The Truth About Linus Tech Tips: A New Era Begins

I am not happy with the current state of Linus Tech Tips. To be clear, my team's amazing and we've basically perfected our gateway drug formula. It's that taste of hardcore tech that goes down smooth and has been turning young gamers into computer science majors by the thousands for over a decade. The good news is that all changes today.

I'm about to show you my plan to radically change the face of Linus Tech Tips, but it's gonna take time and it's going to be extremely expensive. That's why this video is brought to you by NZXT BLD. NZXT wants to make building a custom PC easier. With NZXT BLD, you just set a budget, see how the computer performs in your favorite games, and they do the rest. Use the link below to get your own custom PC today.

Welcome to LTT Lab One. This has been a dream of mine for a long time, but due to a number of factors, including the white hot real estate market here in Vancouver, I have found myself waiting and waiting for the right time when what I should have done was just pull the trigger ages ago, regardless of the cost.

We're hiring a couple of writers this time around, including one for Mac Address. You can apply down below. But that's not what this is. The vision for this lab is pretty simple. In the time I've been doing this job, tech journalism has suffered blow after blow after blow. Nearly every publication that I followed as a young enthusiast has either folded or been bought out by a soulless corporate interest.

Most of the journalists who guided me through my early years have retired or, more likely, moved over to the manufacturing side, where there's still money to be made. That ends now. The gloves are coming off. Are you an expert on mobile gaming performance or displays who needs a second day job to survive? Are you stuck in marketing for a major board manufacturer and hate every minute of it?

Do you think I can't afford you? Try me. When I'm done, every square foot of Lab One is going to be filled with engineering personnel and equipment that will take our content to the next level, starting behind this door, and you're gonna wanna be part of it.

Oh, look, it's a Luke. Hey guys. You probably already know that for the last four years, I've been working on floatplane.com, our early access video platform that's full of behind-the-scenes and video extras for our supporters. What you might not know is that more recently, we've been hard at work expanding our development team to tackle other projects, not just floatplane.com.

Like these cool browser quizzes and games for the Verified Actual Gamer program and our merch message notifier for orders on LTTstore.com for our live streams. We're expanding our team even more. This time, we want to throw some dev muscle behind the writing team by integrating or creating tools for automated benchmarking processes and data collection.

I also want a data scientist for some unrelated stuff. So at the moment, I'm only actually personally hiring 2 of the 15 positions we've got listed, but if we get the right applicants, who knows, maybe three of you will be sitting here.

After a paint job maybe some new floors. Maybe some new lights. Luke laughs. Yeah, this is pretty oppressive. Okay, look, we just took the session on Friday, okay. Anyway, this is where the real action is going to be. Before you can really appreciate it, though, you got to hear the vision, so let me lay it out.

This corner at the back of the room here, that's where we're gonna have our thermal and acoustic combo chamber.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- The truth is I am not happywith the current state of Linus Tech Tips.To be clear, my team's amazingand we've basically perfectedour gateway drug formula.It's that taste of hardcoretech that goes down smoothand has been turning younggamers into comp sci majorsby the thousands for over a decade.The good news is that all changes today.I'm about to show you my planto radically change theface of Linus Tech Tips,but it's gonna take timeand it's going to be extremely expensive,which is why this video isbrought to you by NZXT BLD.NZXT wants to make buildinga custom PC easier.With NZXT BLD you just set a budget,see how the computer performsin your favorite games,and they do the rest.Use the link below to getyour own custom PC today.(upbeat music)Welcometo LTT Lab One.This has been a dreamof mine for a long time,but due to a number of factors,including the white hot real estate markethere in Vancouver, Ihave found myself waitingand waiting for the right time,when what I should have donewas just pull the triggerages ago, regardless of the cost.We're hiring a couple ofwriters this time around,including one for Mac Address.You can apply down below.But that's not what this is.The vision for this lab is pretty simple.In the time I've been doing this job,tech journalism has sufferedblow after blow after blow.Nearly every publication that I followedas a young enthusiast has either foldedor been bought out by asoulless corporate interest.And most of the journalists who guided methrough my early years have retiredor, more likely, moved overto the manufacturing side,where there's still money to be made.That ends now. The gloves are coming off.Are you an expert onmobile gaming performanceor displays who needs asecond day job to survive?Are you stuck in marketingfor a major board manufacturerand hate every minute of it?Do you think I can't afford you? Try me.When I'm done, everysquare foot of Lab Oneis gonna be filled withengineering personneland equipment that will takeour content to the next level,starting behind this door,and you're gonna wanna be part of it.Oh, look, it's a Luke.- Hey guys.You probably already knowthat, for the last four years,I've been working on floatplane.com,our early access videoplatform that's fullof behind the scenes and videoextras for our supporters.What you might not knowis that, more recently,we've been hard at workexpanding our development teamto tackle other projects,not just floatplane.com.Like these cool browser quizzes and gamesfor the Verified Actual Gamer programand our merch message notifierfor orders on LTTstore.comfor our live streams.We're expanding our team even more.This time, we want tothrow some dev musclebehind the writing team byintegrating or creating toolsfor automated benchmarkingprocesses and data collection.I also want a data scientistfor some unrelated stuff.So at the moment, I'm onlyactually personally hiring2 of the 15 positions we've got listed,but if we get the rightapplicants, who knows,maybe three of you will be sitting here.- After a paint jobmaybe some new floors.- Maybe some new lights.(Luke laughs)- Yeah, this is pretty oppressive.Okay, look, we just tookthe session on Friday, okay.Anyway, this is where thereal action is going to be.Before you can reallyappreciate it, though,you got to hear the vision,so let me lay it out.This corner at the back of the room here,that's where we're gonna haveour thermal and acoustic combo chamber.\"Why a combo chamber?\" you might ask.Well, because it doesn't matterhow cool your laptop runsif it sounds like a heli taking offand it doesn't matter how quiet it isif the CPU is drowning ina pool of its own sodder.So the plan for this is pretty simple.We'll be DIYing it, naturally,and we're going to put the indoor sideof a mini-split heat pump alongprobably this side over here,along with some kind of smart damperthat will allow the airflowto either go into the chamberor redirect out of the chamberwith exactly as muchgranularity as we needto maintain an exacttemperature inside the room.Once that target is reachedand our loaded devices,let's say I'm a desktop PC running blenderhave reached equilibrium,we'll hit a kill switchthat'll disable the HVACand any circulation fansthat we have inside thechamber for some time period,let's say 10 seconds, whilewe take an acoustic reading,assuming a large enoughinternal air volumeand a low enough noise floor,clearly this room is goingto need to be treated.(hands clapping)We should be able to measure acousticsunder various conditions,say at room temperatureversus on a very hot day,both accurately and precisely.Now the exact size andlayout of the chamberis definitely subject to change.But what I know for certain is thatwe're going to have astation right out here,probably along this side,That's going to be for recording theperformance of the deviceat each of our targettemperatures as well.Since on a modern device,it's more a question of when it throttlesas opposed to if it throttles.Also along this wall is going to bethe gear that we need to seriously amp upour thermal testing game.We already have themanufacturing capabilitiesin the workshop to build super precisethermal load generators.So here,we're going to use a combination ofinternally designed toolsand real-world CPU's torun through as many coolersas we can get our hands on.That is why the staffingaspect is so important.This isn't even aboutmaking videos anymore.It's about cutting throughthe BS in order to decidewhat to make videos about,which means that most of thetesting that we do in hereis going to be publishedmore in the form ofwhite papers on a written website,as opposed to, you know,behind me making a bigthumbnail face like.This whole spacewill need to be climatecontrolled, obviously.There goes 15 grand.Thankfully, I've got this.Blank checkOh, and I've got a new andimproved accounting team.We're looking for anaccountant and a bookkeeper,and we'll have links toall the new positionsin the video description.Now, Kyle, most of ouraudience hasn't really met you.- I'm an engineer for Create a Warehouse.I'm designing the portable battery bankslash shoe dryer thing,an RGB housewares itemthat is currently under wraps,And I also took overAlex's early developmenton the screwdriver.I'm a big, I'm not reading that.- You know, you have to.- I'm a big no.- Excellent.So then tell me, what wouldyou put along this wall?- I actually think it'dbe really cool if we had athermal camera set upfor time-lapse captureso we could see theheat soak into a cooler.It could actually tell us theefficiency of the heat pipes,for example, as for other things,truthfully it's anything thatcan be objectively measured.It's just a question ofequipment, budget, and time.- Man, I'd love to test stuff likePCI express signal integrity,or we could look atthe performance of VRMson like every budget motherboardsso we could figure out notjust who's cheaping out,but like, does it matter?Right?We did a video recentlylooking at a whole bunch ofdifferent motherboards and found thatthe performance differenceswere actually quitesignificant from one boardto the next.I mean, is that something that you couldconceive of us being able to test here?- Absolutely.- I mean, what about power supplies?- For sure.Power supplies are one ofthe most important partsof a system.If that goes, it couldtake other things with it.- But it's notjust whether it goes or notlike could we meaningfully evaluate themso we could tell people, okay,at $99, this is the best one.- Yeah. Like the stuff like efficiency,how much power you're putting in versushow much you gain out,is the voltages stable,are you getting 12 voltswhere you need 12 volts?- How muchis that going to cost me?- Could be more than 15 grand.- Cool.On the subject of power,I think this would bea great place to set upfor something like a testbench for phone thermalthrottling and chargingrates and stuff like that.Not every thermal testneeds acoustic measurements.And it'd be nice to have asecond smaller thermal chamber,maybe over on this side wherewe could evaluate thingslike phone performancedegradation over timewhile gaming.Man, the software guys aregoing to have their workcut out for them.Like in my perfect world,I'm imagining that we justput the phone in there.We run a 3D mark benchmark, right?We use machine vision totake the results, log them,obviously we capture animage every time for safety.Then we use a robotic handto run the benchmark again,right away we detect whenthe performance bottoms out,then we run five more for safety.And then it turns on a lighton the outside of the chamberto say, it's done.I mean, can it be done?- Whatever you say Linus. Absolutely.I mean, you're paying for it.- Let's go this way.I think displays are one ofthe areas of technology that wecan do a way better job ofevaluating with just a little bitof gear and know-how.I mean, pretty mucheverything about them can beobjectively measuredwith high-speed camerasand easily available devices likeinput latency testers and colorimetersor spectrophotometers.And I would imagine somethinglike that would go here.Oh, obviously I'm not going to let Stevebe the only tech media outletwith a fan tester, by the way.I've been jealous ofCoursera's for many years.So I guess we could put that,I don't know, here or something.Or maybe we'll just leavefans to Gamers Nexus.Hard call.I guess it depends what ourpriorities end up being.I want to hear from you guys,what you want to see ustake to the next level.Speaking of next level,let's head to the next level, upstairs.It's time to talk abouthow we're going to pay forall of this.As I already mentioned,not all of the new positions are LTT labs.One of the biggest growth areasfor our business right nowis in merch.So that's right,you guys are going to pay for it.- You guys paid for all this.- By buying beanies deskpads, water bottles, hoodies,you guys are funding.You're already doing it.The biggest reinvestment into our contentthat we have ever made andwe are going to need more.So if you or someone you knowis in the fashion industry,or if you're an engineerwho's more interestedin product development rather thanproduct evaluation,check out the link below.We've got those positions,as well as a product managerto handle ordering and logisticsto add to the creator warehouse team.As for this space,I know neither what itwas intended for before.See these weird power outletsthat are up along the ceiling, Brendan?Super, super weird bunchon the floor as well,nor do I know what I'mgoing to put in here later.It could be another sound treated room,but maybe this time forevaluating soundbars orhome theater, speakers and projectors.It could be a small lab for testingactive noise cancellationor headphone frequency response curves,or battery life claims or touchbe an input responsiveness.It's hard to say.The only thing I know for sureright now is that you guysare still here watching this video,which means that you're as excited aboutthis new direction as I am.And maybe you want to get involved.So feel free to put your hat in the ring,but don't be disappointedif we don't take you.This time around,we're looking for industry professionalsand it is not going to beeasy to get into the lab.But don't be discouraged becausewe actually have evenmore positions availablethat I haven't mentioned yet.So make sure you check out the jobs page,linusmediagroup.com.so you can be part of our next chapterand also check out our sponsor, Jackery.We still need sponsors.Thanks Jackery for sponsoring this video.Jackery makes solar readyportable power stationsthat are designed to improveoutdoor life by providing poweroutdoors whenever andwherever you need it.Their Explorer 1500 portablepower station has enough juiceto keep all your devicespowered and connected.It's huge 1500 watt hour capacityand 1800 watt output rateallow up to seven devices tobe plugged in simultaneously.It takes only four hours torecharge it from zero to 80%.And you can check out theExplorer 1500 at the link belowand get 10% off with code LinusTechTips.If you guys enjoyed this video,maybe you want a blast from the past.Why don't you go checkout our first studio tourback when we were still workingout of a house in Langley.It's a bit of a contrast.Wow, back then,I would've given anythingfor this as our main studio,let alone as a dedicated lab.\n"