Oct 30, 2026 · 2h 7m
Apple’s experimental hardware strategy meets subscription fatigue
Is The "PROLED" Macbook Any Good?
The episode connects Apple’s foldables, OLED devices, touch-enabled Macs, and creative subscriptions to a broader shift toward riskier products and recurring revenue.
- 1Apple’s new OLED iPad mini and touchscreen MacBook Pro expand its hardware lineup while exposing aggressive pricing and feature segmentation.
- 2iPhone Duo display failures highlight the durability, repair, and support challenges of Apple’s first foldable smartphone.
- 3Rooted smart TVs and proposed cybernetic military dogs frame a wider debate over consumer control and technological ethics.
Don't miss
The hosts test the touchscreen MacBook Pro’s macOS gestures and precise touch controls, finding useful large interactions alongside awkward everyday compromises.
The brief
Marques Brownlee, Andrew Manganelli, and the Waveform team move from Arc’s sunset to Apple’s increasingly experimental product strategy, with subscriptions and recurring revenue as the connecting thread.
Reports of failing iPhone Duo inner displays prompt a discussion of dust, mechanical stress, nanotexture damage, replacement policies, and the uncertainty facing affected owners.
The OLED iPad mini and touchscreen MacBook Pro offer ambitious upgrades, but their pricing, awkward touch interactions, and carefully tiered features make Apple’s strategy feel deliberately conflicted.
The conversation broadens beyond Apple as the hosts discuss rooting smart TVs to remove ads and tracking, then confront the ethics of cybernetic, genetically modified military dogs.
Taken together, the episode portrays technology as more configurable and experimental than before, while asking who controls the hardware and who bears its risks.
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