A good question! I certainly can state that mobile banking is safer from a mobile device than from an internet browser because the latter can be compromised because it’s more open to the internet and issues that you install anti-malware software to protect you.
I would judge that the fact that as all software downloaded onto these devices go through a “shop” maintained and supported by the hardware vendor that they have done checks on the software and the supplier before releasing it through the shop. That’s a very powerful first step and is why I’m a strong supporter of these “shops” and would be distressed if some alternative means of downloading software onto a mobile device was allowed.
However, nothing protects you against yourself and that’s where the hints and tips in the third part of my “Protect yourself online” talk come into play.
Five crucial questions you need to ask to find the perfect laptop.
With hundreds of models to choose from, you’ll want to a laptop that ticks the boxes and will last the test of time. One of the biggest decisions will be how much you want to spend – what many don’t realise is that if you’re after a good all-rounder for day-to-day tasks, it doesn’t have to be a lot.
We award Best Buys to our top-performing laptops, and our cheapest Best Buys costs less than £500. Plus if you’re willing to compromise you can find good models for as little as £150.
Top five questions to ask before buying a laptop
Before you start shopping for a laptop, it will help to know the answers to the following five key questions.
1. How much should I spend on a laptop?
Less than £200 – Intel Celeron or Atom processors, 2GB of Ram and 32GB of storage. Won’t be particularly fast, but fine for note taking and browsing the internet.
Less than £400 – Intel Pentium, Core i3, AMD Ryzen 3 and 4GB Ram. Fast enough for web browsing and research work. Aim for a Full HD screen and an SSD if you can.
Less than £600 – Intel Core i5, i7, AMD Ryzen 5, 7 and 8GB of Ram. Should be ideal for photo editing and some light video work. Look for a thin and light design, a Full HD screen and an SSD.
Less than £800 – As above, but in increasingly high-end designs. Look for great battery life on premium ultrabooks.
More than £800 – Some stunning designs, great screens and good speakers. High-end laptops will suit more intensive tasks, such as video editing or playing games. You can buy Apple MacBooks from £950 and above.
2. Operating system – what type of laptop do I need?
There are three major players when it comes to the software (operating system) your computer runs on. Windows, MacOS, and ChromeOS.
Buy a Windows 10 laptop if…
You prefer the familiarity of Windows
Have specialist software you can’t live without
Want a big variety of laptops to choose from
Buy a MacBook if…
You have a budget of at least £950
Value longevity and build quality
Use other Apple products, or are happy to learn a new operating system
Buy a Chromebook if…
You’re on a budget
Value simplicity
Don’t mind working in web-based applications
3. How powerful does my laptop need to be?
In short: If you need a laptop for light use and note taking, look for Intel Pentium or Intel Core i3 and at least 4GB of Ram for a great experience. Go for Intel Core i5 and i7 and AMD Ryzen 5 and 7 and at least 8GB of Ram if you’re a heavy user. Look for dedicated graphics from Nvidia and AMD if you want to game.
Processing power really matters if you’re planning on using a laptop for photo or video editing, or are otherwise a very heavy user, opening lots of programs and browser tabs.
When looking at laptop processors, you’ll see two main specifications beyond the product name: clock speed (measured in Gigahertz or GHz and number of cores) and Ram. Think of clock speed as the speed limit on a road and the number of cores as the number of lanes. As on a road, depending on traffic conditions – the tasks being done on your computer – a road might see a greater benefit from more lanes or a higher speed limit.
In the simplest way possible, more of both is better, and all of our reviews describe what sort of tasks a laptop is good for.
Think of Ram (Random Access Memory) like a desk and your hard drive like a filing cabinet. You pull files out of the cabinet and it takes a while, but once they’re on your desk, you can reach for them instantly. The same is true of Ram; once you have loaded a file from the hard drive, it’s now in the Ram and can be accessed almost instantaneously.
The bigger the desk you have, the more items you can access more quickly, and the same goes for Ram. Most mid-range laptops come with at least 4GB of Ram, and we’d tend to recommend 8GB for people who are heavy web users or usually have lots of documents and pictures open.
You can manage with less, but you’ll have to rein in your use. If you fill up your Ram, some of the things you’re working on will be moved back to the hard drive, making things feel a lot slower.
Some cheap computers come with 2GB – this is usually fine on a cheap Chromebook, but some Windows 10 laptops will struggle.
When you close a program or file, it is removed from the Ram and makes room for other things to be accessed immediately. This is part of the reason why closing programs you aren’t using can make your computer faster.
4. Screen – what size and resolution of laptop display do I need?
In short: Unless you have a very low budget, don’t settle for less than Full HD, no matter the size.
A laptop’s screen is one case where bigger isn’t always better. If you want a longer-lasting battery and a more portable device, you may want to go for an 11, 12 or 13-inch display; most of these will weigh between 1kg and 1.5kg.
The largest you’re likely to see is 15 or 17 inches, with weight increasing to around 2kg to 3kg.
Most machines on the shelves now have a Full-HD 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution display, and high-end models can have even sharper screens with even more pixels up to and beyond 4K Ultra HD. Generally, the higher the resolution, the sharper the picture.
Only cheaper laptops should have a lower screen resolution of 1,366×768. This is fine for most people, but if you like to have lots of items on screen at once you’ll prefer a higher-resolution display.
5. How much laptop storage do I really need?
In short: Go for an SSD unless you really, really need more storage at all times. Storage capacity, measured in the size of the hard disk drive (HDD) in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB, equal to 1,000GB), determines how many things your PC can hold.
Documents, photos, music, movies, programs – they all take up space. Bigger is usually better, although solid-state drives (SSDs) are often more expensive for considerably less space. This is because they load much quicker and are completely silent.
We’re also seeing a lot of cheaper laptops (including Chromebooks) carrying eMMC (embedded Multi-Media Controller) flash storage, which is slower than SSDs and gives you very little storage space.
If you cleared out all the stuff on your computer you don’t actually need, how much space do you think you’d have? How much do you have now? Check ‘My Computer’ if you’re using Windows to gauge how big your next laptop’s storage needs to be.
Laptop battery life: manufacturer claims vs reality
In short: Manufacturer battery claims aren’t useful unless you’re only comparing models from the same brand. Use our reviews to get the full picture. Manufacturers often make heady claims about how long their laptops’ batteries last. Our tests ignore the manufacturer claims and involve multiple battery rundowns while simulating web browsing and watching videos.
If you’re buying a portable laptop that you intend to use when travelling or on your commute, make sure the battery life is at least six hours based on our reviews. We’ve tested some models that last for more than 10 hours before they need recharging.
But we’ve also found companies claiming 10 hours of battery life on average, while our own tests found 6.3 hours was closer to the mark.
Battery stamina on large, desktop-replacement models won’t be as crucial, as they’ll almost always be near a power socket, but we still mark them down if they run out of juice in under four hours.
If you’re using maps or navigation on your phone, it is pretty important to allow your phone to know where you are!!
If you don’t want adverts from a coffee chain, perhaps it’s a good idea to disable location services before you go into a cafe!
Or, if you don’t want anyone to know where you are (???) again perhaps a good idea to disable location services.
You can do this in quite a granular fashion, so you can switch off for the device, for the application on the device, or only when using the application on the device. That’s why it’s quite important to close down an application when you don’t need it, or aren’t using it, because it will continue tracking you after you think you’ve stopped using it!
Of course with the Covid-19 tracing capability Google and Apple have jointly worked upon, this relies on an element of location services to be working, but that’s to determine proximity of individuals and as I understand it, location is not stored on any central server.
It has to be said that I am a bit of a gadget geek. I was actually quite an early adopter of the Amazon Echo voice activated assistant. I bought a pair of them a couple of years ago and have since added some lights to my smart home. All in all, I’ve been delighted with the system although to be honest, I’ve sometimes felt that I wasn’t getting the experience quite right. Maybe I was missing something.
About six months into The Great Lockdown I noticed that Amazon had a special offer on the Amazon Echo Show 8; just £69.99 (it is now £89.99 so keep an eye on the price). It really is sinfully easy to click on the “Buy Now” button. Here’s what I’ve discovered.
First of all, I believe that you can only get the full value of the Echo experience if you are an Amazon Prime subscriber. I’ll tell you more about that later.
The Amazon Echo is a bit like a voice activated tablet screen. You can set it up to :-
Show a continuous slideshow of your photographs, cycling through your snaps at random.
Play your music. You can ask Alexa for a particular album, artist or genre of music. You can also get her to play your favourite radio station. You can control the volume with your voice.
Show recipes, with video and audio hints as you go along. Similarly, it can show exercise routines.
Show Youtube videos, Iplayer and news channels.
Show Amazon Prime movies.
Make phone and video calls.
Play a range of games and quizzes.
AND, it does all of this through voice control. It really is just like having your own personal assistant or butler even. You simply use voice commands like, “Alexa, phone Betty”, or “Alexa, send a text to Betty,” or “Alexa, play songs by Val Doonican.”
Setting up the device might be a bit tricky. You will need an Amazon account and you will probably need The Alexa app running on a phone or tablet. If you were setting it up for somebody with limited technical skills, you could use a friend’s phone or tablet. There is a video here to show you how to do this.
Now, since The Great Lockdown started, I’ve become a big fan of Slow Movies, It’s hard to explain this concept. Basically, it could be video taken of a view, or of a scenic route. Nothing happens but for me, they provide me with a link back to The Before Time. Alexa Show will show movies from the Prime catalogue. Besides a huge choice of regular movies and T.V.shows, there are plenty of Slow Movies available. Try one of my favourites, “Morning Jazz at the Coffee Shop,” takes me back to enjoying a cappuccino at Coffee #1 in Whitchurch.
Now, the Amazon Echo Show comes in three sizes; just like Goldilocks’ bears. The 5 inch would look great on your bedside cabinet. I have the 8 inch in my kitchen. There is a 10 inch model that would probably look great in your living room.
It really is a bit like having one of those Swiss Army knives, the ones that do everything. Besides being a digital photo frame, it plays music or radio, shows movies, acts as a clock and calendar, provides weather forecasts, does sums, tells you spellings, gives you a cheery Good Morning greeting, acts as a timer or reminder turns lights on or off….I really could go on and on.
Now, as I said earlier, you probably won’t get much out of the device unless you have Amazon Prime subscription. Basically, for £79 per year, you get free next day (or fast ) delivery on many of the Amazon products. I’ve ordered something at 10 p.m. on a Saturday and it was delivered at 10 a.m. the next day. You also get access to a huge catalogue of music and videos. You might have to pay extra for some of the newly released videos but believe me, there is plenty of choice for free. It provides unlimited storage space for your photographs. You upload photographs to your storage area. You can then choose the ones that you would like to see on your Echo Show. Find out more about Prime here.
Those who know me, know that I really am a bit of a sucker when it comes to new gadgets. Believe me though, this one does something that most of my other gadgets fail to do quickly, easily and with minimum hassle. This one regularly makes me smile.
The only tool you need is a Posidrive #0 screwdriver for this laptop, I bought a set of six small screwdrivers made by Black & Decker some time ago; if you’re going to do more of this sort of thing, you might need to buy a more sophisticated toolset. I also attached an earth strap – just to show you how to the job properly – but to be perfectly honest I don’t usually bother.
But I’m jumping ahead. You first have to find out what upgrades you can do to your PC. I recommend using Crucial as the supplier of both RAM and hard disk upgrades. When you land on the site, you will see a screen something like this – it will change as new products are introduced …
… you click on Select Computer (you can download a tool to scan your computer, but that shouldn’t be necessary as all the information you need is usually on the bottom of the laptop) and supply the information required about your computer …
… and the following information should come up.
I’ve selected the Upgrade I want, but I’m also offered different DRAM memory choices, as well as SDD hard disk upgrades …
… from this I get the Part No. and then see if I can purchase it cheaper on Amazon – for old memory I usually can …
… so that’s saved £10. Now we turn to the removal of the old 1Gb DRAM module and the insertion of the new 2Gb module. Turn the laptop so that it’s back is facing upwards …
… take your screwdriver and unscrew the screws which are holding the back panel in place.
On this model the screws don’t totally come away from the panel which is great as there’s less likelihood of losing any of them. Unscrew them all, and slide the panel off …
… the DRAM is right in front of you on the left-hand side of this picture. All laptops have different layouts, but the DRAM modules are very easy to pick out! Next comes the first tricky bit (not really). You need to prise the two clips holding the module in place on either side of it. Here’s me prising one clip away …
… you have to do them together of course, but as I don’t have three hands … the module will pop out and swing upwards so that you can easily remove it, which you should do and place it on an electrically inert surface – just in case you have to put it back! You then get your new module and slip it into the space vacated by the old one at an angle. [My apologies – I should have taken a picture of this.] Most problems occur at this point as it can be tricky to insert the new module in firmly enough. You then gently push it down so that the clips re-engage with the module.
Nearly finished now. The new DRAM module is in place and you just have to replace the back panel, tighten the screws and hope that the new memory will be recognised when you boot-up the computer. You may be advised that the Memory Configuration has changed when you re-boot, just ignore this the first time you attempt to re-boot your computer. Check the memory has been recognised from the Windows System Panel …
… and you’re good to go. Any problems, first try and check the module has been inserted firmly and far enough into the slot, and then if necessary run the System Configurator when asked to when you boot up. I’ve never had to do the latter, I have had to unscrew the panel and re-insert the memory module though.
And that’s it. It took me about 10mins, but I have done it before. Still 30mins tops will see you with more memory in your old laptop and hopefully improved performance.
Several members of the Computer Group, and others in U3A, have reason to be grateful to Neil the principal of “We will fix your PC” a local computer “fixer”. He also is a dab hand at fixing Macs, and mobile devices, and will give you an honest assessment of whether a job can be done, or not. No job is too small, and his pricing is very fair.
Boot-up Visits. We agreed visits to the Barclays ‘Maker Space’ which Mario will arrange for us after Christmas, and also a visit to the new BBC Centre after Easter.
Fred has offered to contact Brains and their new brewery at Cardiff Gate for a visit before Christmas. This has fallen through – should we have a social event instead; maybe at Cornerstone?
I have agreed with Mario that I will make the arrangements for the ‘Maker Space’ visit. News and other issues raised
Posting to the blog – thanks Jim; you’re all welcome and able to post.
A thumbs-up for “We will fix your PC” – Renee and Margaret … “Located on Parc Ty Glas directly opposite Bannatynes Health Club. 39 Lambourne Crescent Cardiff Business Park CF14 5GG. Mon – Fri 9 – 17 30 Sat 10 – 14 30. No appointment needed. Friendly. Experienced. Local. No fix no fee. Free quote. Phones repaired whilst you wait. iPhones fixed within 15 – 60 minutes. iPads repaired the same day. Walk in service. 02920 766039. 07999 056096″.
… personal recommendations from at least three members! An update for older iOS (Apple) devices – linked to GPS signals changing which mean location-based services on old iPhones/iPads would cease to work. New Apple MacBook Pro announced … in time for Christmas. Anyone got £2500 to spare for the base model. Gear Guide Has anyone bought, or obtained anything recently they’d like to tell us about?It doesn’t have to be a computer, laptop, tablet or phone – just something that’s digital, ie used a computer processor in some way?
Bluetooth transmitter [Marilyn, David]
Augmented reality on a phone [Jim] Apps Galore
That slot in the meeting where members are encouraged to share their experience (and possibly excitement) at a new app they’ve started using for their smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop machine. Using a Kindle, or a Kindle app (desktop or tablet) in a novel way. An attempt at a demonstration?? Removing content from a Kindle Device and deleting it from your Amazon account
Another use for Evernote – Evernote Web Clipper extension. Demonstration. What’s IT all about?
Not this week Video-calling Facebook Portal – and options Can you trust Facebook Portal devices with your Privacy – surprisingly … possibly yes! It works with Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp and makes use of Alexa.
What are the alternatives? Google Hangouts – multi-point video-conferencing (Personal if using Chrome/Brave and logged-in to your Google account) and Google Duo – new point-to-point video-calling (Personal – same advice applies). Apple Facetime and Group calls Amazon Alexa and Echo
Always Skype (from Microsoft) – same flexibility as Google Hangouts
and of course video-calls in WhatsApp …
A review from Time magazine of the alternatives.
Prompted by an article in the latest WebUser mag, I have installed Microsoft’s Your Phone app on my laptop. This allows me to see the last 25 photos I have taken with my Android phone on my laptop without going to Google Photos. I can also read and reply to text messages, and receive notifications, should I wish to. I already had the WhatsApp app installed, to read and reply to messages there.
On a related matter, I only recently discovered that my phone’s photos are stored in the My Files folder, and there are over 400 of them. I don’t see the need for that, so I will be doing some de-cluttering to reduce the memory used.
A couple of meetings ago I mentioned that a Facebook friend of mine had commented that it was odd that most people still used a QWERTY keyboard on their touch-screens, when others are available. The story being that that keyboard layout was deliberately designed to slow typists down, so that the metal letters of old-fashioned typewriters didn’t stick together.
It’s not quite the same thing, but I had a reason to type a dollar sign with my tablet last Monday, only to find that it wasn’t available on the keyboard. Yesterday I worked out how to access a US keyboard with it, without downloading an app. However it wasn’t intuitive.
My Nexus 7 came with the Gboard keyboard already installed. Going to Settings – Language & input – Gboard – Languages, gave me the opportunity to add a keyboard from a large list, which included nine versions of English. What wasn’t explained, and as I’ve said wasn’t intuitive, is that to switch from one keyboard to another I have to hold down the space bar, and then pick one of the options I’ve added.
To go back to my original point, another option is a Dvorak keyboard layout:-
“Dvorak proponents claim the layout requires less finger motion and reduces errors compared to the standard QWERTY keyboard arrangement. It is claimed that the reduction in finger distance traveled permits faster typing while also reducing repetitive strain injuries, although that claim is controversial.” (Wikipedia)
Worth a try?
