This is a slightly usual article for me but I thought it was important to talk about the tech equipment I use seeing as it is such a huge part of my job. I also always write about subjects you request, I appreciate your support and loyalty so if I can help you by answering your request’s I do it. Sometimes it takes me a while to get round to publishing the articles but that is only because I am either traveling or have other articles scheduled. I love it when you request article’s so keep them coming.
I receive so many emails asking me what laptop I use, what camera I use, what software I use. the questions are endless so I am going to cover a few of the enquires in this article.
I have been looking for a new laptop for a while now so I knew I didn’t want to write this article until I had found the perfect laptop. Yes get excited because I have found the best laptop ever.
For most of you it may come as a surprise to learn I am a huge tech geek. All my childhood memories with my dad were of us reading tech magazines together or visiting tech shops. I really have loved gadgets since I can remember. Being a blogger it is essential to be tech savvy, if you are not it will really show in your content or maybe this means you will have to pay someone a lot of money to help you out.
If you are looking for a laptop I can assure you I have covered everything, maybe covered even more than you require.
Whilst looking for a new laptop I have a pretty big criteria that looked a little like this:
- Must be small and light.
- Must be small and light but needs to be fast and powerful (that is harder than it sounds.)
- Must be good looking. Sound stupid but in case you hadn’t noticed I am into aesthetics, I can’t help it.
- Must be able to run my advance software; Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premier Pro
- Must be powerful enough to create, save and edit videos.
- Must have a huge memory to store all the endless photographs of myself. Yes, I know embarrassingly cringe.
- Must be a reasonable price.
This list might seem pretty easy to you but it wasn’t.
My first stop was a Mac Air book. I switched to Mac when I moved to London, so five years ago. It seem strange at first but then I got used to it. I do get frustrated by little things; like no hash key, really Apple you want to make a short cut? In the generation of social media you need to introduce a hash key. But I was used to Apple and I loved how the new Mac Airs looked so I went to buy one. After five minutes talking to the sales assistant I knew it wasn’t for me. This laptop is cute, looks good and is great if you just want a small laptop on the go for minimal things like emails, small amounts of memory etc. I am sure it is possible to get by as a blogger with this laptop on the go but you would struggle with power and storage and it couldn’t be your main laptop. I can’t afford to spent £3750-£1k on a laptop this pointless, it’s pretty but also pretty pointless for what I need. The sales mans even said I would struggle to make a video at my level of editing.
Six months went by and I was still struggling. I went to the Dallas blogger conference with my large and very heavy Mac book. It was so heavy I ended up never taking it to the classes. I just couldn’t find what I was looking for. All the small laptops were not “good enough” the powerful ones were heavy and looked like they belonged to a man working in finance. Apple do have sleek designs so I kept going back thinking it was the only one for me. I care too much about the aesthetics to go else where. I also love the idea of a rose gold or a gold laptop and hadn’t seen this anywhere else.
However everything kept pulling me away from Apple. My video editing friend said he would never use an Apple computer, he said “well maybe if he had an endless budget because it is more expensive; to match my computer to an Apple it would be three times the price.” Paris who is the biggest tech person I know also said he never uses Apple and advised me to look at HP. I wasn’t excited about this at all but I trusted him.
Well let me tell you what happened next.
Paris showed me a laptop that all I can describe it as is a James Bond Laptop. I then read that the name was called “Spectre”- HP SPECTRE . Maybe I am getting too excited over a laptop but I spend hours every single day with my laptop or desk top, I take photos on snapchat whilst working, I travel with my equipment and really was in need of updating my laptop. I am heading to NYFW next month with E! I just needed a new laptop before then. I was so excited to finally find a new style that was everything I wanted. I knew the actual spec would be the best on the market because Paris found it and for him this was like shopping for a CHANEL bag.
Let’s discuss the obvious factor here, who stunning is this laptop. I know it’s shocking to see the words “stunning” and “laptop” in the same sentence but it just happened. This is also a good time to mention that this is not a sponsored post. We found this laptop by ourselves, no press team approached me and I am not being paid for this article. This is me answering all your enquires about my equipment and asking what I think about this laptop since I snapchatted the unboxing video two weeks ago.
So the laptop is black but has a charcoal under tone which I love. There is also a touch of rose gold on the outside and on the sides of the buttons. The rose gold is the perfect tone of rose gold, browning points to HP for nailing the shade of rose gold and being brave enough to mix it with black. It’s been crafted with durable aluminium and carbon fibre, it’s been perfected so well.
I like to keep my laptop safe with a marble cover. I recommend the brand Snupped, I have three marble laptop covers in grey, black and white. I also have the matching phone cases. I love having matching phone and laptop cases and I think this brand is great quality.
As you can see from the photo’s the laptop is super thin, it’s actually (currently) the thinnest model on the market; 10.4mm thin. It weighs 1,1kg which is less than Tallulah. It is so comfortable to use, by this I mean the keys are so comfortable to tap; it just feels good and feels luxe.The screen is so colourful, the tones are so intense and rich because of the HD screen. The speakers are seamless as they are made by Bang & Olufsen (HP Audio Boost.) An amazing feature to have if you watch lot’s of films, TV, YouTube, listen to music or you make make videos yourself like me.
I really do love how masculine the design is but that accent of rose gold is everything. They haven’t over done it which makes it ideal for men too. The apple rose gold is basically pink which I really disliked. This is a true rose gold.
This laptop passed the looks side of things with flying colours but would it be able to do everything I expected of it?
The most impressive feature about the performance is how fast the laptop is. The Mac Book runs on the intel M5 processor 1.2GHz (to 2.7GHz) vs HP a lot more powerful Intel i7 2.5GHz (to 3.1GHz.) There is no point comparing to the Mac Air because this doesn’t compare at all, the Mac Book Air is really basic and only suitable for basic on the go functions. The memory is not a big as my desk top but that is to be expected. The hard drive is 512GB SSD WITH 8GB (DDR3) which is similar to the Mac Book. The screen on the HP is HD finish unlike the Mac book and this really does show. When I am editing images on the HP the detail is so precise. The Mac does make up for screen finish with the pixels but I would prefer HD.
The HP has a full HD webcam, where as the Mac book does not have a camera. This is great for anyone who makes videos on their laptop using the camera like me. Maybe you speak to friends on Skype?
It has a hash key! Yay!
We should also talk about Windows 10. HP obviously run off Windows 10. I personally do not have a problem with the Apple computer software but I know Paris prefers Windows. I do feel that Windows is very easy to use. I always feel that Apple is backwards and now I am back to how it should be. This is purely because I are up using Windows. I got used to the new way of working with Windows immediately. I love it that I am full capable with using Apple and Windows.
The performance got top marks but now I was worried about the price. If this laptop was going to be really expensive I was worried I couldn’t afford it. The price is £1299 at the place I found it HERE. The Apple Mac is also £1299 HERE. I was surprised to see that it was the same price as a Mac, I expected HP to be cheaper. However when you compare every performance factor you can see right away that HP does give you more for your money. It provides me with everything I needed plus it looks truly amazing. The casing for sure cost more than the Apple models, it is faster, it has a camera, it has Bang & Olufsen speakers and it is HD. You get more for your money and the rose gold and black is everything. Oh and it is the thinnest laptop in the world. I am really looking forward to bringing my new laptop to the classroom when I attend the Reward Style 2017 Dallas Conference and yes I will make it next year; aim high.
I love this laptop so much that recently I have been working from home in the conservatory (instead of my office upstairs) or outside in the garden. This laptop was only for traveling and when I am away from my office but it’s so lovely to use and so fast I keep using it at home. I love sitting in bed watching YouTube too, a new thing for me.
My over all conclusion is I LOVE THIS LAPTOP. I haven’t seen anyone with this but after reading the article I hope to see a lot more of you making the right choice when it comes to buying the right equipment. I do not hate or dislike Apple at all this is not a hate on Apple article. Sometimes you need to switch it up a bit and don’t just go for the obvious choices. In this case it was totally worth the switch from Apple to Windows HP because I get so much more for my money and I am so in love with the way it looks, it was a win win for me. This Spectre has inspired me to work, everyday I cannot wait to use it again.
I thought it would be nice for you to see my evening set up. I work really late most nights so when I am working late I sometimes in the summer have a nice glass of Champagne (Paris doesn’t allow Proesco as it’s going against the French apparently) or Rosé. I dislike Rosé in the UK because I have been spoilt but going to Paris family in the South of France where Rosé is more common than water. The Rosé is so clear and only cost 5 Euro a bottle. For a bottle like that here you have to spend £20+ on a bottle of “Whispering Angel” or something pretentious. I thought I would give this brand Miraval a try because it is the Rosé owned by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. This wine is made in Provence directly next door to where we got married, we were all making jokes at the wedding that Brad and Angelina may join us…. they didn’t. I wanted this wine to be good. I was pleasantly surprised, the wine is really good but compared to the Rosé we drink on the beach in the South of France it is pretty much the same but there it is less than half the price. I was not blown away at all but at least I have found a nice Rosé to drink on the summer nights whilst working late. Make sure you add plenty of ice cubes and do not let anyone tell you that ice cube in your win is common because it absolutely isn’t and do not let anyone tell you Rosé is a common drink because it isn’t. Conclusion I liked it (a lot) and I recommend you try it, click here.
You may have noticed a pink little tub by my laptop? This is my new discovery that just happens to also smell of rose. I love the smell of rose in all my beauty products or candles. I found this for sale here and wanted to give it a try. I get sore lips and wanted a nice balm to carry in my bag. THIS LIP BALM IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD, you all NEED it. It sells like heaven, it is the best texture and it the best colour. You know the amazing filter on Snapchat that makes you looked pretty with pale lips? It’s the same colour as that so you are half way there to having a snapchat filter face. I wear this everyday and it has helped my lips so much. I have been using it over my lipsticks and now everyone always asks me where my lipstick is from. You must try it, I guarantee you will love it. Treat your self to a little luxury. Click here to shop.
My over all rating is below but if you need to see more about each model click here for HP Spectre and here for the Mac Book.
Measurements 10/10
Weight 10/10
Design 10+/10
Screen 10/10
Speakers 10/10
Performance 10/10
Lastly I just wanted to share with you some tips on starting a blog. I need to cover this in a separate article but so many of you ask me so I wanted to give you some little tips. 1. The number one rule is you need to have passion. A blog is harder than you think and it takes more time that you ever imagined. Even when being paid for sponsorships it is hard work to stay one step ahead. At the start you won’t earn money, only the most passionate ones survive. 2. Invest in some equipment. This HP laptop is the perfect start as it is powerful to use as your soul computer. Invest in a camera. There is no need to spend thousands on a DSR, I use the Olympus PEN here with the 45mm/75mm lens. 3. Think of a blog name that defines you and your direction. You will have it for a life time so make it good. I don’t mind bloggers who use their name, it is the safest option because you won’t get bored of it but if you can come up with a brand name that is so much more fun and you can then take your brand anywhere without it being “you”. 4. Think of USP (unique selling point) and be unique. There are plenty of bloggers out there that all do the same thing as everyone else but these people don’t grab my attention at all, well they do but for the wrong reasons. it’s so nice to discover a blogger that is fresh and actually setting trends as opposed to wearing what everyone else is wearing. We all want that “IT” bag and if stripes are in then we all might try the stripe trend, there is nothing wrong with that but it is how you wear it and how you introduce something else to the mix. If you follow others you won’t make it, well you could I have seen it happen before but please just be you. 5. Photography. Make sure your photography is on point. It doesnt have to be professional but practice makes perfect. Practice taking good photos, using natural light and then learn how to use photo editing apps and software to create your amazing images. Find a colour or filter that fits your branding. My images are always bright but with a grey tone. Some bloggers have dark images or bright white images or colourful images or maybe every photo include pink; what will be yours?
Finally be kind to everyone. Blogger/fashion is a competitive industry. You will meet a lot of users and takers but that is life and it is balanced out by meeting so many driven, successful and lovely bloggers. Being kind and thinking of others might make you progress slower but at least you will have respect within the industry and you will make true friends.
If you have any questions about my new HP Spectre laptop or any questions about blogging, please leave your questions in the comment box below.
OLYMPUS PEN CAMERA
MARBLE BESPOKE TABLE, DESIGNED BY ME
CC xx
1 comment
I need a new laptop and never would think to look anywhere else other tan a Mac. I am in love, thanks for much for recommending. Love the rose gold Chanel too xx