Tag: YouTube

2023: A Year in Review

Posted on by Laptop Retrospective

2023: A Year in Review

2023 has been an interesting year for the channel. Quite a few things got accomplished and nearly just as many have been left in a state of completion that I was hoping were further along than where they are now. It reminds me of the quote: “Life is what happens when you are busy making plans.” I want to start by thanking all viewers and supporters of the channel this year and in years past. The comments, likes, conversations, DMs, Discord messages and more mean so very much to me. Special thanks to those of you who keep me in supply of material through borrows, donations and more. Knowing that this information is valuable to people lights a fire like you cannot imagine and I want you to know that I appreciate each and every single one of you. The events of this year and previous years would not be possible without you.

Regardless, there are a few things I wanted to highlight that happened throughout the year.

Laptopretrospective.com visitor and viewer stats as of December 17, 2023.

The first is just the overall steady growth of this website which serves as a hub for all things channel-related. It also is a repository for the articles I write in place of videos. The other purpose is to report updates or addendums to existing videos where it makes more sense to write it all down versus producing another video that may or may not be adequately discovered. Thanks to everyone who found this site through various avenues and shared the content. I hope it was and continues to be helpful to those who discover it.

#MyYearOnYouTube2023 stats from January to November 30, 2023.

YouTube numbers remained steady this year. Subscriber rates have been consistent throughout the year as have other metrics. Generally speaking, the channel experienced a 10% lull in most statistics compared to previous years. I suspect that is primarily due to a few busy months where I was unable to produce the content I wanted to when I wanted to. There were also a few things that shoved around my release schedule. Another interesting point for my channel is videos on average do much better about 6+ months after they release. That is to say, the videos get more views as they age, except for Shorts of course. Whether that is due to the algorithm or other factors, I’m not sure. I’m not concerned about the current process or content having an impact on this statistic as I’ve historically seen the videos pick up as the topic trends after the creation of the video; sometimes months, even years.

YouTube Studio statistics show that the majority of views are coming from older content.

I’d love to expand a few things with the channel but I’m also aware there are barriers. Time is one of them. The channel is a wonderful hobby that I enjoy but it isn’t a source of income, nor do I seek it out to be one or I’d be doing things very differently. My film space needs work and I have a few ideas but I also know there is a great deal I don’t know so that slows down the process. Editing and thumbnails is also a time sink. All that being said, I have dreams and goals but right now, as a team of one, that is challenging to achieve. The other worth mentioning is the budget. YouTube ad revenue brings in a few hundred a month which goes right back into the channel, often to acquire machines to film and the occasional gear for filming but I’m conscious about how I spend that money. Sponsorships that involve money do not fit the current model or goals I have for the channel and that of course introduces challenges but I’m okay with that. All that being said, the channel marches forward and I hope that you enjoy the content I can produce given my current limitations.

Please enjoy some of the highlights from 2023 I’ve outlined below and here is to an amazing 2024.

 

 

January

IBM ThinkPad 350C. This video currently is the oldest ThinkPad that functions in my collection and that I’ve featured on the channel. It was fun to acquire and get it ready to film. It also came with a carrying case and an adapter to let you plug it into a 12V car port.

February

February was quieter as I was deep into testing the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16. Lots of testing and filming happened this month which meant that resources were focused there and not on other areas.

March

Interviewing Dr. Ted Selker. Being able to connect with this genius was a pleasure. Learning about the development of the TrackPoint and his other efforts was amazing and I’m grateful for the time he spent speaking with me.

April

This month I was working on something that is still under wraps for now along with a few other videos. We shall see what the future holds for that project.

May

The Lenovo ThinkPad T430 line is probably one of the most diverse product lines ever fielded under a single-name designation. The article below discusses all the different experiments that occurred. It wasn’t going to be a video as the likelihood of having all those machines under the safe roof again is not high.

May
11

The T430 Line-Up: Celebrating Experimentation

Few ThinkPads have such a strange line-up as what made up the T430 family. It contained several machines that prior to it and after that were unique. Out of all of the modern T400 series, there are more unique models in this era than any other. It seems like a lot of experimentation was happening […]

June

Keyboard Talk. I’ve written a lot of ThinkPad keyboards over the years and this article ended up being a summary of many thoughts I had on the subject. The bottom line is, there isn’t a bad ThinkPad keyboard. People will certainly have their preferences but I’ve learned to enjoy them all for different reasons.

Jun
17

ThinkPad Keyboards: Classic, Modern and why you can love them both

A quick way to start a debate One thing that will get long-term ThinkPad users talking is the differences between all of the ThinkPad keyboards and which version is best. This can be a hotly debated topic with a lot of feelings, nostalgia, personal preference and use cases but there are some things I’d like […]

July

Project Monarch. I’d been wanting to talk about the IBM ThinkPad 701c for years. The challenge was twofold: getting a unit operational that I could film and collecting the information on the device. Both were difficult. Finding a working machine within the budget for the channel was tricky and ultimately happened due to collaboration with a viewer like you. Collecting information was something I was finding significant success with and that became its own barrier in a way. I kept learning more and more which meant I knew the full story was not in my grasp so I wasn’t ready to produce the video I wanted to make. Eventually, after years, I got to the point where I could produce the first video and be happy with it.

The goal is to produce more videos in this series as time moves on.

August

There is not much going on in August due to travel and school work. How dull right?

September

Revisiting the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 was something I knew I needed to do. The original Project Kodachi series was a critical turning point for the channel and I cherish that series and what it started with Think Design Stories and interviews in general. Over the years since Project Kodachi, I learned ever more about the X300 and knew supplemental material would be needed. That led to the creation of this article.

Sep
09

The Importance of the ThinkPad X300

When IBM sold their PC division to Lenovo, not all was well with the iconic ThinkPad brand. IBM was losing money and wanted to get rid of the PC arm of the business for several years. ThinkPad was one of the many components that made the purchase of IBM’s PC Division desirable. Towards the end […]

October

Going to Lenovo Tech World was the highlight of October. This was my first in-person technology conference and a wonderful experience. I got to meet a lot of great people and see some awesome excellent technology. The article below contains all the details.

Nov
04

My Lenovo Tech World 2023 Experience

I was able to attend Lenovo Tech World 2023 thanks to my participation in the Lenovo INsiders program. My travel and accommodations were covered and there was no cost to me to go to Austin, Texas. As part of my efforts to ensure 100% transparency, I am disclosing this information at the top of this […]

 

November

The release of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16 G1. I was testing this for several months and had the chance to test two physical devices. It certainly had a longer development cycle than some machines but it was necessary to make sure it was a successful product launch. It did mean I was “sitting” on these videos for quite some time after they were filmed but I was thrilled to be part of this process and I hope it will happen again in the future.

December

This busy month of real life kept me well away from my film space. It wasn’t exactly how I wanted to end the year but that’s the reality sometime. At the very least I wanted to write this article before the year’s end. I was trying to track down a rare ThinkPad to feature on the channel, one that I have been looking for since the first part of this year, the 755CV or 755CDV. I thought I had one and when it arrived, it became clear the whole top case had been replaced with a stock 755 lid meaning the most unique part wasn’t even present. Back to the drawing board.

2022: A Year In Review

Posted on by Laptop Retrospective

2022 has been a very busy year for the channel with nearly 100 videos published. This year saw the beginning of many new projects, some that I have yet to announce and the continuation and expansion of others. To help celebrate, here are my Top Picks for each month of 2022.

January 2022

The year started strong and it was a tough race between an interview I did with David Hill regarding the TrackPoint cap and the ThinkMods NVMe to Express Card Adapter. Since it is my list, I refuse to choose and give you both of those fantastic videos.

February 2022

February saw the one-year anniversary of my Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano ownership which was a milestone to be sure. SaotoTech did steal the show a bit with their 3D-printed TrackPoint caps. See the video below to learn more about how to get a modern version of a classic TrackPoint cap.

March 2022

This month was especially busy with lots of laptops and Think Design Stories. My favourite has to be David Hill’s story about the Hardened ThinkPad Concept. Special thanks to Brian Leonard for the best photos that exist of this important concept.

April 2022

I finally looked at the IBM ThinkPad 600 which was a very important model for the ThinkPad lineup as it laid the groundwork for the T series that would shortly follow. Lots of design choices that are still with the ThinkPad brand started with this model. Special thanks to Tommy for getting this model to me.

May 2022

This was a quieter month in terms of easily stand-out machines but it did see me tear down the ThinkPad E580 which went to show that good value still exists in series outside the T series.

June 2022

June soldiered on and several machines came and went but one that couldn’t quite go fast enough is one of the least repairable laptops ever made, the Surface Laptop 2. It is impossible to over this device without destroying several components.

July 2022

July was insane with 17 videos released. Two of my favourites from this time were my review of the Keychron K8 and Q0 keyboard and number pad. I did particularly enjoy the IBM ThinkPad A20m video as it gave me the chance to highlight Rob Herman’s work again as I finally got the chance to look at the first A Series on the channel.

August  2022

This was easily the quietest month of the year since I was already hard at work on my celebratory planning for ThinkPad 30th’s birthday. A lot of work was going on behind the scene so the fewest videos were produced during this time. I did manage to squeeze in a few videos and the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 1 was one of the good ones..

September 2022

September began the rolling release of the videos that celebrated ThinkPad’s 30th anniversary. I collaborated with not only David Hill, but Tom Hardy who shared some amazing stories about their time with ThinkPad and Design. Here are some of the many videos that were produced:

October 2022

With the ThinkPad 30’s celebrations in full swing, there was a lot to talk about. I strongly recommend you check out the playlist of Interviews for all the goodies that were happening at that time.

November 2022

This year seemed to have been dominated by ThinkPads. November saw the examination of the X390 which was the last three-digit X model before they went to the X13 variants. It is a strange evolution that I got the pleasure of unpacking for the channel.

December 2022

December and much of November were very busy months for me, unfortunately not channel related so there were many projects that I didn’t get started, or finished. I hope to start the next year strong and wanted to get two wonderful donations filmed. The Lenovo ThinkPad X61s and the Lenovo ThinkPad T430u. Thanks to Justin and Kemish for making that possible.

Looking Ahead

Looking into 2023 I feel like there is much left undone. I’ve been generously provided several donations I still need to film. I have several collaborations in the works that need to be continued that ideally, would be further along and I am definitely the slow factor. As I mentioned earlier in the article, things got busy outside of the channel and I never was able to claw that time back.

I’m excited and optimistic about the opportunities that are new that have also come my way that I cannot wait to share them with everyone. All of it, every success the channel has had this year and years previously has been a direct result of your kindness and support of what I do. Laptop Retrospective remains a wonderful hobby that I’m excited to work on every time I sit down to write notes for a video or edit together the next episode. I hope you will join me in the year ahead, we have so much to explore together.

Customers, Brands and Reviewers

Posted on by Laptop Retrospective

This article was inspired by the Tweet and the article linked below.

One of the stretch goals I had for this channel is to one day use my growing experience and accumulating knowledge about laptops is of course to review newer ones. This is a stretch goal though and not the purpose for Laptop Retrospective to exist. I’m happy with the direction of the channel overall and the exciting opportunities it has given me, especially in the last year. Those have been something really special. So special in fact, that even my original stretch goal is something I could let go of because I’m having too much fun. I consider myself very fortunate to have the freedom to explore so many different avenues. 

Long-term viewers will know that I have a full-time job and do not intend for YouTube and content creation to support me in any way shape or form. The channel supports itself.

Now, getting to the article and how that relates with what I’ve said above are some of the interesting statistics it includes. Entering into the world of reviewing is a sticky one that can be difficult to navigate.

“92% of buyers state they are more likely to purchase a product or service after reading a trusted review.”

“How many reviews are people reading before buying: 5, 20, 50?

112.”

“…a whopping 95% of us believe reviews are fake if the feedback is only positive.”

There are more statistics included in the article but these three jumped out to me and allow me to outline why.

Trusted reviews are really important. I am not confident there are enough of these out there. With varying disclosure laws about partnerships with ad companies, content creators and influencers, I feel that this is a murky area that can be very challenging for the consumer to navigate. I’m fortunate that I do not require funding from any company to create content but I understand others do it as a source of income to sustain their livelihood. That isn’t a bad thing by itself, but it is something that the viewer should know about to help evaluate your relationship with a brand or company. I’ve tried my best to be upfront and transparent about my relationships with any company I’ve worked with and have avoided and even stopped projects where I wasn’t allowed to be critical or the company demanded a specific outcome. It is for this reason that I have never accept financial compensation for my work as I feel that would impact my content and I know that is not something everyone can do, nor would I expect it. Our goals are simply different.

There is a difference between an ad and a review. This should be obvious, especially to the consumer, but sometimes it is challenging to spot. Most companies know the difference when it comes to working with content creators and influencers but a lot of them do not, especially the ones that work with smaller creators such as myself. They do not have robust or dedicated marketing teams that actually understand these subtle differences and feel that any constructive criticism will harm them. In reality, it will probably do more good than harm as we can see from the third statistic.

One of the reasons I wanted to get into this sort of work was to see what the industry was really like as a content creator. I also feel that if something is too polished or professional-looking, it starts to look more like an ad and less like a review. There is a fine line and some creators do a fantastic job of balancing these audience expectations whereas others seem to go “all in” to the ad side of things. That is perfectly fine, so long as that clear and spelt-out relationship is made clear to the viewer.

Anyway, I just wanted to bash out a couple of thoughts here on this since I do not feel I get the chance to talk about this sort of thing very often. Honestly, reviews are less and less of a focus and as I mentioned earlier, that is really okay with me. I want to have fun and learn, those are the two major objectives.

I hope you have found it entertaining and/or informative.