Why Buying a Laptop Sucks in 2025

[@JustJoshTech]

👉 Our Website: www.justjosh.tech/

[@bradleycochran4595]

I went with the Asus ROG G16 with the AMD AI 7 processor. It has worked well with me. I also have the Apple 16 MacBook Pro with the M4 Pro cpu. Both of these have worked well with me.

[@SagnikDasgupta]

I've always said that with laptops it's always,"Price, performance, portability - Pick two". Now I've come to add a fourth P to the compromise,"Ports". The omnibook flip really drove this point home.

[@yensteel]

Let's add "Perpetuable" to the mix, emphasizing repairability, with "Personalizable" emphasizing customizability.

[@MrNotgoth]

Totally agree. It's so weird to now have the "Apple problem" where I need to bring a freakin dongle with me everywhere I go. I say this as I literally type on my Omnibook Flip and actually have a dongle I still have from when I had my M1 iPad pro 😂😂 Other than this small issue, it's the best laptop i've ever purchased

[@akshaytolwani8381]

Yeah most of the more portable high performance laptops tend to not have ethernet on them.

[@balloon2885]

@@akshaytolwani8381 To be fair ethernet is a big ass port

[@pajamas720]

14-16 inch laptops: am i a jole to you?

[@NasirCrazyguy]

We NEEDED this video. As a consumer, thank you!

[@bogdan3624]

100% correct! I'm also sick and tired of the AI craze, when its absolutely useless and only increases the prices we pay.

[@itslessfunincanada]

You forgot to mention that almost all the ports are on the messy sides instead of the tidy backs.

[@cameronbosch1213]

Legions really fell hard after their 2022 peak. The 2022 Legion 7i might have been Lenovo's best gaming laptop they'd ever made. At this point, they'll never get there again. And what the actual f is with most OEMs middle fingering AMD (with MSI, Tongfang, and Razer being the exceptions)!? And why does Tongfang refuse to offer USB4 on a premium AMD laptop!?

[@vncube1]

Yup, XMG's CES lineup was modest but *surpassed* every new Legion, Titan and Predator.

[@cameronbosch1213]

@vncube1 the only ones I'd give a similar ratings were the MSI Raider as it comes with AMD's and Nvidia's best and Razer because they also have AMD + Nvidia's best.

[@southern_potato]

Wait, do people actually want ports on the back like it's 2007 again? I remember distinctly not wanting the ports to be on the back when I had one of those

[@saikoro8620]

Really depends on the target audience. For gaming/stationary laptops the back is better, but portable laptops benefit greatly from ports on the sides

[@santos_2ll2]

Companies watching this: "hmm... not enough AI. MORE AI!"

[@Babalas-no9ot]

Now add living in NZ where half the laptops are simply not available but the product pages still exist and it's only when you look up at the /nz url that you notice why it's vanished from the list you were just looking at.

[@SantiagoT75]

Josh, this should be one of the most viewed YT videos in 2025. You've completely nailed it. Very proud of you and your team delivering honest and useful content. Keep it up.

[@mapl3mage]

I think a good rule of thumb is to always watch tear-down videos. That way, you get to know if there are issues with heat dissipation design and if there are structural issues, such as having a weak hinge that will break after a year of use.

[@ashyouknow7420]

All this garbage mess sometimes makes me want to start my own laptop company instead of buying their absurdly named, specced, marketed and priced crap.

[@JxThxNxs]

I will buy it, no matter how pricy it is (as long as its not that pricy like apple)

[@marcgraciov]

DO IT!

[@ASTER15K]

Once you in, u will realize that long sustain laptop is bad for your business 😂😂

[@ashyouknow7420]

@ I'm a founder of two businesses. I realize how hard it is to build and scale a business sustainably especially in the tech space which is so resource hungry. I have studied the success stories of the companies we see as mainstream today. I would like to find a solution to that and build the company that can sustain in the long term. Or be so rich that the company can push through tough times by sheer will.

[@JxThxNxs]

@@ashyouknow7420 👍🏻

[@valentinzambelli9930]

I really really want to not have to buy a MacBook but it's basically impossible even for a tech person to find a laptop that doesn't have a significant flaw or you don't have to hunt for weeks to find a retailer that stocks a specific variant. Buying a 14 inch MacBook Pro 32gb will work perfectly for years. Even Microsofts own surface laptops are hard to navigate

[@j45393]

I'm the same. I tried a few new windows laptops over the past couple of years to replace an 8 year old Dell but they all made too much fan noise, even the Lunar Lake processors, and all had some sort of flaw like bad webcam or just didn't feel nice to use. I bought a refurbished MacBook Pro M1 Pro 16 inch and it's a huge relief to finally find something I like. I never thought I would switch to Apple, I've always been a Windows and Android user but after a week, and finding the right settings for me, the adjustment to MacOS is fine - mainly just different menus and layouts, nothing major, I actually much prefer the colours used on MacOS and the screen is the best I've used - I prefer it to OLED - maybe it's the colour scheme of MacOS too

[@Bambotb]

Px13 32gb why not?

[@yuri-andrelezama3191]

I’m in the same boat. All my life I’ve used windows laptop but there’s always that one flaw and it got really annoying while I was completing university. Now as much as I don’t want to do it but I’m on the verge of buying a MacBook just because it seems to be more balanced than getting a windows laptop that has 2/5 things you need

[@VladdyDaddy369]

​@@j45393I'm 100% with you. After testing out countless laptops last year I finally decided to give Mac a shot. And I'm really glad I did. Really enjoying the 16" MBP and MacOS. And like you, I also realized that I prefer the mini-led on a MBP over all OLED screens I tried on different Windows laptops. It's simply perfect. I'm super happy that I finally decided to go this route. Other Apple products are of no interest to me since I despise iOS but I'm definitely a Mac fan now.

[@_Digitalguy]

except if you regularly use Windows only software like I do...Windows on ARM has been a big improvements and has almost no compatibility issues, definitely less than MacBooks... Plus the storage prices are a scam on Macs, while on most Windows devices storage is upgradable including ARM laptops/tablets

[@vardanrathi7777]

For me, it's either a MacBook or a ThinkPad. I've stopped looking elsewhere. Everything else is just so, so confusing! (And yes, ThinkPads are on that track too now!)

[@cameronbosch1213]

@vardanrathi7777 Macbooks are expensive unrepairable e-waste.

[@nameless_stranger]

Ah yes, the multitude of Thinkpad series's. We are going through the whole alphabet at some point 😂

[@vardanrathi7777]

@@cameronbosch1213 Expensive? Yes. But the price is justified over a long term usage. Unrepairable? Absolutely not. Can't upgrade and can't repair are two different things. Even thinkpads now have on-board RAMs and SSDs! Use-case must be well defined.

[@thedarknightnicht]

Be careful with thinkpads Lenovo seriously downgraded their Thikpad P Hen 5 with AMD with terrible battery life

[@Johnny91832]

​@@cameronbosch1213 I was using a 2012 Macbook Pro for over a decade and just recently got a new M4 Macbook Pro. I don't consider a computer that has held up for 10 years e-waste, do you?

[@maudywardy8516]

Damn josh going off in this one 😮

[@roadrash999]

Business line of products should have a totally different name, the only thing in common should be the brand company logo. The business lineup does NOT need to be simplified as businesses pay people to select what they need.

[@azlim27]

Omg thanks Josh for simplyfying the difference between Core Ultra and Core and the different Intel Generation. I was so confused when looking up Lenovo laptops and looking at the different processors. Googling for answer just made it more confusing. Your table really helps me to understand better. Just in time for me to understand how to choose the right laptop. You are my go-to channel to watch laptop reviews, and this is one of the great videos that you put up.

[@Watchandlearn91]

There is a reason i've bough macbooks exclusively since M1. Apple makes a few laptops and they are all very high quality. Sure they screw you on upgrade prices and everything is soldered down but I have yet to find a Windows alternative that ticks every box for me... - Fantastic haptic touchpad - Bright, color accurate glossy display that isn't super reflective - Good keyboard - Never gets hot at all - Great battery life - Great speakers (I listen to music and watch videos out loud on them all the time when i'm alone) - Great performance I have been able to find laptops in the Windows space that tick most of these but usually the speakers and touchpad are trash. I am hopeful that as haptic touchpads become more popular, more windows laptops will become good alternatives. However, then I'm left with Windows which has turned into essentially spyware and tries to force AI nonsense down consumers throats. I wish some huge manufacturer like Dell would fork a linux distribution and really push it forward as their next gen OS and work with partners like Adobe to bring software to it. Then they could simplify their lineup of laptops and work on making them really high quality and really compete with Apple. They could even team up with other manufacturers on the OS and they could all share it and hopefully force Windows to actually improve and become competitive as an OS.

[@MattJH]

So true about the lack of powerful AMD laptops with great specs. With my budget, the best I could do was the ThinkPad P16v Gen 1 with the 7940HS. Curiously, there's no AMD option for the Gen 2.

[@blueeyednick]

if i wrote the title, it would be "it's freaking 2025 and laptops still suck..."

[@YourAvgDev]

Josh! Thank you for putting that bit in the ending title where you let us know which laptops your team edited the video on! I'm just learning how to edit videos now and I am so glad that you show us that we don't need super powerful machines to get into video/content creation!

[@gmark247]

Honestly, you are spot on. My fiancé and I have been buying a laptop for the past 3 months. We ended up returning 3 because, despite their premium prices, they were all half baked ones. Finally we settled with a Lenovo yoga pro with an intel ultra 9 and rtx 4060. However, this one costs the most, still not without flaws. Firstly the display is IPS, it has 100% color range in P3, but it's far from oled. The battery is more like a 5 hour one, not 21 as they claim to be. The lack of customisation in modern laptops is just insane, either you can afford a high end one or you're left with the scraps. False and outright lies in marketing, huge pricetags, underpowered products etc. honestly, if apple would be willing to upgrade their Macbooks to oled, give them a decent gaming experience, I'd bet the rest of the market would be lagging behind yet again.

[@LightsOut_101]

The used car analogy is really correct for the 500$ laptops. Well said!

[@garbygarb31]

Dude I love your videos. No overused editing .. .flashy effects. Just good info that echos what I've been thinking for YEARS. More people need to talk about these points.

[@rhalloff]

Well stated Josh and team! I really don’t need a new laptop at this point, but always am waiting with bated breath for your next informative vid. Please keep them coming and don’t sell out. Please!!! PS was that the Best Buy at San Tan Village you showed? Looked like it 😊

[@levygaming3133]

8:50 Having actually seen that presentation, I feel like they were incredibly clear that the highest bar on the right there was only through cranking the power up extremely. And you seem to be overlooking the middle bar, that was ~ iso power, where they have a 62% lead.

[@tim3172]

(It's fake outrage to draw clicks and engagement.)

[@mulciberus]

Such a cogent, brilliant analysis. You're not just a forerunning tech evaluator, but a sharp critic-at-large. Well done!

[@RoyOlsen-uf3tp]

Thank you. Hoping somebody in the industry not just listens but makes some changes. Keep it up!

[@adityagupta_2018]

Mandatory video by Josh Each Year!

[@Kaizu823]

I did notice the rise of confusing laptop names over the years. Part of why I hated HP coming up with their Victus lineup, like what was so hard with just having everything under the Omen branding?

[@catcreme]

I bought my current laptop in 2020, and even then for an average laptop user like me it was pretty confusing - so I turned to lovely people on YT to help guide me. For anyone trying to buy a laptop this year and is not too tech savvy, I wish you good luck. Thankfully, you have Josh and his great team to help you make the best decisions for your lifestyle.

[@joaor.8780]

Great video. Accurate. Even for those of us that follow tech is hard to distinguish what is what.

[@Lost_Highway2049]

Thank you so much for this video, absolutely spot on analysis. You mentioned multi use scenarios, I'd love to recommendations for people with multi use scenarios, for example I'm an ESL teacher in China who also loves gaming and does a lot of photography, so have the money for a good laptop and need it for work and play. Another case could be student/content creator or the same plus gaming, maybe poll the viewers for different combinations.

[@JustJoshTech]

Exactly. That's what we're building on our website btw. The ability to overlap cases together combining requirements

[@Hi-how-are-you-today.]

Great video keep em coming, couldn’t agree with you more on every detail!

[@RyeRyeL]

My Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 died. Hinge failure which caused board damage. I spent hours researching laptops. I basically want a decent Ryzen laptop. It's pretty much impossible. I basically have to spec a Lenovo ThinkPad to the hilt to get what I want, and they're ugly machines. Asus put garbage displays in their AMD models. I don't want a 104C intel chip in my laptop thanks. Let me buy a Zenbook with an AMD CPU AND 3k OLED 😊

[@TheNmbr2]

Oh!!! ThinkPad ugly machine??? one of the best industrial designs of all time? that hurts

[@bruceparker3139]

Dell took simplification and ran it in blender with confusion pudding and poured out poop

[@blueeyednick]

This video was a long time coming, 2 years in the making.

[@fijnman3813]

This… I already had issues buying a tv. But a laptop is another Circle of Hell. 6 months in and i am still switching between brands, price range, storage space, battery capacity and checking out possible price drops. Looking at a m4 pro now but annoyed at lack of ports, storage and insane pricing for upgrades. You buy an okay priced laptop but you hate a lot of specs, or buy a macbook and become poor.

[@freddie_connor9202]

Get a MacBook Air from a legitimate refurbishing company like backmarket. you won't regret it

[@df3yt]

Mac world isn't just about being poor. It's that many of the apps need money to work with the rest of the world and are often inferior compared to their Windows or Linux counter parts. Get used to simple shortcuts like copy and paste or even cut not working consistently in each app. Get used to needing a dock, and certain retina 4k external monitors to avoid blurry text... yet aren't blurry on Windows / Linux. You can tell I have buyers remorse with my Mac. It taught me humility against Windows / Linux.

[@DerrickAbucheri]

I've learnt a lot about laptops from this channel. You are a gem on KZbin!

[@skygaz3r]

Josh finally giving tech manufacturers a piece of his (and fellow consumers’) mind!

[@rusparmesan]

A couple of points I'd like to add 1) Manufacturers must create database with specs, so I can insert there alphabet and number soup of the model name to get the full specs and parameters (soldered or upgradeable RAM; Display resolution, type, brightness, sRGB coverage; does usb-c support power delivery and display port; max GPU and CPU power, etc). Psref sorta does that for Lenovo, for example. 2) There isn't a good website to set filters for specs beyond the basics ones to filter out laptops. Say, I want a 15 inch laptop with upgradeable ram and 100% sRGB coverage. I have to manually check retailers and look up each and every model to see if it's good or not.

[@SteveRunciman]

The need for Josh and crew has never been greater.

[@blaster915]

Brilliantly put. Much as I am not for Apple in general, they are spot on for making it easy to pick a machine. Everyone else is just making things a mess leaving people frustrated.

[@blueeyednick]

These companies literally just chose an 8-thread cpu for their laptops again instead of more efficient and powerful at the same time, 16 thread cpu that has better igpu as well.

[@ItsNicolau]

Josh, you are a real one, thanks for the great content! You and your team are truly amazing and I wish you all the best possible success for 2025. Let's see the channel double once again this year 🙌🏻

[@mickeli7155]

Laptops is a nightmare even more when it comes to gameing laptops, screens, gpu power, and very hard to find out the diffrent sku's spec.

[@Winnetou17]

This, thank you! This is partially why I'm still using a laptop that has turned 8 years old in december. It's been more than an year since I wanted a new one, but nothing comes close to what I want. It's true that I'm very picky and in this sea of thin and light laptops,, my needs are quite niche. I want a 17-18" laptop to be the same idea as my very old one, a laptop that would a) also reasonably last me for 5+ (preferably 7-10) years, and b) can be used for everything. I don't mind it being big, bulky and heavy (the old one alone has over 4 kg, huge bezels on the 17.3" screen, a big bulky charger that's only 180W. But you know what also it has ? A DVD drive, 4 USB-A ports, 1 USB-C/Thunderbolt port, HDMI, mini-DP, 3 audio ports, Ethernet, card reader and Kensington Lock. Inside 4 sticks of RAM, which I knew from 2016 that I'll go for 64 GB and one of the reasons it's still a decent performing laptop to this day, 1 HDD and 2 NVMe slots which are now all populated). So really, other than bulkyness, weight and inherent poor battery life, there's no major compromises. I want that for my next laptop too. But I want more things, now that we evolved. I don't need a DVD drive. But I do want good repairability, so it's not just luck that a laptop can survive 8 years of heavy use. I want the RAM to work at decent speeds (and it seems that so far, with DDR5, you cannot have that, except maybe with Arrow Lake. Speaking of 128+ GB of RAM at at least 5200 MT/s, preferably 6000. Apparently once you go over 96 GB of RAM on DDR5, the memory controllers of both AMD and Intel can't properly keep up and end up with DDR4-era transfer speeds of 3600-4400 MT/s). I don't really need 128 GB of RAM right now, but I'm sure as hell that I'll need it in 5 years, so the laptop must support that. This RAM is one of the main reasons I'm still waiting for a good laptop. Ideally Framework realeases a Framework 16 motherboard/unit with Arrow Lake, CAMM2 RAM "slots" where I can fulfill my 128+GB RAM at good speeds fantasy. And hopefully this year, as I don't know how long I can postpone getting a new laptop. It won't be perfect, being 16", but at least I'll feel good in all other departments. And the ports as modules is really smart, you can always change what you want, on which side you want without dongles (which I don't like). I know they already have USB-C charging that at least in theory goes up to 240W, which would be perfect (I say in theory because right now there's only 180W chargers, with 240W ones coming this year). This way I'll be able to use starndard chargers, so one less proprietary thing out of the way (not to mention that if I forget or break my charger, I'll have very good chances to use one from somebody else, only suffer reduced charging speeds (not everyone will have 140W+ capable chargers). I know that screen or keyboard issues would be easier to solve. Though one thing I like about my current laptop is that it has this semi-plastic semi-rubber top where the keyboard and touchpad is. Makes it to not feel cold and slippery (unlike metal), really nice to touch, that works good in both low and high temperatures. But with a Framework, maybe I'll have the chance of somebody building something similar. Or maybe even make my own.

[@narutokunn]

This was needed. Thanks 🙏🏼

[@david-wildcard]

I just found this channel, the video is great! Just subbed

[@laselecta9012]

Great video. But hard to find deals in Canada 🇨🇦

[@edalder2000]

I don't buy new laptops. A good used business laptop is my go to. I have a ThinkPad T480s that I found on eBay. Plenty of ports and great keyboard. I upgraded Ram, SSD, and installed a new battery. All for about $250 US. I do productivity and streaming. The T480s suits me well.

[@IvoPavlik]

Nice!

[@BosheitV]

Clearly don’t do gaming

[@JtotheRizzo]

Walmart is currently selling the ASUS Vivobook S 14 with Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2 258V, OLED, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD for only $799!!!! 🤯. Its lightweight, excellent specs, great ports (even had a MicroSD card slot), Only downsides to this laptop is that it is a fingerprint magnet and only a 60Hz panel but even at 60Hz, display is gorgeous. 100% best bang for your buck!!!

[@xeon2k8]

if you think a 258V with 32gb ram is a good pairing i dont think you can give tech advises to anyone

[@JtotheRizzo]

​@@xeon2k8 Depends on what you use it for. For an everyday laptop it's a great buy. Everyone will find something wrong with every laptop on the market - never satisfied. You sound like one of them. How about suggesting an alternative, rather than being an ass on KZbin

[@MrJed_s]

​@@xeon2k8why is that not a good pairing?

[@damiagunbiade]

Why don't you suggest something better then? Do better

[@congdao3444]

Perfect timing just bought a PC for the Lunar New Year 😂😂😂

[@MrNotgoth]

I was recently in the market for a new laptop and I actually found the process of finding the one for me kind of fun. I say this of course, as an enthusiast. I found it easy to browse KZbin, your channel, and reddit to find reviews of computers that fit what I needed. If you're the casual in-store shopper, I also think the process to find a laptop is a bit easier thanks to associates in, say, Best Buy or Apple stores. They can clearly direct you to the device you need for your use case. However, I think those in the middle, the ones who aren't that tech savvy yet still browse the internet for different laptops to purchase, will have a harder time for the reasons you mentioned in the video. There are so many brands, storage options, processor options, etc. and it can be hard to parse through all the specifications out there. I honestly think resources like your website and your KZbin channel assist in this regard. There need to be places that clearly show you what devices fit your needs and give you the pros and cons. So as a new subscriber with a recently purchased Omnibook Flip, thanks so much!

[@tomilan6001]

i think that reliability is the most important factor for low end user who are 90% of the market

[@krazyolie]

There are so many models and then configurations within those models that then differ between regions that it's almost impossible to find a review of any specific laptop

[@matthewroth1]

The numerous different and confusing model names with misleading spec sheets with (in some cases) incompatible parts is one of the main reasons why I refer family of mine to MacBooks; there’s only a handful of models to choose from and it’s much easier for them to understand parts/accessories and which model is best for their needs. Trying to buy a laptop from ASUS, Lenovo, MSI, Razer, HP, etc are all so confusing and it’s honestly shocking how many “new” models use older parts. Dell despite having horrible customer service is oddly my go-to if I’m buying a PC because compared to other companies I find their models/prices/specs relatively easy to interpret. Microsoft surface laptops are decent too for that same reason.

[@itsmilan4069]

10:29 cause they did try it back in 2021 and AMD failed to mass deliver chips

[@IvoPavlik]

Did they?

[@df3yt]

Nothing new for years AMD laptops were gimped with single channel ram where the Intel was not soldered and dual oob and generally had better nvmes

[@Historian_kid]

i'm still wondering what laptop to buy

[@satishm5260]

Ur pfp is real gud😂.

[@freddie_connor9202]

if you don't need windows, just get a refurbished MacBook book air m1 or m2 from backmarket or somewhere similar. Takes a couple days to get used to macOS and then you won't regret it.

[@imedkrisna]

Excellent vid. I am not in the market for new laptop. In fact, i bought one few months ago, an older gen. Works very fine but kinda felt fomo because all of the new products. Thanks to this vid that fomo is gone lol.

[@FoxxFire]

I was busy with work the last couple days so I'm just getting around to looking at KZbin. Hmmm, watch another JJ laptop review (of a budget device; if it was a premium gaming laptop or something I would watch that first and foremost) or a video with a title foreshadowing Josh ranting about what sucks about choosing a laptop these days. Yeah, totally going for the rant first (but still will watch the other vid; c'mon, you don't miss a JJ video).

[@CO8848_2]

The top question in buying a laptop in 2025 is: how fast can it run Deepseek 8b model?

[@JK-241]

i grabbed the Zenbook S 16 from best buy openbox, it will arrive tomorrow. Excited.

[@cnoberich]

You had me at the third AI Josh!

[@farukzeqiri]

Well said, i am interested in buying a laptop with the ryzen Ai 9 max+ 395. The problem is that all 3 laptops that have that cpu are not what i want.

[@boss1dosry989]

Because of this shit I’m considering getting me a PC

[@df3yt]

Exactly I was hoping to replace my M3 max with a good old X86 part with quality hardware!

[@NinjaKirikoJedi]

Flow z13?

[@farukzeqiri]

@NinjaKirikoJedi cool device, but it's a gaming device on the go. It's not good for just holding it on the lap to get something quickly done.

[@bugbuster8598]

Kinda insane when you can praise Razer for simplicity of their lineup despite their pricing😅

[@gorzaryan]

TBH I really get confused when people say MacBooks are expensive. Like compared to what? I am tech enthusiast(I am telling this to put away the "Apple slave" part) and when people ask me to choose laptop for them besides the points mentioned by Josh I also found that the laptops with the same specs cost the same or even sometimes higher. Something near to the MacBook Pro are Razer Blade, ProArt, or HP Spectre series. May be Spectre is little cheaper but the rest is $2000+. And it's not that Apple is doing charity. All other manufacturers have to buy the chip from(Intel/AMD/Nvida/Qualqomm) Windows from Microsoft, pay to use Thunderbolt port, while Apple can even include office packet(far worse than Office 365 but you got the idea) for free. That's why they can develop and put much better ARM SoC than Qualcomm does. Keeping the line up simple they can invest more in the exact model. For instance the display. Samsung or LG will never create the custom display for the "laptop-10uutx34P" which will be sold in 10.000 pcs. While Apple can say 'hey LG I am going to develop the laptop which will keep the same design for 5 years and will be sold in million pcs per year, so develop for me custom curtailed 10 bit mini-LED display'.

[@ZiggyMercury]

Even if Apple's laptops are priced fairly for their performance (which I'm not sure is true, but let's say so) - they don't have cheap options. Many people can't afford a 1,000$ laptop, period.

[@df3yt]

@@ZiggyMercury or all the paid apps that come as part of the OS for basic functionallity on Windows / Linux. Plus many are per year so for me I could buy a new latop every 2 years to just finance the apps I need on MacOS

[@mbazoka]

@@ZiggyMercury Thing is, Windows laptops at sub-1000€ price range are tricky, and often have disappointing parts - like 1080p non-OLED displays (which just means a basic IPS panel, if you're lucky), an AMD or Intel processor from 2022, a proprietary charging port (no USB-C charging), and by far the worst part - 15.6" 16:9 displays... If you can live with any of those, sure, Windows has plenty of options that are "cheaper" than a MacBook. But as soon as you want a robust laptop that will still offer smooth sailing for everyday tasks and media consumption 4 years from now, then MacBooks don't have competition. in my country, the cheapest M3 Airs (16GB RAM 256GB) are dropping as low as 1300€, and the used market has 16GB M2s from 900€+, at which they are unbeatable. In fact, what manufacturers should push more on are the Snapdragon X laptops, most of which feature the X Elite (in my country) and cost more than M3 16GB / 512GB MacBook - which is an insane buy comparatively. Truly no logic in market research there. Windows laptops are just massive disappointments at such cheap ranges.

[@gorzaryan]

@@ZiggyMercury I absolutely agree with people who already answered. The reason is why Audi doesn’t make cars for $10000 is very simple, it will be very far from “good car”. The real starting price of the MacBook Air is $900(I never saw it higher on Amazon) and if you are not so unlucky you’ll take it for $800, but let’s take the $900 price. Try to find the laptop with the same performance, display, performance, speakers(try to find the laptop for any price with the same quality speakers)), battery life, camera, microphone, touchpad, case and support from the manufacturer. You can always drop one or few of mentioned points and find the Windows alternative for even cheaper, but that’s not the ‘same for cheaper’.

[@owenlerry6339]

Brilliant video Josh , had a rant on your previous video about how confusing the laptop market currently is. This video is an excellent no BS video about the current state of the market. & how manufacturers need to stop the smoke & mirrors & trying to pull the wool over customers eyes. Simplify the choices & just make better overall products instead of way too many poor options. Great to see you highlighting the lack of products with AMD CPUs too. Be interested to see a video on screens whether oled now hold up long term compared to ips panels & whether we as consumers should be sacrificing poor multi core performance for better battery life. Keep up the great work & Thank you

[@statebased]

Twenty years ago, about ~2005, is when laptop manufacturers understood they needed to always incorporate at least one major defect to ensure obsolescence and upgrades, and ensure their future business. Apple with it's operating system end of life has chosen a slightly different approach. These are not "bad design choices", these are business choices.

[@jccnguyen]

Buying a laptop, or more precisely, buying a laptop that ticks all your boxes sucks, it's always like that for many years, unless you got a really good deal. Perfect laptop simply doesn't exist.

[@akin242002]

True! If you exclude gaming, it makes buying a laptop a lot easier. Macbooks or Windows business laptops (Lenovo ThinkPads or Dell Latitudes). At home, get one of 3 things for gaming. - PS5 - Gaming desktop, including Mini-PCs or Towers. - A portable gaming handheld device for travel. Either Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck.

[@KouroshFarrokhzad]

Excellent analysis as always Josh - great video and thanks to the whole team for putting it together!

[@wlifting]

great piece! not confusing at all even with 1.5 speed playback😭

[@itsmilan4069]

8:49 so you checked the fingerprint but not the same TDP benchmarks shown in same chart? it still performed better than AMD and Qualcomm at near similar TDP range

[@pba7]

Buying a good Windows laptop is currently more difficult than buying a car. No joke!

[@PackBackerTom]

That was an awesome and very educative video, thank you for your hard work and keep it up.

[@drsaufproblem]

Thanks Josh

[@blueeyednick]

the rumors about Intel incentives and AMD supply constraint are probably both true. AMD being put into more laptops would solve most of the issues we're still having with laptops.

[@POTUS214]

Excellent work!

[@rael_gc]

My main issue these days (with Intel) is the Linux support. They used to be the flagship support company, but the last 2 gens are a disappointment. It was hard to get the webcam working, and the internal speakers never worked.

[@StayArtsy]

One thing that a saddens me is how the optical drives (cd players) have been removed from most computers....i know its to make the computers thinner...but tbh, i like chunky computers that feel like they could handle some rough love and happy little accidents yk

[@TheLonelyMoon]

to be fair it's also confusing for apple. macbook air, macbook pro, macbook pro pro chips with several configurations, max chips with several configurations. it's hard to see how effective these higher spec chips are in real life cases just by spec sheets, but it's still better than many other companies

[@th3fall0f3den]

This is why I will buy a macbook pro and a handheld gaming device for gaming.

[@meal_team_six]

P14s Gen5 Intel 14." 3K IPS for the win

[@akin242002]

Great laptop 💻!

[@JuanCAraujoS]

1000% agree..... I like the Framework approach with the 13. The 16 is way too complicated for my taste and way too expensive for what it is. That being said, it they make a 14-inch laptop with dedicated GPU that's not a module itself (think of the 13, simple), I'm all in. Hell, even if they take a step back on the 16, and make it as simple as the 13, I'm all in. I'd love a Lenovo Yoga Pro 9 with all the stuff provided on the 9i, but with AMD. I would add, however, some options with no OS, so I can install my favorite Linux distro (Fedora) myself.

[@blueeyednick]

my laptop buying experience: searches for laptops; finds laptop that i need; looks for retailers; "uh-oh, i didn't expect it to be THAT expensive."; go back to drawing board; repeat the whole process. Still haven't bought new laptop 1 year later.

[@danbuter]

You want some AI with that?

[@rvgr12]

Amazons filters don't even show some options

[@Sanath-B]

Wonderful, this video represents the feelings most people experience while shortlisting laptops👍

[@SagnikDasgupta]

On that note, Dell has come up with the most obtuse nomenclatural scheme in the history of laptops.

[@bruceparker3139]

Fr, all they had to do was separate the business laptops as commercial and just give upgrade options and same for personal. Instead of simplifying they made a mess. Now their earlier name sounds easy to differentiate inspiron, latitude etx

[@kevikiru]

Another possible reason that Intel is often preferred is that they help with device engineering. I have heard rumours that often times they will design the board and the chip together, and the manufacturers only have to design the case and make a few choices on preferred layout. If that is the case then they same a lot on R&D.

[@juliuscardozo]

Excellent Video! Well said

[@EnergeticTK]

Im (still) looking for a new laptop and watched your HP OmniBook flip ultra review, the only thing holding me back is competition from Lenovo, their 7i 14” 2-in-1 and 9i 14” 2-in-1. Will you be receiving any of these for review?

[@EnergeticTK]

The drawbacks for the HP are the lack of any hdmi or usb-a port, but the resolution and refreshrate are a plus, however im willing to sacrifice that for lets say a 1980x1200 60hz display if the battery life improment is big enough, any thoughts on that? And how do you feel 32gb for gaming translates to the thin and light laptops. Since you can dial down graphics settings, but you can’t really decrease the amount of ram a game needs

[@sujezz]

Can you add a 2 in 1 category for laptops with detachable keyboard/tablets ? Personally I do not care for keyboards or touchpads on laptops. I wouldn't be alone in taking my own keyboard and mouse with me. I have a column staggered split keyboard I'd much prefer to use and would also prefer to just mount a screen next to or below my monitor without having a useless bottom of my laptop taking so much space awkwardly in front of me. Plus there's the benefit of having a tablet for content consumption, drawing, note taking. Fine example of this would be minisforum v3

[@ditz3nfitness]

0:38 This is why salesmen are so good at their jobs. People are CLUELESS when it comes to buying tech. It's sad to see, because they end up selling them bad products for overpriced price tags... :(

[@tacticaltruth8118]

Well said. You forgot to mention the copious amounts of bloat-ware that are added to laptops.

[@akin242002]

True for Windows Home OS. Windows Pro OS is better, but it still has some bloatware. Think of it like diet Coke. Linux Mint has the least amount of bloatware.

[@tacticaltruth8118]

@@akin242002 Thanks for sharing!

[@theyayaa]

I had such a hard time trying to decide on what to buy. Ended up buying a dell precision 5680 workstation, and I am loving it.

[@sherlan1886]

Just want to comment on the Logo for a bit. As a designer myself, I can’t help but see that bad kerning between the S and T.

[@GamingTV22117]

Every time I think about buying a new Windows laptop, I always end up choosing a used MacBook Pro with AppleCare+. Because it's so confusing, I can't find the sweet spot between build quality, performance, and weight. Now, I'm happy with a used 16-inch MacBook Pro M1 Pro base model, which I got for $1,400.

[@afra-k2685]

Nah you really cooked with this video. I kept shouting YESS at every point you made. Bought a laptop recently and I had to study for it. Like wth? All that research for one laptop?!!!!

[@vintagewander]

And these companies be asking "why our customers just buy apple, we have lots of choices". I mean apple only has like, if you need a laptop then macbook, portable? Air, powerful? Pro. If you need a desktop then you need a Mac, all in one? iMac, desktop only? Mac Studio or Mini. It is so intuitive, meanwhile other brands be like long cryptic naming scheme with chip names are longer, you got Ryzen Ai pro plus max premium ultra and Intel core ultra non-ultra...

[@tim3172]

@@vintagewander What's better? An M2 Max or an M4 Pro? Remember, you're not allowed to do research.

[@arnav6237]

the lack of lunar lake with ips panels is crazy

[@Matheheftchen]

I just got an Acer Swift Go 16 (SFG-16-72-518S) sale recommended. 740€ for a 120 Hz OLED 3200x2000 display, an Intel Core Ultra 5 125U processor and a weight of 1.6kg. Sounds pretty good to me, although it isn't often that the prices are reduced like that (to be fair, I laid an eye on the Acer Swift series since they released and they always seemed pretty strong to me. Would be great if your team did a test on them ^^ )

[@AdisHodžić-c2s]

I have been doing research on which laptop to buy for about 2 months, got caught up in processors, benchmarks, cooling solutions, build quality and keyboards... Just gave up and bought a mac pro m4 pro. But after all that research what I found out was that macs are not overpriced if you don't care about gaming and take a lower storage option. Just Josh should make a video on mac pro 14'' competitors in the same price range - Not sure if I had a good windows/linux option I missed with similar performance/screen/build quality, I am positive that a lot of other people would find this very useful. I wish all these companies would stop forcing end users to give their money to Apple

[@geoffstrickler]

It’s all artificial market segmentation, intended to prevent real price competition between retailers. If you sell slightly different configurations to Walmart, Costco, Best Buy, Amazon, etc, then nobody has to price match because it’s not the same product. It’s all driven by manufacturer and retailer profits, not what serves consumers.

[@RealKinetics]

Future laptops gonna be like, "Everything by AI".