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Nothing Like a New MacBook!

March 06, 2026 / 01:46:50

This episode of the Waveform Podcast covers the latest tech announcements, including Apple's new products and the impact of AI on tech reviews. Hosts Marquez, Andrew, and David discuss the S26 Ultra review, Apple's six new products, and the implications of AI in the review process.

The hosts begin by discussing the price increase of headphones and the ongoing TechTember events. They highlight the new iPhone 17e, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air, noting the improvements in specifications and pricing.

They also talk about the new Apple displays, including the Studio Display and Studio Display XDR, emphasizing their features and pricing compared to previous models. The conversation shifts to the iPhone 17e, where they analyze its features and market positioning.

Finally, the hosts introduce the MacBook Neo, discussing its specifications, target audience, and potential impact on the market. They conclude with a trivia segment and reflections on the future of tech reviews in light of AI.

TLDR

The episode discusses Apple's new products, including the iPhone 17e and MacBook Neo, and the effects of AI on tech reviews.

Episode

1:46:50
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460 4 >> 460 what the Mark 60 Yeah. Remember they went up >> they went up in price this year 460.
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>> Yeah. They're hella expensive >> for headphones that sound like the music
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is coming out of a bee's hole. >> I remember when they were like 330 then
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they were for that. >> That is not what they sound like. >> Not bad. That's like the engine.
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>> Yeah. Like Yo, what is up people of the internet? Welcome back to another episode of the
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Waveform Podcast. We're your hosts. I'm Marquez. >> I'm Andrew.
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>> I'm David. >> And welcome to TechTember. Everything is happening. Wait a second. Hold on.
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>> Oh, >> it's it's TAR. >> Hold on. Tar. >> It's March. It's not.
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>> It's Tar. >> Sho's been trying to get Tar going. >> Tech. The start of Tar.
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>> We don't claim Tar. I don't know what you're talking about.
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>> Mech. No, >> I don't like >> it's like Christmas in July, but
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September and March. >> Yeah, it's it's a lot. We've got So, we're working on the S26 Ultra review
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and then Apple drops six new products. Nothing drops three new products and suddenly we just have a lot on our
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plate. And also, we got to talk a little bit more about AI and how it's affecting
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reviews. So, this might be a six-hour episode is what I'm trying to say. And
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we're shooting >> because it's Thursday. >> We're shooting it on Thursday, too.
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>> Don't threaten me with a good time like >> uh Yeah. Make sure you get subscribed
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because we have a lot to talk about. So, if we don't get to all of it this week,
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we'll probably get to more of it next week. >> Yeah. >> But first,
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I'm just going to take it in. >> Did they even test this? Apparently, this has already gone outside of this
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room and Olivia has something she wanted to add. So, Adam will be her >> surrogate.
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>> Surrogate, right? >> Yeah. Olivia and Michael were doing graphics for us because we asked for
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specific graphics for the channel. You might actually be seeing them on this episode. So YouTube viewers, let me know
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how uh how you like them. >> Is this something the thing that happened yesterday?
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>> Yes. >> It's so they've been working with an app called Apple Motion, which is their
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version of After Effects because they were like, you know, the team kind of works in Final Cut. Yeah. Marquez is
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like >> like you could call it that. >> That's what they want. >> They they're doing this for our benefit
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because we work in Final Cut mostly. And they're like, you know what? All our
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graphics we make in After Effects. Let's see if we can like learn this other
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program. it'll be easy to drop drag and drop into Final Cut like it'll be
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simple. >> Uh Olivia ran into this weird problem where she had this template that it was
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popping like a speck up on the screen and then she would go do other things, come back and it would just be like
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slightly off to the right. And she's like, "This is so weird." And she's like
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working on this for like the past week and every time she has to keep moving it back. She's like, "Why does this keep
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happening?" Then she like talks to Michael about it and Michael's like, "I
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figured it out. What happens is every time she hits save, it increments the X position by one.
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>> What? >> Yeah. So it she hasn't set it at zero and app. >> No. And so the solution they came came
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up with is she just has to remember every time she hits command S to move that asset to -1 on the X-axis and then
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when it saves it reverts to zero. >> What the heck? >> That's real. That's not so funny.
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>> It's so fast that that makes me not trust computers. I feel like if in
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Microsoft Word every time you hit save it added a dash to wherever your cursor is.
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>> It makes me afraid to save which is the one thing I should not be afraid to do.
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>> Is motion does motion have not autosave like Final Cut? >> I do not know. I I should cuz that might
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be a habit you can drop by switching to motion. I remember when I had I was in Premiere, I would automatically save
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every time I could because it if it crashed, it would just forget everything I did for the last 12 minutes. But when
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I switched to Final Cut Pro, it could crash and I would bring it back and it would remember. It would actually start
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trying to do the thing that made it crash again. Like it was that recent of a memory.
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>> Oh my god. >> So I wonder if the move is to stop commands and and
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>> stop saving. Maybe I'll I'll ask her. I'll see if that's a little life hack.
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>> Super weird, >> bro. Just tell Claude to oneshot this app. >> One shot Apple Motion.
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>> We don't need Apple software. We can just make it. I wonder if it's a weird
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>> shortcut thing that's happening. I don't know that that's so I can't believe
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Michael found it out. That's really impressive. But >> yeah, well, he's he's an After Effects
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guy, so he's command SL. >> Now when she does want to move it one, she'll just be like command SS SS
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like 10 spaces over. >> At least she's saving it and making sure it doesn't crash. I have a great segue
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because the the video that Apple played for the beginning of their event and that's now on their YouTube channel was
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really really good which is why I'm so sure they didn't use motion. >> So good.
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>> It was it's really good. >> It's really good. >> So Apple dropped a little uh we we'd had
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a week-long event. Oh, I guess we haven't talked about any of this. So we had Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
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>> Yeah. >> Monday we got iPhone 17e if I'm remembering correctly. Tuesday we got
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MacBook Pro, M5 Pro, M5 Max. >> Oh, Tuesday. Yeah. Yeah. >> And Studio Display and Studio Display
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XDR. >> Monday we also got iPad Air with M4, too. >> Oh, I forgot about those.
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>> Yeah. I mean, >> it's been a week. >> Yeah. >> And there's new cross body strap colors.
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>> Two of them. >> Cool. >> Uh, yeah. And then we also got the S.
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And then Wednesday, we got the >> And then Wednesday, we got MacBook Air. >> Oh, wait. Tuesday, we also got the M5
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MacBook Air. >> Oh, did we? Yes, >> I know. Yeah, the things that just got
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spec bumps are obviously less interesting. >> Yeah, I feel like we can skip those
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pretty quick. M5, MacBook Air. It's the MacBook Air, but with M5. >> Yeah.
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>> And Wi-Fi 7. Okay. >> Well, there's other things. >> Oh,
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>> okay. Never mind. >> I mean, it's mostly just like they started at 512 gigs of base storage now.
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That's pretty awesome. And it goes up to 4 tab instead of two. >> 2x faster read and write speeds, which
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is pretty awesome. Supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. $100 more expensive than the base M4 Air. Um, so that's not
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great, but uh, but at least it starts at double the storage. >> Can I Well, sorry. And you may have kind
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of answered that, but I'm I missed it. >> Okay. >> It's 512 base storage, but the price has
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gone up. Yes. >> Is it the same price as the old 512 >> base? So, it is more expensive than the
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baseline M4, but for the same storage tier, it's actually $100 cheaper than you would have gotten on the M4 MacBook
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Air. Good. >> So, it is like a better deal. And for a lot of people, the MacBook Air is going
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to be the better option anyway, which we will get to the the Neo in a bit. >> Mhm.
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>> Um, but yeah, and then like you said, M5 Pro and M5 Max, MacBook Pros, that's
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kind of a big deal because we didn't have M5 Pro or M5 Max of anything yet, >> right? So,
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>> those are going to be way better for AI tasks, etc. Um, they also have video
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editing, >> video editing. They have way better GPU, uh, 4x peak GPU compared to M4 Max,
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which is pretty insane. Where's the M5 Ultra, man? >> I know. Even for Yeah, they don't love
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the Ultras. They've only released a couple of those. >> Only three Ultra so far.
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>> Yeah. Uh up to 614 g gigabytes per second. Uh up to 128 GB of unified memory in the M5 Max. Pretty crazy
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stuff. It's ironic that they're releasing these now because people again
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were saying that in November or so they're going to release the M6 series because of the touchscreen MacBooks that
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are going to come out. >> Yeah. Um, but it was funny how everyone was speculating that these were going to
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be the touchscreen MacBooks because of the animation that they released, which was like the pinching of the Apple logo.
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>> Yeah, that was funny. >> Yeah. And I just went on a tirade on Twitter being like, "No, it's the cheap
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one. It's the cheap one." >> Also, they started a terabyte now, which
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makes me feel kind of old because a laptop starting at a terabyte storage is >> That used to be the top tier model.
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>> Yeah. That used to be like you could get a terabyte. Now it's you have to start
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at a terabyte. Yeah, that's that's wild to me. >> Uh, do you want to talk about the
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displays >> on the M5s? >> Uh, no. >> MacBook Pros. Oh, the Pro.
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Yeah. Okay. So, two new displays. They have a new studio display and a new studio display XDR, which is uh fancy
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and has sparkles around it. Uh, so no, >> it is a new technology. >> The new studio display is a little
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underwhelming. It's still like $1,600. It's still 60 Hz. I think essentially
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what they did was add a Thunderbolt port and it's Yeah, they didn't really do a
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whole lot else to it, but >> yeah, >> the Studio Display XDR replaces the Pro
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Display XDR. >> Yeah. >> And it's significantly cheaper. >> And here's the difference. So,
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>> that's a really nice way of putting it's 35 or $3,200. >> Yeah. Instead of $5,000.
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>> No, this is a Well, okay. Okay. So, this is a thing that happens with Apple a
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lot, which is we go, "Look how much better it is than last time." Because
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last time was like horribly overpriced or something. >> What we're going to do with the 17e as
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well. >> Yeah, exactly. So, it's like the Pro display was $5,000 plus $1,000 stand and
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$1,000 nano texture. So, yeah, this is significantly cheaper, but this is also a better display in just about every
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single way. The only thing that I will miss when I inevitably get two of these is 6K and 32 in because these are both
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now 5K 27in displays >> but they are I think now 2,000 nits peak brightness. They're miniLEDD instead of
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the backlight in uh the Pro displays which I think is just a bunch of backlight zones instead of miniLEDD. Um,
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so yeah, 5K 27 in 120 Hz and very exciting. And also you can daisy chain them because they have a Thunderbolt
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extra Thunderbolt port which is sick. >> Yeah. >> So I I think I have to get these. I'm
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excited for what the mini LED ends up looking like. There's 2,34 dimming zones
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uh which are supposed to have even better contrast levels which is very nice. And 120 Hz is pretty crazy to be
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able to do that on these displays. Now, obviously, we've had gaming displays for
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a long time, and there's like ProArt, there's like all these high-end displays. But the reason people always
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end up buying these, even though that they're a bad deal, is just because of
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the seamless integration where you can just plug it in and it just works and all that stuff.
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>> That is probably the top of the list. >> The second thing on the list is probably
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color accuracy and being able to depend. There's a ton of reference modes in
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here. Like, this is actually still going to be a very good display. Um, I kind of
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wonder how it'll look next to a Pro display or how comparable they will be. Ideally, they're very, very similar. But
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yeah, I think I think these are actually a really good display. And the fact that
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they're $2,000 cheaper makes it look good compared to a Pro, which is obviously why you should never buy a Pro
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Display again, and they're discontinued. >> That's going to be a pretty significant
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lack of real estate you're going to lose when you're 2xing this now, putting them
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next to each other. Like, you're you're losing a lot of space. It would be way
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easier to have made your replica desk if I could have done 27 in 5K monitors instead.
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>> Well, maybe now on the replica desk you can just buy used Pro Display XDRs cuz
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those are going to be cheaper. >> You don't have to buy the XDR. You should just buy the studio display.
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>> Well, but the Pro display XDR might be like the same price in the used now, you
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know. >> Oh, you think used the price would be it won't be that low, but I don't.
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>> You don't think they go up for people who want stills? >> The 6K Apple display is now going to be
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like no more production. It's limited edition. >> I think people are interested in the
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miniLEDD. >> I totally agree with that. And the refresh rate. Now, the only 6K 32 in
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cheese grater monitor you can get is that weirdo knockoff that we got for the replica video if you on the studio.
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>> Also, the XDR model, the 27 in does charge at 140 watts. So, you can plug in
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the full 16-inch MacBook Pro. The other one that is not the XDR model charges at
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96 which is I believe the charging speed of the 14inch MacBook Pro, right? >> Yeah.
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>> Or some something like that. Yeah. >> And uh so that I mean that kind of shows
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what Apple like who Apple thinks is going to buy these. They think the mini LED ones they're going to be the
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hardcore workstation MacBook Pros whereas the the smaller well not smaller the cheaper one is going to be you know
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the lighter MacBook Pro. >> Yeah. Um, but you know, my summary is the regular the regular studio display
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is not that great of a deal. Please cross shop a bunch of stuff. The Pro Display the Studio Display XDR is kind
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of one of one again. >> Yeah, >> it's I feel like it's not going to be
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adding much to people who were like the people who bought Pro Display XDR previously. Now this is just what you
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buy instead. And it's not going to be like just cuz it's cheaper, I don't
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think it's going to gain that many more users. Yeah, I think it's if you today
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were thinking about buying a Proisplay XDR and then this comes out, it's like,
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"Oh, thank god I don't have to buy a Pro Display because that was going to be way
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more expensive for essentially 2x3 in of screen or five or whatever, but this is
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way cheaper and and a better display. >> 120 Hz is pretty nice though, I guess.
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>> That's really what I'm most excited about to be honest." >> Yeah.
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>> Yeah, >> that's pretty good. >> You're going to rock and see us too.
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>> I'm going to edit 30 fps videos and it's going to be great. >> Yeah. Um, okay. Okay, we got to talk
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about the iPhone 17e. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> So, obviously last year, uh, review was
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called like, who is this for? Or something like that because it just didn't make any sense at all.
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>> It was a $600 iPhone with a 60 Hz display >> with no Mag Safe. >> Yeah. One camera
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>> and with a single camera, >> which is the worst of all worlds. >> Yeah.
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>> And also, last year was the year that they started making the base iPhone like
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really good, >> so it just made even less sense. I reviewed a $900 iPhone 16.
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>> Why would they give you the top model? >> $900. >> Nobody is going to buy the top model.
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>> You can get all of the phone for $900. >> Dude, that's insane.
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>> So, okay, now we have the 17e one year later. And what do they change? >> There's like two ways this could have
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gone. Either it stays exactly the same or it's horrible or it's best is we get
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what the 16e should have been. >> I think that's what we got. >> And I think that's what we got.
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>> I think that's what we got. It has Mag Safe now. It has one more color. So, it
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was black and white. Right now there's black, white, and pink. Uh I don't know
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if anyone's asking for pink, but every >> They're doing pink this year. I swear.
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>> Yeah. Um and it has the newest chip and it doubles up to 256 gigs of storage
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again. And it's still the same 599 price. >> And Ceramic Shield 2. >> And Ceramic Shield 2, which a lot of
00:14:00
people are very excited about. >> Yeah. >> So C1X chip may be underrated, but it's
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in there, too. Uh it's their newest highest end modem cellular wireless chip. Uh, so that may end up being like
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the most high-end thing in here alongside the the processor. >> Yeah. >> But I think what's really interesting is
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they stuck with a single camera and they stuck with the same exact design and the
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60 Hz display on the front. >> Yeah. >> So now the question is just how much do
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you care about a single camera and a 60 Hz display? Lots of people don't care
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clearly. >> Yeah. And lots of people will just buy this phone. I find it still a little
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crazy that if you cross shop a little bit for 600 bucks, you can get a 120 Hz OLED, you could get dual, probably
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triple cameras. Uh, but a lot of people don't want the Android thing. >> I'd rather buy a standard 16 refurbished
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for probably cheaper than this than the 17e. >> Yeah. I wonder if there's refurbished
00:14:54
17s already >> that are cheaper >> that are like 600 bucks. >> Probably not that cheap.
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>> Probably not that cheap yet, >> but 16s definitely. >> Yeah.
00:15:02
>> Yeah. I think I mean a lot of these things that we're going to talk about
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today it's like if you're willing to buy used or refurbished the the bit better
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one from last year is a better deal >> and I think that people should get into
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the habit of looking at used and refurbished things before they buy the new thing especially because we're
00:15:20
getting such incremental upgrades every year. >> I was going to say not even everything
00:15:23
we talk about today every phone we talk about pretty much >> even the MacBook when we talk about it
00:15:28
because a lot of people are talking about the refurbished MacBook Air from last year. Well, I was going to say that
00:15:32
going off of how Marquez started his video is like if you're listening to this, if you're
00:15:37
>> like one of our like if you're subscribed to tech channels, you just
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this isn't for you. Just like get the get the regular iPhone 17 >> or an old like air or like refurbished
00:15:49
like do do that because this is not for the people that are aware of of this. >> This is like you walk into a store and
00:15:56
you're like give me the cheap one. I don't care. Whatever. like those people,
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they're going to get the >> but it's got to have iMessage cuz my nieces and nephews have iMessage.
00:16:02
>> Like I don't the same thing with the with the new computer. Like I don't care
00:16:05
what's the cheap one. Like that's that's who this is for. >> At least this year they get a decent
00:16:10
phone like a phone that makes sense in the lineup where last year it felt like they were getting scammed.
00:16:15
>> Not having Mag Safe was like a big L. And then like they're kind of mogging
00:16:19
Google with the storage right now. I'm going to >> I don't know what mogging means but get
00:16:23
get mogged. Pixel Alyssa Lou said it so I can see storage mogging. Yeah. So, >> Apple frame mogs Google in Miami club.
00:16:33
Google with a massive cortisol spike. >> After being frame mogged by Chad Apple
00:16:39
>> Google's Google's 10A has 128 gigs of storage again. >> So,
00:16:44
>> yeah. >> So, yeah, if the 11 comes out, I'm assuming that'll be 256 base. It's got
00:16:48
to be. >> That's just Yeah, you're right. Cuz now they did the >> It's got to be, dude. 17 over the Pixel
00:16:53
10, doubled storage, same price, and now they did it for the cheap versions on both.
00:16:58
>> 17. >> This just feels like they're picking on Google at this point.
00:17:02
>> Yeah, they deserve to get picked. >> Google Yeah, Apple's getting to the
00:17:04
point where they're like not releasing anything with 128 gigs of storage anymore cuz when we get to the Neo
00:17:08
starts at 256 as well, like there's not a lot of 128s left uh in the Apple ecosystem. Google's got to catch up
00:17:15
otherwise they're going to have a lot of cortisol this this summer. >> I know you're watching. I know you are.
00:17:20
I know you've heard us. >> You can delete that comment and just get to work on the phone.
00:17:27
>> All right, there's one more thing that Apple announced and it was uh the final
00:17:31
thing that they saved for Wednesday, >> which is a MacBook Neo new name. >> Cool name.
00:17:36
>> We've never heard that word from Apple before. We thought it would just be the
00:17:38
MacBook. So, MacBook Neo is a $599 MacBook. It's a 13-in display. It's powered by an A18 Pro chip. So, not
00:17:49
quite Apple silicon M series chip, but that was a chip that was in the iPhone 16 Pro, and it seems to be right around
00:17:55
the level of performance of M1. >> Probably a little better in single core,
00:18:00
a little worse in multi-core, but anyway, A18 Pro inside, 8 gigs of RAM, 256 gigs of storage, and four colors.
00:18:08
It's incredibly inexpensive, and so they've done all the things they have to
00:18:12
do to get a MacBook, which is still made of metal all the way down. Uh, like the
00:18:16
keyboard's not back lit anymore. It's only two ports. Both are USB type-C. One
00:18:21
of them is USB 3. One of them is USB 2. And they're not labeled >> and they're not labeled. The back one is
00:18:26
USB 3. The front one's USB 2. You probably figure that out sooner or later. >> I don't know if people will, bro. I
00:18:30
don't think you don't care. If you figured it out, you shouldn't be buying
00:18:34
this. >> I think most people are just using these ports to charge and not using them for
00:18:38
>> one to charge, one to plug something in, a mouse, a keyboard, some random. I
00:18:42
don't know. Everything is wireless now. It's true. I think I cuz this is for
00:18:45
people that are doing every it's the like you said you guys both said this the Safari book,
00:18:49
>> right? So like people are using online services almost exclusively with this
00:18:53
computer. So like why plug anything in except for charging it? >> That's totally true.
00:18:56
>> Yeah. >> Uh what else is true? Oh uh so the keyboard Yeah. not back lit and the
00:19:00
trackpad is not a force touch trackpad. It's an actual clicking trackpad and
00:19:04
it's a little bit smaller. >> Yeah. >> You said it felt good though.
00:19:06
>> It felt good. Felt totally fine. Uh no issues with that at all. And the last
00:19:10
thing I noticed is the keyboards were white and they had so the the on the side they had like moved the speakers to
00:19:17
the side of the laptop >> side firing >> like sidefiring. I got a couple demos to
00:19:21
listen to them. They do not sound good. That's okay. They're just baseline at
00:19:26
laptop speakers at this point. >> Wait, before you move on, this is something I want to clarify on here
00:19:31
because I asked you this question. I was reading in the review before you even got back or what you were writing and
00:19:36
you say all the keyboards are white, but like >> on the picture they look >> tinted.
00:19:41
>> They're tinted, but like on apple.com they look like >> colorful.
00:19:46
>> Colorful. Very colorful. And then I did see some of your footage. You said the
00:19:49
lighting wasn't great, but like it seems like they're closer to white. >> Yeah. So they're they're Yeah. To to be
00:19:56
fair, I think apple.com pumps the color a little bit. I think they look light and tinted. So on the indigo laptop for
00:20:02
example, the keyboard looks light light light light light blue. >> Close to white. Not quite white.
00:20:09
>> On the website looks like dark purple almost. >> Yeah, it looks dark.
00:20:12
>> Yeah. It's not quite that t. >> So it's like LCroy blue. >> A breath of Exactly. Just a tiny bit.
00:20:17
>> A truck passed by with a blue in it. >> Somebody whispered blue at the factory.
00:20:20
>> Yeah. Yeah. So uh so slightly matching keyboards and even like matching
00:20:26
wallpapers and UI elements by default out of the box. So, like on the yellow laptop, the menu items are yellow and
00:20:32
the keyboard's slightly yellow. And it's like, okay, you got the citrus theme.
00:20:34
>> I love the citrus one so much. >> Are you into citrus? I was thinking
00:20:37
about that. They asked me, "What's your favorite color?" There's citrus. There's
00:20:40
That's the yellow one. There's indigo, which is the blue, dark blue one. Then
00:20:44
there's the pink one, which I think is called blush. And then there's silver.
00:20:47
>> Andrew, you piss colored. >> Yellow. I do like yellow a lot. >> It's piss.
00:20:54
>> Yeah, they got him on the >> It looks good. Also, I just thought,
00:20:57
where's Project Red? >> Oh, yeah. That would be cool. The red would be sick.
00:21:01
>> I don't know. In Product Red. >> Product Red. >> Yeah. In all the videos, I know the
00:21:05
lighting was kind of >> Yeah. >> The The Piss one looked like kind of It
00:21:08
looked like neon green. >> It Yeah, because the lighting It's so tough. It in person it it's giving lemon
00:21:18
lime. >> It's giving lemon >> like the Gatorade. >> Yeah. >> It's like the best Gatorade flavor.
00:21:23
>> So, like a tiny bit of green, but not really. Good morning. >> It's mostly yellow.
00:21:26
>> Y'all haters. >> It's mostly yellow. It's my favorite
00:21:28
flavor. Gatorade. >> I don't want to hear that. >> You probably should not say my favorite
00:21:33
flavor while he's saying >> Wait, lemon lime is your favorite Gatorade.
00:21:36
>> I like orange and yellow. Yeah. >> It's such a boring pick, but I think I
00:21:40
agree with yellow. It's so good. And then >> Gatorade. >> Yeah. >> And then Glacier Cherry.
00:21:44
>> What What's your favorite flavor of Gatorade? >> Like the red one.
00:21:47
>> The blue you can't call boring and then go fruit punch. I agree. Fruit punch is
00:21:52
delicious. That's the default. Good. That's the antiator. >> No, the blue one.
00:21:56
>> Yeah, but which blue one? >> Oh god, I hate that one. >> Light blue.
00:21:59
>> No, the problem with the blue one and the yellow one is that they make my sal
00:22:02
like saliva glands fire. >> They all do that. >> The red one doesn't.
00:22:06
>> So full of sugar. Really? >> Well, are you taking a zero? >> I'm talking because they're a little bit
00:22:09
sour >> background. >> Anyway, the flavors of Gatorade here with this MacBook Neo.
00:22:17
>> The silver is the absolute best color because it looks just like the old 12-in
00:22:21
MacBook. It looks very clean. Everyone buying the silver is why we don't get
00:22:24
fun colors on things anymore because they're giving us fun colors and y'all
00:22:28
are like, "Oh, I want silver." >> That's actually I want to see the
00:22:30
distribution here because there's a silver one. You can get the boring one or a colorful one. And I want to know
00:22:35
what the spread ends up being for different colors. >> Regular people will buy a color. Schools
00:22:39
will buy a thousand of the silver ones >> and that's it. >> Everyone I know that pre-ordered one
00:22:43
pre-ordered the piss color, but I think it's just because they like have taste.
00:22:47
>> Who do you know that pre-ordered a MacBook Neo? >> Three people. It's do they know they're
00:22:51
all piece of >> Well, it's really I mean >> it's project Linda. It's a phone.
00:22:56
>> No, think about this. The A18 Pro is is about the M4 single thread performance.
00:23:02
Multi-thread it's not. But for single single threaded tasks, it's about the
00:23:06
M4. >> We should talk about what this computer is going to be capable of, right? Okay.
00:23:10
Everyone sees it's the the the smartphone chip. And to be fair, it will be not as good, especially with the 8
00:23:18
gigs of memory. I think that's actually the real bottleneck. But it will not be
00:23:21
good for video editing. It won't be good for gaming. They were bold enough to do
00:23:25
a gaming demo for me on this on a 60 Hz display. >> Was an iPhone game though.
00:23:30
>> It was basically an iPhone game. It didn't look that great. This is not for
00:23:33
that. But if you think about who's going to be buying this, it's a lot of
00:23:37
schools. It's a lot of students. It's a lot of young people's first computer who
00:23:41
you're getting them a Mac instead of a tablet or something or like a cheap a
00:23:44
random HP or a Chromebook. >> Yes. This for those people is a web browser and it's a spreadsheets, word
00:23:50
processing, texting, basic stuff like that. Email, it's going to kill all that. It's super good. And most of these
00:23:57
things are single core tasks that this chip is going to be totally fine for. When you ask more of it, that's when
00:24:03
you're going to, you know, feel like the edges of performance of like, oh wow, I
00:24:06
can't play Fortnite on this laptop or you can play Fortnite. It's optimized.
00:24:10
Great. >> I mean, you can play it on a phone. at 60 Hz on this laptop, but us
00:24:21
isn't a this isn't going to be for that anyway. >> So, I think it's actually a perfectly
00:24:26
reasonable performance envelope. I think the 8 gigs of memory is going to be like
00:24:30
a time thing like how long before apps are just using too much memory for this 8.
00:24:36
>> I had an 8 gigaby M1 MacBook MacBook Air when it came out. >> Yeah. And it's great up until your
00:24:42
storage starts filling up because it uses the swap memory. >> Yeah. >> And the memor is very fast. So it's like
00:24:48
it's generally fine, but as soon as your storage starts filling up, it starts
00:24:51
getting slow. >> Yeah. >> So I don't know. I go back to the story
00:24:55
with my sister how she bought the uh she bought the Mac Mini and the next day the
00:25:00
double storage model was the same price. So I told her to return it. She's like,
00:25:04
"Why would I do that? >> I don't use storage. I just browse the web."
00:25:06
>> That's exactly what she said. What am I going to do with storage? Yeah.
00:25:09
>> And I was like >> regular people like we have so many things on our desktops and like locally
00:25:17
on our computer because it's video files and it's big photos and it's all this
00:25:20
stuff. >> Regular people just do everything on the web browser. >> I know. But that web browser is usually
00:25:25
Google Chrome which demands 64 GB of RAM. This is why this is Safari. >> Safari book
00:25:32
>> which I you know how I feel about Safari. I'm like the biggest Safari
00:25:35
evangelist of all time. But like >> I don't know, man. Yeah, I love Safari.
00:25:40
I'll never use anything else. >> Here's an interesting spec about like
00:25:42
what might make this a Safari book. The battery size on this laptop is significantly smaller than a MacBook
00:25:49
Air. MacBook Air has something like a 55watt hour battery. This has a 36 12 watt hour battery, but they are quoting
00:25:56
almost the same battery life as a MacBook Air. I guarantee that's mostly like video playback and using Safari
00:26:02
because the second you throw Chrome on this thing is going to tank through that half size battery. So this is this is
00:26:08
specifically like you're using Apple's apps, you're using Safari, you're using
00:26:11
iMessage, you're using Apple Music, and that's that's going to be great.
00:26:15
>> It's also lower TTE cuz it's a literally the phone processor, but like an M
00:26:19
processor is just a big phone processor. They're pretty much the same architecture.
00:26:23
>> I think it also comes with like a 20 watt charger cuz it's such a small
00:26:26
battery. It doesn't need a big charger. And that's lower total lower power
00:26:31
envelope. >> Wow. >> It is so crazy >> that you can run Mac OS on an A18.
00:26:36
>> Yeah, man. >> What's also crazy is we've been running iPad OS on an M4.
00:26:41
>> That is that is also crazy. Now an M5, right? >> The M4 iPad. Yeah.
00:26:47
>> Like what else could we be doing? You know, >> so >> can I run Linux on a toaster? Like are
00:26:52
we >> Absolutely. Isn't there an A19 Pro in the studio display XDR? Like they just
00:26:59
print these chips. >> Yeah, they put the iPhone in that display just for the camera.
00:27:04
>> This chip is so cheap for them to make. It's unbelievable. >> Yeah, Ellis's point though, that was the
00:27:08
one takeaway that I had from this MacBook Neo thing was like, "Oh, so you can run Mac OS on these phone chips?
00:27:13
They just choose not to." >> For sure. >> So, you think I can plug in the iPhone
00:27:17
Fold and have a Mac OS experience? Cuz it's possible. Clearly, >> they might do that. I don't know.
00:27:22
Especially if Google's doing it. >> That would be freaking awesome. I think
00:27:24
that's a philosophical thing cuz you're what you're saying makes perfect logical
00:27:27
sense and we are the consumer and so we're thinking logically about this but
00:27:31
if you're Apple and I thought a lot about this recently like the super super
00:27:34
powerful iPad is still not good enough to be your fulltime that's a $2,000 M4
00:27:40
powered iPad and it's still not your full-time laptop >> for some people it could be
00:27:44
>> for a lot of people get an iPad and have Mac OS depends on what you do >> there's some evangelists and there's a
00:27:52
small fraction of people who are like iPad sickos that are like, "Yes, I got
00:27:56
rid of my laptop. Yes, this is a thing." And you can do that if you're really
00:28:00
dedicated. >> But I think for most people, iPad, they're specifically designing these
00:28:05
products to live alongside each other. Apple's like, "Please buy a MacBook and
00:28:09
an iPad. Use Sidecar, use continuity, use the sync across the devices. They are perfect for each other." Michael,
00:28:16
our our our graphics guy, he uses an iPad. He said, "Just for the pencil and
00:28:20
to draw things and then for Sidecar." Yeah. >> Yeah. But he also uses a magic mouse. So
00:28:25
like >> I mean if you buy like a used iPad Air for pretty cheap. Having an external
00:28:31
display that you can just have at any time is pretty awesome too. >> Yeah. For your Mac.
00:28:34
>> For your Mac. >> So they're like please buy both. >> Yeah.
00:28:36
>> And so for as powerful as they are willing to make the iPad Pro, they are
00:28:40
not willing to make it powerful enough philosophically to be your full-time computer. They want you to use it
00:28:45
alongside. >> It's an artificial limitation. >> It is 100%. >> Yeah. So Apple specializes in it.
00:28:50
>> I know. It's their specialty. >> But they also let you plug it into the
00:28:53
display. And they talk about how with the new displays, >> I love that. >> Yeah. They talk about how with the new
00:28:57
displays, like you can plug the the iPad the new iPad Pro into the 120 Hz display
00:29:03
and it'll like run at 120 Hz and you can do all the things. >> And I think if they're letting you plug
00:29:07
the iPad into that display with the Thunderbolt cable and like run iPad OS on the display, they will probably let
00:29:12
you do that with the Fold. That's my guess. >> Have you ever noticed the demos though
00:29:15
that they run? Whenever they do that, I pay very close attention to the demos that Apple constructs to demo their
00:29:21
products, right? And when they ever do whenever they do the like iPad plugged into the studio display, they
00:29:26
immediately open Procreate and they just start like doing the artist thing. They
00:29:30
never do file management. They never do multitasking. They're doing like the
00:29:33
very simple like, oh, here's the big display so you can view your work thing.
00:29:37
>> That's on purpose. I think if they wanted you to do all that like computer
00:29:40
stuff, >> Yeah. >> they'd be selling you a computer. I will say uh really quick with the new
00:29:45
display, the the really good one, the XDR one, they have the camera in it now. So they could just get you you guys
00:29:51
should just get rid of continuity camera cuz every there's many times when I get
00:29:55
on a video call and my feed is just black and I don't understand why and then I realize it automatically
00:30:00
connected to my phone and it's just in my pocket and I'm like, "Oh, this is
00:30:04
>> that's true." But please don't actually because >> you don't have to get rid of it. I'm
00:30:09
just saying like when I'm in the audio room, I need to take a call. There's no
00:30:11
webcam in that room, right? And I I am so peripheralled up in that setup. Like I really don't want to add another one.
00:30:17
But I recently added my iPad as a third monitor with Sidecar. >> You can use that camera.
00:30:24
>> No, but I just close the the sidecar window and take the call on the iPad.
00:30:29
>> Oh yeah, >> that's cool. Yeah. >> So I Yeah, I guess you could get rid of
00:30:32
it. >> Marquez, I want to know cuz you actually played with uh these laptops. People
00:30:37
were talking about the thickness. >> Can you talk about that? >> Sure. So,
00:30:41
>> are you down with the thickness? >> I think a lot of people will be totally
00:30:44
fine with it. So, technically it is a little bit smaller than the iPad uh than the MacBook Air. It is a 13-in display
00:30:51
instead of 13.6, right? >> But it is basically the exact same weight and it is actually slightly
00:30:58
thicker because of the lack of wedge shape. And that's not to hold more battery. It's not even like a bigger
00:31:02
battery. It's just like this is a not engineered for maximum thinness air. So,
00:31:07
it feels like an Air to me when I'm holding it. It does. I didn't worry about like extra weight or thickness.
00:31:12
It's I think technically on paper a tenth of an inch thicker than the MacBook Air. Yeah.
00:31:17
>> So, like not a big deal. Yeah. >> Is it I'm assuming it's not wedge shaped
00:31:20
cuz now the speakers are down here, right? Which if you wedged all the way down to there, you can't have the
00:31:24
speakers in the bottom corner. And also the headphone jack there looks really strange.
00:31:28
>> Yeah, it is weird. >> It is really weird. >> It kind It makes more sense to be
00:31:33
honest. figure out why weird sense >> cuz it's just closer to you and when you
00:31:37
have actual headphones you're plugging in >> the further I mean it's like
00:31:41
>> 3 in closer >> 8 in it would probably be the difference but >> I will say uh the refurbished 13-in
00:31:48
MacBook Air right now on Apple's website is $750. >> This is how I think I need to review
00:31:53
this computer. >> Yeah. is if you are thinking about buying a MacBook Neo and you want to be
00:31:59
a little bit like you want to like look into it a little bit. There's actually
00:32:04
two other things you could do for $600 is you could get an M1 MacBook Air >> M1, right?
00:32:11
>> That'd be really cheap. >> That would be a potentially just as good
00:32:15
computer for you, but it's an M chip. Um, you get more software support from
00:32:20
buying a Neo today because you're starting today at day zero and have years of software, but you know, maybe
00:32:26
you think an M1 Air will have a better display, more multi-threaded, whatever. That's a choice you could make.
00:32:31
>> Mhm. >> Uh, and the other is you could still buy like a $500, $600 Windows computer or a
00:32:38
Chromebook for that price. >> It's and I think it's we all have this
00:32:43
reaction because we're like, well, why would you do that if you could get Mac
00:32:45
OS? But I think that's the comparison that I need to put it all I need to put
00:32:49
these things all online and see like what's the advantage. What's the best
00:32:53
Windows laptop I can get for $5.99 for students? $4.99. That's going to be tough, but I want to actually figure
00:32:58
that out. >> I think it's like if you are watching or listening to this podcast right now,
00:33:03
that might be a something you look into. Most people buying this they and those people might find your regular channel
00:33:10
review going to buy it. They just like to me the MacBook Neo is it's a laptop.
00:33:16
All of us don't have laptops anymore. We have fullblown workstations that happen
00:33:21
to be in a laptop now because we got to that point. Maybe workstation is not the
00:33:25
right word, but like these are insanely powerful for this. But when you think about what we just used to do with
00:33:31
laptops, we never sat at a desk with them and like plugged it into something. We would sit on the couch or a chair or
00:33:37
a coffee shop and like that's what the Neo is. It's just a laptop. >> That's a world I've never known. Like my
00:33:44
first my first laptop was like a plug into a a a workstation desk and like >> and do it. And I remember
00:33:52
>> being like, yo, why are laptops not as powerful as computers? Until M the M
00:33:57
series came out and it's just like why would we go for >> like Claire has a laptop. It's never
00:34:02
she's never sat at a desk with it. She uses it on the couch or maybe at the dining room table or like in the like
00:34:09
and she uses it at work sometimes. I guess that's at a desk. But like those are laptop things to just do laptop
00:34:14
things or >> we need to do like a studio video that's like a competition between a MacBook
00:34:20
Air, a Neo, a a Windows PC and an iPad cuz I'm I'm so curious where the edge
00:34:27
case is that one c one of those cannot do. >> I think this is that point though where
00:34:32
if you're watching a video of like a competition between a Neo and something
00:34:36
else, you're out of the Neo range already. No, but like even for like like genuinely
00:34:41
>> what can what can you not do on an iPad that you can do on a Neo? You can get a
00:34:46
keyboard. You can Bluetooth any keyboard to an iPad. >> I know. But >> here. So that might be one thing to add
00:34:50
to my discussion because the base iPads 329. >> The keyboard and trackpad they make for
00:34:55
it are $250. So that's $600 right there. >> You could get that and you can do file
00:35:03
management and multi-wind and most >> it's modular at that point too. And you
00:35:07
have a touch screen if you want it and you could pop it off. Yeah, that's that's maybe that's one more option. Put
00:35:12
it on your lap. >> And I I would also >> That's true. >> That's very true.
00:35:17
>> I would also argue that the people the the market for the Neo is more likely to
00:35:24
use cloud storage and just file management doesn't matter really on like the iPad.
00:35:30
>> I don't know, man. I think >> I just like integrated laptops more than
00:35:34
twoin-one touchcreens with detachable keyboards. >> I also think we're overthinking this.
00:35:39
Yep. >> I think if a if a parent walks into Best Buy and sees three laptops and an iPad
00:35:44
that are all $600, they're buying the Neo because they're familiar with Apple.
00:35:48
It looks like >> going to sell. Also, education discount is $100 off. So, it's $500 with
00:35:55
education discount. >> Can I ask a question if any of you guys might know? I asked this to Marquez and
00:35:59
I wasn't like when I always think of getting an educational discount, it's
00:36:02
usually with aedu email address which is college, but like very clearly this is great for high school and
00:36:08
>> it might work if you have like a high school ID. I'm not sure. >> Yeah, I guess a high school ID, but it's
00:36:12
harder to prove you are a student and if you don't have to, then I'm just going
00:36:16
to walk into an Apple store with a kid and be like, look at this student over here. It's been a long time since since
00:36:21
I was in that world, but I believe Apple partners with a company called Uniday to
00:36:26
do uh educational status verification. >> Like for the past ever since I was in
00:36:31
college, like even my freshman year of college to get any Apple edu discounts, you needed to first go through the
00:36:37
Uniday's verification process. >> And that's like high school students.
00:36:41
No, that's why I'm saying like I don't know how you would do it as a high
00:36:43
school student because you need to like you need to give them a bunch of documents like your your transcripts and
00:36:49
like your ed your edu email and like >> but also I wouldn't be surprised if a
00:36:53
lot of high schoolers are getting edu emails now. >> Yeah, >> possibly.
00:36:57
>> Um >> I feel like also a lot of middle schools high schools are the ones supplying the
00:37:01
computers for the classrooms at least in the US from what I've seen but I'm sure
00:37:04
there's plenty of >> How do schools work in 2026? I don't really know how
00:37:08
>> your open claw teacher tells you some lies about George Washington and then
00:37:13
you go home and like play Fortnite and drink caffeine all night, right? >> I remember in like 8th grade when we got
00:37:19
a Smartboard and the thing just never worked so they just used the whiteboard instead and we were like, "Damn, look at
00:37:24
this technology." >> Smartboard in eighth grade. >> It was called a smart.
00:37:27
>> It never worked. It >> never worked. We just watched movies on the CRT, baby. That's all we did. The
00:37:32
smartboard wound up just being the projector white screen essentially and they never used the fake markers on it.
00:37:38
>> 70 lb TV. >> The overhead projector, not >> my old This might be I might be at the
00:37:42
end of people who had to use transparencies. This was like maybe the end of school.
00:37:46
>> I had transparencies in middle school. >> Okay. Yeah. >> That like the projector with the
00:37:52
transparent thing. >> The overhead projector. That's what I just said. Yeah.
00:37:54
>> The overhead projector. >> Overhead. No. No overhead. It's on a
00:37:56
cart. >> Yeah, it's on. But it's for some reason it's called the overhead projector cuz I
00:38:00
think the mirror or whatever that's above it is over top of it leads into it. Yeah.
00:38:05
>> Yeah. Yeah. That thing >> that was always funny when they erased and it just wiped stuff all over the
00:38:09
place. >> That is an evolution of slide film by the way which was used specifically for
00:38:13
slides like that so they could draw on it. >> Anyway, stay tuned for the Neo review. I
00:38:18
do think this is Yeah, I do think this is potentially one of the most disruptive products of the last couple
00:38:23
of years. I think a lot of Chromebook sellers and Windows laptop OEMs who have been feasting in that price segment are
00:38:31
very worried about that one. >> Yeah. >> Um but we'll see. Can I throw one other
00:38:36
like pro of this out here which is the pro to all Apple products in the US at least is like
00:38:40
>> it's not a pro, it's a Neo. >> Yes, I was gonna make the joke and then
00:38:42
I thought it was >> No, it's just like when we're looking at cheaper products that are specifically
00:38:49
not for tech people, the biggest pro of me suggesting this is when it breaks on you, I can tell you to go to an Apple
00:38:55
store and get it fixed and I don't have to diagnose everything over the phone.
00:38:58
Like it's so much easier to just be like, "Hey, you can get the help here."
00:39:03
I was thinking that because I've bought my mom computers before. Like I bought
00:39:06
her like a a Chromebook before. I think, "Oh, it's Chrome. It's just Chrome. She
00:39:11
can't mess it up. I was wrong." Like there are just infinite ways. And you
00:39:16
know, she could just go to a store and I don't have to be her son. Then I guess
00:39:20
that that you know, it's great. Anyway, uh I want to make one more thing. The
00:39:24
closest like analogy to this is the Surface Go. Do you guys remember that computer?
00:39:29
>> Oh, they tried a Snapdragon one. >> It was not Snapdragon. It was it was
00:39:32
Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y. >> Bless you. >> Yeah, thanks. And if you remember, Dave
00:39:38
2D just shat all over this computer cuz it was so bad. And it it started at 400 bucks just for the tablet and then you
00:39:46
still had to buy the keyboard and the pen which were more expensive. I believe altogether it was probably about the
00:39:52
same price as the as this Neo device. Um and it sucked. It really did. It was seven years. 7 years old now obviously
00:40:00
and they made a better one that made it better but it was still expensive and bad.
00:40:05
So I'm just saying that look all the all the tech PC channels Lionus Tech Tips
00:40:12
Lionus is is slowly like has been making videos being like oh no oh no Mac is better value than Windows in like almost
00:40:22
every way now. Like there is no it's very hard unless you're a gamer at this
00:40:26
point to recommend yourself a Windows computer. Also like >> also everyone's mad at Windows so that
00:40:33
helps. >> Yeah, because Microsoft is a legacy corporation that doesn't Anyway, I'm
00:40:37
going to get so yelled at. But I'm just saying >> I'm just saying >> this I for the Surface Go if you look at
00:40:42
it from the side just looks like a bad math problem. There's so many angles going on. the keyboard is like slightly
00:40:49
flipped up and it's got the stand and like everything about this. >> I don't know.
00:40:54
>> Again, it was it's seven years old. I get that. Um but there just hasn't
00:40:58
really been anything except for like a Chromebook that is this price and can do this many things. And a lot of people,
00:41:05
especially in the United States, own iPhones and the integration and all that stuff. Yeah. I mean, this is a pretty
00:41:11
this is a pretty serious computer from Apple. I'm still I'm very interested to
00:41:14
get it in and have us like test it and play with it and see what it ends up being like. But being M4 single thread
00:41:20
performance when that's what everyone wants most of the time, single thread performance is like,
00:41:25
>> you know, >> it's just yellow, too. It's sick. >> It's piss Andrew.
00:41:29
>> So good. >> The silver is the best. >> I want the yellow keyboard so bad.
00:41:33
>> I'm happy for you. >> I think we have to take it to trivia. >> Yeah. Stay tuned.
00:41:42
But first, >> I messed up. >> Oh, >> I was so diligently researching when the
00:41:54
Galaxy Buds actually came out because it was a more difficult thing to research than you would expect.
00:41:58
>> You mean the Galaxy Gear Icon X? >> No. >> Try AI overview.
00:42:02
>> I would never try AI overview, dude. Okay. AI overview almost messed me up
00:42:06
for this week, too. I spent way too much of if you saw me on my phone and on my on the computer. I'll Anyway, Marquez,
00:42:15
you stated yesterday that the buds came out before the fold or I don't know what
00:42:20
you stated >> yesterday. Last week. >> Last week. >> Last week.
00:42:23
>> But you said the opposite of the other two boys and you were actually correct
00:42:26
and I was wrong. >> Who? >> I just want whoever put the comment correcting them. Uh, please unsubscribe.
00:42:37
>> That was the first point David and I got in what felt like weeks. >> Hey man, I got another point last week.
00:42:42
>> Wow, that's a huge. So, I'm one point up and y'all are both one point down.
00:42:46
That's huge. >> No, I'm not. >> I'm huge for the program.
00:42:49
>> I got the other question correct though, so it's okay. >> I know, but you both have minus one
00:42:53
point. I have plus that point now. So, I mean two point spread. >> I just want to say Alex Wadell who who
00:42:59
sent us that I'm blue sky. >> Appreciate Sky. So you can admit we need
00:43:04
to nuke blue sky. >> You can admit that there's value to blue sky. >> Make a waveform.
00:43:09
>> Make a waveform. Yeah. Okay. Mr. >> Care. The the trivia question for this
00:43:16
week is one that I hopefully cannot get wrong. So I wrote a crazy question that honestly let's go for it. I will give
00:43:22
each of you one point for every tech product that you can name that has the word Neo in it.
00:43:30
>> Okay. Assuming MacBook Neo does not count. >> MacBook Neo does not count. And um and
00:43:34
the word it doesn't need to have the word like a space between the Neo and another thing.
00:43:38
>> It has Neo in it somewhere. >> Okay. >> Yeah, sure. Honestly, I don't Yeah, it
00:43:45
just has the letters Neo consecutively in the product name. The reason I was going to say a over mess up is because I
00:43:51
was just making sure that there were enough tech products with the word Neo in the name to even
00:43:55
>> product. Yeah, it has to be a tech product. And tech product can be really
00:43:59
broad. Like uses electricity broad. >> Oh, I know one. I don't even Oh, Nero.
00:44:03
Never mind. I don't even know. >> Nope, that doesn't count as an R.
00:44:06
>> Damn. >> Um, but what was really funny is that when the MacBook Neo got announced, a
00:44:10
bunch of AI slot videos came out um that were fake Samsung product announcements
00:44:15
for a phone called the Samsung S26 Ultra Neo that doesn't exist. Just because as
00:44:21
people would Google MacBook Neo, this this would also get served. Of course, AI overview does not know that those are
00:44:29
that's AI slot videos. So, when you Google Samsung Neo to see if that ever existed, you get this really indepth
00:44:36
overview with specs of the Samsung S26 Ultra Neo a phone that >> does not exist.
00:44:42
>> It's sloped. Now, back in our day, it was just small channels making the Pixel
00:44:45
Ultra instead. >> All right. Well, we will learn or we will know the answers. They'll be at the
00:44:50
end like usual. We'll be right back. Support for the show comes from Shopify.
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00:46:06
All right, welcome back. Let's talk about Nothing. Damn, I make a pun every time I talk about that company. Um,
00:46:12
nothing came out with >> not say anything for a while. >> Yeah, sorry I had to. But nothing's
00:46:16
coming out with three things. >> Nothing phone 4 A, nothing phone 4 A Pro,
00:46:21
>> and nothing phone headphones. Nothing phone Nothing Headphones A. Nothing a
00:46:25
headphones >> headphones A. >> Headphones A. >> Headphones parenthesis A.
00:46:29
>> Yeah. God. Close. Their naming is still kind of tough, not going to lie.
00:46:32
Nothing's a weird name for a company. >> It is. >> Anyway, so the 4A is the the one that
00:46:38
most of us are interested in. It's a 350 pound aka >> that's a really heavy phone. I know that
00:46:45
was a joke. Uh $350ish phone. Uh coming out in a bunch of markets. I think it's
00:46:50
this is the one that's going global. Uh new design. >> Wait, which one? The 4A is UK, Europe,
00:46:56
India. >> Okay. So, the 4A Pro is a global one. >> It uh 4A is in those markets, I guess.
00:47:02
>> Um blue and black. Yeah, it's a slight spec bump. It's got a couple new
00:47:06
interesting things. Uh, I think people in this room have called it the best looking nothing phone ever
00:47:13
last week. >> It's got pink. Do you still feel that way? I need to look at it again.
00:47:17
>> I'll go It's hard to say compared to the Pro. The Pro looks really nice, but not
00:47:23
in the colors. Just the regular silver Pro looks really nice. The >> um I I think 4a is still nicer looking.
00:47:31
>> 4a I think is a more general nicel looking phone. The 4A Pro is really cool
00:47:37
and kind of almost gamey but in like a a subtle way. >> Well, I don't we get to that soon.
00:47:43
>> Yeah, I think Yeah, true. So, I guess I'll just jump into the specs of the
00:47:47
real quick though, but last week we only talked about the pink and the white. There's also a blue and a black one. So,
00:47:53
there's four colors for >> the blue looks good, too. >> The blue looks really nice.
00:47:56
>> Yeah. So, this is running a Snapdragon 7S Gen 4. It has a 580 millah battery
00:48:03
with 50 watt charging, uh, IP64, a pretty bright display. It says 4500 nits peak brightness. I almost never know
00:48:10
what to make of that. I kind of want to know just what the regular >> 4500.
00:48:13
>> Yeah. Like then peak HDR. Like one pixel will be at 4500 nits and then you can
00:48:16
put that number on the spec sheet, but I don't know. >> One of the glyph LEDs on the back.
00:48:20
>> Yeah. Uh, Gorilla Glass 7i. Uh, it's got triple cameras. It's got a pretty good
00:48:27
looking set of specs for a phone that is this cheap. I have a question for the audience that maybe you guys can answer.
00:48:34
>> People still seem to care about processors. >> Yes. >> Hard stop. And I I understand the gaming
00:48:41
aspect of it, I suppose. Um although I'm not really sure what mobile optimized
00:48:46
games don't run at high frame rates anymore. >> Maybe like Genchin Impact or something.
00:48:51
That seems to be the the benchmark. But I still see people caring about the processors and I'm like, if it if the
00:48:57
processor is lower tier, quote unquote, but it enables things like super bright uh 120 Hz, 50 watt charging, like all
00:49:05
this stuff, why do you care? This is my question. >> Yeah, great question. I think this is
00:49:11
another thing where in the bubble that we're in of people overanalyzing every
00:49:15
little detail about a phone, like the enthusiasts, they care about getting the most for their money.
00:49:21
slightly better. >> But who are just more casually shopping, they are not thinking about the
00:49:35
difference between the Snapdragon 8 Elite or the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 or the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy.
00:49:42
Like, they're all a good chip and the phone performs well. >> Therefore, I'm not getting ripped off.
00:49:48
>> I I agree with you. I use a tensor chip, so clearly I don't give a about
00:49:53
performance. Um, but I think like what Marquez said in like this more range of things when you're probably cross
00:49:59
shopping, if I'm looking at two phones at the same price and one chip is better, then I'm probably going to go
00:50:04
that for the longevity route. That's when I >> I'm hoping that's when people care about
00:50:09
it more so here. But I also, >> as much as I love speaking for the audience, I'm probably wrong when I do
00:50:15
it. >> There's two audiences. I think it's less like the people that care about the
00:50:19
frame rates on the newest game. It's more so how long will this phone last me? I'm spending like $500, $600 after
00:50:26
taxes. Like I want it to last a while. >> Well, Apple would say that rowing at a
00:50:30
lower clock speed actually makes the phone last longer, which is why they force lower clock speeds, but they can't
00:50:34
really do anymore. >> I think that's a perfect example of the two different audiences. There's one
00:50:38
audience who's like, "How dare you? I want the highest clock speed so I have
00:50:42
every single frame with the maximum performance." >> And then there's the other audience
00:50:47
Then there's the other audience who wants just the phone, hey, it works, so make it last as long as possible. So, if
00:50:52
you were in the first bucket who's like, I want to maximize and get the best
00:50:55
possible performance. Especially when you're buying a higherend phone, I think
00:50:57
it makes way more sense to pixel peep and to really want the most out of your phone, then that makes sense. But if
00:51:03
you're buying a $350 phone and it just works and especially with I think nothing software is pretty good, like
00:51:09
it's smooth enough. I don't think it would even feel that different on a
00:51:12
Snapdragon 8 Elite versus a 7S Gen 4. >> Yeah. >> So, it's like Yeah. As long as it lasts
00:51:16
me a couple years and doesn't fall apart, seems like it's a good enough chip.
00:51:21
>> Yeah. Yeah. What do I mean? So, that's the regular 3, the 4A, and we also got
00:51:26
the 4A Pro, which I have to say like got announced this morning. Um, you probably
00:51:31
got some early stuff about it, but >> I did not know anything about it. It
00:51:35
didn't leak online. This has got to be one of the first tech launches that hasn't leaked.
00:51:40
>> They played us >> a very long time. I feel like they the design video last week was to be like
00:51:47
>> look over here. >> Yeah. Yeah. They literally like >> slide them in.
00:51:51
>> Yeah. >> And they did a good job at it. Yeah. This morning I came in I was like we
00:51:55
have a lot to talk about the pot. I have a lot to write this morning cuz we also
00:51:58
had to shoot S26 review. And then I sit down and there's two new nothing products I didn't know about. I was
00:52:02
like, "Oh my god, >> we didn't know about it." Technically Marquez told us last week.
00:52:06
>> Marquez did not tell me about I asked earlier >> on the podcast. I left it in the edit.
00:52:12
>> He did ask, "Is there a 4A pro?" And I was like, "Yeah, probably."
00:52:18
>> He said, "Yeah, but I thought you were just speculating." >> Why are you hiding from us, Mark?
00:52:23
>> Well, I only say what I'm allowed to say. >> Earlier this week, I said,
00:52:26
>> "Hey, I need to I'm writing podcast. Can you send me the 4A specs so I can write
00:52:30
it down?" You're like, "Sure." And didn't send the Pro or the headphones.
00:52:35
>> Well, I didn't get the 4A Pro info. That was the thing. So, so, uh, so the event
00:52:39
was in London the literal hours after the Apple event in New York, so I couldn't physically be at both. So, I
00:52:47
made the decision to see the six Apple devices in New York, and I wasn't able
00:52:50
to teleport to London fast enough to also see the 4A Pro. >> Bummer. >> Um,
00:52:54
>> dude, what's wrong with you? >> Yeah, I couldn't there. I actually
00:52:57
looked. I was like, is there a flight that takes off and gets me there at like 3:00 in the morning so I can just show
00:53:03
up and make a video? But no, there there were no flights I could make that happen.
00:53:06
Um, >> do not cutting that. >> Why? >> Cuz that's not real.
00:53:13
>> We talked about it though. >> That is not coming out. Are you kidding?
00:53:17
>> That's why we couldn't take it. That's why we couldn't fly on it.
00:53:19
>> That's true. >> Yeah. No, that >> But yeah. So anyway, this this stuff was
00:53:24
uh was sort of held in in London for us to see from those who are actually there
00:53:28
with cameras. Yeah. >> And it looks pretty good. The specs also look pretty good. So the 4a Pro again,
00:53:33
it's a 4a pro, not a not a full flagship. It's not a 4. >> So, because it's a 4A
00:53:39
Pro, it's got a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip. >> Going to kill myself. >> I think this is just them coping that
00:53:44
it's like, hey, if you want to put a mid-range chip in this, you can't call
00:53:48
it a flagship. If this was a Snapdragon 8 Elite, then they could call it a flagship. But since it's not, all right,
00:53:54
we have to call it the A Pro instead of the flagship. Fine. >> So, Snapdragon 7 Gen 4, uh, 6.83 in
00:54:00
AMOLED. It's a 120 Hz display, but it will sometimes get to 144 hertz depending on the app. Kind of similar to
00:54:05
some other gaming phones have. >> Okay. >> Um, 5,000 nit peak brightness, which
00:54:09
means nothing to me. 5,000 mAh battery, 50 watt charging, triple cameras again. Better cameras though than the 4a. So,
00:54:17
>> and better looking. It's got the glyph on the back. It's got a >> It's got the Nothing Phone 3 like little
00:54:24
display thing. >> Yeah. In a better way. So, like it, if you haven't seen it yet, it is an all
00:54:29
metal body, which is >> awesome. Beautiful except for wireless charging it cuz it doesn't have that cuz
00:54:34
it can't >> Oh, I didn't even think of that. >> Yeah. >> Poo poo. Um, it has like a large camera
00:54:39
bump similar to an iPhone in terms of footprint, but this is proof that you can do that like everyone else and make
00:54:45
it unique because this is actually sweet. Essentially, one main camera, top left corner, dual camera, what are we
00:54:52
calling them again? Pills. >> The pill. >> The bean. the bean. We got a bean, a
00:54:57
double camera bean under that horizontally. Then to the right of that, a large circle glyph interface, which I
00:55:03
believe has 137 mini LEDs, is 57% larger and twice as bright compared to the phone 3 glyph interface.
00:55:11
>> Wow. Yeah. >> And we still have the red recording LED on it because that should be on every
00:55:17
single phone ever. >> Yes. But then encased in that is a full metal silver pink or black body and it
00:55:25
looks great. It also has the >> cooking over there. It looks >> has like the little circular like indent
00:55:30
on the bottom that matches the new uh pixel buds I or uh sorry not not pixel buds nothing buds feels like that thing.
00:55:38
>> Yeah, it matches all together really well. Although the pink I will say um
00:55:43
okay so like in the camera bar it is color matched on the silver and it's color matched on the black but the pink
00:55:49
is still silver so it looks really weird >> actually >> I kind of wish that they made that pink
00:55:55
>> here's my problem is look at this picture on the verge that looks >> this is the black phone but looks like a
00:56:01
silver camera bump and the black metal looks like it got like plasti dipped instead of like
00:56:06
>> the silver version of this phone is the best looking >> 100% % >> it looks great.
00:56:10
>> Yeah, >> I will say like I miss the HTC full metal body phones and um if you're not
00:56:15
going to have wireless charging, which I still really love wireless charging, >> all metal is pretty awesome. I'm curious
00:56:21
about uh heat and how that ends up working out. Maybe because this chipset is, you know, a little bit lower
00:56:28
performance, it's not going to get as hot. >> Is there a vapor chamber in there?
00:56:31
>> Uh probably. >> I don't actually know. >> I don't know. I don't know. The renders
00:56:35
might look better than these in person. I'm very curious to see them in person.
00:56:39
Um, it's definitely more gamey than their other devices. >> It's a little more I don't know. I'm not
00:56:46
getting gamey as much as I'm getting like R2-D2. >> Yeah, like a little playful pill
00:56:52
morphing type. >> It feels like a phone that they took the nothing buds and just put it in the
00:56:56
camera bump. Like that's where all the nothing design aesthetic is. The clear
00:57:01
and kind of like red accent and whatever. And then there is a little bit at the bottom, but I kind of dig it
00:57:07
because it's not trying too hard while also trying too hard. >> Yeah. >> Which is a hard thing to do.
00:57:11
>> Do I see the price yet? >> $4.99. >> $4.99. So not >> flagship price. I think pretty good
00:57:17
price actually. >> It's cheaper than the Pixel. >> It is interesting though because it's
00:57:22
>> $4.99 USD, £499, and £479, which if you do the They've done this before where
00:57:28
like they match the price, but when you do conversion rates on that is wildly different. Yeah, it's a better
00:57:34
>> It's the same price as the Pixel 10a, right? >> Uh $4.99. >> Yeah.
00:57:38
>> While you guys are looking, my favorite thing about the video was it says
00:57:41
world's first 140x zoom asterisk and then says claims are based on publicly available data at launch,
00:57:47
>> which I think is the claim that it's the world's first 140x zoom,
00:57:52
>> which again just >> it's going to look really bad. If you zoom into 140x, what are you doing?
00:57:57
>> Have you watched the video? >> No. Even when it zooms in on the like
00:58:02
perfectly rendered video of everything, the safe looks terrible. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, yeah. Hey, at least
00:58:08
they're honest. >> Here, real quick. It's $4.99 for the 8 gigs of RAM, 128 storage, another $100
00:58:13
for the 12 gigs of RAM, 256 storage. Those are the only two options. >> Just do a,000x and just make it look
00:58:19
really bad. >> Yeah. What's stopping you from going to 2,000? >> Yeah, exactly. You could just brand it
00:58:23
that way. 2000X Zoom. >> World's first. >> World's first. >> Yeah.
00:58:27
>> Um, yeah. I think it looks pretty good. I think the nothing uh design team has
00:58:32
been really cooking recently. >> I think they also did the thing where they kind of uh made the previous stuff
00:58:38
worse so that we'd go, "Wow, they cooked this time. Look at the improvement."
00:58:41
Probably not. >> I mean made it worse >> like how the iPhone 16 was so bad that
00:58:46
when the 17e was what it should have been, we were like, "Wow, they really cooked."
00:58:50
>> Is that Can you do that with design or is it just they tried? >> It depends how quickly you you have
00:58:55
turnaround. Like we hated the three. >> We hated the three but not the 3a. So I
00:58:59
guess that depends on there is like >> I mean the analogy I'm making for the
00:59:03
17e is to to the 16e is the iPhone 12 mini to the 13 mini because the primary problem was the battery and that's the
00:59:11
primary thing they addressed in the next one. >> Yeah. >> And with this one the primary problem
00:59:15
was the lack of wireless charging and the storage. Right. For the price >> versus the 3a pro.
00:59:22
>> I was talking about the 16 in. >> Oh the iPhone. Yeah. So now with this,
00:59:27
>> I think this is more analogous to the 3 than the the yeah the 3A >> because it uses the same kind of glyph
00:59:34
interface even though it's bigger and better now apparently. Um it the 3 still
00:59:39
had a chipset that people were not that happy with. >> It was also super expensive.
00:59:42
>> It was also super Yeah. Like I don't see a reason anyone would buy the 3 when the
00:59:47
3a Pro exists, which is kind of funny. I feel like maybe they should have just called this the 3 Pro, but I guess they
00:59:52
couldn't because the chipset is technically not as good. I just hate this is the thing. This is my thing. Why
00:59:57
does everything rotate around the freaking chipset? >> Because of the super super like the
01:00:01
nerds among us would be like, "Are you seriously making a new flagship with a
01:00:06
worse chip?" >> Yeah, but like >> we've all said it and we've all done it.
01:00:09
Also, >> it's like they can't they cannot name this a flagship because everyone will
01:00:14
say that about them. So they have to leverage this naming scheme of like, okay, it's not the A because the A was
01:00:19
the 4A, but it is better than the 4A, but it's not a flagship chip. So we'll
01:00:23
call it the 4A Pro. That's how they get away with this specific set of specs and
01:00:28
this price. And when they inevitably try a flagship sometime later, all of us nerds will go, "Well, you better put a
01:00:34
flagship chip in it, otherwise I'll spend my money on something else with a flagship chip."
01:00:37
>> Can't wait for the CMF Phone 3 Pro Light that is better than a Nothing Pro 4A.
01:00:42
>> Yeah, it'll be tough. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> I think they did a great design.
01:00:46
>> I love this phone. I didn't know what I didn't even think of no wireless
01:00:49
charging though. That makes me sad. >> It makes me sad. But >> I don't know if you're not going to I
01:00:55
mean I want it for sure. I always want it. >> But if you if you're not going to do it,
01:01:00
metal body is sick. >> True. >> Cuz I miss my HTC Thunderbolt even though it burned my hand.
01:01:05
>> What about There's so many better metal phones you could >> The HTC Thunderbolt.
01:01:09
>> The Thunderbolt was the worst one. >> It had What are you talking about?
01:01:12
Thunderbolt was the worst battery life of any phone I've ever used. >> Yes, I agree.
01:01:16
>> They were like, "Let's do 4G and then burn it to the ground." What about the
01:01:19
HTC1 or the HTC 1 M78? I guess. Yeah, those are more light. >> Google Play Edition.
01:01:26
>> I know. >> Those phones were >> Nexus 6P. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, we had good
01:01:30
>> Oh, Nexus 6P. >> Good metal phones did exist. >> Yeah, I guess. Yeah, I only made that.
01:01:35
It was my first smartphone, so I guess that's why. Yeah, >> you didn't know better.
01:01:38
>> Yeah. Yeah, I didn't. Well, they didn't have anything better at the time.
01:01:42
>> Yeah. So, they also made headphones. Nothing headphones A. >> Yeah.
01:01:45
>> So, now they have two tiers of headphones. Again, we can assume based on the name that the headphones A, A
01:01:50
again, I haven't tested them. I'm seeing the design and the $100 lower price. We
01:01:53
assume that this is a slightly lowerend set of headphones, but it still has all the nothing design philosophy. There's
01:01:59
some colors as well. >> Yeah. >> Um, they still have some of those clever
01:02:03
buttons, too, that the original Nothing headphones had. I think a lot of people forgot how interesting the Nothing
01:02:08
Headphones were. They had like a paddle. Yeah. Okay. So, you know, they have the
01:02:12
paddle, they have the roller as well >> and the software that talks to them. So,
01:02:16
these headphones still have a lot of that stuff and they have uh seems like a pretty decent Well, eight hours of
01:02:22
playback. Oh, in 5 minutes of charging. Sorry. We don't know what the battery
01:02:25
life is totally. >> Five day battery lasts for 5 days, which could mean a billion different.
01:02:30
>> How many hours of playback? This is the one thing. >> The battery literally dies after 5 days
01:02:34
and you cannot use can't charge it. Yeah, you I guess that's a mixed use
01:02:38
stat, but like with headphones, you can just be like, I turned them on. I hit play. When did they die?
01:02:42
>> Yeah, >> that would be a useful number. >> These, in my opinion, look significantly
01:02:46
worse than the headphones. >> I think I kind of like them more than the regular nothing headphones.
01:02:51
>> I think I just like the clear part on the out. So, it's if you remember the
01:02:55
other nothing headphones, >> they're square and circle. Square outside, circle bump on the inside. This
01:03:01
time >> says two. >> Yeah. Yeah. But the circle part on the nothing ones, the headphone ones is
01:03:06
where the clearness is. >> And then on this, the circle part on top of the square is where the color is. And
01:03:13
the clear part's the square. >> I just think it looks >> So it's like opposite. Um I think it's
01:03:17
just trying to do less. >> Yeah, but it looks way cheaper in my opinion. >> I mean, I think both of them look pretty
01:03:24
cheap. >> Uh >> I don't really love either of them. I love my Nothing earbuds. I will say I I
01:03:30
wear I use the Nothing headphone ones pretty much every day because I've been
01:03:33
using them as ear muffs. Um >> Well, you just use them because those Stranger Things guys use them.
01:03:38
>> Yeah, they're fashionable. >> No, but I get stopped by a lot of people
01:03:41
asking me what they are and people are like, "Oh, it's cool. It look it looks
01:03:44
like a cassette tape inside. It looks like and then they put their AirPods back in and walks bad cuz it's glossy."
01:03:50
>> I disagree. The black is the way to go because they're so minimal. >> You can see the fingerprints so much
01:03:55
more. >> Yeah, but no one knows you're wearing a crazy pair of headphones. The white ones
01:03:58
are like, "Woo, I'm here." The same way with all these colorful ones. It's like
01:04:02
there's so pick me energy. The black ones are the ones >> you are all you just the color doesn't
01:04:07
change the pick me energy on these headphones. >> I disagree. I think it totally does.
01:04:11
>> Bro, I don't know. I think we're all contributing to phone companies only
01:04:15
releasing black and white at the moment. >> These are four different colors.
01:04:19
>> Look at You're telling me. >> No, it looks beautiful. I just would
01:04:22
never wear them in public because it's like going to get double takes. Like people are going to look at you and then
01:04:26
look away and then be like, "Wait, what are those?" >> Cuz how bright they are.
01:04:29
>> The black ones are just headphones. People will look at you and be like,
01:04:31
"Oh, he's wearing headphones." >> But you really think that the A looks
01:04:33
better. >> Uh yeah, >> they look like nothing. >> I kind of one pun. Uh
01:04:39
>> oh my god. Their website is >> infuriating. Oh god. Okay. What I didn't
01:04:43
even know was that there's four colors. >> Oh my god. What is that? Holy m Show
01:04:50
Adam. Okay. saw. You haven't seen the yellow. >> The yellow and pink are just in the
01:04:55
>> So, that's what I'm saying. They're just in the center. >> The yellow and the pink ones. I think I
01:04:59
like the colors, but I do not like the headphones. >> They look so bad. >> The white and black ones are fine.
01:05:04
>> They're unbelievably ugly. >> Also, I just want to say I just went to
01:05:08
the PC Mag website where they have an article about these headphones and they're saying the 5day battery life is
01:05:14
135 hours straight of play time. >> That's what it says on the Verge, too.
01:05:19
>> So, cont die in 5 days. >> Just for context, a normal I does this
01:05:26
have ANC is the other question. >> Yes, it does. >> So, a normal ANC set of headphones
01:05:30
flagships are getting 30 40 the really good ones 50 and in some insane cases 70 to 80. Like I think the Dyson headphones
01:05:38
had a crazy big battery and did 80. 135 is unheard of for A&C headphones. >> That does seem like a lot.
01:05:45
>> I need to investigate. >> That's only with the AAC codec though.
01:05:48
If you as soon as you switch to LDAC or any other lossless thing that it has built in, you're going to cut that in.
01:05:52
>> Yeah. >> So they cherry picked 135 hours with the lesser codec and ANC off. That's how
01:05:57
they got this number. >> If you do LDAC and ANC on, it's 62. >> Oh, that's okay. That see how the
01:06:03
context makes more. Okay. That that Okay, got it. >> Yeah. So if you're willing to have it
01:06:09
sound like ass, then you can get a lot better. >> Hot. You can't tell.
01:06:14
>> You David, I guarantee you you cannot tell. >> I know. Okay. I've been pumping AAC into
01:06:18
your headphones this whole time. You have no clue. >> Sound like ass. You You're listening to
01:06:23
a AAC in your headphones right now. David, >> I almost brought this and I wish I did.
01:06:28
>> I'm kidding. >> Fender released a bunch of new stuff recently. They I don't know if you
01:06:32
remember this. A year and a half ago, you had me take a Fender briefing for you. These guys?
01:06:38
>> Yeah. >> Okay. And they released >> My cousin just did air guitar.
01:06:42
>> Air guitar. >> I've heard of Fender. They were announcing like new headphones and some
01:06:47
new speakers like wireless speakers that are also amps >> and they got bought by by a like a
01:06:54
Chinese company or something and they decided to make the brand like way better and they sent a year and a half
01:06:59
ago is when I had this briefing and then yesterday on my front porch arrives an enormous box
01:07:07
enormous like huge and I was like what the hell is this and one of them was a pair of headphones wireless ireless
01:07:14
headphones from Fender. >> And inside of the left ear cup, they have a dongle, a USBC dongle that you
01:07:20
plug into any device, and it allows you to do uh it allows you to do lossless audio.
01:07:25
>> When you say inside the ear cup, you mean like >> like you take the you take the ear plush
01:07:31
thing off and then there's a dongle inside that you can take out and you can
01:07:35
put it in your laptop or in your phone. >> Okay. >> And it allows you to listen to lossless
01:07:41
audio. Oh, >> and there's three modes. There's like there's like AAC, there's lossless, and
01:07:46
then there's um OraCast, which allows you to basically transmit the same signal like audio signal to multiple
01:07:53
headphones. >> It's actually kind of interesting. >> It's interesting. And then they they're
01:07:56
also insanely repairable. Like the other side has a you can take this off and replace the battery. Like they're sort
01:08:01
of trying to be like the Fairphone headphones, the Fairbuds XL in a lot of ways. Um why did I bring this up? I
01:08:10
brought this up related to these headphones for a reason. >> Is it because they're lossless and
01:08:14
wireless battery life? >> Because of the audio codec >> because why you talked about it?
01:08:18
>> I guess just wanted to flex on us, man. >> No, I a possible embargo.
01:08:24
>> Cuz he's wearing the white headphones all the time. So >> I had a reason for this. Well, anyway,
01:08:30
that it was interesting. I'll bring it in next week. I'll show you. >> Sure. I'll show you.
01:08:33
>> That's cool. That's kind of like Yeah. You can do Bluetooth on the MXM 4S or
01:08:36
you can plug in the dongle and get like a connection. >> Right. Right. Right. All right. So, it
01:08:40
was interesting. >> I got something to say. >> Say it. Say it. >> Last time we talked about the Nothing
01:08:44
headphones, like when they came out and I wore them on the podcast and I was just sort of like, "Come on, guys. Who
01:08:49
cares?" You know, I sort of gave him I have revised that opinion because I personally feel that the
01:08:59
wireless overhear ANC headphone space since that conversation has turned into such garbage.
01:09:09
um that actually I find myself recommending the nothing over your headphones more than most other things.
01:09:16
>> They're 500 bucks. >> They're 300 bucks. >> Oh. >> And that and that's so that's the first
01:09:20
reason is that most things in this space are like crazy overpriced. The headphones that I use every day, the
01:09:27
Focal Batiste, >> I mean >> dummy overpriced. >> Sure. But that's like
01:09:32
>> my Maserati the Wilkins like PX8 whatever >> those are like >> way overpriced. They do not sound
01:09:42
significantly better than these. >> Yeah. >> I think >> every single year the Sony WHX whatever
01:09:49
sound progressively worse and worse. And like the newest ones, whatever number we're on, I just think are like
01:09:54
borderline unlistable. They sound so bad. >> Wa. That's a hotter take.
01:09:59
>> That's a hot take. I they sound he's been whiner. >> I consistently choose them over AirPods
01:10:03
Max despite the worst connectivity cuz I think they sound >> I think if you're looking You think they
01:10:07
sound better than AirPods for flying? I think >> well we got to talk about that because
01:10:13
that doesn't even the to me the the the Sony's are so midforward and they have
01:10:19
so much distortion in the mids that if you're trying to use them for like any
01:10:24
sort of clinical listening they're like it's it's the equivalent of like rubbing
01:10:28
Vaseline on a lens like >> for clinical listening. >> Yeah. Is that your problem?
01:10:32
>> Like a doctor podcast. >> No no no no no. Like if you were trying
01:10:35
to like if you were trying to like listen to something and be like does this sound right, you know what I mean?
01:10:40
For any sort of like obviously like I'm coming at this from a different thing,
01:10:44
but like I don't I I don't enjoy listening to them. >> I think you enjoy listening to music
01:10:47
differently than people. >> Sure. I think the Sony's probably sound excit Anyway, what I'm trying to say is
01:10:53
like for the money >> Yeah. >> and expensive, too. >> For the for the money and the feature
01:10:58
set, I think that nothing's actually like some one of the most competitive offerings. And you know something really
01:11:03
funny cuz I obviously get asked way too often like what headphones should I buy >> and so I've been recommending the
01:11:09
nothings more and more and more and I have not gotten a single person to buy them. Oh, interesting.
01:11:14
>> Because of the aesthetic, the way they look, >> every single person I've been like, I
01:11:17
think this is the best bang for like >> also because like Bose quality, like the
01:11:22
obviously the noise cancelling Bose offers is still like really really terrific, but like sound quality, I
01:11:27
can't really say the quiet comforts aren't super competitive anymore. So,
01:11:31
it's like yeah, like this is kind of kind of the jam and no one wants the Nothing.
01:11:36
>> The two thing I hate about the Nothing headphones is that the ANC basically
01:11:39
does not exist. like is it is a feature that I don't hear it almost at all. >> The the Bowowers and Wilkins are the
01:11:46
same way and the Focals are the same way and those are both twice the price. >> Okay. So, it's like
01:11:50
>> the I don't love the audio quality on the Nothing headphones either. It kind
01:11:53
of it feels like everything is like a very it's like it feels like it's trying
01:11:57
to force like a spatial audio thing all the time. Okay. And you can't turn it
01:12:02
off. >> If there is a sometimes they do have the nothing that's on. >> Maybe it's in the nothing. probably
01:12:07
>> I feel like with the nothings it's like you get clear highs that are not
01:12:12
piercing. You get clear mids that are not like blurring everything else in this in the the sound the sonic field
01:12:19
and then you get good decent enough lows and the transient response is good and music sounds like the way it mostly
01:12:28
should on those things. >> Um so >> show me a graph where I don't believe
01:12:33
you. No, no, no, no. >> All right. And and uh >> shoot, I wish I brought in these these
01:12:39
uh >> these uh >> nothing. >> I was going to say the other headphones
01:12:42
that I I haven't tried, but I people I trust say are like pretty decent are the
01:12:46
the Marshall headphones, the the Monitor 3s, >> which are about the same price as these.
01:12:51
Anyway, this is all to say that I'm excited to try these headphone A's just
01:12:55
because the longer I've like observed the space, the more I've been like,
01:12:59
damn, I was really not fair to the original nothing headphones. They really are a cool offering.
01:13:06
>> Bring Yeah. I'm going to bring in the Fender next week for you to try cuz they
01:13:09
look very normal and they also cost $300 and they have lossless audio and Ora and
01:13:15
all this cool stuff and see is way better than nothing. The Sony's. >> Yeah,
01:13:20
>> the Sony's are sound so bad that um >> How bad do they >> that when I I finally confronted Rich
01:13:29
and I was like you have to stop editing on these >> because you're on because you're missing
01:13:35
you're missing so much like you're missing you're not hearing so much
01:13:39
stuff. And I gave him the Bowers and Wilkins which are not that much better headphones. Like they sound pretty bad
01:13:45
in my opinion too. And he it was literally like, "Oh my god, like I can hear the room. I can hear these
01:13:52
qualities in their voices." Like the Sony's literally are unable to recreate
01:13:55
these sounds. >> Interesting. Yeah, I would definitely not edit on them. I I usually think of
01:13:59
like the types of headphones. I think of like the the listen music listening fun
01:14:03
headphones, V-shaped, graph, all that fun stuff. And then like the more reference headphones and I've I firmly
01:14:07
put the Sony ones in the like music listening fun headphones thing. I guess my my different like what like picture
01:14:14
me telling you the video equivalent of this Marquez like picture me being like dude I have this display the blacks are
01:14:20
bright as hell the whites are not bright there's no color accuracy but it's just
01:14:24
so much fun to watch movies you know >> that's actually how TVs are >> watch movies dude
01:14:29
>> that's how I would never edit on a TV I would never edit on a TV >> no we we watch this we we all think this
01:14:35
looks everyone thinks this looks bad there's entire subreddits that are like
01:14:38
here like here's how you turn off all the stuff on your TV. But if you walk into a store and they all have all those
01:14:45
settings turned on, you buy the one that has all them turned on cuz it looks better.
01:14:48
>> Yeah, the punchy one. >> Yeah, they're like that's why they turn
01:14:50
it on. That's what people do why it's turned on. >> Am I just like so off base here that
01:14:56
this is classic? No, you're too plugged in. You care too much. >> When the when you've listened to 30
01:15:03
pairs of headphones and you know the nuance differences between them, it's easy to to like evaluate that way. I
01:15:09
know what I like. You know, there's there's that, too. There's some personal.
01:15:12
>> But I think there's I think there's a lot of people shopping for headphones
01:15:14
that are just like, "All right, I'm going to fly with these." So, I need uh
01:15:17
step one, good build, step two, good battery, step three, good noise cancellation, and then as long as they
01:15:21
sound pretty good, I'm happy. >> And that is kind of the Sony's. You're
01:15:23
right. But this is like five or 600 bucks. >> They've gone up, but they're not that
01:15:27
high. I think they're under four still. I think they're under four. >> I still think getting the older versions
01:15:32
is a better deal, but >> I agree with that. But they they stopped folding for some reason for the last
01:15:38
gen. And I have >> 460 >> 460. >> What? >> The Mark 6. >> Yeah, remember they went up.
01:15:45
>> They went up in price this year. >> 460. >> Yeah, they're hella expensive
01:15:49
>> for headphones that sound like the music is coming out of a bee's hole.
01:15:54
>> I remember when they were like 330 then they were for that. >> That is not what they sound like.
01:16:01
>> Not bad. That's like the engine. >> Yeah. Like Next up, >> that's what the Sony's sound like.
01:16:11
>> No, they don't. >> They do not sound that bad. They sound pretty good.
01:16:16
>> Someone I guarantee someone is listening to this podcast on a pair of Sony's.
01:16:20
They're going to be like, I can't hear the difference. That's just what Wait,
01:16:22
that just sounds like what it sounds like all the time. >> Oh my god, you are so hard on me.
01:16:26
>> I did forget that they were 460. I thought they were more cuz they AirPods
01:16:30
Max are like $550 and they don't lower the price and then all the others start
01:16:34
to creep up in price cuz they're all competing and then Apple comes out and seems to enable $500 headphones. Now the
01:16:38
350 ones are 400 and 450. So it's all creeping up which is valid that the nothing headphones are only 3000. That's
01:16:45
really nice. >> But yeah. >> Well, and the headphones a are 1990 and
01:16:51
they see how they sound. It's hard for me to tell exactly from the website, but
01:16:54
it seems like you can bypass a bunch of the digital stuff with the 3.5 millimeter connection, which is
01:17:00
something that a lot of headphones actually you can't do anymore. >> I just not have one.
01:17:04
>> I just want to say if you want to yell at Ellis Roven on X, >> like I'm so sorry.
01:17:12
>> I'm like genuinely so sorry if I offended you and you like the Sony's.
01:17:14
Like I do really believe like the best headphones are the ones that you like. They're the one. That's so true for for
01:17:22
headphones and earbuds. It's like the best. Don't let anyone tell you that the
01:17:26
ones that you like are bad. >> You just did. >> I personally just feel like I was going
01:17:32
to say >> you're missing on a rant about those. >> They sound like a bees.
01:17:39
>> What's But if they sold them for $100, I'd be like, "That's amazing." I'd be
01:17:44
like, "You have to go buy these. These are the best." But it's like
01:17:46
>> I go on I will say I'm on a lot of flights and I I tend to like look around
01:17:50
and notice all the headphones people are wearing and there's first of all tons
01:17:53
and tons of AirPods and I know they're $500 headphones and I'm always amazed at
01:17:57
how many AirPods there are and maybe that's cuz I'm flying out of Newark but
01:18:00
then two there's a ton of bows and Sony and I know they're not the the Bose
01:18:03
especially it's like I know they're not the best sounding but they sell them in
01:18:06
the airport vending machine and they're designed to be four flights and they
01:18:10
have tons of&c and they have the adapter in the box and >> apparently the newest ones actually
01:18:15
sound pretty good. >> Yeah, Bose Bose is a historic like Bose is an R&D company first. You know what I
01:18:20
mean? Like they put a lot of effort into this, >> but like the old Quiet Comforts had
01:18:23
pretty ass audio quality with just really good ANC. >> Yeah, but were they bees ass audio
01:18:27
quality? >> I don't I don't know if I can cosign that that statement. Um, you know,
01:18:31
there's >> there's a there's a funny thing in audio where like you know the like the like
01:18:36
mimi bell curve with like the angry dumb guy on one side and the angry genius guy
01:18:41
on the other side and like >> it's with everything. Well, no, but with
01:18:44
with headphones, it's like the I don't know anything about audio, blah, blah,
01:18:48
blah. Use AirPods. And then you have everyone arguing in the middle about what's best. And then like everyone I
01:18:54
know who's like a super esteemed, knowledgeable audio engineer, like super techy, really knows their stuff.
01:19:00
>> It's AirPods. It's like, and they wouldn't even consider using anything
01:19:03
else. >> No, it's it's the same in pretty much everything in note takingaking apps.
01:19:07
Same with c with photos. I'll have people that are like, "Oh, look at this
01:19:10
awesome picture." And it's like the worst picture I've ever seen. Like the
01:19:14
HDR is just like, >> "Did you shoot this from a bee's? What is this?"
01:19:20
>> Cuz it sounds like the sound is coming out of a really skinny tube. That's what
01:19:24
I was trying to >> I was just saying. >> I can't wait for the new merch.
01:19:30
>> Bele merch. >> The m the area under the curve of people that really like ass
01:19:38
is high as >> it is. In fact, >> I'm not going to understand what you
01:19:44
just said cuz it's getting bleeped entirely. >> I'm going to I'm going to leave whole so
01:19:49
people know. >> All of the most But you're right. Every category, all of the most mid products
01:19:53
in the middle are all fighting each other. And then the just like thoughtless product on each end is
01:19:58
probably the one most people should get and that's fine cuz you don't want to
01:20:00
think about it. >> Yes. >> Ellis is just saying though that thoughtless product on each end should
01:20:05
be the nothing headphones. No, >> Carl Pay will clip that. >> I'm saying I'm saying I'm saying Carl,
01:20:14
you know, I got on I got over there right where Andrew is sitting and did not give you a fair shot and and I
01:20:20
apologize and I and I have since come around, >> but but it's an it's a great it it fits
01:20:27
in to the the product lineup >> really well at a competitive price with competitive offerings. I don't know
01:20:33
about all that. You got to use the app stuff. But that part black >> the new nothing headphones. A It looks
01:20:40
like you have a pair of AirPods that are glued to the side of a square. >> It would be sick if you could pull a
01:20:46
pair of earbuds out of that. >> That would be cool. That's what they look like except they're going
01:20:51
>> all this to say, we should get these here. We should listen to them. We
01:20:53
should put them on Ellis's head and have them live react to them. >> Yes. Should see if we can get 135 hours
01:20:59
of listening. >> Yeah. I want to try them because I want to see how often people stare at me with
01:21:03
them and then just take them off and don't want to be the person being stared
01:21:06
at anymore. >> Yeah, they're $100 cheaper. I don't know if we said that.
01:21:09
>> Yeah, >> somewhere in in there we did mention it and but >> yeah,
01:21:14
>> probably got lost. >> All right. All right. Well, we do have a little bit more to talk about after the
01:21:18
break. So, before that break trivia like nothing's nothing's design team
01:21:24
simultaneously cooked and like got cooked. >> Okay, question two. Speaking of nothing,
01:21:30
the first video ever uploaded to nothing's YouTube channel was uploaded when? Closest without going over.
01:21:38
>> Wasn't it just like a prank video? >> It was a hype video. It was definitely a
01:21:42
>> like a ladybug and a prank lady. It was like 8 to 12 months before they launched
01:21:47
their first product. >> What? It was irrelevant. When it was >> relevant,
01:21:53
>> is this closest delta or closest without going over? We'll brainstorm that a little
01:21:58
bit. We'll be right back. All right, welcome back. Uh, really quick here because we spent a really
01:22:12
long time talking about bees there. Um, >> I got bees, boy. >> We've talked multiple times about how
01:22:17
like AI overviews and whatever are going to really uh screw up page views and journalists getting paid and reviewers
01:22:25
getting paid. And we saw that happen this week with the website ratings or rings um is how it's spelled out. But
01:22:33
they had to kind of make a huge change to their website. They are uh they're
01:22:37
known for doing super in-depth reviews on a lot of things, tech included, one of the largest. But
01:22:42
>> like so in-depth that when you're shopping for a printer, you can compare
01:22:45
printers by cost per page or like pages per hour or cost per hour at max flow, you know, like Yeah. Like they're the
01:22:53
ones. >> Yeah. It's deep. And it's like they're doing it with different equipment on a
01:22:57
lot of different things to be able to test these. So that obviously costs money, but um previously it was free and
01:23:03
now they had to make a pretty large change to make uh the full in-depth reviews of everything behind a payw
01:23:11
wall. Uh it is now $10 a month or $45 a year. But the most interesting thing about this uh announcement was an a
01:23:21
section of their release saying why we're making this change. It says, "Ratings.com has historically relied
01:23:26
heavily on organic search traffic from Google and affiliate links. That model is becoming less reliable. Fewer people
01:23:31
click through Google organic results than they used to. At the same time, AI actively scrapes and reuses our test
01:23:36
results, often without attribution and without the context needed to interpret them correctly. That's like a huge thing
01:23:42
by itself, interpreting things correctly." Yeah. >> Uh, meanwhile, performing lab-based and
01:23:47
in-depth testing is expensive. We buy every product ourselves like normal consumers. No paid or sponsored reviews.
01:23:52
Test them using standardized repeatable methods and publish the full test results transparently. A membership
01:23:58
supported model reduces our dependency on Google. Limits unrestricted AI scraping for our test results and gives
01:24:02
us incentives that are more sustainable and aligned with our customers. So, this
01:24:08
>> sucks but is necessary, I guess, is the easiest way of putting it. It stinks for
01:24:12
all the people who want to just go to their website and support them, but also like I don't know, not many people are
01:24:19
going to pay $10 to just go for a month or pay $45 a year for a reviewing website because you don't buy things
01:24:28
that often. Lots of times you're just like in the pinch of comparing things and want to go check it.
01:24:34
>> Yeah. >> So, this is a tough look. >> This is part of the inevitable death of
01:24:39
SEO and the web. I mean, every website for the longest time. Adam and I used to work at Android Authority and we were
01:24:44
privy to a lot of the SEO that the people would have to talk about all the time. And it it basically equated to
01:24:51
Google makes all of these changes constantly that you have to adapt to. Often times when you're adapting to it,
01:24:58
making these changes makes your website worse, but if you don't, then Google
01:25:02
will derank your website because you are optimizing the way you show up in Google
01:25:06
search. >> Yeah. And with the speed of which this stuff is changing, especially with AI
01:25:10
overviews and all of this stuff, now you have the additional factor of having to
01:25:14
like adapt to what the AI overview shows. If it chooses your website to show in the AI overview, if it chooses
01:25:20
you to show in Gemini when Gemini gives uh gives sources and stuff like that. >> And I mean, there's a reason a lot of
01:25:27
websites are moving to paid. The Verge moved to paid about a year ago. That was a pretty major change. It made their web
01:25:32
traffic really sink a lot. But they are making a lot more money on subscriptions. I just think the entire
01:25:38
internet is moving more towards direct to creator payments because SEO is just kind of dying very rapidly.
01:25:45
>> So I think I'm like thinking out loud here. This I think this is my real beef
01:25:49
with AI overviews. I know I know Ellis like it's the accuracy and there's a
01:25:53
bunch of other things are wrong about it but >> I think it's because the like it it so
01:25:59
fundamentally removes the incentives to make good stuff right so before and I there's you know the ratings video kind
01:26:06
of illustrates this perfectly but like when you make good stuff and you optimize for people to find that good
01:26:12
stuff Google and all the search engines when people are in the buying process will funnel you will funnel those people
01:26:18
to find your stuff. >> Yeah. And so you make the stuff because people find it and you get paid from the
01:26:23
ads and the cycle continues. So you're incentivized to make good stuff so that
01:26:26
more people find it. Now you make good stuff. That stuff gets scraped by AI overview. And when people start to go
01:26:35
through that buying process, they find the AI overview and they never find your stuff. So the only incentive you have to
01:26:41
make good stuff is to be the source for the AI overview to be good. And you don't get any credit for that and you
01:26:46
don't get paid for that. So the incentive is effectively gone. Yeah. >> So, think about that. The effect the the
01:26:52
incentive to make good stuff is gone. Now, why would you make any more stuff? It's almost like we've decided, all
01:26:59
right, the entire corpus of human knowledge is complete. We need nothing more to be new. We will just be trained
01:27:04
on the old stuff. That is that is my that's a bummer. This is a concern that
01:27:09
we talked about at the very beginning of this. We literally said, "What happens
01:27:13
when there is no incentive to go to a website because the answers are all on Google?" And like, "Why would you make
01:27:20
content if people are not going to go to your page and you can't get paid for
01:27:23
it?" And then the AI has nothing to grab from. Like that that is the question
01:27:26
that we asked 3 years ago and now it's actually hitting websites really hard.
01:27:31
Yeah. So, we're seeing like the Verge and ratings and like adding membership
01:27:35
programs because there are still enthusiasts willing to support the creation of good stuff and you know the
01:27:40
membership program is maybe the most ideal way to do that. I subscribe to The Verge. to read a lot of these things,
01:27:45
but it's often like >> uh like Wire Cutter for example, I brought up earlier or off camera, but
01:27:49
like when I'm about to buy a blender and I'm doing my six hours of way too much
01:27:54
research to buy the perfect blender, that's when I'm deep in the ratings and
01:27:58
the wire cutter and the Verge and reading blender reviews. >> Yeah. >> And then once that's over, I'm not going
01:28:04
to read another Blender review for years. That stuff I'm not going to do that. So, it's hard to get people to
01:28:09
support and to, you know, spend regularly on something when it seems like there's the incentive is gone.
01:28:14
>> This is specifically hard because I don't think a lot of people are Yeah.
01:28:17
reading ratings for fun. Like we don't, we are part entertainment, right? So,
01:28:21
like people see our reviews, but we're also entertainment. So, that's not
01:28:25
getting hit as hard. But like this kind of stuff that is just like >> numbers and what prints per minute or
01:28:31
Marquez's smoothies per hour and his blender likeuge. >> This is not the stuff you read for fun.
01:28:36
This is the stuff you read for a purpose. And when you don't have that purpose, it's really hard to pay monthly
01:28:41
or yearly on it. Even though >> I don't know if you were like buying a
01:28:44
new house and equipping it for the next year, maybe 45 bucks for the year wouldn't be bad. But that's not a great
01:28:49
business model to be like, "Cool, every time someone buys a house, we'll get one
01:28:53
year of uh a subscription." So this I feel bad for ratings. This is just absolutely probably tanking there.
01:29:00
>> It's very tough for stuff like this. There's um there's an interesting graph
01:29:03
and also a chart as Marquez like to call out. Yes. >> That shows the decline of peak traffic
01:29:09
on tech websites year-over-year. And it's it's pretty nasty. Like all of
01:29:14
these numbers are really high. And it's only a oneyear graph. >> 2024. Yeah. To now, I guess. Year and a
01:29:21
half. So March 2024, Digital Trends got 8.5 million peak traffic. January 26, they got 264,000.
01:29:31
That's a decline of 97%. >> That was a rounding error in their previous number.
01:29:36
>> Now it's their entire traffic is crazy. >> Yeah. >> I mean, this is going to decimate
01:29:40
websites on the internet because the same way that Facebook video when it decided to not be a thing anymore, like
01:29:46
ruined Buzzfeed basically. >> Yeah. >> This is what Google SEO is doing to all
01:29:50
the internets that have built businesses being the source of information. Well, what's crazy is like I think a lot of
01:29:55
these websites like well services like Google they they just sort of think social media is free information and I
01:30:02
think in their head if you take the average of all information about one topic you get closer to a source of
01:30:10
truth right because there's signal to noise hopefully you have more signal than you have noise and if you take a
01:30:15
billion sources hopefully you have the right data and I think all of these services and websites are just kind of
01:30:21
like why do we have to pay websites when You know, we could social media is free
01:30:25
like quote unquote journalism or information and you can just theoretically get closer to a source of
01:30:32
truth, >> but that really just it destroys the internet as we know it currently. So,
01:30:38
it's not good. >> We talk doesn't give good information for the most part.
01:30:41
>> Yeah. I mean, there's a reason why there are certain trusted sources because they
01:30:44
have processes in place that will take away the noise. I agree with you, but I I think that they just think that on a
01:30:50
on a numbers basis, if you have 1 billion people talking about a thing, the average is always higher to truth.
01:30:56
That that's exactly what poly markets like, you know, all of these guys, they
01:31:01
say like, "Oh, we can predict what's going to happen because people are
01:31:04
putting their money towards this thing because they this many people think it'll happen and that means it will
01:31:09
probably happen." I don't know if that's true or not. Uh there's a zillion
01:31:13
problems with that, but um either way, >> the average number of arms per human is
01:31:18
less than two. That's taking all the data about all humans ever. The average
01:31:23
number of arms. Just saying. Sometimes that logic can be flawed. >> It's I just don't think
01:31:29
that was a fire exam. Just saying. I just they don't all just think hard enough about stuff like this because
01:31:35
they just want to get their >> I disagree. I think they know they don't
01:31:39
know, dude. Google At a certain point though, this is going to screw themselves when their AI can't scrape
01:31:44
things anymore because no one's making no one can get paid to make the >> everyone is making stuff all the time
01:31:50
for free >> on social media, >> I guess. But now that that level of what
01:31:54
we get is worse and then >> Oh yeah. >> And then it just all turns into nothing
01:31:59
when the free stuff is that's being made is >> doesn't mean anything. Nothing was the
01:32:04
last segment where I >> we've talked >> I just remember we talked to somebody
01:32:10
who made an AI product. Uh I won't name them but we brought this up to him and
01:32:15
he said I don't think you guys should have any worries. You make really good
01:32:18
stuff. And I was like I'm not talking about us. I'm talking about like these
01:32:22
people the people who are doing the in-depth web textbased reviews and like that. And it felt like he'd never heard
01:32:29
that before. >> Yeah. >> It's gone. It's This stuff is going to
01:32:32
be gone. >> This Yeah, this feels similar. I I went to Claw Con last night. Um who
01:32:38
>> you know Cladbot? We talked about Cloudbot. >> Open Claw. >> Open Claw. Sorry. You remember OpenClaw?
01:32:42
We talked about Open. I went to >> Is that the one where everyone dresses up as Santa and like goes around the
01:32:46
city? >> I thought that was somehow worse. >> Somehow worse. Everybody did have um
01:32:52
lobster hats on. >> Okay. But the people I talked to primarily were like, "Oh yeah, well you
01:32:57
can just like create your own apps and blah blah blah and everything." thing
01:32:59
and I was like, "Okay, but what happens when all the ser people don't need to
01:33:02
use any services anymore because they can just spin up their own services?"
01:33:05
And they're like, "Well, that's fine." It's like, "Okay, but then how do people
01:33:08
make money?" Like, "Well, you can sell your apps that you make." And I'm like,
01:33:11
>> "But no one will buy it because they can all make >> people get money so they can pay for
01:33:16
housing and food." >> Those are the primary things I think you're forgetting that people need.
01:33:21
>> Yeah. >> Similar to this. >> How often did you run into that the like
01:33:26
meme of like you should try Open Claw? It's awesome. Cool. What do you do? It's
01:33:30
really cool. I use it every day. Oh, yeah. But what are you making? You're going to get left behind.
01:33:34
>> That's exactly why I went to to the conference. And I did find some pretty
01:33:40
insane use cases that people were using with for I did have to actually talk to people because the actual event where
01:33:45
they talked about everything that was going on. They had a bunch of speakers. All of them were just OpenClaw rappers
01:33:51
to try to sell you like an easier way to use it, >> which is very ironic. Yeah, I know. They
01:33:56
also did have a rapper there. They did have a route. It was very Silicon Valley, I will tell you.
01:34:00
>> Anyway, um there were some use cases. Either way, >> I'm sort of just equating that to this
01:34:06
because it's like >> I understand the revenue generation angle, but you're not thinking far
01:34:14
enough into the future where it's like why would people buy use your service
01:34:18
and buy your thing if you're taking away if you're giving everyone the ability to
01:34:23
have the service and the thing? >> Yeah. >> You know what I mean? I don't know
01:34:27
democratization in a way is like good but also bad sometimes >> we uh this is not I guess it's it's sort
01:34:35
of a unique situation but I I do have sort of like faith that god forbid like we do lose things like ratings and the
01:34:42
verge and like these places that do give these like really important honest reviews Tom good mashable that the
01:34:48
pendulum will swing back in the other direction um I'm mostly thinking about
01:34:55
consumer reports which I think is a little bit more safe because they're a nonprofit and they get
01:35:00
a lot of money through donations. >> Um, and you know, a big part of the founding of Consumer Reports in the late
01:35:09
20s, early 30s was like this period of time where corporations could just were literally killing people with their
01:35:16
products and and there was like not really any like consumer protection ability. And I'm not saying like we're
01:35:22
going to go all the way back there where like you don't know if your the product
01:35:25
if this blender you're going to buy is going to end your life or not. Um but I
01:35:31
you know we we could get close to back there and and it'll necessitate like we'll need some way to know. I think
01:35:38
Google would probably say enough people are truthful, but I don't. >> But they're not. Well, no. No.
01:35:44
>> And I'm saying what I'm saying what Google would say. >> Like if you know, God forbid. Did you
01:35:49
guys watch the Hank Green video, the hourlong AI? Like the thing that he said about how like there's a world where
01:35:56
>> we we lose access to like all of Google and all of and and all of our information is gained through some sort
01:36:02
of like LLM interface. And at that point, there's literally no way to know what's true because you'll have three
01:36:08
sources of truth, you know, anthropic, OpenAI, and Google. And whatever they want you to believe, there's you'll have
01:36:17
literally no way to fact check it, you know. Um, so when you're like, is this
01:36:20
the best blender? You know, Google will decide what the best blender is and and sell you that one.
01:36:26
>> Open AI will serve you an ad. >> Yeah. There there was like a period of
01:36:28
time, remember, where like auto car companies were genuinely telling consumers like your car will be worse
01:36:34
with seat belts in it. >> Like remember like that was like like we've been there before. There's nothing
01:36:39
stopping us from going back there. And so I do have faith that eventually like >> this is just a thing that we need in a
01:36:45
developed society and somehow someway we as a as a populace will hopefully figure
01:36:51
it out. >> People still do value quality and this has been sort of the ultimate debate
01:36:55
that people have been talking about like with AI slop will that actually make quality more valuable and people will
01:37:01
gravitate towards the quality we don't really know yet we're still too early in
01:37:05
the stage >> I think that obviously people go towards the lowest friction generally so there
01:37:11
will be a lot of slop that will be consumed >> but the big question is will people also
01:37:16
seek out the quality stuff which will still find a way to exist um either way it seems like most of these websites
01:37:22
really are going to start moving towards subscription models I see the value in the verge moving towards has a
01:37:27
subscription model. I think a lot of people like to read news is like the money maker for them. I don't know how
01:37:33
Artings or Ratings has a subscription model and uses that to exist. >> Do you know how farm co-ops work? I feel
01:37:39
like this is the this is how we should figure this out where like like let's
01:37:42
say and I'm not a farmer so please let me know if I get some of this wrong but
01:37:46
my understanding is like if you live in like South Dakota, right? and you live in this place where like there's a bunch
01:37:51
of independent farmers and you all grow corn. You know, you could try to set up business deals with corn distributors
01:37:58
and people who are going to use your corn. Or you could establish a co-op and all the farmers drop their corn off at
01:38:04
this mutually owned place and then the co-op is the one that handles selling all the corn. Yeah. And you just get
01:38:10
paid off. You know, you you with the the co-op consortium decides on how much they're going to sell the corn for and
01:38:15
then you divide the things. That'd be a cool way to do these sort of reviews,
01:38:18
right? is like is like you have like one place you go for all of these sites independent testing, you know, and you
01:38:25
pay for that collectively. We all pay for that and then that money can get distributed.
01:38:30
>> There was a cool um service that Twitter owned before uh it got bought >> Vine.
01:38:36
>> No. Well, I don't I don't know if that was cool or not. >> Uh it created it created the Paul
01:38:41
brothers. Um, regardless of that, they had this service where you could pay like a $5
01:38:48
fee and it would allow you to if you clicked a link on Twitter for a website that had a payw wall, it would let you
01:38:55
like read it without the payw wall or like it would remove all the banner ads or whatever. And it was a super cool
01:39:00
idea and I don't know if it was working or not. >> They had this scalable thing where it
01:39:05
was like >> the more websites that got on the more it would distribute the money. So
01:39:09
obviously the more websites the less money. News is another great >> Yeah, Apple News is a good example of
01:39:14
that, too. >> I don't know if either of those services took advantage of these platforms, but
01:39:17
to me, like instead of being like >> like with Marquez, it's like, dude, I
01:39:21
don't I don't need to pay for Blender honesty 24/7, you know? But if I I do
01:39:27
need to pay for product honesty 24/7. And so, if there was some sort of consortium here,
01:39:31
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. It's sad that we have to start thinking about these things like this is
01:39:36
what Sam Alman's always being like is like in a world without money, how do we
01:39:40
give people UBI or whatever. It's like I don't like to Why are you forcing this
01:39:45
world on us right now? Um yeah, it's sad. Anyway, you should subscribe to I you should subscribe to news that you
01:39:52
care about and websites that you care about. I think that's kind of the crux
01:39:55
of it. If you're willing to subscribe to like Netflix or HBO Max, like think
01:40:00
about your con like the the quality of your content consumption and what actually matters to you in your regular
01:40:05
life. And it's important to give news. >> We were a few days away from those being
01:40:10
the same company. >> We were >> and yet something worse happened. >> Oracle is now
01:40:16
>> Oracle's son dad. >> Yeah, son. I'll throw one more sad thing
01:40:21
in here in the >> sad part of this, but of uh if you own uh Meta Ray-B bands, you should probably
01:40:28
read the article uh that just came out about them and the video camera on it. We definitely don't have time to talk
01:40:34
about. In fact, the ratings thing I thought was going to be the least depressing thing we could have talked
01:40:37
about and it definitely was not true. But yeah, uh if you have these, go read them. Maybe we'll talk about it next
01:40:42
week. But >> you probably cover the cameras. >> Yeah. But uh we probably should get you
01:40:49
to trivia because Adam and Ellis need to edit this very fast to come out by tomorrow.
01:40:57
>> You need one. >> Trivia. Dude, >> I've got a marker. >> When the when the death bots come for
01:41:03
us, I'm going to do a trivia question like the band on the Titanic going down
01:41:08
with the ship. That's going to be that's going to be my final gift to humanity.
01:41:11
Guys, the MacBook Neo is here. None of us knew it was coming until it came. And uh you know, so how many other tech
01:41:21
products can you guys name with the word Neo in it? You get one point per product. You guys got mad at me because
01:41:29
I made the questions too hard and you weren't scoring. So this is literally a
01:41:32
waterfall of points available for you guys. You could literally bathe in the points.
01:41:37
>> I only have one and it's >> dude. And I'm going to be so It doesn't
01:41:40
matter. I'm going to be really lenient. hardware, software. If it uses electricity in any way and it has the
01:41:47
letters neo consecutively in it, I will be fine. >> Oh my god. >> How many did you guys get? You guys were
01:41:55
running pretty good. >> You definitely don't have the same thing I have.
01:41:58
>> All right. >> Go to bed. >> Flip them and read. What do you got?
01:42:01
>> Okay. >> All right. Who wants to go first? Who wants to go first?
01:42:04
>> Um, I'll go. I wrote Neopets. >> I'll accept that answer.
01:42:10
>> I didn't think about that. The nothing headphone one. N E O N E. Damn,
01:42:16
>> dude. You know, at this point, whatever. >> It's yours, bro. >> Clever enough to deserve the point.
01:42:22
>> I wrote four things. >> Let's see it. >> I wrote the Surface Neo.
01:42:25
>> The point's yours. Great. >> All right. I put uh a Neo, that like
01:42:29
phone company. A Neo or whatever it is. >> A Y A Neo Neo. >> They make portable gaming consoles.
01:42:36
Yeah. >> Okay. I'll give you that point even though you spelled it wrong. Um, Neowin,
01:42:40
which is the tech website. >> Oh, >> yep. That exists. You get it. >> Uh, and Neon,
01:42:46
>> if you can tell me. >> This is like the It's a technology. If
01:42:49
>> you can tell me what >> No, it's a noble gas. >> Yeah, it's a noble gas.
01:42:53
>> No, I can't give you that. >> No. No. >> You're going to be
01:42:57
>> really >> It's a noble gas. >> If you could tell me how many electrons
01:43:01
are in its outer shell, I'll give you that point. >> 47. >> No. >> A no.
01:43:05
>> Guys, do you want to hear some of the ones that you missed? Sure. >> You missed the 1x Neo robot that's
01:43:13
coming out soon. You missed the LG Neo Chef, a microwave, the Samsung Neo, which is a QLED TV.
01:43:20
>> I should have just written Samsung Neo. >> LG Neo, Samsung Neo, >> the DJI Neo, a pocket-size drone. The
01:43:28
Realme GT Neo, a budget phone or no, smartphone. The Motorola Edge 5G Neo, that's a budget phone. The old Kiosera
01:43:37
Neo, a flip phone. The Nubia Neo, a budget smartphone. The Xeria Neo from 2011. Remember,
01:43:44
>> and the Vivo IU Neo 10R, >> the Vivo Neo. >> Wow, >> I like it.
01:43:52
>> All right. Damn. So, not neon though, you're sure. >> David, if you can tell me how many
01:43:57
electrons are in its outer shell, give me that point because Ellis said it's a
01:44:02
noble gas. It is a noble gas, >> which means >> it has less than 10.
01:44:06
>> Yeah, it does. But I'm not giving you that point anyway. >> If you can tell me what neon smells
01:44:10
like, I'll give you the point. >> Ooh, sulfur. >> No, it's odorless.
01:44:14
>> Damn. >> That was good. You had two chances. All right. Marquez gets 16 points. Well, he
01:44:21
doesn't get He has 16 points. Andrew with 18 and David now in the lead with 20. That was a free-for-all.
01:44:27
>> Oh, baby. >> All right. Next question. The first video ever uploaded to the Nothing
01:44:33
YouTube channel was uploaded on what date? Closest without going over. >> Okay.
01:44:40
Use your maths. Think. Think. >> I guess this would be >> oldest without going newer.
01:44:54
>> Wait, sorry. >> Right. >> Month. Just year. >> I'll take anything.
01:44:58
>> Yeah. Oldest without going. All of it. Yeah. Like pick a date. >> All right.
01:45:04
All right. Flip them and read. What do we got? Oh, >> wow. >> I'm so excit No, I definitely wrote down
01:45:17
incorrectly. >> Uh, I wrote June 8th, 2021 at 5:55 a.m. London time. >> Okay. Answer.
01:45:24
>> You did not write London. What? >> I wrote March 2023. Okay. >> I wrote March 1st, 2021.
01:45:31
>> Damn. No one got the point. >> We all went too. >> You're all too new.
01:45:35
>> Really? >> It's funny. I accidentally wrote 2020 and then put three over it. Would that
01:45:40
have been okay? >> Dang. >> It was February 18th, 2021. >> Oh,
01:45:45
>> yeah. >> That was close. >> Damn, that was close. >> I know you guys got close, but you went
01:45:49
over close without >> like one day off. I I I started here February 1st, 2021, and I remember it
01:45:56
being soon after I started, but I didn't know it was like within two weeks. >> Yeah. Well, good game. GG.
01:46:00
>> Damn. >> All right. >> Almost so Ellis and I can start this
01:46:04
edit. >> Dang. Hey, long week. It's Teember/March. Uh, which means there's probably going
01:46:08
to be a bunch of stuff next week, too. So, get subscribed if you haven't already. Hit that like button down
01:46:12
below. Leave us a comment and comment iceberg lettuce if you made it this far in the episode. Nice.
01:46:17
>> Thanks for watching. Catch you later. Also, if you're at South by Southwest,
01:46:21
see you there next Friday. >> Yeah. >> Merry Tarchmus. >> Peace.
01:46:25
>> Wer is produced by Adamina and Ellis River. Partner with Vox Media Podcast
01:46:28
Network. Natural music was created by Vain Sil. >> Bingo. >> Bingo. >> Should we
01:46:42
like >> It's not a graph. It's a chart. >> Okay. >> A chart is a moving. I would like to see
01:46:47
a graph. There's a graph near the

Episode Highlights

  • Apple's New Products
    A recap of Apple's latest product launches including iPhone 17e and MacBook updates.
    “Apple dropped a little uh we we’d had a week-long event.”
    @ 04m 50s
    March 06, 2026
  • Storage Wars: Apple vs Google
    Apple's new storage strategy puts pressure on Google, as they double storage for the same price.
    “This just feels like they're picking on Google at this point.”
    @ 16m 58s
    March 06, 2026
  • The Color Debate
    Discussion around the MacBook Neo's color options and consumer preferences.
    “Everyone I know that pre-ordered one pre-ordered the piss color.”
    @ 22m 43s
    March 06, 2026
  • The Evolution of Laptops
    A reflection on how laptops have transformed into powerful workstations.
    “It’s just a laptop.”
    @ 33m 16s
    March 06, 2026
  • The MacBook Neo Discussion
    A deep dive into the MacBook Neo's specs and comparisons with other laptops.
    “Stay tuned for the Neo review.”
    @ 38m 18s
    March 06, 2026
  • The Nothing Phone 4A Pro
    The 4A Pro is announced with impressive specs and a unique design.
    “This morning I came in and there’s two new nothing products I didn’t know about.”
    @ 52m 01s
    March 06, 2026
  • Headphones A Launch
    Nothing introduces a new tier of headphones with a lower price point.
    “We assume that this is a slightly lower-end set of headphones, but it still has all the nothing design philosophy.”
    @ 01h 01m 47s
    March 06, 2026
  • Fender's New Headphones
    The hosts reveal Fender's new headphones with innovative features and lossless audio capabilities.
    “They’re sort of trying to be like the Fairphone headphones.”
    @ 01h 08m 07s
    March 06, 2026
  • Headphone Price Wars
    The rising prices of headphones in the market are scrutinized by the hosts.
    “Now the 350 ones are 400 and 450. So it’s all creeping up.”
    @ 01h 16m 36s
    March 06, 2026
  • The Death of SEO
    A conversation on the decline of SEO and its impact on content creation.
    “This is part of the inevitable death of SEO and the web.”
    @ 01h 24m 39s
    March 06, 2026
  • The Future of Consumer Reviews
    A discussion on the importance of honest consumer reviews and the potential pitfalls of AI-generated content.
    “We could get close to back there and it’ll necessitate...”
    @ 01h 35m 36s
    March 06, 2026
  • Trivia Time
    A light-hearted trivia segment where participants name tech products with 'Neo' in them.
    “How many other tech products can you guys name with the word Neo in it?”
    @ 01h 41m 15s
    March 06, 2026

Episode Quotes

  • That's really what I'm most excited about, to be honest.
    Nothing Like a New MacBook!
  • It is so crazy that you can run Mac OS on an A18.
    Nothing Like a New MacBook!
  • Nothing's a weird name for a company.
    Nothing Like a New MacBook!
  • I think I kind of like them more than the regular nothing headphones.
    Nothing Like a New MacBook!
  • Don't let anyone tell you that the ones you like are bad.
    Nothing Like a New MacBook!
  • There’s nothing stopping us from going back there.
    Nothing Like a New MacBook!

Key Moments

  • Storage Mogging16:19
  • Laptops vs. Workstations33:29
  • Disruptive Technology38:21
  • New Phone Announcement52:01
  • Price Reveal57:12
  • Design Preferences1:02:46
  • Headphone Preferences1:17:26
  • Subscription Models1:37:21

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown