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00:00Every time I do a video on a laptop, it doesn't matter which one I'm doing, there's gonna
00:07be someone in the comments that's like, f**k you Dave, laptop X sucks, you should buy laptop
00:12Y. And when I do a video on laptop Y, there's someone else in the comments that's like,
00:16don't buy laptop Y because it's terrible, it has issues, buy laptop Z. So the truth
00:21is every single brand, every single laptop has the potential for some issues and it doesn't
00:27mean that if you buy that brand or if you buy that laptop, every single device has those
00:31issues, they have the possibility of having some issues. So I'm gonna go through some
00:35of these laptops, these are some more popular thin and light ones, and I'm gonna talk about
00:40things that they're kind of known for, like problems that they're known for, so things
00:43to kind of look out for, and also I'll kind of get into how to get around those problems
00:48should you run into them. Okay, first up are the Dell XPS 13 devices. These are both the
00:542019 models, the black one and then the white one. These are very popular 13-inch laptops
01:01and they are known for coil whine. If you don't know what coil whine is, it is this
01:07high-pitched sound that comes from these devices from electromagnetic activity, like it's a
01:13current that's running through an electromagnetic coil and it can sometimes give off a sound.
01:17And for some people, it's annoying, some people, they don't mind it, and some people just straight
01:20up can't hear the sound depending on the frequency, but these devices are known for it. Now, I've
01:26gotten tons of review units of these devices over the years, and I've actually had only
01:31one unit that had coil whine of like, I wanna say, seven, eight units. So I don't know how
01:38frequently it occurs, but it is a thing. If you go on forums, if you go on Reddit, it's,
01:43it is a thing. So if you get an XPS 13, that is something definitely to look out for, but
01:47aside from the coil whine issue, I don't think there's anything specific to the XPS 13 devices
01:52that are things to really look out for when you get one. Next up is the Razer Blade Stealth.
01:57This is a device that, aside from its price, very expensive, but its more common issue
02:03is the fact that the AC adapter can sometimes not power the device while it's being used
02:07heavily. So if you're playing a game, if you're running something very heavy on the system,
02:10the AC adapter isn't strong enough to juice it up. It'll actually drain batteries while
02:14it's plugged in. Now, they tried to address it with a BIOS earlier this year, but from
02:18what I've seen, it doesn't fix it for a lot of people, so that's something you wanna test
02:23when you get your system early on, just to see if you have it. But that's really all
02:27the issues that I've really noticed with the Razer Blade Stealth. Next up, Lenovo X1 Carbon.
02:33This is the 2018 model. They have a 2019 coming out relatively soon, which I'm stoked for,
02:38but this is a device that I did not review, and here's why. I like the X1 Carbon a lot.
02:44It's actually one of my favorite thin and light laptops, but there is a crazy amount
02:48of variation in this product. So I've received two review units, and I've seen two of these
02:53devices that my colleagues have purchased, and they're all different from each other.
02:57Like the finish is different between them and the keyboard. Lenovo's keyboards are some
03:01of the best in the business, maybe the best in the business, yet sometimes the keyboards
03:04have differences in how they feel between the same model. So if you purchase one and
03:10you have what you think may be a bunk keyboard, get that resolved. Okay, next up, Huawei's
03:16MateBook. So this is the MateBook 13. If you're deciding between a MateBook 13 and a MateBook
03:22Pro X, I recommend the 13 this year. The issue with these guys, aside from their kind of
03:28shaky history with spyware and all that crap, they have some devices that are just really
03:33wobbly on the trackpad and other devices that are less so. But again, it's something
03:37you should look out for and should get resolved or replaced if you can right when you get
03:42the device. But aside from that trackpad issue, I feel like this is a pretty solid overall
03:48device when it comes to their hardware. Asus. I wouldn't say that there's anything that
03:52they're known for. If anything, these products, the issues that pop up with Asus devices tend
03:57to occur later on in the life of the laptop. They don't seem to happen right when you get
04:01the device, so it might be an issue with power delivery. But for the most part, these
04:04are... not that they're immune to issues, it's that they just don't seem to pop up right
04:09in the beginning. That's kind of a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look
04:12at it. So the last is the MacBook. I've done a bunch of videos on these, but because they're
04:17so thin, they have issues with the keyboard this year, thermal issues. But the keyboard
04:22is the thing you're really looking out for. If you have issues with the keyboard right
04:25when you get the device, you should get that resolved as soon as you can. Surprisingly
04:29though, in terms of consistency, Apple has it the best. Like, any of these other devices,
04:34it's kind of hit or miss. Like, you might have something great, you might have a lemon,
04:37and you'll have to deal with that. With Apple's products, you know what you're getting. They
04:42all have that risk of having the wonky keyboard, they all have the thermal limitations, but
04:46at least you're getting consistency right out of the box. Now, those are some specific
04:50issues that are more well-known about these particular devices, but I want to talk about
04:54some things that are more general, like when you get a device, things to look out for.
04:58The first one, kind of like the XPS device, is coil whine. It is something that can occur
05:02on any one of these. It's more prominent in the XPS 13 devices, but any one of these devices
05:07can have a coil whine issue where you're hearing that high-pitched mosquito sound. If you have
05:11that issue, get that resolved right when you get the device. And then, I guess another
05:15thing to look out for is backlight bleed, or any kind of panel deficiencies. When you
05:19open up your screen in a very dark room and have a black wallpaper or some kind of black
05:23scene, and crank up your brightness, and sometimes you'll see a glow around the edges
05:28of the screen. Now, a lot of these are IPS panels, so some degree of glow is normal,
05:32but if it's really pronounced, you should probably get that fixed or replaced, repaired,
05:36whatever. But that's basically it. Coil whine and backlight bleed are probably the two biggest
05:41things I'd say to look out for when you get a brand new laptop. So, in this video, I kind
05:46of referred to things like getting it resolved, getting it fixed, and this is kind of the
05:50takeaway that I'd like to leave with you guys. I think a lot of laptop companies are
05:54going to hate me for saying this, but when it comes to buying a laptop, I highly recommend
06:00not buying directly from manufacturers. And the reason being, like the main advantage
06:05of buying from a manufacturer are, well, two things. One is price. Sometimes you'll get
06:11a better price when you buy directly from the manufacturer, but the other thing that
06:14they can do is you can get the device really early on in the product cycle, so like when
06:20it first comes out, you'll be able to buy it from the manufacturer first before you
06:23can buy it from Amazon or the Microsoft Store or anywhere else. So that's kind of good,
06:28but when it comes to issues, like when you have a problem, getting it resolved through
06:33a manufacturer is always a little bit more difficult than getting it done through like
06:38Amazon or the Microsoft Store or Costco or wherever else. The only exception to that,
06:44I would say, is the Apple Store. They have a great return policy. Everybody else, you've
06:47got to fill out forms, jump through hoops, talk to representatives before you can get
06:51any kind of exchange or return going on. So if you're in the market and you're looking
06:55to buy one of these, I just, I really recommend Amazon, Microsoft Store. I think you guys
07:00will thank me later because if something pops up, you can get it resolved a lot more readily.
07:05So this is why I think a lot of people think that every laptop sucks because every single
07:10one of these brands has the chance of having something go wrong. And when people experience
07:15something and they just see it firsthand, they get disappointed. It's really easy to
07:19have this opinion about a product that may or may not be true. But if you have a good
07:24return policy and you kind of look out for things when you first buy them, you can kind
07:28of avoid a lot of the issues. Okay. Hope you guys enjoyed this video. Thumbs if you liked
07:32it, subs if you loved it. See you guys next time.