Lenovo has made some great choices for their latest devices.

And it, oh, it does, nice. Oh, does it? Ooh, yeah, it does. Barely fit, just barely. So I will say that even though the downsides of it being plastic are certainly there, the upside is it's actually really lightweight. So I would say it's still pretty practical for you to carry around with you every day. So, all right, you know what? Feeling pretty good about the Lenovo.

Next up, let's take a look at Target's wonderful choice of a 10th gen iPad. Now, I will give them a little bit of credit here. While most people should not really buy an iPad for school, there are some merits on paper. Battery life is going to be quite decent. Portability is obviously great. It's an 11-inch form factor. But boy, there are some challenges here. There's one port, which is a USB-C. So there's no Thunderbolt, there's no headphone jack, there's no SD card, no USB-A. And when it comes to a keyboard, obviously the keyboard doesn't come with the iPad. So this is a $350 iPad with the $250 keyboard. Now, to be fair, if I was going outside of Target in their default recommendations, there are third-party keyboards you can purchase. I know Logitech make a few. That still, like plug directly in and everything. They're gonna be cheaper. They're gonna be like in the 100, $150 range. So it's still expensive but like significantly better than this.

Let's give this a try, shall we? Oh, oh, oh, I don't like that. Yeah, it's really small. Oh, it also doesn't sound good. You can tell it's like built into a cover and there's nothing like behind it. Oh boy, this is, yeah, this is gonna be slow. 64 words per minute. Yeah, I'm a lot slower. Probably the strongest suit of the iPad is going to be media consumption because if that's your number one thing that you do on your device, the screen is quite nice. So I don't know the resolution off the top of my head but it's pretty high. It also gets fairly bright and this does have nice stereo speakers. This, my friends, is the story of every PSP ever made.

Sony first ventured into solid okay so you know that thing I was saying about how if you just care about media consumption, the iPad's fine? Yeah, if you ever wanna use this as a laptop, it's real bad. So I'm, of course, using the Smart Keyboard Folio. So it does have some adjustment, not as much as I like but the problem is it's really uneven. So this is fine when you're like a normal surface. But if I'm trying to put that on my knees right I wanna try to lean it back. First of all, it's gonna fall really quickly. 'Cause if I want it to be like here and that's obviously not gonna stay. So I'm gonna have to like lean and put it like on the very edge of my knees. It is, I will immediately say really uncomfortable. That's probably the number one selling point of an iPad. It is so portable that you can pretty much take it with you anywhere. And especially if you don't need the keyboard you have the pencil or something you could just take the iPad by itself toss the pencil on walk around throw in any kind of bag. That is a major advantage but for most people the typing experience on anything other than a nice flat level surface makes it so hard to live with.

Last but not least we have the Amazon special the TUF A15 Gaming laptop however at the $680 price tag there are a couple of things we're missing. The big downside here is that we only have eight gigabytes of RAM You're almost certainly gonna need to spend a few extra dollars to put in another eight gigs of RAM. Like I just can't in good conscience recommend to use an eight-gigabyte gaming laptop in 2024. Like that's just that's not it.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Every year when back toschool time rolls around,all the major big boxretailers love to tell youabout their brand new shiny laptop deals.But as with most deals inlife, they're not real.Now, on average, a UShousehold spends somewherebetween eight to $900 peryear on school supplies.Now, that's obviously morethan just a laptop, right?You're thinking about books,you're thinking about bags,all that kind of stuff.But for today's purposes,I'm going to purchasinga back to school laptopfrom Walmart, Best Buy, Amazon,as well as Target to seewhich store is worth itand which of these laptopsare actually any good.Let's start out with Walmart.Now, I'm gonna go into each storewith a roughly six to $700 budget,but I'm also going to relyon the store's recommendationand their so-calledsales to drive the way.So the very first thing I see hereis top of the class gadgets.So let's shop some tech, shall we?So all kind of options here.The first thing I see is a MacBook Air.So this is a 2020 M1 MacBook Airthat I will actuallysay is a very good deal.So when I purchased mine a few months ago,it was about $700.Now, they're actuallyon sale for 650 bucks.All right, let's lock it in for Walmart.We're gonna go with an M1 MacBook Air.Next up, let's try Best Buy.Now, Best Buy should be a great placeto get a back-to-school laptop.All right, back-to-school essentials.Wait, an XPS 14 for $1,800?What?Boy, that's a terriblefirst recommendation.I will be not purchasingthat one for back to schoolunless you're rich.You know what, Best Buy,I will give you this.You have a lot of options.So I think I'm gonna go withthis Lenovo IdeaPad at $480.It is supposedly $320off its normal price,which I think this actuallyis a fairly decent deal.It's got a slightlyolder Ryzen 7 processor,but importantly, itdoes have 16 gigs of RAMand a 512 gig SSD.This seems like a pretty reasonable choicefor going back to school.Next, let's go to target.com.Well, I see electronics, okay.Computers & Office, yep.Laptops and tablets, yep.Okay, I'm still clicking.I will tell you, there'snothing good, laptop-wise,on Target.And they're listing me tabletsin the actual, like spotwhere laptops should be.Like, they're pretendingthat this is like a reasonable choice.350 bucks for the iPad, the 10th gen.Oh god, I'm gonna have to buy an iPad.Okay, all right.And how much do I have to payfor the keyboard with this?The keyboard's expensive, right?I know Ken did a video on this.- And it costs as much as 350bucks for the 13-inch model.- It's a $350 iPad with a $250 keyboard.No, no, don't make me do it.So I guess I'm buying thethe iPad and the keyboardfor the same price as a good laptop.Last but certainly not least,let's take a look at whatAmazon has got for us.Surely, Amazon will save the day, right?Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah,best laptops for students.Hit me up.A Vivobook Go.So for $260, this is aHD screen, thankfully,a Ryzen 3 7320U, 8 gigsof RAM and a 128 gig SSD.We're gonna put thatin the maybe category.That actually feels totally reasonable.Wait, what about the gaming laptop?So this is the ASUS TUF A15.Now, a gaming laptop's actuallya really interesting choicefor back to schoolbecause while obviously gaminglaptops are going to be greatfor gaming,they are oftentimes really usefulwhen it comes to doing heavier tasks.So if in your schooling,you need to do non-gaming tasks like,I don't know, edit video,do some 3D rendering,maybe even some light AI tasks.While eight gigs of RAMis a little bit limiting,having that RTX 3050 on boardactually is like low keypretty important.I actually think this is my move.Now, mind you, it is themost expensive laptop here,but it's only just a littlebit more than the MacBook.Let's do it.All right, my friends,with that, I am going to place four ordersfor back-to-school laptops tosee is it actually worth itto trust the fineestablishments known as Best Buyand Target and Walmart and...- The one you just bought from.- And Amazon.Thank you, I appreciate it.There you go, that's the one.Welcome back.We have a wide selection of laptopsthat we have purchasedfrom our various retailers.So to determine which one is best,we have a patented criteriaof important metricsthat we're going to carefully measure.(clears throat)Carefully measurescientifically with accuracyand journalistic scruples.That's a word.I saw it in the dictionary.So just as a reminder,our laptops are the M1MacBook Air from Walmart.We had the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 from Best Buy.We have the TUF Gaming A15 from Amazon,and we have the iPad 10thgen and keyboard from Target.So we're gonna begin by unplugging eachand every one of these devices.Battery life is goingto be part of the waythat we're going to determinehow practical these arefor back to schoolas they were recommended tous for back-to-school use.And let's actually startout with the MacBook Air.So essentially, what you'vegot here for $650 is a laptopthat previously was about1,000 bucks and it was new.Now, it's easy, I think,to kind of write this off.It's a, you know, three,almost 4-year-old laptop.But I will tell you thatthat M1 inside is still very,very much usable in 2024.And among all the deviceswe have on the table,this is still one of the more powerful.Obviously, something likethe gaming laptop has morelike graphics performance,but don't count out something like the M1.All right, let's start outby doing a typing test on each laptop,starting with the MacBook.(keyboard clacking)Okay, 82 words per minute, 95% accuracy.Now, the advantage thatthe MacBook has over allof the other devices here isit is a solid aluminum chassis,which means that there's no keyboard flex.And, of course, thetrack pad is phenomenal.I will say having briefly used all these,the track pad on the MacBook,hands down, the best.But, of course, you're gonna do morethan just type on your device.Let's watch a YouTube videoand see how well the screenand the speakers hold up.Let's watch PSP, shall we?Sony dominated the generation with PS2.So when they set their sightson the portable market,the expectations were enormous.This is quite a nicedisplay, I will tell you.It might not be 120 Hertzlike someone with the TUF,but it's a very high quality panel.And the speakers arealso really pretty good.So you do have front-firing speakers,which is not something you typically getat this kind of price point.I mean, obviously there'sgonna be some advantagesto this previously being $1,000 laptop,some of that sort of goodnesshas sort of trickled down.Now, one of the key things I want to tryis how laptop-able these devices arebecause, well, again,something like a MacBookis really designedto be used on your lap.I'll tell you that iPad is not.All of this stuff so far islike absolute like MacBook.Like, this is like exactly whatthis device is designed for.You know, it's like lightertasks, typing, keyboard,track pad, screen.Like, all of the basicfundamentals of a laptop,this MacBook absolutely nails.And it's also going to go forsomething like portability.So I am a small laptop boy.And so one of the things that I appreciateabout a device like this,very small and thin and portable.It slots in absolutely no problem.It's not super heavy.I mean, when you'retalking about practicality,when you're talking about sortof everyday lighter tasks,I mean, the MacBook isclearly the best laptop herefor these kind of things, isn't it?Now, let's take a lookat our Lenovo IdeaPad 1.Now, I will say this isthe cheapest laptop here.So it's worth lookingat it through that lens.This cost, was it 470 bucks,480 bucks, something like that?- It was 480.- $480, right?So screen is not amazing.It is also just 1080p, which is fine.Some other stuff here.It does have a good port selection.So unlike the MacBook, whichonly has a couple of USB-C.We've got ourselves USB-A, USB-C, HDMI.You've also got a full-sizecard reader, another USB-A.Like, port selection is pretty solid here.All right, give this a try, shall we?Even though it's a little flexy,Lenovo know how to make a keyboard, man.84 words per minute.Importantly, 100% accuracyon my first go, yeah.Sony dominated thegeneration with the PS2.Oh no, thank you.On the portable market, theexpectations were enormous.This sounds more like a phone speakerthan a set of laptop speakers.That's bad.Yes, the build quality feels a little biton the cheapy side.I wish it wasn't quite so flexible.Considering the fact thatwe've got 16 gigs of RAM,we've got a still relativelymodern Ryzen processor.The keyboard's phenomenal.The track pad's pretty good.The biggest downsides hereare for media consumption.The screen is just okay, andthe speakers are actively bad.Now, as a larger laptop,I don't know if thisis gonna fit in my bag.Now, I will say it's light enough.That it's fine.And it, oh, it does, nice.Oh, does it?Ooh, yeah, it doesbarely fit, just barely.So I will say that eventhough the downsidesof it being plastic are certainly there,the upside is it's actuallyreally lightweight.So I would say it's still pretty practicalfor you to carry aroundwith you every day.So, all right, you know what?Feeling pretty good about the Lenovo.Next up, let's take a lookat Target's wonderful choiceof a 10th gen iPad.Now, I will give them alittle bit of credit here.While most people should notreally buy an iPad for school,there are some merits on paper.Battery life is going to be quite decent.Portability is obviously great.It's an 11-inch form factor.But boy, there are some challenges here.So there's one port, which is a USB-C.So there's no Thunderbolt,there's no headphone jack,there's no SD card, no USB-A.And when it comes to a keyboard,obviously the keyboarddoesn't come with the iPad.So this is a $350 iPadwith the $250 keyboard.Now, to be fair, if I wasgonna go outside of Targetin their default recommendations,there are third partykeyboards you can purchase.I know Logitech make a few.That still, like plugdirectly in and everything.They're gonna be cheaper.They're gonna be likein the 100, $150 range.So it's still expensive,but like significantly better than this.Let's give this a try, shall we?Oh, oh, oh, I don't like that.Yeah, it's really small.Oh, it also doesn't sound good.You can tell it's like built into a coverand there's nothing like behind it.Oh boy, this is, yeah,this is gonna be slow.64 words per minute.Yeah, I'm a lot slower.Probably the strongestsuit of the iPad is goingto be media consumptionbecause if that's likeyour number one thingthat you do on your device,the screen is quite nice.So I don't know the resolutionoff the top of my head,but it's pretty high.It also gets fairly bright,and this does have nice stereo speakers.This, my friends, is thestory of every PSP ever made.Sony first ventured into the.Solid.Okay, so you know that thing I was sayingabout how if you just careabout media consumption,the iPad's fine?Yeah, if you ever wanna usethis as a laptop, it's real bad.So I'm, of course, usingthe Smart Keyboard Folio.So it does have some adjustment,not as much as I like,but the problem is it's really uneven.So this is fine when you'relike a normal surface.But if I'm trying to putthat on my knees, right,I wanna try to lean it back.First of all, it's gonnafall really quickly.'Cause if I want it to be like here,and that's obviously not gonna stay.So I'm gonna have to like leanand put it like on thevery edge of my knees.It is, I will immediatelysay really uncomfortable.That's probably the numberone selling point of an iPad.It is so portable that you canpretty much take it with youanywhere.And especially if youdon't need the keyboard,you have the pencil or something,you could just take the iPadby itself, toss the pencil on,walk around, throw in any kind of bag.That is a major advantage.But for most people,the typing experience on anythingother than a nice flat levelsurface makes it so hardto live with.Last but not least, wehave the Amazon special,the TUF A15 Gaming laptop.However, at the $680 price tag,there are a couple ofthings we're missing.The big downside here is thatwe only have eight gigabytesof RAMYou're almost certainly gonna needto spend a few extra dollarsto put in another eight gigs of RAM.Like, I just can't, in good conscious,recommend to use a eightgigabyte gaming laptop in 2024.Like, that's just, that's not it.So plastic, plastic,plastic is first impression.Now, it does have this finishthat makes it feel a little less cheapyalthough it's definitelysoaking up my fingerprintspretty quickly.Now, you do have RGB on the keyboard,so it looks pretty decent.The screen is actually very similarto something like Lenovo,15.6 inch, 1080p, colorand everything's not great.The main advantage here is thisis a full 144 hertz display.So it will be better for gaming.But I'll say for like regular tasks,immediately, you can just look at and go,"Oh, it looked kind of not great."Port section is pretty solid.So we got a USB-A on one side.We also have two more USB-A, USB-C, HDMI,and a full-size ethernet, which is nice.One of the downsidesthough, is power adapter.So all these other devicescharge either of the USB-C,you have a small power adapter.This is 180 watt brick,and you're gonna wanna carrythis around with you all day,which means that not onlyis this a much heavier,much more bulky device,but you also have to considerthat you're gonna havea bunch of extra weightwhen it comes to the charger in your back.Practicality is gonna take a massive hit,but if the performanceis worth it, that's fine.Mm, all right, let's give this a try.(keyboard clacking)Hmm, keyboard's actually not bad.89 words per minute, 98% accuracy.Yeah, that keyboard actuallyis better than I was afraid.The track pad, though, isdefinitely on the small side.It's honestly, basicallythe same size as the iPad,which is not great.But the track pad itselfis also, like it's fine.It's totally fine, nothing special.This, my friends, is thestory of every PSP ever made.Sony first ventured.So speakers are okay, alittle better than the Lenovo,but still as good as eitherof the Apple devices.What I'm noticing is the speakerskind of fire out thesides, which is not great.'Cause first of all, there'snot a lot of separation,but also, just, it sounds muffled.So when it comes tousing this as a laptop,certainly big, certainly a little biton the bulky kind of side,but where this is not gonnafeel solid is in your bag.I mean, this is a big chunky laptop,and I don't think it's gonna fit.Oh, barely.Maybe.Ah, if I stretch this.Nah-uh.If I stretch the zipper, I think it.There we go.It fits.If you're gonna put downsideson a gaming laptop like this,portability is the absolutely one.'Cause keep in mind,that's just the laptop.I also have to carry on mygiant 180 watt power adapter.No self-respecting school laptopis not gonna spend a wholebunch of time in video calls.So I've got all four of ourdevices here set up on the tableon a single Google Meet,and we're gonna seeexactly how well they lookand how well they sound,not just by recording locally,but actually what it looks likeon the other end of a Google Meet call.This is gonna be fun.First of all, we haveourselves the MacBook Air.Now, MacBooks, as you willprobably not be surprisedto find, are pretty goodfor this kind of thing.So it's got a 1080p display.The M1 processor does a lotof the actual processingon chips to make sure thevideo looks all right.And theoretically, the audioshould also be pretty decent.Keeping in mind that all ofwhat you're seeing right nowis being compressed through Google Meet.So all the audio enhancementsand video compression and blah blah,this is exactly what someonewould see on the other endof your video call.Next up, we have the Lenovo.It's a little contrasty, I'll say,but I assume that once we'veactually processed this videothrough Google Meet,on the other side, it's gonna look fine.My bigger question is whatdoes the audio sound likeon the Lenovo?And now, we're on the 10th gen iPad.So this has the ultra wide camera,which in the browser,just looks ultra wide.But if I was using theactual Google Meet app,it would be panning andsort of scanning aroundto make sure that I was alwayscentered up in the frame.Last but not the least, we have the TUF.So, again, like the Lenovo,this doesn't look great on camera,but I think Google Meet's doinga little bit of processing,and this does advertise twoway AI noise cancellation.So you can be the judgeif this sounds wonderfulor like poop.Next up, let's try some gaming, shall we?And, of course, the bestgaming PC here is the MacBook.So let's start out withResident Evil Village,a game that theoreticallywould run on all of theseexcept the iPad because it's too old.But anyway, this is a gameI've actually played a fairlittle bit on the base MacBook Air.It's really not bad.One of the things that Applelow key does really wellwhen it comes to gamingis they use their MetalFX upscaling,which is very similarto something like DLSS,which means that, again, fora thin and light $650 laptop,the game experience can be good,except for when you wanna play any gamethat's not Death Strandingor Resident Evil or Assassin'sCreed or Baldur's Gateor Minecraft.I think I just named90% of the games on Mac.Now, we are playing with the Lenovo,and my baby looks slightly more pixely.I'm very surprised to saythat this looks and runsworse than the MacBook.It's honestly not great.But this is still amuch more usable laptopbecause, of course, it's running Windows,which means that even thoughI actually think the MacBookmay be slightly more powerfulwhen it comes to the graphics,this is gonna have so manymore games to choose from.That's probably not thatmuch of a competition.Okay, so some pros and consof gaming with the TUF.A pro would certainly be the performance.We're actually now hittingpretty close to 110, 120 FPS,running at 1080p.Obviously, this is a verylike not demanding scene,but I mean, it is dramaticallysmoother than the MacBookor the Lenovo.However, I'm runninginto different issues.Mostly, this screen is really dark,especially for a game likethis, it does not look good.I mean, yes, if I'm right on top of it,it's all right,but the viewing anglesare not good at all here.Even though ResidentEvil does work on iPad,it needs an M1 processor,which this does not have,which means that we'regonna have to play Genshin.Where is the impact?- We should head off.- Yes, let's get going, great idea.Okay, so, ooh, wow, thatframe rate is a frame rate.So touch control's not great, I will say.I could, of course, pair a controller,but, I mean, this is fine.I'd say kind of jittery though,like it's not super smooth.Unless your gaming tastes areincredibly narrowly limitedto stuff that lands on the App Store,they're just, that's not it.It's just, it's not it.And so, my friends, itis time to determinewhich of these laptops truly is best.Now, the risk of a littlebit of a cop out answer,I will say that there is an argumentfor any of these devices.You know, if you reallycare about portability,the iPad obviously has an advantage.The performance of the TUF,the MacBook is more premium,the Lenovo is the cheapest.But my goal here is to determine a winnerusing these three criteria.So we're gonna start outby talking about value.Now, this one's a littlebit more complicatedthan it should be.Now, starting with the MacBook.MacBook, 650 bucks, verystrong value proposition.You're getting a quite premium build.You're getting a lot of, Iwould say, bang for your buck.Now, yes, it's easy tocomplain, only 8 gig of RAM,but performance, screen,like there's not really awhole lot of things wrongwith the MacBook from a value perspective.By far, the worst when itcomes to value is the iPad.If the iPad had a keyboardthat was not ludicrously expensive,I think it would do pretty well'cause I think the iPad byitself for 350 bucks is not bad,but another $250 with the keyboard?Hell no, brother.The Lenovo does well on valuebecause the Lenovo, for less than $500,even though the buildquality isn't amazing,you're getting solid specs,including 16 gigs of RAM,which I will argue is quiteimportant for the future.And the TUF is decent.The problem is, is thatwhen you go into superbudget gaming laptops,there are major corners to be cut.The screen is just not good.It's just very dim.That's the biggest problem.And having only eight gigs of RAM meansthat you pretty much have to upgrade this.So if I'm gonna rank them top to bottom,bottom to top,iPad clearly on the bottom,not even a question.I will actually put theTUF as number three.And number two, I'm actuallygonna give to the MacBook,meaning that the Lenovo wins value.Even though the MacBook feels nicer,you're saving $180 bygoing with this Lenovo,which also has 16 gigs of RAM,which makes me feel a lotbetter about the future.So value wise, feel prettygood about this one.Next, we have performance.Now, the way I'm gonna categorize thisis how well it performs asa back-to-school laptop.Now, when it comes to the iPad,there's a lot of thingsthat the iPad cannot dobesides very, very basic kind of tasks.Now, the Lenovo doespretty well on performance.So it does have thatRyzen 7 16 gigs of RAM.The downsides though, isthat the webcam is not good.The audio is atrocious.So as a laptop that you'regonna be spending timewith like video calls and stuff,well, it might be fine for you.People on the other end of the callwill not appreciate your. (babbling)Sounds bad.The TUF has a lot of performance.So it's going to score well here.But much like the Lenovo,the webcam and the audio is only so-so.You're also dealing with a devicethat's gonna be a lot louder.The MacBook, I think,is actually a pretty good sweet spot here.As a laptop that is actuallyusable on a regular basisand something that actuallyhas the performanceand the overall package,I have to give the MacBookthe win on performance.But this one's actually noteven particularly close.Second place, though, is the TUF,I think the TUF deliversa lot of performance,is probably one of its strongest suits.Lenovo is decent.And iPad definitely last place here.It's almost like there'sa little bit of a trendon the the bottom ofthe chart here so far,which leads us to practicality.So before I decide on this,I actually wanna check.So we've been running,how long has the time had been runningsince we unplugged all these devices?- Literally like twominutes before three hours.- So two hours and 58 minutesago, we unplugged them all.Now, please keep in mind,this is not a scientific test,but we've, generally speaking,done all the same thingson these devices.So they're all spent roughlythe same amount of time gaming.They were all on a video callfor like 30 minutes or so.We've obviously been web browsing.The screens have all been on,they've all been on for about three hours.So let's see how muchbattery life we've got.Because when we talk about practicality,battery, pretty important.All right, let's start with the iPad.The iPad is at 74%,the MacBook is at 60,the Lenovo is at 36,and the TUF is at 32.So while clearly not ascientific comparison,both the iPad and theMacBook score really wellon practicality.The TUF does not scorewell on practicality.It's big, it's heavy.You need that huge power adapter.It also has, surprise, surprise,the worst battery life here.Yeah, you can probably try to come closeto getting all day battery life on Lenovo,but you can 100% get all daybattery life on the MacBook,and the iPad is even better than that.TUF, very clearly on the bottom here,not even a competition.I'm putting the iPad in third.The iPad, even thoughit's its strongest suit,the problem with the iPad,iPad is still not all thatpractical as your only system.And the fact that you haveto spend that much moneyon a keyboard that is nowhere near as goodas having an actual realkeyboard, third place,which puts the Lenovo in second.And the MacBook,I know how to spell.(Alex laughing)The BA in first place.So if I'm doing my math right,last place goes to the iPad,the third place goes to the TUF,second place, Lenovo,first place, MacBook Air.You know what?I feel good about that.Yes, the Lenovo is a perfectly reasonable.It's a good second choice.But for me, this MacBook at 650 bucksnot only is the best laptop here.It's also the best MacBook, period.When you consider that a newer MacBook,if you wanna get like an M2 or an M3,it's gonna cost you what?1,000, $1,100 at leastbefore you add any upgradesor anything like that.Like, this laptop right here, thumbs up.Good job, Walmart.Thank you very much forwatching this video.Hopefully, you found ita little bit insightfulwhen it comes to learninga little bit moreabout the back-to-school laptops,and importantly,how stores love to tell youthey got a brand new deal,when in fact, they'recharging you full price.And in fact, there's nothing uniqueor special about it at all.