The best laptop for 2021: My top choices

It’s that time to seek the best laptop for 2021 as my Asus laptop nears its three year old cycle.

I tend to change my laptop every three years because I can sell the old laptop for ‘a good price’, hence decreasing the cost of ownership for a new laptop.

For my new laptop, which will also technically be my 2021 self-birthday present, I have chosen to try out one of the local brands available in Malaysia.

This is partly due to the lower price it offers, in comparison to the specifications.

That said, this post is about the choices I had to consider, and why I am considering them.

Here’s the top four best laptops for 2021 in my opinion.

ILLEGEAR IONIC 15

I had my eye on this laptop for quite sometime.

The display boast of a 15.6″ iRIS FHD IPS sRGB 100% INFINIVISION Display and comes with a really nice professional silver finish.

It weighs less than 1.5kg, and runs on Intel i7 with NVIDIA® GeForce® MX250 2GB GDDR5 for its graphics.

It also came with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage capacity, which was massive.

In addition to that, the Illegear Ionic 15 a massive 92Wh battery, which meant it could last for long hours without charge. The whole set cost RM3,999 on Lazada which is quite a steal at those specifications.

On a downside, I am not a fan of the keyboard which seems rather ‘tight’.

ILLEGEAR PRODIGY

Another laptop which caught my eye was the Illegear Prodigy.

Compared to the Ionic 15, this was heavier at 1.8kg.

It had similar screen to the Ionic 15, but adds in anti-glare to the set-up. Like the Ionic, it also runs on Intel i7, but is supported by Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDDR6 with Optimus 16GB Dual Channel DDR4 RAM and THX® Spatial Audio.

There’s 16GB of RAM paired with 1TB of M.2 SSD in this machine.

The keyboard used for this laptop is similar to my ASUS VivoBook, being a tactile keyboard with Single-zone.  I favour this sort of layout for a keyboard.

Juicing up this laptop is a 63Wh battery, so it’s doesn’t store as much power as the Ionic 15.

In terms of price, the graphic card, display and likely the different keyboard pushed the price of the Prodigy to RM5,399 on Lazada.

This of course is way higher than the Ionic, and I am not too crazy about the weight of the laptop as well.

LEVEL51 FORGE 15S

Next in line was the Level 51 Forge 15S.  This particular laptop was slightly heavier than the Illegear’s Prodigy by 100g.

Like the two previous laptops I mentioned, it also came with the Intel® Core™ i7 Processor.  However, the Forge 15S is paired with a NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 TI 4GB GDDR6 graphic card.

The screen is a 15.6″ FHD 144 Hz Wide Viewing Angle Display and it came with 16GB of DDR4 and 512GB NVME M.2 SSD storage space.

There’s nothing much to shout about in this laptop except that it was cheaper than Illegear’s duo I compared above.

I guess this is expected since the specs are lower and it’s priced at just RM3,850 on it’s official website.

The weight is a turn off, but the price was not.

LEVEL51 LUNAR 14 PRO

The Level51 Lunar Pro was also interesting in my opinion.

Like all the laptops I am comparing here, it came with Intel i7 Processor, and the graphics came via Intel® UHD Graphics. This laptop therefore has the lowest graphic capabilities among the four.

This laptop has the smallest screen among the four laptops here, having just a 14.0″ FHD IPS Wide Color Gamut Display.

Inside, a 16GB DDR4 RAM is paired with a 512GB NVME M.2 SSD storage space.

The Lunar 14 Pro however excels best in terms of design because it is not only built using Premium Enthusiast Grade Thermal Compound, which makes it very strong, but it is also the lightest among the four laptops listed here.

It weighs just 1.06kg, and is juiced up by a 73WH battery.  This battery promises to give the machine at least 24 hours of usage time off the charger.

Despite the military grade finish, the Lunar 14 Pro isn’t too expensive, selling at RM4,375 on Level51’s website.  I am also in favour of how it looks, but the lack of graphic capabilities meant video making would be affected.

WHICH LAPTOP WON MY HEART?

After much consideration, I decided to go for the Illegear Prodigy with some additional upgrades.

The IONIC 15 I’ve been eyeing was not chosen because I disliked the keyboard.

Video processing capabilities were a turn off for the Level51 laptops and despite upgrades, both laptops were no where able to match what the Prodigy had to offer.

That said, I decided to splurge more on my new laptop to get the best specifications in hand.  I also threw in an additional off site warranty to the cost, and self assured myself that this laptop would be used for at least four or five years.

The specs of my Illegear Prodigy are therefore as follows:

As you can see, I got the 1TB SSD storage space, battery upgrade, and 63WH battery under Illegear’s 11.11 sale, so despite it costing me a whopping RM6,096, I felt it was quite a bargain.

On top of that, I got a cash rebate, and only paid RM5,792. I have been saving up for this laptop, so that’s where I funded this new gift for myself.

The price however made the Illegear Prodigy my most expensive laptop to date.

Illegears said the laptop is scheduled to arrive in December 2020, and this is perfect before my 38th birthday.

When I get it I will do a review of the laptop so until then, stay safe.