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From YouTube: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a New Laptop
Description
The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a New Laptop was the topic for discussion at the Main Meeting of the Central Florida Computer Society on Sunday June 11, 2023. The discussion was led by Mike Ungerman. Mike shows how to find the computer of choice by narrowing down all of the possibilities by looking at the desired components.
Chapters:
00:00:01 - Finding the Perfect Notebook Computer within Your Budget
00:02:21 - How to Choose a Budget Notebook
00:04:51 - Choosing the Right Computer Configuration
00:07:29 - RAM and Storage for Windows 11
00:10:09 - Upgrading laptop RAM and hard drive: what to consider
00:12:42 - Comparing Computers for Potential Purchase
00:15:20 - Looking at Product Details and Comparing Laptop Options
00:18:00 - Exploring 4K Resolution and Prime Eligibility on Laptops
00:20:54 - Reviewing Laptop Options and Trade-Offs
00:23:33 - Comparing Laptop Options and CPU Processor Power
00:26:18 - Comparing Laptop Options and Upgrading Bluetooth
00:29:15 - Building Custom Computers with David Shapiro
00:32:03 - Shopping for a Notebook and Recommended Protection Plans
00:34:17 - Protection Plans for Computers: Is it Worth It?
00:37:04 - Tips for finding and pricing laptops
A
A
My
son,
when
I
visited
him
about
two
months
ago,
yeah
had
a
probably
about
a
10
year
old
notebook,
still
running
Windows,
7.
and
all
right
Dad.
What
do
I
need
to
do
to
upgrade
this
and
I
said
all
right:
Father's
Day
is
coming
up,
I'll
do
a
reverse
Father's
Day
present
for
you,
so
I
went
shopping
on
Amazon
and
found
him
one.
He
was
looking
over
my
shoulders.
A
B
A
And
I
thought
it's
worthwhile
whether
or
not
you're
actually
going
to
go
to
Amazon
and
actually
buy,
probably
compared
to
all
the
retailers
that
are
out
there.
They
have
the
most
options
that
are
available
on
their
screens,
that
let
you
sort
of
drill
down
whether
you
want
a
a
desktop,
a
small,
portable
or
small
CPU
knock
whatever
or
a
notebook,
so
I'm,
just
I'm
just
sitting
on
Amazon
and
I'm,
just
going
to
say
notebook,
computers.
A
Typically,
the
first
thing
that
I've
said
is:
you
should
have
a
budget
kind
of
like
Stan
when
you
went
into
the
used
car
dealer
and
and
he's
going
to
make
you
an
offer.
You
just
can't
refuse
in
your
mind
before
you
go
in
there
you're
supposed
to
have,
in
your
mind
an
idea
what
you're
going
to
pay,
what
you're
willing
to
pay,
but
we
all
have
you
know
Tendencies
to
go
window
shopping
and
either
buy
above
or
below
what
we're
really
looking
for.
A
But
the
thing
I
like
the
most
is
that
you
can
either
choose
based
on
customer
reviews
or
if
you
have
a
brand
you
really
like
like
in.
In
our
case,
we
chose
Dell,
but
you
can
go
in
without
doing
that,
and
then
you
can
pick
your
price
range.
So
I
think.
The
first
thing
we
can
probably
all
agree
to
is
that
under
500
will
be
a
budget.
A
So
what
I
like
to
do
is
initially
search,
let's
say
in
the
6
to
700
range
and
then
look
to
see
if
something
is
on
sale
in
that
range
that
gets
downgraded
to
the
five
and
six
and
then
see
what's
available
and
I,
don't
know
if
I
can
choose
more
than
one.
Let
me
let
me
just
try
the
six
to
seven
hundred
first
and
then
see
if
I
can
go
back,
I
think
I
can
choose
both.
C
A
A
A
Okay,
just
sort
of
going
down
looking
at
features.
This
looks
like
in
a
rugged
so
if
you're
an
outdoors
person
and
really
need
a
ruggedized
unit,
okay,
so
we
pretty
much
have
our
range
on
here
now.
The
question
is,
we
could
say:
I
only
want
Intel
or
you
could
say
well,
amd's
come
a
long
way
and
their
chips
are
worth
considering,
especially
the
ryzen
chips,
and
then
you
could
choose.
A
You
know
how
many
processors
do
you
want,
but
I
think
that's
kind
of
after
the
fact
we
know
we
want
a
kind
of
a
fast
computer,
but
we
pretty
much
want
to
have
that
based
on
what
are
we
going
to
use
it
for
and
how
big
a
monitor
size
we
want
so
typically
like
in
my
son's
case.
He
already
had
a
17
inch
screen,
so
I
asked
him.
Would
you
be
willing
to
go
down
to
a
smaller.
D
A
B
A
A
We
go
okay,
I
only
want
to
consider
it
the
moment.
New
computers,
I,
wanted
to
take
out
renewed
computers
later
on
I
might
be
willing
to
take
a
bargain,
especially
sometimes
those
that
have
been
refurbished.
Really
all
that
happens
is
somebody
gets.
It
opens
the
Box
turns
around
and
sends
it
back
and.
D
A
In
the
reviews
that
the
in
in
getting
a
renewed
computer,
the
Box,
basically
it
looked
like
it-
was
brand
new,
they
couldn't
tell
any
difference
and,
as
Ron
has
said,
there's
also
a
warehouse
Amazon
warehouse
that
you
can
shop
and
do
the
same
kind
of
thing
all
right.
So
now,
let's
get
down
to
what
I
think
is
is
a
very
important
is
both
memory
and
storage.
A
A
B
A
A
F
B
F
D
A
D
A
The
back
very
easily,
and
then
in
that
Port
was
both
the
hard
drive
and
the
ram,
and
it
had
in
fact,
four
gigabytes
sitting
in
one
slot.
The
ability
to
put
four
more
in
I
said:
let's
put
two
eights
in
there.
Instead
and
let's
get
you
a
solid
state,
drive
and
see
what
it'll
do
and
it's
like
it's
almost
like
new,
but
with
a
new
one.
These
days,
the
vast
majority
of
them,
the
bottoms
are
sealed,
not
I
mean
not
sealed
like
the
Apple,
computers
are,
or
some
Chromebooks,
but
you
cannot.
A
A
A
A
A
It
may
be
a
clearance
item
because
there's
only
17
in
stock,
so
maybe
getting
on
towards
the
end
of
the
season
and
they're
getting
ready
to
replace
it
with
a
newer
model,
announced
CES
or
something
like
that.
But
that
looks
like
it's
in
the
range
of
what
I
want
to
think
about
and
maybe
coming
up
for,
Father's
Day
sales
or
fourth
of
July
sales.
That
might
be
a
good
one.
To
consider
now,
can
we
save
we
can
save
about
25
dollars
and
look
at
age.
D
C
A
A
B
F
B
G
Mike
also
two
right
there
at
the
bottom,
you
had
a
screen
resolution
which
may
be
a
factor
for
some
people.
Yep
one
unit
has
a
HD
level,
Graphics
display
versus,
say
full
HD,
which
is
1080P,
and
you
have
a
higher
resolutions
all
the
way
up
to
at
least
four
or
five
k,
and
that's
going
to
affect
your
price
range.
G
B
B
F
A
D
A
A
C
A
A
A
A
Take
a
look
and
see
if
that's
an
option
once
I
bring
it
up
and
how
much
more
it
adds
and
it's
a
4K
and
and
now,
but
it's
coming
with
Windows
10.
okay.
So
this
one
is
an
older
one
and
we're
getting
it
for
that
price
because
it's
about
to
be
out
of
stock.
But
let's
just
take
a
look.
Hopefully
this
thing
would
qualify
for
a
free
upgrade
to
Windows.
B
A
F
B
A
A
H
A
B
G
A
It's
just
we're
at
the
low
end
of
the
range
that
we
chose
and
as
a
result
now
this
one
is
is
Windows
11.,
let's
see
what
we're
doing
here,
15
inch
narrow,
narrow
water,
okay,
quad,
core
Pentium,
eight
gigs
of
RAM,
instead
of
16
512
instead
of
one
terabyte,
and
this
comes
with
Windows
11
and
it's
509.
But
it's
still
saying
only
10
left
in
stock.
G
E
A
B
A
A
D
C
F
G
F
I
A
Okay,
I'm
not
going
to
look
at
this
because
one
left
in
stock
chances
are
it's
going
to
be
gone
by
the
time.
Anybody
goes
to
look
at
it,
but
all
of
these
notice-
15
1
9,
so
where
to
get
these
low
prices,
we're
getting
basically
end
of
stock,
newest,
okay,
2021.
So
it's
two
years
old
and
it's
no
feature
offers
available
all.
B
E
Like
I'd
like
to
point
out
to
you
that
it
makes
a
difference
whether
you're
buying
this
for
yourself
or
somebody
else.
Oh
sure,
somebody
else
has
asked
you
for
help
in
choosing
a
computer.
They
cannot
be
too
computer
literate,
and
so
they
are
very
they'd,
be
put
off
by
having
to
try
to
fiddle
around
with
fixing
it
up
to
their
specs.
A
As
I
as
I
was
mentioning,
this
is
for
me
and
for
anybody
really,
you
can
do
just
the
basic
shopping
that
we
looked
at,
starting
with
the
price
and
saying
all
right,
I
want
this
size
screen,
I
want
16,
gigs
or
anything.
Supreme
and
I
want
500
gigabytes
or
a
terabyte
of
storage
and
and
then
pretty
much
say
how
heavy
is
it
going
to
be?
A
A
On
a
notebook,
this
isn't
for
Steve,
we'll
take
his
notebook
apart
on
a
notebook.
My
recommendation
is
always
get
the
protection
plan.
Typically
on
a
on
a
CPU.
You
know
a
desktop
kind
of
thing
where
you
can
open
it
up
and
replace
cards
and
if
you're
semi-techy
or
have
the
the
resources
of
a
user's
group.
I
A
Significant
amount,
if
you
get
the
four-year
plan,
but
then
at
least
you're
covered
and
if
there's
a
problem,
I've
actually
had
Dell
come
to
my
house
and
work
on
a
notebook
on
my
kitchen
table
10
years
ago,
and
you
know
order
order,
parts
for
it
to
come
back
and
put
the
parts
in
I've
also
had
Dell.
Send
me
a
return,
authorization
and
just
say:
send
it
to
us
and
wipe
the
hard
drive
and
send
it
to
him
and
I
basically
got
I
didn't
get
the
same
computer
back.
C
F
G
G
Also
depends
on
how
techy
the
user
who's
buying
it
or
going
to
use
it
as
to
whether
they
can
handle
Hardware
problems
or
not.
Steve
and
I
would
probably
be
able
to
handle
the
problems,
but
at
the
same
time
too,
that's
a
minority
of
people.
The
majority
don't
know
how
to
deal
with
this
stuff
and
they
may
not
have
help
readily
available.
So
some
protection
I
would
agree
with
I.
Don't
know,
I'd
go
with
four
year
unless
it
was
a
very
high-end
computer.
G
F
A
What's
your
occupation,
are
you
retired?
Is
this
going
to
stay
at
home
or
maybe
go
with
you
to
the
library
but
pretty
much
be
at
home
sitting
on
a
desk
by
a
phone
or
kitchen
table
or
whatever
or
do
you
travel?
Do
you
see
the
grandkids
all
the
time?
Are
you
still
working?
Do
you
have
a
consulting
job?
A
D
A
Distracted
and
it
fell
and
landed
on
the
bottom
corner
at
an
angle,
single
point
down
and
my,
and
it
still
has
a
dent
in
that
little
corner.
So
that's
a
very
high
G
fall
and
I
was
really
concerned
about
the
unit
and
it
wasn't
broken.
I
got
lucky.
I
could
very
easily
have
cracks
and
solder
joints
or
something
like
that
on
the
inside
of
the
computer.
A
So
many
of
the
manufacturers,
warranties
out
of
the
box,
don't
include
damage
and
if
I
had
just
had
the
manufacturer's
warranty
and
had
a
problem,
they
would
have
obviously
examined
and
said.
Oh,
we
can
see
that
this
fell.
Unfortunately,
you're
not
covered
so
notebook
wise
and
because
we
used
to
travel
all
the
time.
I
would
always
get
at.
A
Oh
yeah
and
and
like
I
said
we
can
go
to
the
Amazon
warehouse
you
know
and
we
can.
We
can
pick
up
and
see
what
they've
got
for
returns.
There's
lots
of
other
things
you
can
do,
but
I
think
as
a
tool
just
to
see
what's
available.
Another
one
I
use
is
Newegg
newegg.com
and
they
sell
a
lot
of
computers
and
notebooks
all
by
mail
order.
A
B
B
B
D
B
I
B
C
F
B
I
B
E
F
A
A
B
B
B
A
A
A
A
So
for
those
viewing
the
recording
there's
a
process,
it's
not
the
the
be
all
for
everything
and
do
look
at
the
reviews
and,
to
my
mind
you
also
when
you
look
at
the
reviews
you
want
to
find
out.
Why
are
there
one
star
or
three
or
Star
reviews
is
because
of
the
design
of
the
computer?
Or
is
it
because
it
it
failed
right
away,
didn't
get
good
service
things
along
those
lines,
but
you
really
want
the
majority
of
the
reviews
to
be
up
in
the
five
star
or
four
stars,
four
or
five
stars
to
start.
A
A
A
Build
computers
from
parts
that
they
import
and
put
together
and
and
we've
gotten
some
good
deals
from
them.
We've
also
got
there's
also
a
place
called
refresh
computers.
That
does
the
same
thing
and
there's
one
one.
Member
of
our
club,
that
has
his
own
one-man
computer
store
and
he
specializes
in
used
Apple
Computers,
but
he.
G
Well,
also
too,
we
didn't
touch
on
it
that
much
until
just
here
at
the
end,
but
a
lot
of
people,
especially
who
may
have
financial
difficulties
and
can't
spend
a
lot
of
money
for
a
better
computer
than
what
they
have
is
the
refresh
and
renew
computers,
because
those
are
ones
that
were
sent
back.
They
have
gone
through
inspection
by
qualified
technicians
to
get
them
in
a
working
order,
and
you
can
save
a
fair
amount
of
money,
but
you
may
not
get
much
of
a
warranty
on
them.
H
A
A
I
Yeah
I
think
every
computer
I
have
I
believe
has
been
a
refresh
a
refurbish
and
really
never
had
a
problem.
Now
there
was
that
period
of
time
between
Windows
10
and
windows
11
when
you
could
get
a
discount
because
they
still
had
Windows
10
when
they
knew
in
fact,
I
think
that
went
on
for
maybe
more
than
a
year,
maybe
two
years
where
you
got
a
pretty
good
discount
because
it
still
had
windows
10.,
but
I
I've
not
had
any
trouble
with
the
refurbished
computers
that
I
purchased
and
always
got
a
pretty
good
saving.