Laptop choice for 2021

Hi there.

I travel around a lot and might consider getting a new laptop, mainly for some non intensive work stuff and playing World of Warcraft and perhaps some Sea of Thieves.

I want something that runs pretty cool, doesn't have to be cutting edge and 15 inch doesn't matter as I use an external monitor. At this point I am not settled where I am living so the idea of getting a desktop probably wouldn't work unless it's extremely portable.

Just looking for great value and performance in the current times and if it's better to wait for something coming. (Probably always is, but you know there are times where it means more haha)

Thanks again!

nedvert, that's a really difficult thing to answer. Buying a computer can be be a very personal choice. It's kind of like asking "what car should I buy".

One person may suggest model xyz, and another person may come back and tell you 20 reasons why that same model is the absolutely wrong choice.

YOU need to be the one who determines what criteria meet your needs - price range, how large a HD or does it need to be an SSD, how important is CPU speed, how much memory do you need to support the apps you run, will you require upgradability to Windows 11, do you care how heavy the laptop is, etc.

If I may make a suggestion: Do some research and determine what features are important to you. Find some machines that sound like they might meet your needs. Then post back here your specific requirements in as much detail as possible along with a list of specific models you think might be candidates. You are more likely to get some feedback that matches your actual needs that way.

Without some detail you are likely to get answers based more upon what the person replying wants rather than what you are seeking. For example, if it was me, based upon what little I know so far, I would probably suggest a model I like that costs $2,400 - and that is cut down without even being "cutting edge". Is that what you are looking for?

Bottom line is that the more detail you can provide, and maybe even some likely candidates that catch your eye, the more intelligent the feedback will be.

I hope that helps!

Buying a Gaming Laptop is expansive and heavy I have don that in the past
Just something to look out for Look for pc with these spec

Berton said:

I've been thinking of a new Notebook but a kink has developed with the announcement of Windows 11 and the hardware requirements, of the new requirements one of the biggest issues is determining if the new one has the TPM [Trusted Platform Module] feature.

I could be wrong, but it seems to me like just about every recent laptop is shipping with a TPM module. My friend just purchased one of those ultra cheap Chinese no name Windows tablets about 2 months ago and even it had a TPM 2.0.

As for desktop MBs, most of them now come with a firmware TPM that you can enable without the need for adding a physical TPM even if they have a slot for a physical TPM. You would have to check the documentation to be sure. For my ASUS MB, they actually have a seperate UEFI FW manual apart from the hardware user guide that explains this.

In the desktop PC department, the most portable solution would be something based around a mini ITX motherboard that can be suitable for casual style gaming with medium-level performance at an affordable price and that includes reasonable future upgrade potential. But you'd need to look for the right type of case/enclosure, as not all of them can support a full-height GPU card, and, the maximum length of GPU card that can be supported typically will be limited also, even though the price/performance ratio tends to be neck and shoulders above a laptop if you choose your build wisely. I'd say go for a laptop only if you really need that extra portability at least some of the time, as those decent gaming laptops truly are expensive, but keep in mind that, when gaming, a laptop battery runs on empty in next to no time if you don't want to spend an even bigger pile of cash to mitigate that. The good news (sort of) is that a laptop with an Intel Core-i5 1165G7 CPU and integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics, even if it lacks a discrete GPU, is fast enough to play games like WoW. The Iris Xe in it actually outperforms an Nvidia GeForce MX330 GPU, albeit neither of these two examples can hold a candle against a half decent GPU card that's been specifically designed to fit inside a desktop PC motherboard's PCIe expansion slot so, it all highly depends.