WEBVTT

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- This is Tech Modo, a Gizmodo
series where we take a dive

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into some of the most recent tech news

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with some expert guests.

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This week, what's so great

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about the new Apple hardware drop,

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and Consumer Tech Editor,
Michelle Ehrhardt,

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tells me exactly what
laptop to buy for Christmas.

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2022 is winding down,
and some of the year's

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bigger tech releases

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were Apple's new hardware drop.

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This included iPhones,
iPads and more specifically,

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Apple released its new
MacBooks earlier this year,

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which is awesome if you're a tech nut,

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but what if you're not a tech nut?

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How are us normies supposed
to know how to buy a laptop

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in a marketplace touting
hard drives this fast,

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and memory this big,
and screens this clear.

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Well that's a wonderful question,

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and one I wanted selfishly
answered for myself.

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So I sat down with Gizmodo's
own Consumer Tech Editor,

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Michelle Ehrhardt, on what's
so great about the new MacBooks

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and what to look for
when buying a new laptop.

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What are the kind of go-to
things that people should look

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out for when they're interested

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in buying a new piece of hardware,

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specifically something like a laptop?

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- Okay. Well it really depends
on what your needs are.

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I would say the big
things you wanna decide

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is like, are you just
going to use it mostly

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for browsing, and in-browser applications?

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Occasionally you might like
edit a video or whatever.

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Are you going to use it
for hardcore 3D modeling,

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or like financial prediction?

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Are you going to use it for gaming?

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'Cause that will determine
your sort of needs.

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I think there's a
certain base-level that I

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wouldn't go below.

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Depending on your needs

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you can get away with all
sorts of different processors,

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but moving into the future,

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I really wouldn't go
below 16 gigabytes of ram.

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- Okay.

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- A lot of companies
will like try to sell you

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extreme budget models,

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with eight gigabytes of ram,

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I just don't see that lasting
a lot into the future.

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We already know how much ram
like, Google Chrome, eats up

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right? I wouldn't go below
512 gigabytes of memory.

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That might be a little bit like, liberal.

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Some people might say, oh you can make do

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with 256 gigabytes of
memory, but again, it'll just

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help your laptop last longer.

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- Okay.

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Which is better, I think, for the future.

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This year I actually did our MacBook Air

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with the M2 chip review,

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and I have to say for
most people, it's probably

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my favorite laptop of the year,

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and the reason why is mostly because,

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I have it off screen here...

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- There we go. This is beautiful.

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- It's got a very powerful new chip.

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The M2 is like, I would
say 33% faster than the M1,

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pulling from memory here.

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- Is that percentage
something that you think

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like the average person would notice?

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- I would say probably not.

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It's good for power users,
but I wouldn't recommend

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the M2 air for power users.

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- Okay.

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- And that's because it's
got a fanless design,

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so if it starts heating up,

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like you're doing power-work
for 30 minutes, an hour,

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you're going to get throttle performance,

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which means that your chip is

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going to not put out as
much power as it could to

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avoid the machine catching on fire.

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I'm exaggerating,

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(laughs)

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but to-
- Getting hot.

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- keep its battery, it's
a lifetime going on.

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- Sure.
The reason why I would

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recommend the M2 Air is that it's

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like Apples finally
redesigned the MacBook Air,

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and I really like it.

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You'll notice this complete flat line-

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- I like that.

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- as opposed to the like wedge
shape of the previous Air.

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The other big thing that you'll
probably notice first when

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you get the MacBook Air,
is it has a big notch here.

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I noticed you were
telling me you liked it.

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- I do, yes.

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- I think it's kind of divisive.

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- Yes.

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- But what it does let
you do is it lets you

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get thinner bezels everywhere else.

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- Okay.

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- that's not a notch,

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which means the laptop itself
hasn't gotten any larger,

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but you get a larger screen with it,

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you get more screen real estate.

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- A little real estate, yeah.

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- And having used this over time,

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I do end up liking that.

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It's got MagSafe charging back,

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so you don't have to rely
purely on USB-C anymore.

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You do have two USB-C
ports, and an audio jack,

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but you also have a number

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of MagSafe charging
options when you buy this.

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The other thing you
might have noticed is you

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have a full function row.

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- Yeah.

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- The prior MacBook had these
tiny little itty-bitty keys,

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but now you just have
like full proper keys.

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- So that's the Air,

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and you guys prefer the Air over the Pro?

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- Yes. The Pro does not have all these

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nice new design features.

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The Pro, which is currently,
you can get the M2 chip in

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in the MacBook Pro 13 inch,
which is using the same body

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as older models of that machine,

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and the only real advantage we saw

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to it is that it does have a fan,

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which means that if you are a power user,

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it is going to not throttle as easily,

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you can continue to 3D model with it.

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- Right.

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- It's like a must buy for
a certain subset of people.

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- Michelle, thank you so much.

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This has been a lot to chew on,

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but it's all very important.

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- Please feel free to reach
out to me at my Twitter,

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or in the comments, and
I'm happy to discuss.

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- Cool. Be nice to Michelle.

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- Be nice to me.

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- Michelle gave me a lot
to work with regarding

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buying a new laptop to replace
the one I currently have,

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which I swear I can hear
whispering, kill me,

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as I do anything remotely intensive.

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- [Computer] I'm sorry.

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- I'm definitely gonna
stick with Mac mainly

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because that's all I've
known for the last few years,

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but also because I just
don't need anything fancier.

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Most of my free time is spent writing

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in Google Docs, and watching
YouTube videos anyway.

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I will, however, probably
move from the MacBook Pro

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which I currently have,

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to the MacBook Air, based on
Michelle's recommendation.