2024: The Best and Worst in Hardware (Premium)
- Paul Thurrott
- Dec 17, 2024
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For laptops, PCs, Macs, chips, peripherals, and other hardware, 2024 was the best of times, and 2024 was the worst of times. And in prepping my year-end wrap-ups for 2024, I found that it was a big enough year that I needed to expand on the collection of articles I usually write. And so this article, which began as a “best laptop of 2024”-type post, now highlights the best and worst hardware moments I experienced in 2024, some personally and some industry-wide.
Note that hardware in this case is limited only to those devices one uses personally. Sorry, Nvidia.
✍️ Reviews, I’ve made a few
I may as well start with the laptop and PC reviews. I typically estimate that I write about 12 laptop reviews each year. But I’ve already written 20 laptop and PC reviews this year, and will likely get a few more done before New Years: I have six new hardware devices in-house as I write this, including four laptops and one all-in-one PC, plus one tablet and one e-reader.
My 2024 laptop and PC reviews are, in chronological order:
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12
Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 14 Gen 9
Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 Snapdragon
Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i 15 Aura Edition
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid
? No regrets: Microsoft Surface Laptop 7
Surface Laptop 7 isn’t perfect: It lacks a fingerprint reader and presence sensing capabilities, for example. But with this laptop, Microsoft delivered exactly what I wanted: A MacBook Air-alike with a large display, Snapdragon X/Arm internals, killer performance, battery life, compatibility, efficiency, and reliability, a terrific keyboard with a near-perfect typing experience, and the clean software experience I hope to see on all PCs. I spent way too much on this PC and I couldn’t be happier: It’s the best laptop of 2024, and my best purchase of the year too. I only wish I could have gotten it sooner.
? Nothing but regrets: Apple iPad Air 13-Inch M2
Looking back on this, I’m having trouble reconciling my decision to purchase an Apple iPad Air 13-inch M2 to replace my aging 11-inch iPad Air 4th generation (2020). I mean, I can rationalize it. I had to keep resetting my old iPad Air because it kept slowing down. Between 2023 and 2024, I’d really started preferring larger-screen 15-16 inch laptops, so maybe a larger iPad made sense too. And while Apple had dashed my hopes of a more sophisticated iPadOS at WWDC 2024 in the wake of releasing new M-based iPad Pro and iPad Air models, it would have to come around to reality at some point, right?
Maybe it will happen someday. But this was a mistake today. The 13-inch iPad Air is too big and too heavy, and it violates all the buying advice I give to others, which starts with “optimize for the everyday.” And what I do with my iPad, every day, is read. What I do very occasionally, and usually only when traveling, is watch videos. And what I do not do much at all–you never know is the enemy of common sense–is play games or use the iPad like a laptop. And so the current-generation iPad would have been a better choice, as would the new iPad Mini if I could have just waited for it to arrive. I would have saved a lot of money in either case, and would have been happier with the device. Ah well.
? Phoning it in
I don’t review as many phones as I do laptops–and I only occasionally look at tablets, e-readers, and other devices formally–but here, at least, the rationalizing makes sense. There are only two platforms, Android and iOS and the maker each platform makes the best (or only) phones in each ecosystem. The one potential exception to this rule is Samsung, of course: Samsung makes better Android hardware than does Google, and it uses superior Qualcomm chipsets, a big issue given how badly Google’s Tensor chips have missed the mark.
In any event, my phone reviews each year have consolidated down to one Apple iPhone review, one Google Pixel review, and maybe one Samsung Galaxy review. And this year was no exception, though I didn’t post my review of 2023’s Pixel flagship until January this past year, skewing things.
Of course, one doesn’t buy a smartphone only because of the hardware–repeat after me, buying decisions like this are a matrix of smaller choices, and we all give different weights to those choices. But here’s where I fall on that one. Google makes the superior Android and mobile OS overall with Pixel. Apple has made strides to close that gap, but it lags behind in key areas. And Samsung is a train wreck of duplicate and superfluous functionality, an “everything but the kitchen sink” approach I personally cannot stand. So if I’m looking at just the phone hardware and software, then it’s roughly tied between the Pixel 9 Pro XL and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The trouble is, it’s not just the phone hardware and software. We also have to look at the broader ecosystem, too. And that is where things get messy.
?️ Ecosystem matters, because ecosystems matter
This one is a big topic. Big enough that I wrote about it repeatedly in 2024 and will write more over the holiday break. So forgive me for punting on this one a bit here, but the short version is that I made major pushes into the broader Apple and Google ecosystems this past year. And I have two high-level conclusions. The Apple ecosystem is absolutely superior. And there are enough things wrong with it that I keep looking.
So I will have more on this soon. But tied to the expensive Surface Laptop 7 and iPad Air purchases noted above, I spent a lot on Apple stuff this past year. I bought a MacBook Air 15-inch M3–my most expensive purchase of the year–the iPhone 16 Pro Max, a pair of AirPods Pro 2 earbuds, a pair of (Apple-owned) Beats Studio Pro ANC headphones, an Apple Watch Series 10, two HomePod smart speakers, two HomePod Mini smart speakers, plus various accessories, and I subscribed to Apple One Premiere (which is $37.95 per month) in 2024. Yikes.
On the Google front, I bought the Pixel phones, a Pixel Tablet (in December 2023, now mostly used as a smart display), and a Pixel Watch 3, and I subscribe to Google One AI Premium 2 TB, which is $19.99 per month (though I got a year free with the Pixel 9 Pro XL).
You may be familiar with the term “put your money where your mouth is.” Apparently, my mouth is confused.
? Sustainability
This one doesn’t get enough attention, in part because it feels–and is–self-serving on Big Tech’s part. But you can’t argue with the results. Computers and other devices are suddenly much more repairable and user serviceable than had been the case for many years, thanks to regulation and right to repair laws. They ship in sustainable packaging, and they are made from recycled and recyclable parts.
This is nothing but good news, as is the EU forcing Apple to switch completely to USB-C, eliminating one of the more irritating things about owning multiple devices. But tied to all this is an important reality: The best thing you can do when it comes to hardware is to minimize your purchases and keep using your current devices for as long as you can. And that is something … I cannot do. Not yet.
I’m not a hippie environmentalist or anything. But one of the oddities of my job is that it sometimes conflicts with how I do things elsewhere in my life. That’s particularly true of hardware devices like laptops, tablets, and phones. While I definitely spend more time with these devices than the typical tech reviewer, I also routinely move on to the next device. This is problematic for all kinds of reasons, but it also stands in sharp contrast to how I am otherwise: When I find something I like, I often use it to the point where it’s falling apart or otherwise compromised.
I wrote about this paradox in Good Enough (Premium) back in March. I was belatedly trading in my daughter’s pristine iPhone 12 Pro and it was interesting to me how nearly perfect it was. I would absolutely hold on to great devices for as long as possible. If only I could. I will, someday.
Also tied to this, I’m fascinated by modular hardware designs like those made by Framework Laptop that take this notion of sustainable hardware use to an extreme. And by Raspberry Pi, which wins the wholesome sweepstakes with its combination of focusing on education, makers and creators, and low-cost PCs that just about meet most mainstream needs. I love that these companies can be successful, and while there were concerns when Raspberry Pi announced its IPO in June, the company has proven that it can be profitable while doing what it promised to do and unleash an mind-boggling number of new products, including, among other things, a $50 version of the Raspberry Pi 5, [SSD and SSD Kits(https://www.thurrott.com/hardware/311970/raspberry-pi-launches-ssds-and-ssd-kits), a more powerful AI Kit, Touch Display 2, and, most recently, the Raspberry Pi 500 and Pi Monitor in December. Wonderful.
? Gaming on the go
2024 was a huge year for gaming on the go. But the best news here, at least to me, is the resurgence of the PC as an exciting gaming platform. I began PC gaming in the very early 1990s with Castle Wolfenstein 3D, and I was a PC gamer all the way through 2005, when Microsoft launched the Xbox 360. And then I never looked back. Until I did: In March 2023, I gave up on console gaming and returned to the PC, albeit part-time. One of the issues with PC gaming is that it requires modern graphics hardware, and almost all the PCs I use are mainstream laptops.
But thanks to AMD’s and Intel’s work on integrated graphics in recent years, this has really turned around. I wrote about my thoughts on portable PC gaming back in July, but it keeps getting better. (Unless you’re on Windows 11 on Arm, of course. Snapdragon X gaming is a mess and the rare example of that platform face-planting. Maybe Gen 2 will solve that next year.)
Tied to this, the success of Steam Deck and Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to make Xbox cross-platform have triggered a new generation of portable gaming devices, like the Acer Nitro Blaze 7 Gaming Handheld, that are modeled on Steam Deck. We’re going to see a lot more of that in 2025.
?✈️All keyed up
Microsoft announced last January that some new Windows 11-based PCs would soon come with a dedicated Copilot key. And ever since then, every single laptop I’ve reviewed has this damn key, and I hate it. In part because I’m a sloppy typist and hit it by mistake, randomly launching the stupid Copilot app I also hate. I solve this problem with PowerToys Keyboard Remapper. But it seems that Microsoft’s only important customers also hate this stupid key. And now, we have the complete reverse: This past week, Microsoft revealed that it will allow businesses to remap the key using policy. And it actually told them to uninstall Copilot. What a pointless change.
⌨️The Microsoft hardware that wasn’t
Also terrible, Microsoft foolishly decided to kill its well-regarded family of Microsoft-branded hardware peripherals, replacing it with the mostly inferior–and much smaller–family of Surface-branded hardware peripherals. (And then it scaled back Surface significantly, because of course it did.) This change meant that some beloved peripherals, like the Sculpt Keyboard and Mouse set I still prefer, were no longer available for sale. But in January 2024, Microsoft announced that it was partnering with Incase to bring over 20 Microsoft accessories, including my beloved Sculpt products, back into the market. It was all going to work out.
Except that it didn’t. As the calendar ticked by and the Q2 target date for the re-release came and went, fans started to get antsy. And 2024 ended with a whimper in this regard: To this day, Incase hasn’t released a single Microsoft peripheral. Incase delayed the release. And we have no idea when or if these products will ever be sold again.
At least HP released a decent replacement in the HP 960 Ergonomic Wireless Keyboard back in May. It’s a bit bigger than the old Sculpt keyboard, but it works nicely.
? The Apple hardware that wasn’t
If you’re not an Apple fan, take heart that its next big platform push, the Vision Pro, hasn’t taken off in any appreciable way. Granted, given its $3500 price point, Vision Pro was always going to be a tough sell. But when iOS stalwarts Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube all said no to Vision Pro, it was like we had crossed into uncharted territory. Vision Pro allegedly sold 800,000 units in its first weekend, but the situation went from bad to worse to ugly pretty quickly. By April, Apple was already cutting production.
Hey, it could be worse. It is for Microsoft, which revealed 1000 layoffs in its Mixed Reality group in June and then discontinued HoloLens 2 in October. That makes Vision Pro look like a blockbuster success. Sort of.
? But what about the news?
There were bigger hardware news stories in 2024, of course–I’m looking at you, Intel–but we’ll get to all that in a future wrap-up article.
More soon!
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