[00:01] because typically, when I cover a new laptop, I will focus primarily on the hardware. But right now, because Windows, the operating system, is in such a bad state, I think it has an impact on how we should view all of this
[00:14] hardware to begin with. So, for years, Windows devices have been chasing Apple's MacBooks. First, it was about build quality. We wanted Windows laptops that were built as well as Apple's MacBooks. But then, in 2020, it became
[00:26] about their chip. When Apple dropped the M1 chip, that thing was so much better than anything else in the market, that it was crazy. People switched operating systems, people switched ecosystems because of that chip. It was so good.
[00:38] Now, for Intel, it was a journey. Ever since then, they've been in the kitchen just cooking, desperately trying to make laptop chips that were competitive in something that's excellent, like actually excellent. So, this is their
[00:51] Core Ultra Series 3, and this thing is so good. For multi-core, we're getting previous generation at the same energy consumption. If you're doing renders, or that can just take advantage of all the different cores on a chip, these are
[01:06] really nice. But the biggest gains, like the most impressive thing about these new chips, are the graphics. The new GPUs are built on their XE3 architecture, and the highest performing version of it is their 12-core GPU, and
[01:19] performance that they were claiming. These are so good. I genuinely feel ranked match on this device. And considering these are like thin and light productivity work-focused laptops that are not marketed as gaming devices,
[01:35] Keep in mind that all these benchmarks come from their top-tier chip, the X9 388H. And if you want that super powerful GPU, it only comes in the chips there's three of them, I think. There's one X9 and two X7 SKUs. If you do go for
[01:52] GPU cores, and so they're not as powerful graphically. Now, if you compare this to other integrated GPUs, these are clearly great performers, but it is not as powerful at the top end as the Strix Halo chips from AMD. But those
[02:05] chips, as nice as they are, are for one, crazy expensive, but two, are not energy juice to be able to pull off those frame rates. So, they got shorter battery life, louder fans, hotter devices, the whole works. Now, the other thing I
[02:19] when you reduce the wattage on this chip, it maintains great performance. So, once you get to like 20 watts, it already starts to outperform the Strix Halo. At 15 watts, it's even more pronounced. And that's the power profile
[02:32] that a lot of handhelds try to target, like something like the ROG Ally. These handhelds love that lower wattage, and I feel like Intel knows they have a surprised if they have some kind of handheld that use some kind of like
[02:46] numbers you're seeing there are just off the laptop. Uh 3D applications also see some decent gains. I'm not going to say that they compete with discrete GPUs. performers, but for an integrated solution, these are great. Now, in terms
[03:00] a bit better with energy efficiency over the past couple of years. This chip is If there was one thing I would knock about this chip, it's just the great, but if you compare it and you look at what else is on the market,
[03:14] there are faster chips than this when you benchmark it. Uh okay. Now, like I not just about hardware, right? The user experience you get from a device like this, a large part of it stems from the software. And right now, Windows 11 is
[03:27] software. And right now, Windows 11 is just it's in a bad bad space. A lot of it stems from the fact that they're just shoving AI down our throats. The big one is Copilot. That's I mean, it's got its own key, it's in the taskbar, it's in
[03:39] the start menus, it's everywhere, it's in your apps. And everybody who uses a Windows laptop knows how just obtrusive that whole Copilot thing has been. Uh that takes snapshots and like is basically a keylogger on your device.
[03:53] people should be stupid enough to want this. And then there's the ads. Like machines sometimes. And they're like, "Hey, these are some suggested apps. Do you want to install Microsoft OneDrive? Do you want these like apps that you'll
[04:06] never ever use and clearly don't want, but we're getting paid to show you, so we're going to show it to you?" Like this is so Windows 11 right now. They're trying to solve problems that nobody has. The worst part of it is that at
[04:18] Microsoft, they know that nobody has these problems, and yet they continue to force-feed this stuff to us. They're like, "Hey, maybe you'll like it this time." So, recently, the CEO of Microsoft was at some event,
[04:31] and he was basically like, "You know, you guys need to start using our AI tools that we've been forcing onto you, so that we can justify the electricity used that it costs to provide this stuff." And like, clearly nobody wants
[04:44] right? This is like there's everything about this is wrong. Now, I bring this people who are interested in this laptop, or interested in devices that use these new chips, remember I said at the beginning of the
[04:56] video, years ago, when M1 dropped, people switched operating systems, and people switched ecosystems because of that chip. That chip was so good that was like, "Okay, I will I will try this Apple stuff, because it's just such an
[05:09] awesome chip." This is it's like the reverse right now. People are like, "This software is so bad. This is such a terrible operating system that even if this amazing hardware has caught up, and in many ways like exceeded what Apple
[05:22] even though this hardware is awesome, it comes at a time when Windows is arguably And people have choice here, right? These aren't gaming laptops where you have to use a Windows system. This is like
[05:35] people are making investments for their productivity by purchasing these things, hopefully improve the way that you work and just improve your workflow. And if all this like surveillance software, like it's just ridiculous. So,
[05:50] uh yeah, you can see why there's been an increase in like macOS users and Linux increase in like macOS users and Linux users, like there's a reason.