Author’s Note: I wrote the first edition of this ThrottleStop guide for UltrabookReview as part of a short undervolting/tweaking guide several years ago. I previously published a ThrottleStop guide for Notebookcheck back in 2017, but wanted to update the guide here to cover the...
Table of Contents1. How to Buy a Used/Older LaptopPrice, Performance, Reputation, and Display2. Best Used Ultraportable LaptopsDell XPS 13 9360 (Affiliate link)Dell XPS 13 9370 or later 16:9 models (9305) (Affiliate link)3. Best Used Business/Work LaptopsLenovo ThinkPad T480 (Affiliate Link)Dell Latitude E7480 (Affiliate Link)4....
If you’re like me, you like OLED as a display technology, but the potential for image retention (a.k.a. “burn-in”) concerns you in the long run. While OEMs such as MSI and Asus have their own special software to help address this issue, Dell does...
This article serves to share my picks for some of the best SSDs as of early 2024. I will let you know which SSDs I finally purchased for myself after doing my research and why, but of course, keep in mind that these are...
This article tells my experience in finding a good powerbank for my laptop, something I could use as an external battery when needed. It also lists a few of the best such mobile power-banks I found in my research. Though removable batteries in laptops...
Laptops used to come with an array of ports, and only in the rarest of occasions would we be caught with an accessory or peripheral that we couldn’t interface with out of the box. Now, with Type-C connectors edging out legacy ports more and...
If you’re using a PC these days for gaming or office work, chances are you’re pushed into using Windows 10 11. While Microsoft boasts “Windows 10 is getting better all the time” (and, hey, it is definitively an improvement from Windows Me in most...
So, you’ve already maxed out your Dell XPS 15 with 32GB of DDR4 RAM and the best 1TB NVMe SSD for the money—now your Dell XPS 15 is as good as it gets, right? Nope, not yet! Without some hardware and software tweaks, your...
In this article, I’m sharing with you my experience in searching for the best wireless keyboard for my use and budget, going through a couple of Logitech models that I’ve tried out, and explaining which I’ve eventually stuck with and why. There’s no denying...
Microsoft has been dropping prices on its Surface lineup over the last few months, with the cheapest Surface Pro 7 tablet + keyboard bundle now available for just $599 (which also means prices are dropping elsewhere). Even with the Surface Pro 8 and 9...
Disclaimer: All laptops (The ThinkPad X1 Carbon and both the black and white Dell XPS 13 SKUs) were purchased with my own funds for this review. Going by most accounts, the best ultrabook is either the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (which we at NBC...
Welcome to the UltrabookReview guide to… binding keys?! I know what you’re thinking. “Do we really need a guide on how to bind keys?” Please hear me out: I love books and I love film, but I’ve become an even bigger fan of the...
HP’s ZBook series of laptops have been on my radar for many years. Frustrated with the shortcomings of Dell’s XPS 15, I have long been on the lookout for other laptops that combine similar horsepower with a comparably professional look and compact chassis. I...
I got tired of Windows and decided to switch to a Mac. How did it go? In short, there’s the good, there’s the bad, and there’s the different. To set the stage, a lot of this comes as a result of my ever-increasing frustration...
I’m not very big on celebrating birthdays, nor do my wife and I tend to shower each other with gifts. A lot of it has to do with the fact that we try not to buy things needlessly, plus that I’m very particular about...
September 18, 2020: I ended up replacing the JBL bar with a different set of speakers and sub. Scroll to the end to see what I got! May 31, 2020: With four months of usage under my belt, I’m updating this article with a...
I was excited at first when I saw that Microsoft had announced their new round of Surface line of computers — until I saw the details. The updated Surface Go is indeed a nice bump, as the form-factor of the Surface 3 made it...
Update – January 22, 2022 The following steps are confirmed to work with the XPS 15 7590: 1. Set BIOS settings to default 2. From BIOS -> Security, disable UEFI firmware capsule updates ‘ 3. Run BIOS from Windows; the system will restart 4....
Note: This is an article I originally published in 2018, but due to a new round of right-to-repair legislative action, I feel this is a good time to re-visit the topic. I am no Luddite: I appreciate the amazing things technology allows us to...
Lenovo has thrown their hat into the eGPU arena this CES 2020 with the debut of their aluminum-constructed Legion BoostStation external GPU enclosure. With a design reminiscent of the Razer Core but with more features and a lower price, the BoostStation looks like it...
I was browsing for thermal paste in a computer shop near my home a few weeks ago when I came across a relatively new product that I had previously heard about, but had never seen in person. Next to the tubes of the standard...
Update: 10/10/2019 — added more bugs/instability notes As an ultraportable 15-inch notebook with Intel’s 9th generation Coffee Lake hexa-core CPUs and Nvidia’s GTX 1650 graphics, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme (Gen 1 review here, P1 Review here) is one of the most in-demand premium...
Other Articles in this series: So I’ve decided to switch to Linux: Day 1 I wrote a few days ago about how pleasantly surprised I was at the ease of installation and out-of-the-box functionality of Pop!_OS on my X1E Gen 2. I was able...
The new Dell XPS 15 7590 makes a case for itself by sporting an optional OLED panel, Intel’s latest 9th generation 6 and 8-core CPUs, Nvidia’s GTX 1650 GPU, and, finally, an above-display webcam. As I wrote in an earlier editorial, however, whether or...
I always remember my father, a computer scientist, getting furious at something his computer (a Mac or *nix machine, back in the day) was either doing or not doing. When I was a kid, I couldn’t understand why he’d get upset over some seemingly...
Ever since I Jury-rigged my XPS 15 9550 to the first Razer Core back in 2016, I’ve made use a few different of Thunderbolt 3 eGPU setups over the years. I’ve done quite a bit of mixing and matching of various eGPUs (Razer Core,...
Update: October 13, 2019 added HWiNFO logs of extended gaming benchmarks We recently noted in our review of the X1 Extreme Gen 2 a few days ago that performance was a bit weaker than it should be due to thermal and power-limit throttling. In...
Dell’s XPS 15 series is the ever-popular flagship ultrabook of the American company, and as such it commands a relatively premium price in the lineup: Prices top-out at $2799 USD for a fully-loaded i9-9980HK/64GB/4K OLED/GTX 1650/97WHr configuration. However, the base Core i5 + FHD screen...
Ever wondered whether your laptop’s vanilla 60 Hz display could be replaced with a faster 144 Hz screen? The answer seems to be a confirmed “yes” — for the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme (Gen 1 and 2) and P1, at least. Intrepid redditor and...
As a reviewer who places high importance on the actual experience of using a machine over an algorithmic score of its various benchmark results, I’ve been wanting to write about the forgotten importance of the user experience in the ThinkPad X1 Extreme and Aorus Gaming...