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00:00Okay, be honest, which would you be more excited to get a MacBook or a Zenbook? That's right
00:05We're talking Mac versus PC or you know Mac versus Windows PC because they're both personal computers
00:11But it's a pretty good time to assess how they're doing see who makes better laptops because it is actually the 40th
00:16anniversary of the Mac this year, so
00:18Yeah, which one would you rather go for? I'm sure the comments are all gonna be really positive for this one
00:23So this is the MacBook Air 13 M2 and this is the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED
00:29I picked these two as they represent some of the best bits from both platforms and for a little bit over a grand
00:34They're actually very similarly priced and pretty much direct competitors
00:38so let's start with money the price because that could make the decision for you because there are
00:43literally hundreds of Windows 11 laptops that you can get between two and six hundred pounds, but at
00:50999 pounds this somewhat aging M1 powered MacBook Air is the cheapest
00:55You'll get a Mac outside of refurbs and resellers
00:57Although like most MacBooks the base spec is usually the best value because once you start adding more RAM or more storage
01:04Macs especially can start getting very expensive and just to give you a bit of an idea the MacBook Pro 16 with the m3 max
01:10Which I'm actually using here as my daily workhorse and we'll talk about this more in a second
01:15Max Dell which actually is this review sample from Apple 8 terabytes of storage the m3 max 128 gigs unified memory
01:22It's like seven thousand three hundred pounds or something. It's absolutely ludicrous
01:26Obviously, you can get super expensive Windows laptops, particularly gaming and workstations
01:29But generally we're not talking about that same kind of crazy money. And also you can upgrade them yourself
01:35You can upgrade the RAM
01:36This is Steve the one problem the biggest problem I have is that I recommend people upgrade to 512 gigs of storage on Mac
01:42from the base
01:42256 with the m2 air here because you can't upgrade it you're stuck with it for life unless you carry around an external SSD which
01:48Of course you can but just generally for value for money
01:51Windows is always the way to go
01:52I think for example a two terabyte SSD costs around a hundred pounds and you can upgrade most laptops with this but specking two
02:00Terabytes on a MacBook Air costs 800 pounds extra
02:03So being able to upgrade over time is much more cost-efficient than having to upgrade the whole laptop and most the time
02:09It's not the end of the world to replace the battery either
02:11The flip side is that generally Macs do hold their value for longer
02:15They are more desirable items and also generally because there's less fragmentation
02:19Apple control the software and the hardware and there's just fewer devices on the whole
02:22You're probably gonna have fewer problems buying a Mac and also Apple's custom service is you know, top-notch. It's hard to beat that
02:29This is always so dangerous
02:30Okay
02:31Let's talk about the sort of designs and the displays and as you can see these are both as they turn off that one
02:36I'm going to spare hands. These are both
02:39Beautifully designed lovely laptops to use fantastic keyboards and trackpads gorgeous screens
02:44There aren't enough superlatives to describe how these thin and light laptops which as I say about 1,100 pounds are
02:49Absolutely, lovely and really good all-rounders, but there are a couple of differences and the main one really is the screen
02:54I'm not even talking about the notch between these two the Mac gives you a 60 Hertz
03:00LED LCD screen right whereas the ZenBook gives you a OLED
03:05120 Hertz touchscreen for the same kind of money. It's fast as well
03:09This ZenBook is one of the first laptops to ship with Intel's latest Meteor Lake processors
03:14Aka 14th gen CPUs, which includes the much faster Intel Arc integrated graphics
03:20Which is roughly twice as fast as last year's graphics. We get a much bigger battery
03:24Although actual battery life is broadly similar
03:26Wi-Fi 6e we get double the storage double the RAM and it's 50 quid cheaper than the air
03:32It's so much better value and plugged in this higher-end Intel Core Ultra 7 155H chip
03:38I've got in here beats the M2 in my Geekbench 6 CPU multicore score and also open CL GPU tests
03:44Although Apple's chip still has a single core advantage and one of the key advantages of the Macs
03:49Especially going up to the pros is its ability to give you pretty much that full
03:53Performance whether you're plugged in or on battery Windows machines
03:56Particularly if you've got a dedicated graphics card are going to slow down and throttle also quick mention while on the Mac
04:01We have two Thunderbolt ports and a headphone jack on the ZenBook
04:05We have two Thunderbolt ports and a USB type-a and an HDMI 2.1. So in terms of connectivity and Wi-Fi 6e
04:13And that's the boring stuff because actually Windows laptop manufacturers are pushing PCs even further with
04:19convertible 2-in-1s
04:20ultra lightweight machines some of which can even squeeze in a GPU and
04:24really cool stuff like the Asus ZenBook Duo or the Lenovo Yoga 9i with dual OLED touchscreens and
04:31Then there's gaming laptops
04:33I don't know why I did that but I could spend a whole video just talking about gaming laptops
04:36It is for many the only reason they still stick with PC and Windows because frankly it is by far the best experience for gaming
04:43Yes, we have the Apple Arcade and actually Apple are pushing more for developers to port their games over to Mac OS
04:50But really PCs are where it's at Windows PCs
04:53I know I know with everything from an RTX 4050 to a 4090 and of course AMD's cards as well
04:59Beefy cooling systems high refresh low latency screens and fast memory and storage which means they can also double as workstations
05:06Editing and rendering by day and gaming and streaming by night if you will
05:10For example, the recently updated ROG Zephyrus G16 looks just like the MacBook Pro
05:16It's like the same size same metal chassis and same color really
05:19but this can be spec'd with a 4090 and an OLED screen and
05:23Then of course, there are actual workstations with extras and top quality screens designed for engineering or 3d work
05:29The bottom line is there's just so much more choice when it comes to a Windows PC
05:33Whether it's a thin light a gaming laptop a workstation, whatever you fancy
05:37They're upgradable generally and also there's something for pretty much every budget and I genuinely think Windows laptops are more exciting than they have
05:43Been in years with even better stuff just around the corner like Kintels Lunar Lake CPUs and AMD's Zen 5 CPUs and Nvidia's super GPUs
05:51So why not just buy a ZenBook or a Windows PC? Look how excited I am
05:56Well, there's a reason these laptop manufacturers and Nvidia and Intel and AMD and all those people are being extra competitive right now
06:03That's because Apple is dominating
06:05The entire Mac range now is powered by Apple's own silicon whether it's an M1, M2 or M3 chip and this has been
06:12revolutionary for the PC market and right now and for the past couple of years really MacBooks have offered the perfect balance of
06:18Performance and battery life. They're fast. They're ridiculously efficient
06:23They run just as well on battery and also they generally run cooler and quieter and for me
06:27I remember it was the MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro where I finally switched from my
06:33Trusted Dell XPS that I've been using for years and constantly like a little bit disappointed that each
06:38Iteration of a year wasn't that much better, but then suddenly Apple switched from Intel to their own silicon
06:42We had a new MacBook Pro and it was fantastic
06:46Fast forward a couple years and now I'm using this Pro 16 with an M3 Max as my workhorse
06:52I can edit high bitrate 4k 60 video all day on my MacBook Pro with dozens of Chrome tabs open Photoshop Lightroom
06:58It is a challenge to get this thing to slow down
07:00And if you're shooting in ProRes and editing with Final Cut or working with Logic and Apple's own suite of apps
07:06It's even more optimized and frankly the M3 Max is overkill
07:10It's more than anyone really needs unless you're editing Pixar movies
07:13but what that means is you don't have to spend that much money on M3 Max because of the scalability because of the
07:19trickle-down performance if you will of the M series chips that you can get away with an M2 MacBook Air or even still an
07:25M1 MacBook Air and do pretty much everything you need and pay a lot less money still get great battery life
07:32Fantastic webcams and speakers these lovely keyboard and touchpads if anything was going to be described as a good all-rounder
07:38It would be the MacBook Air and if you do need a bit more screen real estate as they say then you've also got the option
07:44The 15-inch MacBook Air M2 and both of these should be updated
07:48I reckon in the summer this year at WWDC with the M3 chips how much faster they will be I don't really know
07:54But certainly these M2s are no slouch. So there are plenty of powerful Windows laptops, but it's that efficiency
08:00That's key to a great laptop experience
08:02Although we are starting to see Intel and AMD come back and the blue teams new more efficient and AI
08:08Focused core ultra laptop chips do give the M2 some proper competition
08:12Obviously, there is a lot of buzz around AI at the moment and we do have a dedicated MPU on this chip which kind of
08:19Accelerates any AI tasks which can be handled by the CPU or GPU, but either they're not as fast
08:24So it's just not as efficient. The problem is there aren't that many on-device AI applications
08:28Most of the stuff you use chat GPT photoshop generator fill that's all in the cloud
08:33There are a handful of things like, you know, blurring the background in your web calls
08:36So it doesn't do any batteries fast and there's some Lightroom classic applications
08:40there's a few things but right now it's still quite niche but over the next few months and couple of years as
08:45Developers and apps start to be optimized to take advantage of the MPU power
08:49We may start to see these new laptops really come into their own with these AI features
08:54And of course one feature exclusive to Windows 11 laptops is Microsoft copilot this sort of AI
09:00Personal system which can search and answer your questions and summarize text and plan a route for you all sorts of things
09:06But it's something we just simply don't have on Mac
09:08Qualcomm are also worth a quick mention because while most laptops the vast majority of Windows laptops use an Intel or AMD CPU chip
09:16Qualcomm are developing their own arm based architecture arm is what we get with Apple silicon and it's much more efficient and we're gonna start to
09:23See some new Snapdragon X elite powered laptops, which should give the MacBook Air some competition
09:27Whether they'll stack up against the new m3 powered airs
09:30We'll have to see the downside with these arm based chips is that we have much more limited app
09:34Compatibility developers can't need to optimize it or else you're not getting the best experience
09:37so that is still gonna be a hurdle, but it's still great to see more competition and more options and
09:42Speaking of apps all this everything I've waffled on so far about could just be detail
09:46It could just be academic because what matters most is that your laptop runs the apps and the games and the programs you need
09:51Within the software that you feel comfortable using and familiarity counts for a lot
09:56I have my MacBook and my desktop PC
09:58So I use both every day and for me at least Mac OS does feel like a more refined and curated experience
10:04Fewer bugs less jank and particularly if you stick to Apple's own apps the arcade and their ecosystem as a whole
10:09It's all very nice and very optimized. Although the two apps I download straight away for any Mac is magnet
10:15which allows you to basically snap the windows other side like we have, you know in Windows with a snap tool and also
10:21Vivid which actually does not apply to my book air only to the pros because they've got the HDR display
10:26But it unlocks that HDR brightness across the whole desktop, which makes it much easier to use outdoors
10:32Now Windows 11 is a lot more streamlined than it used to be and day-to-day
10:36It really isn't that much different from Mac Windows Defender does a great job
10:39so I never really have to worry about other antiviruses despite my ZenBook prompting me every time I turn it on and
10:45Everything runs every game every app every random piece of software your business still uses from the 90s
10:50It's by far the most compatible and versatile and you've got this big push for AI. You've got copilot
10:56You've got the best gaming graphics drivers and hardware as well. And of course the compatibility
11:00Yes, we've got Apple Arcade and a few games on Steam and you know, it's getting a bit better on Mac
11:05But for proper gaming, you're still gonna want a Windows PC
11:08But is there a way to run Windows on Mac and Mac on Windows?
11:12Well, yes, but it's not easy since the switch to Apple silicon
11:16You can't officially dual boot Mac OS and Windows on a MacBook
11:20Although there are virtual machine emulator apps
11:22But Microsoft have just officially authorized an app called parallels desktop to run Windows 11 for arm
11:28It is still a virtual machine, but with more native when 11 features like DX 12 hardware acceleration, you know
11:34I told you I switched from my Dell XPS to the MacBook Pro that was because of the M1 chips
11:38But what's kept me there is the ecosystem once I got my MacBook Pro and got very happy and comfortable with it
11:44I then bought an iPhone 14 Pro Max. I think it was so I didn't have my iPhone and my MacBook at that point
11:50I thought well, I should probably get a pair of air pods
11:52I also have an iPad which I tend to watch stuff on a plane with I am definitely in the warm
11:58Loving prison that is the Apple ecosystem and it's a fantastic place to be but it does make it hard
12:05To go back to anything else because if you use an iPhone airdrop alone will make you want to use a Mac
12:10Plus you've got FaceTime. I message iCloud
12:12You can even use your iPhone's camera as a webcam via continuity camera
12:16And if you've got yourself an iPad and Apple watch air pods
12:19Or if you're a complete lunatic and have spent three and a half grand on an Apple Vision Pro for some augmented productivity
12:25Then it makes sense to go for a Mac
12:27Although if you are team Windows, you can grab yourself a meta quest 3 which also gives you a huge screen overlaid on your real environment
12:34So you can also get your desktop and do some work in a quest 3 although it's not as sharp and not quite as refined
12:39But it's also literally a fraction of the price
12:42Also Windows 11's link to Android lets you answer calls and messages and we do also have quickshare which sometimes works as well as airdrop
12:49But again, it's the fragmentation of Windows devices that kind of makes it hard to unify everything together
12:54That's Apple's biggest selling point
12:57I'm breathe
12:58I think my takeaway is by the laptop that you feel comfortable using you can afford and runs the apps that you use I
13:05Could have just said that at the beginning and saved you like 14 minutes
13:08and if you do go for a Windows machine just read a couple of reviews before you buy it and
13:12Not everyone needs the performance and the battery life of a MacBook and not everyone can afford it
13:17But their reputation for quality and being easy to use is
13:21Totally justified and my personal choice is a Mac and then sometimes a gaming PC for you know gaming
13:27But what about you? Which would you go for a Mac book or a Zen book?
13:31Let me know the comments below and also what's your current setup? What laptop are you using?
13:35I know you thinking about upgrading this year. Thank you so much for watching guys
13:37I hope you enjoyed the video and if you did then a cheeky little like and subscribe would be
13:41Fantastic, and I'll see you next time right here on the tech chat