MARQUES BROWNLEE / THE INSPIRATION SERIES
Look closely.
Think for yourself.
The craft of making technology
easier to understand.
By Rob Urban
A technology review is an interesting act of translation.
A manufacturer has built something and given it a set of claims. A person watching has a life the product might need to fit into. Between them sits the work of looking carefully, trying things, and explaining what matters.
That middle space is what interests me about Marques Brownlee. I admire the attention he brings to the experience of a finished product, and the care involved in making that experience understandable on a screen.
His work also offers several ways to enjoy technology: as something to use, something to compare, something to make films about, and something with a history worth knowing.
01 / EXPLAIN
A remote control
worth explaining.
In Fast Company’s 2023 profile, Brownlee describes researching his first laptop extensively, then discovering details that the videos he had consulted did not cover.
His own early video demonstrated the bundled remote for an HP laptop. The origin is appealingly specific: he had learned something about an object and could help another person understand it.
The profile also describes his mother, Jeaniene Brownlee, helping develop the business, and identifies Brandon Havard as a creative director who joined in 2018.
I like the connection between those details. A small explanatory impulse grew into work that other people could help sustain and develop.
The remote control is a useful place to begin because it keeps the viewer’s need in sight. Someone else might be trying to understand exactly that feature. A careful demonstration would be useful to them.
02 / USE
The finished product,
in someone’s life.
In a 2019 conversation with Y Combinator’s Craig Cannon, Brownlee recalls upgrading desktop computers, then distinguishes that interest from the question that most attracted him: how well the finished product would work for its user.
He also describes the channel’s development as gradual, with a consistent voice over many videos.
Those two ideas belong together for me. The audience has a practical question, and the reviewer has a growing history of answering questions of that kind.
I appreciate a body of work that lets people become familiar with someone’s judgment over time. A viewer can learn which details the reviewer notices and how those priorities relate to their own.
That relationship gives a review value beyond its conclusion. The explanation helps the viewer make a judgment, including when their needs differ from the reviewer’s.
03 / COMPARE
The picture before
the brand name.
The blind smartphone camera comparison published in January 2024 makes the audience’s judgment part of the exercise. The project compared images from twenty phones across daylight, low-light and portrait situations, with device identities concealed during voting.
I find that a productive invitation. Before considering which company made the picture, a viewer has to decide which picture they prefer.
The exercise also makes room for a useful distinction: preference in a set of photographs is one part of evaluating a camera. It does not settle every question about a phone, or every situation in which someone might use it.
That boundary helps me appreciate the project. It gives people something concrete to examine together. The results become a starting point for a more interesting conversation about what we notice in photographs and what we want our cameras to do.
Comparison gives an opinion some visible material to work with.
04 / REMEMBER
Technology has
a memory.
Vox Media’s introduction to Retro Tech, the series it produced with YouTube and Brownlee, describes episodes built around objects including the Walkman, Sega Genesis, Polaroid Land Camera and 1984 Macintosh.
The opening episode centers on a JVC GR-C1 camcorder, with Casey Neistat demonstrating filming and editing on the older equipment.
I appreciate the change in perspective. A device can be interesting after its moment of novelty has passed. It can reveal what people once wanted to do, what was difficult, and what new possibilities became available.
For a creator whose own medium is video, returning to earlier video equipment is especially fitting. The tools have a lineage. The familiar act of making and sharing a film contains a history of inventions and compromises.
That curiosity gives technology a human timescale.
05 / MAKE
More interests
inside the frame.
David Imel’s account of his work offers another useful view of the people around the channel. He describes writing, research and production for MKBHD and The Studio, as well as podcast work.
His selected projects include a film about making high-quality videos and work connecting photography with art and communication.
I like seeing those interests beside the recognizable channel name. They suggest how much an audience can gain when people with their own curiosity contribute to a shared project.
Research, writing, filming and conversation bring different kinds of attention to the same subject. The finished video is the place where that work meets.
Admiring Brownlee’s work means appreciating the conditions that allow those contributions to become visible, too.
What I want from a thoughtful review is a clearer relationship with the thing being reviewed.
I want to understand why a detail might matter, what an example reveals, and which questions remain mine to answer. Good criticism can make a product more interesting while also making my own preferences easier to recognize.
Brownlee’s work is worth understanding because it gives that process so much attention. The objects receive careful presentation. Comparisons give viewers something to examine. Older technology receives another look. Collaborators bring their own skills and interests into the frame.
I admire the combination of visual ambition and practical curiosity. It treats technology as something people actually live with, and treats the explanation as a craft worth taking seriously.
Sources: Fast Company’s November 2023 reported profile; Brownlee’s 2019 Y Combinator interview and January 2024 camera comparison; Vox Media’s original Retro Tech announcement; and David Imel’s professional account. Linked throughout. Interpretation by Rob Urban. Checked September 2026.
The Inspiration Series · Collections · Casey Neistat · Meet Rob