I'm Marques Brownlee (aka MKBHD) and I make tech videos on YouTube. AMA!

What would you do if you could control rewind?

aaaaaaaahhhhhhhahhh it's Rewind Time! I would want Fortnite And

Hold up do we still think Rewind is happening this year?

If you could choose something to be made in matte black, what would it be?

Yes.

Do you get all the apple products for free or do you buy them? Do you have to return them?

It's a healthy mix. Apple has a review program where they'll send things to review and be returned. Everything from the Mac Pro and Pro displays all the way to iPhones and watches and cases. I'm pretty diligent about returning them.

I do however buy Apple stuff all the time. You should see my desk.

What do you think will be the biggest lasting change in the tech due to the pandemic?

I'm honestly hoping it's the way tech events happen. We're all slowly learning that the (mostly) cringe on-stage events with a rush to the hands-on area are kinda rough. We'll see how it evolves, but in my dream world we don't go completely back to those. Also how is CES not canceled yet.

How different is Elon musk IRL from his social media impression?

Same guy

All of your videos are filmed inside your studio, but I've always wondered what sort of tech products do you use at home?

Do you use a permanent smart speaker or does it rotate, what TVs do you like, do you have a home desktop setup? Just that sort of thing!

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Thank you for many years of great videos, I've been a big fan since the honey nut cheerios college dorm days :P

Ok so my most used home tech are the Google Home Max, a June oven (it's incredible) and my PS4 Pro.

What's your current favorite piece of tech?

Honestly after my camera it's my 11" iPad Pro with LTE.

When will you introduce us to the whole team?

Check out the ending of our Merch Review!

This! Gotta feature this whole crew more though, their talent is off the charts.

Have you actually ever used Dbrand skins for a long amount of time?

Yeah I've had a dbrand skin on my iPad Pro since I got it over a year ago, and on my MacBook Pro for months. I'm on and off with them on phones.

What is the most you have been offered by a company to say something positive about their product?

Hah that's a good question - I don't have a number answer because usually the conversation ends as soon as they get into "can we sponsor the review" territory, which is looooong before they're throwing out numbers.

Do you think anyone has the potential to get big on YouTube if they put in the effort?

I think luck has a LOT to do with it. I'd say yes if this were 10 or even 5 years ago when things were significantly less saturated. But now it's much more difficult to find and conquer a niche when it seems like everything has already been done. So in 2020 it's a much more hesitant yes, but without real passion and effort there's almost 0 chance.

Do you use a teleprompter when making your videos? Or just reference notes?

Never been able to use a teleprompter. I always have my outline/notes on my lap on my phone in front of me or on a table next to me for reference.

Which web browser do you use and why?

Safari on my iPad and MacBook because battery life. Chrome on Android.

What’s your least favorite tech?

The Magic Mouse is trash

What do you think is the future of consumer VR in the next 5-10 years? Do you think it'll remain a niche, enthusiast product or that It'll become much more mainstream? Thanks!

I can never quite tell the timeline, but every time I use a new VR headset I'm even more optimistic about its future for immersive content and gaming. So even though I'm bad at predictions, I'm hoping it can be closer to "mainstream" when the biggest companies in the world like Apple and Google start to really make moves in the next 5 years.

Do you ever feel restricted in terms of what you create on your channel because of demonetization and the algorithms? What is your best tactic to get around them?

Oh my own channel, not at all. I've had 0 demonetization problems, and honestly if anything, the algorithm seems to like my old videos to a startling degree. My bigger concern as a tech creator is my ratio of "evergreen" content to RIGHT NOW tech videos in my catalog. Need to keep it a healthy mix.

How does being a YouTuber compare to other jobs?

Couple things on that

1: It's incredible to have a job that's relatively stable right now, in a time where much of the world is struggling with that. I have the viewers to thank for that.

2: This job has one of the biggest deltas between how difficult people think it is vs how much work it ACTUALLY is.

Can you elaborate on your second point?

edit: lol, /r/notOPbutOK

A creative's biggest trick is making it look easy. If you ask the typical person how long it takes to make a typical review video, factor that answer up by an order of magnitude. As u/fist_my_muff2 said (lol) there's a whole lot behind the scenes too. Photography, social media, the inbox, the briefings, phone calls, travel, accounting, etc.

After the conversation with Craig Federighi, there was a lot of "Now that he's gone, we can finally say what we really think". Was there any backlash for that? And can you share any details on what the whole process was like?

No backlash at all, that was a good time. Apple reached out before the show asking if I wanted Craig on the podcast and I agreed. They wanted to know if I'd make a video from it, and I said I couldn't commit until I knew what happened at WWDC and whether it would be video worthy or not. They said that's fine and we set up a time. Craig didn't get to see any of my questions and we just had both ends of our call recorded. Simple!

I noticed the Spotify playlist (MKBHD videos) has a few songs that are French. Do you speak French?

I don't! Love the music though. I'm almost always listening to music. One thing about my brain is it won't let me concentrate on writing/researching if the music I'm listening to has lyrics. But a great hack is to listen to music that doesn't have English lyrics so it doesn't trigger my brain to listen to the words and I can still enjoy the genre and the beat.

Are you slightly worried that Escobar Inc has your address?

One day I'll be able to tell the story of how the FBI showed up at the studio with some questions about that whole thing. But that's a story for another day.

How do you feel about Cell Phone drop test videos?

They had a good run there a few years ago hah. I honestly don't think they're as useful as a straight up analysis of durability and materials, but they can be fun to watch in a weird way.

Fun fact: I've dropped 4 phones in the last decade enough to damage them: LG Voyager, Moto X, OnePlus 3T (before it even came out) and an old Galaxy Note

Don't forget that iPhone X that mysteriously fell off the table that one time lol

Oh god true. This did happen. But I refuse to say it's my fault because I didn't drop it

Tell us about your golf game!

- Whats in the bag?
- Handicap / average score?
- Favorite course that you've played?
- Bucket List course?

I actually had a lower handicap in high school, but I'm at an 11.5 right now as I knock the rust off this summer. Callaway Mavrick Driver, old FTI 3-wood, Nike blades, matte black Vokey wedges. Bucket list course: Pebble Beach. I've stayed at a hotel there and on my god is it picturesque.

Will you ever own a petrol car again?

I've thought about this a lot... For me it's a tossup. Model S has been an incredible daily driver, to the point where the only thing I miss about gas cars is the sports/performance experience. So we'll have to see how Roadster compares to comparables like my lowkey favorite Mclaren 720S.

Hey Marques, are we ever going to see a frisbee tech video?

btw. the clarity of your most recent video was very refreshing, thank you. I really like your stance on the range of topics you touched on. keep 'keepin it real'

Thanks! I actually feel like ultimate frisbee has VERY little tech involved at all, aside from filming games. So it's my little sanctuary/mental space away from tech. Totally different compartment of my brain.

If you weren't a tech reviewer, what would you be doing?

I'd probably have used my degree to start working at a tech company and I'd be that guy running a marketing program for a tech product, communicating with tech YouTubers

Are you going to buy PS5?

Absolutely.

What about the Xbox Series X?

Will likely buy one to review, but I'm less pumped about what I've seen so far as far as games.

Everyone's asking questions but no one's asking how's Marques?

Well thank you for asking. I'm doing great! Looking forward to a productive Friday. Hope you're doing alright!

What do you do for cardio besides ultimate?

Lately, since team sports have been canceled it's been a lot of stationary bike in the basement and track workouts near my house. I bought a bike a few weeks back that I'm waiting to ship so I can continue to work out outside while the weather is nice!

What kinda bike did you get? I need a new one and don't know where to start looking.

Walmart carbon gravel bike 🙃

Hey Marques! I just have one question

What are your biggest pet peeves?

I think about this a lot. And I think I can boil it all down to self-awareness. I hate when people are shockingly unaware of their surroundings. Why do people chill below the speed limit in the left lane? Why do groups of people walk triple-wide on the sidewalk when people behind them want to pass? Why are so many people just IN THE WAY all the time? General lack of awareness.

Are you hiring? (I mean, probably not because, like, pandemic and stuff). But if you were hiring, what would the process be to get a job working with you? What's your process for looking into new editors/cinematographers, etc.?

As for a tech-related question: what do you think the next gimmick/change to the technology world will be. First it was USB-C, then it was OLED... whats next? What would you like to see?

Not actively searching at the moment, but I believe the next MKBHD hire will be podcast-related.

What's your current goal now ,as a content creator? How did it change overtime?

Generally the goal started simply: The make what I would want to watch. In terms of quality, style, tech, etc. It's evolved into: Make a channel I would want to subscribe to. So the breadth of coverage is wider, the variety of content is better (we have a podcast now, different playlists, etc).

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I think the next reasonable goal is to expand this into an empire that I'd want to trust. Can't reveal too much of the master plan, y'know?

What was your favorite Apple reveal of all time? Ex: Mac Pro, iPhone X

Recency bias, but I'm gonna say Mac Pro at WWDC. We all kinda knew it was coming, but that was truly as surprise as far as design, capability, the whole deal. Surprises are so rare in the tech world.

What's your favorite video game?

Right now: NBA 2K20. Of all time: Need for Speed Most Wanted

Hello Marques! I have been watching you since you were making videos from your bedroom. Love your videos, you are my go-to tech reviewer when I'm buying a new product.

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My question is: Even though Pixel phones have great camera, the rest of the phone feels unfinished; experimental. Example:

Google Pixel: Great phone, no complaining here

Pixel 2: 4 gigs of ram and after a month or so it slows down

Pixel 3: Ugliest notch ever to exist

Pixel 4: Garbage battery life

And these phones are not cheap.

Aren't these phones suppose to be best that Android can offer (or atleast the most reliable, you know, like Apple's iPhones) ? Do you think that Google is shooting itself in the foot every year? For no seeable reason?

Thanks for great videos!

That's the thing about Pixels - they're to showcase the best that ANDROID has to offer, and they've never really been the best hardware. It's a shame they're priced like flagships, because they really haven't ever fully measured up and competed across the board. In a dream world Google partners up with a more accomplished hardware manufacturer and really makes a complete Pixel with premium hardware AND software, but that's still just a dream. RIP Google Play Edition.

Ultimate or YouTube, what's more fun?

Impossible to choose. Although now that ultimate has been off the table for the past few months of team sports being cancelled... I really miss it

What things other than technology are you interested in? Sports for example. Anything.

I play ultimate frisbee. But team sports are cancelled right now, so I've started filing most of that time with golf. I also watch a lot of NBA basketball and I am beyond ready for that to be back.

Do you prefer grilled cheese sandwiches or peanut butter and jelly?

Gonna go peanut butter and jelly

Do you watch the Netflix series Black Mirror and if so what tech from the show would you want to become a reality?

So I have a Netflix account but I rarely use it. There are a LOT of tech-related shows I've never seen but could get more into. But most of my on-demand video watching is still YouTube.

What accomplishment in the past 2 years are you most proud of?

Let me just tell you the level of imposter syndrome I experience on a regular basis is insane. I've been lucky enough to be recognized for my work a few times, which is awesome, but nothing quite shocked me as much as winning the Shorty Award's Creator of the Decade during my 10th year of making videos. That turned directly into inspiration to work even harder on videos to feel like I deserve that at all.

A more for fun question but would you ever be sponsored by Raid Shadow Legends?

Nah.

What’s your all-time greatest phone and your worst phone?

Ok that's a tough one. All-time GOAT I'm gonna say Motorola DROID

Worst of all time: HTC Thunderbolt

Most disappointing of all time: RED Hydrogen

Do you play disc golf?

I've been very tempted lately. Haven't tried it yet though.

What's the oldest piece of tech that you currently use (that you also bought new)?

My iMac is over 11 years old and still running great. I'm not a power user so it's enough for me.

That's a really good question - I'm pretty sure it's my Canon 100mm macro lens. I've had it since high school back in 2011.

Do you have any experience with creating your own tech? (coding, design etc)

Very little - I did some coding in college classes and haven't done much since. I have tremendous respect for the people and teams that make the tech I evaluate for a living, and a lot of it comes from seeing them respond to my critiques with software updates and sequels. Super impressive stuff.

How has COVID effected your video making process?

It's gone from the whole team in the studio to just me. We've worked on establishing some remote workflows for things like animation, but I can't wait to have the whole team back again. Believe it or not I'm really missing the robot shots that take 4 people and 4 hours to set up and edit for a 6-second clip.

Should I wait for the XM4s or buy the Surface headphones?

If the XM4s get multiple device support and a matte black finish I legitimately don't think there will be much reason to get anything else

Which piece of technology do you think most people would rather give up, indoor plumbing or cell phones?

Which would you choose?

I could give up a cell phone if I could still have a tablet or some other computer/communication device.

What your thoughts in 2020 on the best wireless earbuds for Android users? Sony? Pixel buds? Galaxy Buds+?

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I have a Samsung Galaxy S10 and use Sony WH1000-XM3s and Jabra 75t Elite Actives but I don't love the Jabras (they wear down super quickly and don't charge fully anymore after 3 months of regular use)

His default recommendation would be Galaxy Buds+, but I think he personally uses Pixel Buds.

I actually switched from Pixel Buds to Galaxy Buds+, they're that good.

If you could go back in time and erase one tech product , which one would you choose?

RED Hydrogen. Just save us all from that disappointment.

Do you make the money to buy all that stuff from YouTube or do you have a day job?

I've been doing this whole tech videos online thing full-time since I graduated college.

Who is your favorite NBA player and why?

Plenty of fun ones to watch, but I've loved watching Chris Paul play because of his approach to the game. He's not the most athletic player, but he's one of the smartest point guards, best passers/facilitators, and best defenders every year (that he isn't injured)

Are you comfortable answering political and ethical questions on here?

If so, what is your stance on masks and Donald Trump?

I don't get into politics as much as I get into track records. So on that front, masks have been pretty good and Trump has been pretty bad.