[00:00] Who wants to spend $3,000 on a brand new laptop So today, we're gonna be going through to see what's actually worth it.
[00:13] should have roughly equivalent performance. to take something like MacBook Neo, compared to this, an M2 MacBook Air.
[00:28] right off the rip, they're actually super similar, right? Both have, I would say, broadly similar displays, so this will probably get updates for longer.
[00:41] it might feel better for longer, So the spec here is this is a MacBook Neo, So the MacBook Neo, there's only two options besides color,
[00:58] So like performance-wise, it's gonna be the same. - [Alex] Yes, it is. I would lean toward a MacBook Air
[01:11] with 16 gigs of RAM, for as long, but that's gonna feel much more usable, right? is enough for basically everybody, right?
[01:24] as we've looked at many times in videos before, the quality levels vary based on where you buy them from. you buy from eBay, you buy from something like Back Market.
[01:37] Broadly speaking, what is an M2 Air - [Alex] So it is highly variable, you could find one between 5 and $600.
[01:52] - [Alex] It will most likely be slightly cheaper. by the time this video goes live, typically, it brings used prices up along with it.
[02:05] All right, round one, I mean, both are good options though. but the thing is, Apple silicon is so good
[02:19] that even going a few generations old still feels fantastic. Next up, we have headphones? I assumed you're going to pick like AirPods
[02:31] - [Alex] Yeah. kind of like a the phones where it's like- - [Alex] This is the cheapest like wireless headphone
[02:45] - Okay, so what do these run, - [Alex] These headphones retail for $170.
[02:57] - So not a lot in the box, just USB-C to A They're very lightweight, a little plasticky.
[03:13] so you have your power button, you have your volume, As far as the flagship, these are 1000XM4s? this is kind of a little bit subjective,
[03:27] but I think that the XM3s are kind of like the hallmark. when they first came out. - [Alex] The ones that like are not just completely gross,
[03:43] I think you could find a pretty decent pair of these So this is now the same price, do you want the older flagship or the newer budget?
[03:57] of the comparisons we've done yet. how good is the Transparency mode? So I'm gonna switch over, so Transparency.
[04:09] but being very, very loud. - [Alex] Hey, we're making noise now. - [Alex] Excuse me?
[04:22] The noise cancellation is, I would say, acceptable. Out of the box with no tuning, It's very like kinda you're losing a lot of the detail.
[04:37] it definitely kinda helps to pull more out of the music. They're fine, but they're not fantastic. because these are old school.
[04:49] we are using LDAC, which should sound better. the passive isolation is actually really good. putting these on, I think it's quieter than these
[05:04] That's not great for the new stuff. And, oh yeah, ambient sound is also a lot better. No wonder everyone liked these back in the day, these slap.
[05:19] If you're comparing new budget compared to old flagship, Next up, we have smartphones. So for our brand new device, we have the Galaxy A37 5G,
[05:33] and for our used device, this is an S21 Ultra? 'cause that's a five-year-old phone? The A37- - [Austin] Yeah.
[05:47] - [Alex] Pretty much is a brand new mid-tier phone for Samsung, - [Austin] Yeah, from just performance, performance, yeah. and the performance is roughly on par with each other.
[06:03] I have to ask, is the S21 still supported? So the S21 Ultra just released so in the very beginning of 2026.
[06:19] - Massive, massive L right off the rip. But the S21 Ultra is a much nicer phone, so this has ultrawide, it has the...
[06:33] Yeah, 108 megapixel sensor. and it also has the crazy zoom. It's a triple camera setup,
[06:45] - [Alex] Yes, so it has a wide, ultrawide, and a, - It's fine. but the camera's probably the biggest W for the S21 Ultra.
[07:02] - [Alex] It retails for $450, but it retails for $450. So this is a phone that came out this year,
[07:15] this should get firmware updates until 2032? And then, obviously, security updates on top of that.
[07:30] 'Cause this was a $1,200 phone, but that was five years ago. - [Alex] Oh yeah, you can find this thing for around $250.
[07:43] It has a worse camera, but performance is still good, I don't think this is the move.
[07:56] When it comes to iPads, because iPads have some really good things going for them So this is a 2021 M1 iPad,
[08:10] specifically, it's an iPad Pro 12.9, so it is the big boy. And on this side, we have, this is a brand new 11th Gen. the most recent iPad is the base model.
[08:22] But I would still say that the iPad Pro The iPad base model of updates compared to this guy.
[08:36] but if anyone else wanted to pick one up on eBay, they kind of fluctuate in the $450 range - For the M1?
[08:50] It was a little bit below MSRP when we bought this thing. - It's normally $350? - [Speaker] No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
[09:06] so it doesn't have a laminated display, there's a little bit of a sort of gap in the glass which means that viewing angles aren't quite so nice.
[09:20] The iPad Pro on the other hand So I think screen and speakers are both an area also does have two rear-facing cameras.
[09:36] - Hang on. The base iPad is, You walk into an Apple Store pretty much anywhere,
[09:51] or someone who just needs something that's basic and simple. There's a lot more options out there And again, I was able to buy this
[10:04] Like there's enough of these out there, This may get an extra year or two of software updates, because it has more RAM.
[10:18] We're doing gaming PCs for this? one of them is using newer components? that directly translate to performance,
[10:33] that are the budget and flagship. the other one's also matched to 4K and also 89, wait. 89.5 versus 89.2 FPS?
[10:47] to get two different systems to come that close. Wait, so the new budget system is an AMD Ryzen 5 9600X with an RTX 5060.
[11:01] maybe like 200 bucks now at some point? for a little bit below that. we know that.
[11:14] - [Alex] I'm talking flagship, baby. So these systems, just to make it as fair as possible, - [Austin] Same motherboard equivalent, SSD.
[11:29] - So yeah, so basically, you build these the main difference is just CPU and GPU and price, right? as it could possibly get.
[11:43] - [Alex] So for context, we already talked about the 9600. - [Alex] The 5060, there's so many different versions
[11:55] I would say you could get one for like $350, $360 pretty like- - So we're talking about, let's say $600 for the new budget components, just CPU and GPU.
[12:10] a 7900X, that's still a very new chip, - Like that's 300 bucks? - [Alex] When it first came out retail, it was $550.
[12:23] - [Alex] And you can get one now on sale for roughly around $320, like kind of mid 300s. six cores is a little bit weak,
[12:37] So, okay, so a little more for the CPU. - [Alex] You can find one, like a pretty decent one, $280, $300. - Oh, you buy that, do that.
[12:51] I think I could go with the old school. based on how used or not used things are, you've got a GPU, which I would slightly take
[13:06] I think the VRAM, it's such a classic card. I'm gonna go flagship from 2018/2023, I guess. has pushed so many brand new components so expensive,
[13:21] that it really makes a lot of the math For me, I've largely picked the old school products, right?
[13:33] that's a big, big deal. But bang for the buck, go a few years old, as long as it's been like well taken care of.
[13:45] Would you rather go and buy a brand new budget device or do you tend to lean more toward the old school flagship? subscribe to the channel, and ring-a-ling that ding-a-ling.
[13:58] is gonna go take a nap (Alex laughing) (upbeat music)