now whether you're heading back to
college or just in need of an upgrade
our resident Gadget expert Colin Baker
is here with advice on buying a laptop
good morning good morning we're just
saying I'm just so it's such a
technophobe with these things but like
it is important to be buying I know
that's the right laptop we have a kind
of a line called your mission what is
your mission with a piece of equipment
now you use your iPad here because
you're jumping straight into text you
checking emails and whatnot whereas a
lot of people need a proper workflow so
they're using they're writing documents
they're doing research they're they're
maybe designing something there's a lot
going on at the same time and the Hub of
your activity in college and school
nowadays the absolute Hub is your laptop
so it's so important you get the right
one and then if you haven't got the
money a refurbished one is always you've
been talking about this for years
buying a refurbished one because they
can be very good well it's not just an
ethical decision we we have the E-Waste
pile Globe globally is bigger than any
other type of waste we produce as humans
so it's we have too many gadgets and too
much Tech the problem is as well a lot
of tech is designed to last only kissing
time a year or two now this one here is
a refurbished exactly now there's
professional grade equipment like this
Lenovo x270 this type of equipment is
designed to endure far heavier Duty so
this type of thing will last you up to
10 years is that just a long long
I'm not sure is it it is actually yeah
that is a DeLorean day a few years but
yeah that was Mia's dark brown
I know that I know that face the hair is
weird though but this type of thing that
starts at 399 Euro now that's over a
thousand Euros worth of Hardware but
once they're factory refurbished not
second hand but actually refurbished at
factory level they live on for a great
number of years beyond that so you it it
means that the punter can get a really
good value but very hard wearing
feature-rich machine and that type of
thing it's enjoyable don't be doing that
we don't encourage you to do that at
home I'm not saying you should but the
point is it can last I know it's
reliable they go into someone like you
just ask them about that and check it
out because it's a really really good
way to go now Chrome open Chrome are
they are they laptops people often ask
me this Chromebooks you're locked
imagine being locked inside Google
Chrome now there's a lot in there and
and the vast majority people spend 90
percent of their time in Google Chrome
that's what a Chromebook is it doesn't
run Windows it's not a regular laptop
it's not a Mac or a Windows machine it's
Chrome only now what's the advantage
I've never seen a virus on a Chromebook
because it doesn't run a regular
operating system not that it can't get
it but it's very rare they're also very
good value this type of thing is three
four nine it's touch screen it's robust
it's quick it's got a long battery life
and a lot of schools they prescribe
these right their entire platform all
their information all their resources
are within Chrome but it is limited so
you have to know what you want to know
what you're getting so it's usually the
school that prescribes this type of
thing so if you're going to college and
if you're doing graphic design video or
music production something like this is
not going to really do so you need you
need to go to something like this it's a
different caliber of machine and what it
has specifically is it is what's called
a dedicated graphics card now that's
what handles
um the greater workload of that type of
Graphics work so if you're into design
or video editing or music editing or
anything of that creative nature you
need that dedicated graphics card that
means you're going to get a better
processor more RAM which you will see
the jumping price this is like from 349
this will be you're talking about 900 a
thousand Euros you're not getting away
with the heavy Graphics machine with
with much less than a thousand that one
there is 899 Euro again that one is
factory refurbished that's a major hobby
horse of mine getting better more robust
more reliable more long life machines
like that's about two Grands worth of
hardware for about 900. now Apple or
Windows yeah big thing I've seen fist
fights over this argument Apple versus
Windows I find nowadays that there's not
a huge difference in terms of their
ability if you spent 1500 Euro on a Mac
you're likely to get the same functions
for about 40 50 percent less so it's
better value to go through windows but
at the same time cosmetically and in
terms of the way Mac works you love your
iPhone yeah and like Carl has a big
Apple Mac at home because the music and
the stuff
because it's really well laid out in
terms of its usability and it looks
fantastic right now another question is
can you use a tablet so lots of people
then would have a tablet and they'll be
going well surely I can do all my
coursework on this yeah certain question
I would say absolutely not not yeah
we've had an awful lot of people come
into us with tablets he said I can't do
this I can't do that and the kind of
annoyed and frustrated with the
limitations now that said as I said you
use a tablet here on on air because
they're quick they're easy there's no
boot up time and all you're looking at
is text so for certain types of people
work and studies maybe a tablet is
enough for a bit of research and
browsing but if you're actually engaging
working and trying to type out for hours
on end you're going to need a bigger
screen a bigger keyboard and more
resource and that's a laptop and what
about protecting it then if you're going
to spend a grand two grand on it you
want some protection on it well
certainly look on both sides you need
decent security so the free built-in
Security on Windows is is pretty decent
but there's a thing called Panda
antivirus which is about 50 Eur earlier
that's the best security we've seen but
also just wrap it well if you're
bringing this in and out to college
every day make sure you've purchased a
decent case I also wanted to mention
getting your own laptop and your old
laptop fixed serviced upgraded lots of
people say well look my old laptop it's
an old Basher to hand me down for my
brother it's gone really slow maybe I
need a new machine but think about it
maybe you don't this one is nine years
old and it came into US battery was dead
the thing was barely starting up we
stuck a new battery in it a solid state
drive like that
it's well it's like brand new no but the
machine came in wasn't working at all so
you can service and upgrade a machine a
lot of machines quite inexpensively for
a lot less than the price of replacing
it and then you're also doing the
environment of good as well exactly and
if people want to find out more yeah
back from the future as usual or even
email me I'm really into answering
questions especially if they need some
help thank you so much for that