Best 35 laptops of 2021 by Dave 2 D (Dave Lee), Tech Youtuber
Dave 2 D also known as Dave Lee, is a well-known tech YouTuber with more than 3.46 million subscribers to this day. He made a list of his personal 35 best laptops of 2021 including the best gaming laptops of 2021 and the best performance laptops of 2021. He ranks his favorite laptops not only by the laptop’s technical specifications but also by the way they look or what the companies wanted to achieve (which sounds refreshing to me). So what are Dave 2 D’s best laptops of 2021?
The best laptop 2021 according to Dave 2 D
In short Dave 2 D ranked his selection of the best laptop 2021 from S to E tiers. In this ranking, the S tiers are the best laptops of 2021 according to him and the E tier are the worst ones. I made a list of the 5 best laptops in 2021 from his tier list. So these are the top 5 best laptops of 2021 according to Dave 2 D.
- ASUS Zephyrus G15 (S tier)
- Lenovo Legion 5 (S tier)
- Alienware X17 (A tier)
- Apple MacBook Pro 14 (A tier)
- Mech/Neo 15 (A tier)
The links above are links from Dave 2 D’s youtube video, so buying via those links will support him with no extra charge for you. If you want to support my website, first of you are awesome, second, you can find my links at the bottom of this post.
Dave 2 D S tier: ASUS Zephyrus G15
This laptop, the ASUS Zephyrus G15 is his main computer since it came out last year, and takes first place. He switched from devices, but he just likes the ASUS Zephyrus G15 a lot. Though there are some things Dave dislikes. For instance the missing print screen button (and boy do you need this a lot), and the black bezel trim on a white laptop. It just isn’t great… But all is forgiven, as you can see how he loves the ASUS Zephyrus G15 in Dave 2 D’s review. What Dave especially likes is the fact that during the recording of this video, the ASUS laptop, just doesn’t have any fan noise.
So few Windows performance laptops have a fan profile like this, and it’s something that not everyone appreciates, but I do.
Dave 2 D – REVIEW
Dave 2 D S tier: Lenovo Legion 5
For Dave, the Lenovo Legion 5 is an easy one. It’s a fantastic device, that didn’t need a review according to Dave (although he also didn’t have time because he was busy setting up a new studio), and gets second place. He praises the Lenovo Legion 5 for the price, performance you can expect ‘like a really good performer’, and the great looks. There are few laptops that are as good for this kind of price point without screaming ‘I’m a gamer too much.
Boy, it’s one of the best ones out there.
Dave 2 D – No Review :(
Dave 2 D A tier: Alienware X17
The Alienware X17 gets an easy A score. It’s from Alienware, and they are known for making thicker laptops that are hot. Dave likes how surprisingly good this laptop looks.
I personally feel like this is the best Alienware products that come out in, like, a decade
Dave 2 D – REVIEW external
Dave 2 D A tier: Apple MacBook Pro 14
Although Apple MacBooks aren’t particularly gaming laptops, they are cool devices though. The Apple MacBook was a laptop where Dave was interested. They made a 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro (which got a B in Dave’s list due to its price) and shrank it down to a 14-inch laptop. This is technically complex and difficult, but Apple did it right. The Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch delivers the same kind of performance as the 16-inch devices, but it’s still expensive and that’s why it sits in the A tier.
I think it deserves an A because it’s the technical complexity and difficulty in shrinking something down. And they did it right.
Dave 2 D – REVIEW external
Dave 2 D A tier: Mech/Neo 15
This is a very popular device amongst sweaty laptop nerds and in Dave’s Discord. It gets an A because this year’s laptop is better. Cooling the RTX 30 series GPU is difficult. While most companies are opting for lowering the wattage of their GPU so it fits their devices, the Eluktronics Mech 15, and the XMG Neo 15 (which are the same devices) let it rip at high wattage. They choose to just properly thermally cool their devices.
…they let it rip at a high wattage, and they just dealt with it in a proper manner thermally. So I give them credit for that
Dave 2 D – No Review :(
What did other reviewers say about these laptops?
When we take the laptops from Dave and rearrange them by the score given by tech reviewers from around the web, the laptop list would look a bit different. Although I didn’t collect all the laptops he has reviewed, but the ones I did, can be found below. With this list you see the Apple MacBook Pro M1 Pro/Max comes out on top with an 8.9 out of 10. Followed by the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 with an 8.6 out of 10, and lastly the Lenovo Legion 5 with an 8.4 out of 10.
Source: The Best Laptops – 2021 Picks! – YouTube
