The Laptops Our Team Actually Uses and Why

Cierra — Research, Script Writing, and Production Support

Cierra splits her time across research, writing, and assisting with testing, so she prefers laptops that balance performance, portability, and premium build quality.

• LG Gram Pro 17: Chosen for its large 17-inch display in an unusually lightweight chassis. Great keyboard and dedicated number pad make data entry and long writing sessions efficient. Downsides include occasional fan noise, a bland trackpad, and a high price tag.

• ThinkPad X9 14 (home use): Loved for its premium feel, haptic trackpad, excellent keyboard, and strong portability. The only recurring issue is inconsistent sleep behavior that can drain battery.

Pulkit — Thumbnail Designer

Pulkit continues to use the MacBook Air M1 (8GB RAM), valuing its light weight, long battery life, great keyboard, and excellent trackpad. However, he’s planning to upgrade to a 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4) for the improved performance and larger display.

Taylor — Part-Time Video Editor

Taylor also prefers 18-inch machines, but with a different approach:

• ASUS ROG Strix G18 (5080): Appreciated for its large display, keyboard, and GPU performance. However, he experienced unit-specific performance issues and has since shifted back to his desktop for main editing work. He said he would prefer the Strix Scar 18 if we had it in.

Colin — Longest-Tenured Editor

Colin continues to rely on his Zenbook Pro 16X (2023) because its unique design and creator-focused features align perfectly with editing workloads.

• Zenbook Pro 16X (2023): Loved for its 3K 120Hz touchscreen, lift-up keyboard design for cooling, plentiful ports, haptic trackpad, and extra function keys. Downsides include fan noise, heavier weight, a dimmer glossy display, and slow SD card reader.
• ProArt P16 (5090): He was impressed by the brighter 4K tandem OLED display, quieter fans, lighter chassis, and high-speed SD Express 7.0 card reader. However, missing features such as RGB lighting, side keys, and a haptic trackpad prevented it from replacing his Zenbook.
• Instead, he now finds himself favoring the Strix Scar 16 (5080) because it does a lot of what the Zenbook does, but with much better performance. He likes its keyboard, it stays cool, and he appreciates that he has access to "Home" and "End" buttons on the arrow keys.

Tony — Newest Video Editor

Despite years of preferring Macs, Tony switched platforms after joining the team.

• Alienware 18 Area-51: Chosen for its snappy performance, fast renders in Premiere and After Effects, massive high-refresh display, and satisfying keyboard. His only complaints are minor: missing media keys and right-side heat exhaust that blows toward his mouse hand.

Ethan — Cinematographer

Ethan films B-roll and performs hands-on testing, so silence, portability, and reliability matter most.

• MacBook Air M2: His primary work laptop thanks to its silent operation, great keyboard, haptic trackpad, high-res display, and overall portability. He reverted from the M3 Air after software issues with their specific unit. Integration with his iPhone (Airdrop, ecosystem features) keeps him on macOS.
• Considering the ROG Flow Z13 for gaming and D&D sessions due to its compact design, strong integrated graphics, and flexible tablet format — though he’s unsure whether it will handle heavier games like Monster Hunter.

Seth — Lead Laptop Tester

Seth prioritizes fundamental laptop qualities over raw specs.

• ThinkPad X9 15: His ideal “Windows MacBook.” Praised for its haptic trackpad, 120Hz OLED display, excellent battery life, comfortable keyboard, and premium build. Performance from Intel’s Lunar Lake chips is more than enough for his workloads, and the integrated GPU handles the older games he plays.

Josh — Founder, Producer, Writer

Josh uses more laptops than anyone, rotating through many configurations for testing — but a few stand out.

• MacBook Pro 14 (various configs): His all-around favorite for writing, managing the business, editing, and casual gaming. Appreciated for its display quality, battery life, speakers, webcam, and consistent performance. He switches between M2 Pro, M3 Pro, and M4 variants to evaluate real-world differences.
• Blade 14/16: Despite Razer's poor support, Josh loves the premium feel and build quality of their Blade line. He switches between the 14 and 16-inch depending on if he's looking for more productivity or portability. He appreciates their high wattage dedicated GPUs for video editing and gaming, and notices that they stay very cool in these tasks. Their cons are that they both seem to have a hard time with going to sleep properly in his bag and they also have poor palm rejection on their trackpads.
• Surface Laptop 7 (Snapdragon): His “light use” machine when doing office work or script writing. He likes its portability and keyboard but notes app compatibility issues on Windows on ARM and weak battery life.