This Week at Mark Ellis Reviews

👉 Three huge reviews covering the M4 MacBook Air (hint: it’s incredible), iPhone 16e (hint: it caused quite the stir!) and Samsung Book5 Pro has left me in total confusion about Apple’s current state of affairs. Plus a revamped News Brief to keep you up-to-date!

TOP STORY

M4 MacBook Air Review: The Ultimate Laptop?

I thought Apple had reached peak value for money with the M4 Mac mini. But then the M4 MacBook Air came along and now I’m not sure! What is clear though is that Apple continues to run streets ahead of any competition when it comes to consumer computing.

If that doesn’t tell you how much I love the M4 MacBook Air then I don’t know what will (apart from reading the article of course!), but it’s yet another stroke of genius from Apple. Offering the M4 chip and 16GB unified memory in a laptop with an excellent display, impeccable touchpad and premium build quality for less than $1000/£1000 is simply unbeatable. It’s a much-needed win after a string of negative news stories for Cook and Co.

iPhone 16e One Week Later - I Switched From The Pro Max! 🤯

The iPhone 16e is a good phone. I’m sorry, I don’t have any catastrophically bad things to say about it. In fact, I’ve liked using it so much for the last few weeks that I’m genuinely not putting my SIM card back into my iPhone 16 Pro Max. See my opinion piece below if you don’t believe me.

That being said, there are, of course, some problems. We all know that there is no MagSafe compatibility, the refresh rate is stuck at an annoyingly low 60Hz and there’s only one camera lens. The biggest issue, though, is the price; you can’t escape the fact that it costs $100/£100 too much. It’s annoying because they’ve demonstrated that they are willing to lower prices elsewhere, case in point the M4 MacBook Air.

At least there’s a simple conclusion; the competition is far too good at this price range to buy the iPhone 16e if you aren’t already chained to the Apple ecosystem (guilty!).

MacBook Fanboy switches to Samsung Book5 Pro 😬

Now look, I understand that it may have seemed like I trashed all Windows laptops above by way of lauding the M4 MacBook Air. And I haven’t exactly covered Windows devices in glory in the past. But believe me, I’ve eaten some large slices of humble pie this week thanks to the Samsung Book5 Pro.

It is a great laptop. In fact, it may be the best Windows laptop I’ve ever used. I couldn’t really find anything wrong with it apart from a doughy trackpad and slightly naff AI (but what device doesn’t have that these days?). I love the touch screen, the build quality is virtually indistinguishable from a MacBook and the Intel Arc GPU works a treat. I just can’t get down with the Windows OS right now, and there’s not really anything wrong with that nowadays either. It’s a firmly ‘me’ problem.

Essential News Brief

OPINION

I did not expect THAT reaction to my iPhone 16e video!

I love YouTube. There’s no other platform I care to mention that provides such instant, invaluable feedback from your audience. Sometimes, that feedback is exactly what you expect, and sometimes, it surprises you - which is exactly what happened with my one week later review of the iPhone 16e last weekend.

A few of my tech YouTuber mates published their iPhone 16e videos mere days after receiving the device. Truth be told, I’d have done the same if it wasn’t for a trip to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress. That forced me to wait a week and actually use the iPhone 16e as my main phone during that trip. What I didn’t expect was to find myself switching wholesale to Apple’s latest iPhone. But that’s exactly what has happened.

The resulting video has drawn in a big audience, and the comments section contains two fascinating narratives. One is the surprising number of people who are hailing the iPhone 16e as a triumph. People are switching to it from earlier iPhones (expected) and some are even doing the same as me by switching from the Pro Max (far less expected).

The second narrative is one that suggests I have fabricated my story of switching from the iPhone 16 Pro Max to the iPhone 16e. Some people simply do not believe I’ve done it. I’ve been called an outright liar, and someone has even suggested I should stop talking nonsense and get a proper job.

Quite what would be in it for me to make this up has left me rather flummoxed, I’m afraid. I’m not sure how else to say that it’s true - I have switched entirely to the 16e and I’m quite enjoying it. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is a better phone, because of course it is, but there’s something about the 16e’s simplicity and back-to-basics mentality that’s refreshing, and I think that’s partly why it has delighted so many others. All I can say is that I’m sticking with it.

No, really.

VIDEO DIARY

Why I bought the M4 MacBook Air - And The Best Thing About It!

TOP FINDS

What I watched on YouTube this week

Here’s what I managed to catch on YouTube this week, despite a very busy seven days of reviews, product releases and trips to London.

👀 Nothing CEO reacts to Phone (3a) Series reviews (Nothing) - My review didn’t make the list, unfortunately, but this kind of thing is another great example of Nothing’s unique approach to the smartphone industry. Can you imagine Apple doing this?

⚒️ I built a Tiny Office to be more Productive (Peter McKinnon) - I want to do everything Peter McKinnon does, immediately. I’m not sure how he makes everything so totally appealing. Although, I doubt I’ll actually follow through with my own Tiny Office.

📱 My Teen Switched to iPhone 16e – Does He Regret It? (Stephen Robles) - A very cool and relatable take on a product review. Nice work, Stephen!

‘GRAM OF THE WEEK

At The JBL Charge 6 portable speaker launch!

Key specs:
🔊 AI sound boost
🔊 Upgraded woofer
🔊 IP68
🔊 Drop-proof
🔊 28 hours of playback
🔊 New detachable, versatile strap

What's your favourite colourway?

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter. And a big thank you to all who entered the 200K subscriber giveaway, winners will be announced shortly!

Until next time,

~ Mark