice with phantom inputs. And I performed a clean Windows re-install multiple times and it doesn't help either.

[@MionMikan]

I own a Razer Blade 15 2021 and I will never EVER by another Razer product again. I paid almost 3 grand for it and have run into so many issues. Since owning this laptop, I've run into the following issues: 1. terrible speakers. When I first turned on the laptop and listened to music through the speakers, I legitimately thought they were broken. Even cranked to max volume they were terribly weak. My iphone had better speakers than my Razer. The speakers are only usable if you use aftermarket mixer software like Dolby or Windows Sonic to boost the volume levels up to acceptable levels. 2. Battery bloat and expansion. Less than a year after getting the laptop the battery expanded and almost destroyed my laptop. I had to go to a repair shop to remove the battery (which also voided the warranty) and now my Razer is a glorified desktop because it has to be plugged in in order to work. I did not want to spend more money to buy a replacement battery only to have the bloat happen again 3. Thermal issues and the Keyboard. Like the video says, the laptop keyboard is basically useless when gaming because it gets SO DAMN HOT. I only use an external keyboard with my Razer now 4. Stability and BSOD. I don't know why but after 2 years of use, my Razer is CONSTANTLY BSODing now. I've tried everything to fix it from making sure all my drivers are installed and even resetting the laptop but the blue screening persists. Razer support has no idea why it's happening. imagine trying to get anything done when your laptop blue screens 3 times in a 10 minute span. I'm buying a lenovo next time. Having owned lenovo's in the past, have never run into any issues with that brand and now their gaming laptop line is actually decent. I can't believe how much money I wasted on Razer.

[@JogBird]

yep, notice that there are no lenovos on his list.. and their customer service is so much better, given that they are serve the enterprise market

[@acardenasjr1340]

The Lenovo Legion line of laptops are legit and highly recommend. Currently rocking a Lenovo Legion Slim 7i with an i9/2070.

[@adamcai1102]

Razer blade laptops looks so good but the problems are significant

[@jsVfPe3]

It's a shame. They're the only things that actually feel as nice in the hand as a Macbook... but they're so expensive and bad in a lot of subtle ways.

[@zerocal76]

I've owned 3, still own 2 and never had any issues 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@celecha]

What problems do they have?

[@zerocal76]

@@celecha The main issue was bloated batteries after a year or so of use but iirc Razer improved that and extended their warranty on batts. Other issue was bad customer service but I don't know of any co.s nowadays that don't have bad service since they always understaff their service centers. Anyway, if Razer was doing as poorly as ppl complain, they would have been out of business a while ago. Their new laptops look amazing.

[@yae_123]

My friend’s razor had display issues and my dell has motherboard failure. Both brands are on this list I guess

[@ptyminski]

100% right about Dell xps 15, I returned 3 of them 1 i9 and 2x i7, untill they agreed that there is design issue.

[@damienlobb85]

I have to wonder how many of these laptops could be better if the manufacturers weren't so tight with Intel, offering them first dibs on premium models (namely Dell). The fact that the framework was able to keep up with the Macbook was very telling and just goes to show OEM's favor Intel's money, over keeping customers happy.

[@BigTylt]

At this point, we will experience the heat death of the universe before Dell decides to put AMD chips in the XPS line.

[@marcelforrel]

Dell Precision 5570. Absolute HELL. Though that laptop was from ‘22

[@HideoGojira]

More videos like this. It was fun watching it on my Legion Pro 7i, that I bought instead of these ones, thanks to you! :D

[@JustJoshTech]

We have an insanely ridiculous one coming for January!

[@HideoGojira]

I'll be watching :)@@JustJoshTech

[@Saukaron]

I have the XPS 13 Plus from work. The Pros: The OLED screen is great, the thin bezels make the package very small, Windows Hello Camera is blazingly fast, so is the fingerprint reader and the keyboard is actually fantastic to type on (I really really hate to type on chiclet keyboards) with nice big keys stretching to the edge of the chassis. The Cons: Heat is a problem, the trackpad is a nice idea but it simply doesn’t work. Way too often it doesn’t click, gets stuck on the vibration or even actuates a click when I firmly press on the bottom of the laptop. Battery is… a disaster with this configuration. The function row is interesting. I kinda like the idea though I wished it had some force feedback. It mostly works for me just fine but having physical feedback from a “button” is something I dearly miss

[@realhuman4396]

I agree with the XPS. starting from around 2021 they had terrible base configurations with the weakest ones having terrible thermals...

[@geoffstrickler]

You’re right about the MacBook “Pro” with M3. Not a good option. Get the MBP M2 Pro instead, it’s about the same price and has 16GB RAM and is nearly identical in speed.

[@dirface]

Most Swift Xs suffer from random mousepad freeze, the only way to solve it is to hard reboot, but then the unit goes into diagnostic startup which takes minutes. You've been warned.

[@inqmusician2]

In terms of repairability and upgradability, only Framework laptops are the best ones, if you want them brand new. You'll better off with a used business grade laptop that will give you better performance with cheap upgrades, like adding more RAM and slapping an SSD.

[@geoffstrickler]

62c is dangerously hot. Anything over 50c on any surface is completely unacceptable.

[@deathcitystar]

For laptops, temps over 80-90 are a concern, for gaming laptops is even higher. 62c is more than ok for a regular laptop

[@geoffstrickler]

@@deathcitystar No it's not, 62c on an external surface can cause burns in 10 seconds. Anything above 50c on external surfaces is considered to be unsafe. You're probably talking about CPU/gpu temperatures

[@antonioamarildo8752]

@@geoffstrickler yea, i knew someone would confuse the temps

[@assprdel]

the number one rule when buying apple (and practically every other brand) products is, buy used. theres no reason to buy new. buying an older model with better features than a newer one that costs the same but is targeted for "budget" users is a way better deal

[@lsiv12]

What a review to finish the year Josh! Absolutely brilliant and straight to the point! The best laptop guru on KZbin. I run pass anything through this channel before committing on a laptop. Wishing you a blessed Christmas and a happy new year! Can’t wait for next year! It will be interesting to see what the new XElite brings to the competition.

[@notfunny3397]

Unified memory is combined memory. That means its vram plus normal CPU ram. So there should be more so the igpu has enough. Cant believe there are people justifying this.

[@krazownik3139]

And that's why I prefer a stationary workstation whenever possible. You just cannot cheat psychics, heat always will be the issue. Laptop have only sense when portability is really required.

[@mtw9327]

Hi Josh, great video as always. I got a question. Is it smart to buy an Asus zenbook 14X with a rtx 3050, intel i9 and 32gb of RAM. It is on sale right now in my country. Or would it be smart to wait and see what january holds.

[@JogBird]

i have a 2021 XPS13 w 4k screen and its just amasing, bought before the pricing went insance, i think i will keep it for 10 years

[@Finn_123]

Hey, I am a student and need a new Laptop, preferably a MacBook. Would you advise me to buy the 13 inch air (m1 or m2), because I fear that it might be to small for real work. But on the other hand the 15 inch or 14 pro is so much more expensive. Is it really worth it if I don't really want to spend a lot of money?

[@gearsgamer7115]

Apple is never worth a dime. Bad proprietary software and terrible for work. I'm not gonna mention gaming but if you ever want to have fun. 8gb of ram for a 1.5k laptop is absolutely absurd. Modern browsers already take that up. I'd get an x86 laptop with Linux for better support, etc.

[@medicgaming2705]

Admittedly, i wasn't all that keen on the Surface Laptop Studio 2, despite quite liking its predecessor, until it recently went on sale for quite a significant amount. In the UK, what usually costs £2400 for the 4050 model, cost me £1739 minus £530 of my microsoft gift card balance (accumulated over the years), so £1239. On top of this, because i'm eligible for special pricing, I would get £173.90 when the laptop is delivered to me, so i will have ultimately paid a little over £1000 for quite a unique system. The display's response time's are poor, but if i'm doing any sort of light gaming (TF2, L4D2), it will be connected to my monitor through my HP type c hub.

[@edgarguzman2319]

You cannot take out of the equation the $530 and say that you only paid $1000. Even if you got that money/ points for free you are spending it when you could have used it for something else. So, in reality, you are spending around $1550 for that machine.

[@medicgaming2705]

@@edgarguzman2319 what else could I possibly want from the Microsoft store lol. Had to spend it as some point. I won £250 from the Microsoft rewards program. So that’s very epic

[@Max_Mustermann]

6:25 - honestly, 1920x1200 doesn't seem like a low resolution for a 13.4" display. I have a 16" laptop with a 2560x1600 display, which is only a slightly higher PPI (188 vs 168) and there are no pixels visible with the naked eye. Plus a higher screen resolution on a laptop doesn't mean more screen real estate, as one has to bump up windows scaling to be able to see anything. 7:50 - WVA in Dell's terminology means "Wide Viewing Angle" I believe, as opposed to describing the technology used. So it could theoretically be an IPS screen, although likely a lower grade one.

[@dragonslandsrpg2017]

On the Dell Inspiron 16 plus, the WVA panel is short for Wide Viewing Angles and has nothing to do with VA panel technology (vertical alignment). So I'm not sure why Josh is comparing it to IPS tech when the Dell Inspiron 16 plus has an IPS panel.

[@ItIsNotKeshav]

Yes exactly, it's actually just an IPS panel having the WVA name under it, which dell also uses for many other models of xps and precision too. It definitely does not have washed out colors(could have been coz the stock calibration is ass and needs to be calibrated), even if the brightness isn't the best. The real problem comes with the 45% NTSC panels.

[@thatspiritualhumane]

I agree with whatever you said. Charging hefty prices without an ounce of common sense. We all know the cons of Razer & Dell XPS laptops for years now, & these companies don't even bother to address the complains. Even Apple's $200 upgrade for every 256 GB increase.

[@nsovomabasa5014]

I'm a repairs shop worker, I have seen so many acer laptops end up in the shop than any other brand. If it's ain't the keyboard(Think these acer laptops would've been far better with dedicated power button than one on a keyboard), The bios chip often needs to be reprogrammed using usb bios flasher tools. There's just so many issues with them I would advice anyone out to purchasing a laptop to stay away from acer laptops (Expecially those with power buttons on keyboards) unless you wanna spend money every 1 - 3 years replacing your keyboard.

[@basicuser54]

@justjoshtech Gentlemen, we need an accessories roundup! Cases, power blocks, dongles and docks, things I don’t even know about, etc.! Just bought a 14.5 zenbook and learning that a tight fit hard case for this in-between we size is hard to find!

[@mikerahl123]

I took 1 look at that macbook pro 14 with the macbook air chip in it and said "no thank you". I went for a macbook pro 14 with the pro chip in it and haven't regretted it for a minute. The pro is a nice balance between performance, temperature and battery life and I'm quite happy.

[@gearsgamer7115]

Happy with 8gb of ram😂 Literally a massive bottleneck. M3 ain't even the best arm CPU. It's quite bad. There are 128 core 5ghz per core arm processors which consume less power and way less heat. It's also way cheaper. Macbooks are shit for arm processors. The keyboards are also shit. Oh let's mention the proprietary software that can't do shit at all.

[@paisleepunk]

@@gearsgamer7115i literally could not find any m-pro macbooks, not even the original m1 pro, that had only 8 gigs of ram. that is apparently only an issue with the base m-series setups. also, cry-laugh emoji is a red flag, stop that shit

[@jeffreychongsathien]

My XPS 13 9300 has had its motherboard replaced 5 or 6 times over the years, and I hate the sharp edges on the palm rest side of the chassis.

[@bonedatt]

Damn that sucks. I have the XPS 13 9300 also (i7, 4k,16/512) and I don't have any issues with it.

[@abeldiaz111]

Hey Josh! So how you like zenbook a i was wondering, what do you think about the ASUS Zenbook S 13 32 gb and 1 tb? Thanks

[@FoxxFire]

I know you collab with Jarrod's Tech; he has shown multiple times that the laptop 4070 (in addition to the 4060) is power limited to 100w in almost all workloads, including games, and any OEM claim that some laptop has a 4070 that receives more than 100w is just a marketing gimmick. Just mentioning this because I've heard you say multiple times, including in this video, that some laptops give up to 140w to the 4070. That, unfortunately, just doesn't happen this go around with the 40 series 60 and 70 Nvidia laptop graphics cards....

[@JustJoshTech]

Very good comment. The point of my mentioning it here was that 40 watts for the XPS version of it I'd underpowered

[@conradbo1]

Good video. I hope the manufacturers sort out the niggles and issues.

[@juicyr]

M3 Macbook 8gb is definitely bad. Running Premiere pro don't the most basic of editing and have a few chrome tabs open and the colour wheel comes up multiple times

[@JustJoshTech]

Return it if you can imo

[@Bunta1987qwerty]

Another addition to this list should be the asus g14. I’ve owned the 2022 and 2023 models. They both have weak cooling for the hardware, the bottom gets over 60C, and the top is hot enough that I wouldn’t let my kids touch it as well. The Liquid Metal works its way off of the dies, and the turbo mode is double the tdp for maybe a 10% performance gain. The screens are only 300 nits and 400 nits respectively. Lastly, they both tried to update bios without warning me, while they were on low battery which would have bricked them if I hadn’t plugged them in. They seem like good value for the specs, especially on sale (around $1000), but they’re basically useless.

[@Orozco_PNW]

Razer has had quality issues for a while now. My RTX 2070 had a swollen battery making the track-pad inoperable and noticeable bulging. I removed it and it's back to normal, but now I can only use it while plugged in.. 🤡 I ordered a replacement battery from Amazon, but the metal case was bent and looked like it fell off a mountain, so I returned it and have been using this laptop plugged in only for two years.

[@Lakshya-q7z]

Sir 12 th gen i5 which company should i go for asus ,lenova or hp .specifications and price range are nearly same

[@thebristolbruiser]

What about mentioning the GNU/Linux support? To me the biggest handicap for any computer is if you have to use Winblows on it.

[@felixlutticken5694]

I bought the very similar Dell Vostro 15 (basically the business version with very slight upgrades) with an I5 1135g7 two years ago for 680€. I think for daily usage indoor the display is fine and the colors are not to bad. What I dislike is the flexing, cheap chassis and rather short battery life (but Dell provides the space to upgrade it to a larger one)

[@laminbarrow]

Certainly, using a laptop with a loud fan is very annoying and distracting. This video has a lot of a great info so many thanks :)

[@innosanto]

Asus zenbook 14x costs between 1300 -1400 pounds. The Inspiron plus 14 is cheaper around 1050.

[@JustJoshTech]

The Inspiron Plus is much much worse. Cheaper build and much worse screen

[@newnewapa]

I own the Dell Inspiron 16 plus. I have no problem with the screen brightness. And it runs perfect under Linux. I paid 1300 usd for it. And for that price it's good.

[@JustJoshTech]

I hope my comment at the beginning of the video resonated for you. It doesn't matter what I or any other influencer say... what matters is that you're happy with the laptop.

[@newnewapa]

​@@JustJoshTech Indeed it did! It depends on what you plan to use the laptop for. I needed a relatively powerful laptop that was also not too expensive and runs Linux out of the box. So for me, it's perfect. For someone who buys it to be a creator's laptop or who uses the laptop in very bright environments, then I see your point

[@moviestarrr796]

Can you make a video on ROG 16 duo?, there are plenty of videos adressing it's problems but I'm interested in your unique perspective of using it.

[@kyledeeter1903]

So what we've learned from this video is that companies should offer more AMD options in terms of cpu and gpu to aid fan joise reduction and battery life.

[@matthewrichardson2533]

I ended up gettig the ROG Zephyrus this year. The side blowing vents seem to keep it cool enough, it doesn't look the most modern or pretty but it's been great for me so far as a nice midrange gaming laptop. The chasis is metal and has a glass trackpad with solid feelibg keys, I compared it to the HP Omen 16 i think the one Vostco sells and that ome just felt cheap.

[@robinfuijk]

I bought my MacBook Air M1 from 2020 earlier this year and it's honestly the best computer I've ever owned. I don't need a gaming computer or high end performance for private use, so for me this performance level is fine. Honestly, I can't recommend thi computer enough.

[@woox200sx]

In addition, MacBook touchpads are awesome.

[@robinfuijk]

@@woox200sx Yeah the huge, force feedback trackpad that can be clicked everywhere is amazing. I can't go back to. standard one with two buttons on the lower left and right.

[@helicart]

I bought dell's for my company for 14 years....but noted their quality deteriorate around 2015. And their model numbers are ridiculous. I moved to Lenovo around 2018, and think they are generally better designed and built. Sad to see quality brands destroying themselves. I have not touched an Apple product in 30 years. I don't like their business model. However, I am looking at buying an air M series purely for the build quality. There's certainly an opportunity for a new brand to focus on quality products. I was hoping Factory Works would go that route, but they seem to have lost their way.

[@davidmoskowitz5860]

I was thinking of buying a new macbook pro, but this definitely gave me some hesitation. One thing, I saw the Macbook 14 pro on both your best of 2023 list and your worst of 2023 list. Is there a difference that I'm missing?

[@comboing3108]

1 has air m3 other has pro m3

[@davidmoskowitz5860]

Okay, that makes sense, thanks!@@comboing3108

[@riccardoatwork5291]

What is your take on the high end full spec Dell Precision 17""? And the Alienware 18m?

[@JimKanaris]

I have to disagree when it comes to the XPS from firsthand experience. The years when it was hailed "the best" Windows-based laptops were actually the years when the XPS line rubbed me the wrong way (the 7590 and 9500). This year the XPS finally won me over, with an i9 (I had the i7's in previous builds), 4070, FHD+ (previous builds: OLED and UHD+ respectively), and 32G RAM. I love it! It plays AAA games without a hitch, little fan noise and hardly warm to the touch. Maybe mine came sprinkled with pixie dust? I also have a 16" M1 Pro (base). Except for the speakers and screen, I prefer my XPS, even though I've really warmed up to XPS's FHD; it's awesome!

[@JustJoshTech]

I'm very glad Jim. I hope you heard my words early in the video stating that the most important thing is that you are happy. Plus you have commented here so others can hear an alternate opinion... so Thank you!

[@JimKanaris]

@@JustJoshTech Thanks, Josh! I agree with most things you say. It's just that this time, my experience didn't pan out. Keep up the great work!

[@miles_tails0511]

XPS15 user here, got my first in end-2015 and second in 2020 (both have FHD display), its a nice all-rounder with decent portability and upgradability, the 2015 version lasted me a whopping 5 years with everyday use! Alas, the 2020 version only lasted me around 3 years, its motherboard died the week its warranty ended, now I'm trying out the surface laptop studio 2 as my main work machine instead, after being impressed with surface pro 9 😝🤞

[@zxclintonxz]

Honestly the Dell Inspiron 16 plus 7630 ain't that bad as a university student on a budget. I found it decent enough for the specs offered on black Friday sale under 1300 Euros. Yes screen is not bright bright but I find it decent enough for a secondary device on the go and edit on with the core 17 and 4060 combo as I'm a filmmaking student

[@lukasdoeh]

did they fix the coil whin issue in the 7620? I had the 7620 Inspiron Plus and from day one I had these annoying sounds which literally drove me crazy. Dell Support was just a big load of shiet and just did not tell me that it is "normal" for this to occure in a laptop. I paid 1600€ for mine ... unbelivable how bad this machine was. Hope you are happier with yours.

[@zxclintonxz]

@@lukasdoeh sorry for the late reply, it's fixed a bit from the previous model but still the fans pitch on full blast are a bit whiney but not really if you understand me but not bad as some videos showed of the 7620. Overall it's not bad considering Dell is not my first choice just quality tbh could be better but it's Dell and their midrange line.

[@lukasdoeh]

@@zxclintonxz ahh that's kinda good to hear. I was actually talking about the coil whine not about the fans (which also where a bit loud when under load). This is due to some condensators vibrating, when they are under usage. It's a high pitched irregular noise which really drove me crazy. They told me it was normal which I think is completely unacceptable for a machine in this price range. I hope it's better with the 7630 modells.

[@zxclintonxz]

@@lukasdoeh ohh I see now I understand what you mean, honestly no coin whine on the 7630 models and my friend has the 4050 model and nothing from her's either (would have told me as she's less tech savvy) but yeah fan pitch noise on full on loud under load could have been better if they used better quality fans. Sorry to hear you had a terrible experience with the previous 7620 model which yeah it's ridiculous for that price range.

[@lukasdoeh]

@@zxclintonxz yeah well I am glad to hear that from you. Allthough dell was quite forthcoming with repairs and also an exchange for my system, it still did not fix my issue with it. After a long and repeated process I finally decided to get rid of the system and opted for a Macbook instead. Honestly the best decision I ever made, but the price was quite hard to get over with

[@owlmostdead9492]

I feel like designing the perfect laptop is such an easy task, I don’t know why everyone is making all these subpar machines. Especially Microsoft, their sheer incompetence is unbelievable, software and hardware wise… 🤡

[@georgeh6856]

I love my AMD-based Framework laptop. It's not perfect, but it is close. E.g. some restrictions on port placement with the AMD model. So far, my Framework is the best laptop I have ever owned, right up there with old Thinkpads back when they were still made by IBM.

[@khangluu4899]

bought the zenbook 14x oled based on your recommendation, no complaints whatsoever ;)

[@Jimmyfly215]

The surface studio 2 is just a bummer. Surface products in general are just over prices internally upgrades yearly.

[@Kysen10]

2:18 the fan noise watching twitch is triggering me as my last laptop did this for any video playing. Can't stand fan noise on laptops.

[@ryankwan1934]

The Acer Swift Edge 16 is so infuriating because it's so good. The fan issue, however, is a deal breaker. I have no idea why Acer decided on those fan curves and locked the fan control down in the bios. It's like they just don't want people to enjoy their laptop.

[@grzondziele]

Do you check this: What is the life expectancy of the hinges, how much does it cost to change a CMOS battery?

[@leonardwise5807]

Any further opinions on MSI Prestige AI 16 for someone who wants a lightweight large screen portable device. I like a high density display with excellent color range and a good keyboard. It would be a secondary divice for windows. Sort of like a Mac Book 15 air. Also battery life is important and a 99 watt battery should do well with those specs.

[@florinungurianu]

Is the Dell Xps 13 (non-plus) any good then? You said something about being a daily driver

[@ernon69]

It kinda looks like laptop manufacturers wanted to rival recent MacBook design and fame but with outdated high power internals 😢 this just couldn't work well

[@davidarden6942]

I recently purchased a refurbished surface laptop 4 directly from Microsoft. So far it’s running great and I only paid 500 for it.

[@sayan_panda]

I think many of these issues are due to the fact that most people buy laptops online based on specs only. Another reason is to look good in benchmark charts (especially when comparing with Apple).

[@guesswho2778]

I managed to grab an intel nuc x15 laptop with an 11800H, 3060, 1440p 165Hz IPS panel (that gets really bright), two sodimm slots and two m.2 slots. ive only got a few things i dont like about it is that if you hit the top of a key, towards the screen, it wont register an input. the right shift key is smaller than it usually is and the up arrow is where i would usually hit the right shift key oh and intel has locked down voltage control and offers a maximum of a -0.05mV undervolt as a consolation prize.

[@issamchajii]

I don't usually comment on KZbin videos, but what a great job you guys did here! Thank you for your honesty!

[@xophaser]

most seem to be nice slick slick-looking 13 and 14 laptops. My Surface 5 is like over 6 years old (got it at frys), MS hasn't changed much to it casing-wise. It was small back then, but all these ultrabooks are as small now. Why I went to a big pc 2 years ago was because my 5-year-old MSI thin stealth was just too noisy (fan noise). I just got an HP Envy 16 with a 4060 a few weeks ago and it isn't as noisy as MSI. I haven't game on The HP Envy, just productivity and no noise. I had a xps 15 maybe 4 years at work, it was nice too for my 3d Revit. I threw revit on my hp envy with the Nvidia 4060, no noise yet.

[@dipiti8739]

Min laptop size 15.6 " screen for decent screen and keyboard. Buy for W/Linux OS, buy OS elsewhere, make 5 partitions of disk, Dual boot with OS in 2 drives. OS you can get online, activate if needed online. I buy black laptops, Mac too expensive, i do not like silver grey, and can not write own apps for it.

[@L.A.---]

Okay, that egg cooking on the overly heated keyboard was pretty funny!

[@R777-RLM]

We need more reviewers who draw attention to Form over Function products and features. They bump up illusion, while quality goes to crap.

[@SonicMrSumo]

Good video, but the rest of the internet and KZbin certainly don't agree with you on the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus...perhaps you received a dud review unit 🙂

[@MagnusPaul1976]

Invest in a laptop cooling pad on the day you buy a new laptop. This will put a lot less stress on the processor, cooling fans and sensitive components inside the laptop from the onset ! 😊

[@Netdot2]

I was really looking forward to buying the Dell XPS 15 but I guess my research ends here with a conclusion. Anyone know any laptops that aren’t bulky, that you can game with and use for school. And are within 1500$-2000$

[@1DonFF]

Thank you dear sir for doing the tech community a good service 👍🏻

[@parslankhalid5041]

Why did all the bad laptops become a chef? It was terrible at multitasking, but surprisingly good at serving up "byte"-sized portions of disappointment in every dish! By the way, the only reason it is called Razer blade is that it cuts down quality, performance, and cost in one sweep

[@MohamedHany-cd7xw]

damn that wad good tbh

[@darkknight8139]

Thank you for this honest and fun review :) I miss all HP non-Elitebook laptops on the list... they are absolute plastic fantastic junk.

[@hoomanhooshyar9592]

Acer laptops are just a waste of money. They use the lowest quality components. I commented on one of the Acer KZbin videos about this. They removed my comments. Acer produces a lot of garbage products. This video is very helpful because it shows how companies disrespect their customers by low quality products(bad screens, bad keyboards) Thanks Josh

[@JustJoshTech]

I hope it wasn't one of my videos where your comment was removed. Everyone should have the opportunity to share their experience.

[@nattieCSH]

its silly too because Acer used to be fairly competitive, I had two Acer devices in 2013, then 2016 at the sub £500 mark and they were nice enough, but the point I jumped off was when they stopped using good keyboards, then they'd sell worse performance than Asus and Lenovo, then for a short while worse displays (though they seem to be going pretty hard on OLED now too, so maybe that'll get better again)

[@gunta.]

This hits the point im 2023/24: Most Laptops are not useable (anymore) because of the fan noise caused by high power CPUs and the too dim non-glare or worst reflecting glare-displays.

[@mattsanchez4893]

Great review, excellent example of form over function. Also, you’re spot on with regards to Apple, 8gb of memory in a laptop that costs $1500 is highway robbery ,as is charging $200 for 8gb more, they should be ashamed of themselves, but of course they have no shame.

[@pavy415]

You forgot lg gram 14 i have it and its horrible thermals i had to liquid mrtal it but still didnt really help

[@cameronbosch1213]

I actually had a great experience with my 2023 Razer Blade 14. I didn't have the screen issues on that laptop, but given I was a Linux user and of course the speakers (at the time I bought it) didnt work in Linux and the Framework Laptop 16 was announced within my return period, I had to return it. As for the MacBook Pro 14 M3, I cannot recommend it. Maybe if it was $1200 with 256 GB of storage but with 16 GB of memory, I could give it a pass, but not at $1600! Finally, the XPS series, especially the XPS 13, is literally a story of how the mighty had fallen. Before 2022, the XPS 13 was a great laptop with just a few compromises on ports. In 2022, they split it up into two worse laptops that are unrecommendable. Personally, I don't think ANY sane person would see the 2020/2021 DellXPS 13 and think "that laptop is too thick"! If anything, it was a bit too thin, and the 2022 models went WAY too overboard. When Apple's MacBooks now beat the Dell XPS in terms of ports, you know Dell screwed up.

[@drishalballaney6590]

Meanwhilw for some reason they decided to kill off 15 and 17 and replace with 14 and 16, plus they got the touchbar on both 14 and 16 🤦‍♂️

[@cameronbosch1213]

@@drishalballaney6590 Exactly. The mighty now has fallen deeper than the Mariana Trench!

[@drishalballaney6590]

@@cameronbosch1213 just wait till the sales drop massively on the xps and dell realizes they messed up and maybe keep the touchbar only on the 13 series probably

[@InitialiseDisk]

How can you care this much about something like fan volume?

[@acur665]

interesting to hear the razer blades have bad keyboards. i am kind of on the fence between g14 and blade 14, but i guess the g14 is better package? the lenovo slim 5 (14.5”) also seems pretty appealing too…

[@stelivesey489]

I was in the same boat and ended up choosing the G14. No regrets. Wifi was poor but I switched out the card and problem was solved. Upgraded the RAM too.

[@cameronbosch1213]

How much RAM do you need? If you need more than 32 GB or so, the Blade 14 is better. However, if you don't and you want an RTX 4090 (not recommended in a 14 inch laptop), then I would go for the Zephyrus G14. Personally, I have recently become disillusioned with powerful laptops, especially below 16 inches. There's only so much room to cool powerful components. I would probably build a small desktop for use cases that need a lot of power and get a Framework Laptop 13 or 16 with AMD Ryzen CPU as a portable laptop.

[@acur665]

@@stelivesey489 good to hear! how do you like the build quality on the device overall? and how is the fan noise?

[@acur665]

@@cameronbosch1213 id say 32gb is sufficient tbh - only reason id opt for 4090 in g14 is for the special display that variant has.. tbh though ill probably wait till ces 2024 to see whats coming out next year before I decide to buy a laptop

[@stelivesey489]

@@acur665 build quality is great, no issues. Fans can be noisy under load but not unbearable and similar to other spec laptops anyway. For work and browsing, it's silent.

[@DankyMankey]

2023 doesn’t seem like a good year for Windows laptops, damn.

[@paulels3022]

Lenovo IdeaPad 3 with Core i7 is very disappointing for me. The battery doesn’t last more than 2 hours, which is tough in a country with many power outages. USB-C port cannot link a 3rd screen and the laptop’s own screen doesn’t have that crisp quality of many other laptops. Further, the keyboard doesn’t feel well when coding and it ain’t backlit either.

[@sreyassreenivas1223]

Hey im in a market for budget laptop for college which is capable of doing some heavy works. I am in love with the asus zenbook 14x but the cost conversion in my country is higher and international shipping is also not possible. Is there any other alternatives for it?

[@parslankhalid5041]

try the normal zenbook 14 or s13

[@hakank.560]

i just bought the lenovo ideapad 3 gaming with i5 11th gen, 16gb ram, rtx 1650 for 250eu. what do you think guys?

[@michaelbaker8212]

Please I'm fixing to buy a new gaming laptop. I'm willing g to break 2k but would love to stay at 1500 ish. Starfield is a must as my current machine and its 1070 just barely handles it. Battery is no problem as I'm always plugged in. Prefer 2 dimes and 2+ ssd bays

[@iu1191]

Love your videos. Love this one in particular. Love the reviews. Also, I love my Surface Laptop Studio 1… haha. I got it for more than a 50% discount, so I can live with the downsides. It is a joy to use, but it does get hot. I use the trackpad, so I don’t notice the heat on the side, but I do know that it is there. If I have a cold drink that I leave next to it while I work, it will not be cold for very long, haha. The rest of it is great though. Best keyboard and fantastic haptic trackpad. I think I will look at the version 3 when it comes out. I hope they release it when Intel gets their act together with their new chips. It could be fantastic. I didn’t think much of the v2 upgrade - thicker and not much better for me, who does not push the features so much. If I was at the edge of its capability, maybe, but my work is so within the machine’s capability that it does not make enough difference for me. The next one should though, as the chip is quite old now and the whole chip landscape has changed, both in GPU and CPU, and there is the addition of the NPU as well. Looking forward to that. Loving what I have now though. Need a battery replacement, I think, but other than that - all is good, haha… for HALF the price that is. I would NOT have bought it for full price. Not at all!! Much as I love it!! Great vids - looking forward to more.

[@definingslawek4731]

Nothing should come with a display any worse than mono backlight IPS in 2024. (besides edge cases obviously)

[@garethhanna9173]

Tell it like it is, refreshing. I would add the MSI Prestige 16 Studio, a lovely thin design with a great screen ruined by scorching heat and blaring fans, returned it and replaced it with a MSI Stealth 17 that runs relatively cool and is whisper quiet.

[@mathewomolo]

I miss the old laptops you could take apart and improve.

[@deividasnavickas]

XPS never fails to fail.

[@MRi-iq5wf]

I fixed the heat problem with the msi summit for my mom by putting it on power saver mode. It's still snappy with the 1280p and 120hz screen so I don't notice the heat or any slow down after. the arrow keys suck though