MTG: The Z Fold 8 Test Ends, the Laptop Cull Begins, and the Kit That Actually Stays
MTG: Watch the original video here: MTG: The Z Fold 8 Test Ends, the Laptop Cull Begins, and the Kit That Actually Stays
There comes a point in every technology experiment when you have to stop admiring the equipment and decide what you are actually going to use.
That point has arrived.
After a few weeks of trying to live with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Windows laptops, Apple devices and various combinations of the lot, I have reached a fairly simple conclusion:
You cannot live half in one ecosystem and half in another. Well, I can’t.
The hybrid idea made perfect sense when I started. Keep the Z Fold 8, use the big inner screen, run a Windows machine for work and keep some Apple kit around for video editing and everything else.
In theory, that sounded sensible.
In practice, it broke my workflow.
MTG: The Fold 8 is a lovely bit of kit
Let’s get this out of the way first. I genuinely love the shape of the Z Fold 8.
The squared corners work for me. The rectangular form feels clean and deliberate, and when you open it up, that big inner screen is an absolute joy. Comparing the shape with the iPhone Duo, I actually prefer the Fold 8.
It is a really good form factor.
The problem was not that the phone was bad. The camera system let it down a little for the type of photography I do, but the larger issue was trying to work across two completely different systems.
I have used iOS since the first iPhone came out. I am nearly 56, so there is a lot of muscle memory involved. I know where things are. I know how I work. I know what I expect to happen when I press a button or move a file.
The Fold 8 kept putting barriers in the way.
The one area where it clearly impressed me was telephone performance. Calls and signal strength seemed much more reliable on the Fold. That was something I noticed quite quickly, and it was better than I expected.
But a good signal does not fix a broken workflow.
The Fold 8 is going on eBay, along with some of the other equipment. That genuinely makes me a little sad, because I like the device. It is just not the right device for me.
MTG: The small problem that decides whether work works
There is another reason this matters beyond personal preference.
I have a day job that involves Microsoft Excel files, server access, shared documents and manipulating data with other people. The hybrid approach sounds as if it should be fine because Excel works on both Mac and Windows.
And it does work.
The problem comes with linked files.
In my experience, if I edit linked Microsoft Excel files on a Mac and then try to update them on a Windows machine, the links can break. The file structures are different. On the Mac, Excel works with volumes, while the Windows machine is looking for the more familiar Windows-style file structure.
It is a subtle difference.
It is also exactly the sort of subtle difference that decides whether something works or whether you are sitting there wondering why the spreadsheet has suddenly stopped talking to the other spreadsheet.
These are the details that are easy to miss when you are comparing devices in a shop or watching a review. Everything looks compatible until you use it as part of your actual working life.
The hybrid world made sense on paper. It did not make sense in my hands.
For an earlier part of this experiment, you can read MGT: Three Days Without Apple, the Z Fold 8 and Surface Setup Hit Reality.
MTG: The laptop cull
The money has to come from somewhere.
I do not have the bank balance to buy every new device that appears and simply keep the old ones in a cupboard. If something new comes in, something else has to go.
That meant looking properly at the laptops.
The 15-inch Surface Laptop with the i7 processor was ruled out because, in my experience, the battery life was several hours short of what I needed.
The Surface Laptop 4 was a lovely portable machine, but the key word was “little”. The screen was too small for my eyes.
The Surface Pro 11 was powerful, enjoyable to use and had good speakers for such a thin device. But again, the screen was too small. The arrival of Apple silicon laptops had also changed how quickly that machine felt dated in my particular setup.
The small MacBook had the same problem. I liked the portability, but smaller screens are becoming less attractive as my eyes become less enthusiastic about them.
That left the Surface Laptop 7 with the X Elite processor, the M4 MacBook Pro and the question of whether the Fold 8 was going to stay.
Once the Fold 8 went, the answer became clearer. If I was returning to the iPhone 17 Pro, there was no real point in keeping a Windows machine simply for the sake of maintaining the experiment.
The iPhone 17 Pro came back into the setup, and so did my happiness.
People are either iOS or Android naturally. That is not a statement about which one is right. It is a statement about where your habits have settled.
Mine are firmly on iOS.
MTG: The MacBook Pro versus the MacBook Air
The final laptop decision came down to two machines.
The M4 MacBook Pro had 16GB of unified memory, 1TB of storage and the nano-texture display. That display is excellent, particularly for my eyes.
The M5 MacBook Air had 24GB of unified memory and 1TB of storage. It does not have the nano-texture display option, which was a genuine loss.
On some tasks, the MacBook Pro would be the obvious choice. The display is better in some respects, and if I were doing lots of single-purpose work, I might lean towards it.
But the Air gives me more headroom for multitasking. It has more unified memory, the screen size suits my eyes better and it is fanless and lighter.
So the M5 MacBook Air stays.
The M4 MacBook Pro goes.
That decision was not made because the Pro was poor. It was made because the Air fits the way I work better at the moment. I would rather have the larger screen and extra memory than keep the nano-texture display and compromise elsewhere.
The final pairing is the iPhone 17 Pro and the M5 MacBook Air. The 11-inch iPad Pro with nano-texture glass is also coming back into the mix because, apparently, I cannot make one technology decision without creating another one immediately afterwards.
The iPhone 18 Pro was considered, but I decided against it. The variable aperture may be useful for some people, but I cannot see it making enough difference for the photography I do.
The 17 Pro stays.
MTG: The studio lighting, one switch at a time
The video also included a look at the studio lighting, because there is more to recording a video than putting a camera on a tripod and hoping for the best.
We started with the blinds open and the room completely unlit.
Then the blinds closed, with the normal office downlights switched on.
Next came the two lights at the front of the studio. That improved the subject, but left quite a lot of darkness on one side.
Two high-level lights were added to bring more light into the background.
Then came two vertical LED strips in the corners, adding a bit more depth.
Finally, two battery-powered colour lights were placed in the corners. They add a slight blue hint, which stops the whole setup looking too flat.
That is where I am stopping with the lighting. It looks good, and there is a point where you can keep buying lights simply because more lights exist.
For normal shooting, I am recording in 4K with the small microphone that comes with the DJI Osmo Pocket 4.
The four things that made me switch off other people’s channels were poor picture quality, bad sound, weak content and poor lighting.
Picture quality is now covered for me. 4K is the benchmark.
The content is something I am still learning.
Lighting is now in a sensible place.
Sound is next.
MTG: The next test is the microphone
In the studio, I normally use a Shure SM7B microphone. It costs a lot more per unit than the small condenser microphone I am testing.
The next video will compare the microphones from the DJI setup, the iPhone, the cheaper condenser microphone and the studio microphone.
The question is whether the cheaper microphone is good enough, or whether the simplest answer is to stop adding equipment and record on the phone.
I do not know where that test will land yet.
That is rather the point of testing it.
There is also a trip to the Amalfi Coast coming up, so there is another decision waiting in the wings: take just the phones, or add a couple of compact cameras?
That can wait.
For now, the kit that stays is the iPhone 17 Pro, the M5 MacBook Air and the iPad Pro. The Z Fold 8, the M4 MacBook Pro and several other machines will be listed on eBay.
It is a much clearer setup than the one I started with.
The practical lesson is the same one I keep coming back to:
Stop waiting for the perfect kit to start recording. You have probably already got it.
if anything I've said today struck a chord with you and you'd like a chat or if you have a particular challenge with energy, power & infrastructure, business generally or you might like to use the studio, drop me an email at andrew@aelhawley.com - if you've watched the video version of this blog you can drop a comment below and, I think I'm supposed to say like and subscribe but I won't. See you on Sunday in the field.. that to be clear, isnt my garden.