science

Marques Brownlee

Marques Brownlee is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Marques Brownlee rather than just read about it. In short: Marques Keith Brownlee ( mar-KEZ BROWN-lee; born December 3, 1993), known professionally as MKBHD, is an American influencer, tech reviewer, postcaster and professional ultimate frisbee player, best known for his YouTube videos reviewing technology devices. In 2013, Vic Gundotra, a former senior vice president of Google, called Brownlee "the best technology reviewer on the planet right now".

Key takeaways

Marques Brownlee belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Marques Brownlee to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Marques Brownlee from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Marques Keith Brownlee ( mar-KEZ BROWN-lee; born December 3, 1993), known professionally as MKBHD, is an American influencer, tech reviewer, postcaster and professional ultimate frisbee player, best known for his YouTube videos reviewing technology devices. In 2013, Vic Gundotra, a former senior vice president of Google, called Brownlee "the best technology reviewer on the planet right now". At the 10th Shorty Awards in 2018, he was named "Creator of the Decade". The username of his YouTube channel is a concatenation of MKB (Brownlee's initials) and HD (for high definition). As of 2025, he has more than 20 million subscribers across all channels and billions of total video views. With New York PoNY, Brownlee is the 2022 WFDF World Champion in the Open Category for ultimate Frisbee. In 2024, Time magazine named him to its "TIME100 Most Influential People in AI" list.

Online career

Brownlee joined YouTube on March 21, 2008. He first started uploading videos in January 2009, while still in high school, about new products or reviews of products he already owned. He produced his first videos through screencasting. Review sites have promoted Brownlee's reviews. Engadget promoted the site in January 2012 when they featured his tour of the then-new cloud storage service called Insync. In November 2013, one of Brownlee's most viral videos was posted based on the LG G Flex, where he performed various scratch tests to demonstrate the self-healing ability of the device. In December 2013, Brownlee did an interview with Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside. Brownlee's video review and scratch test of a rumored 4.7-inch sapphire display for the iPhone 6, uploaded July 7, 2014, gained immediate popularity, being featured on sites such as The Verge, HuffPost, CNET, Time magazine, and others. As of November 2024, the video has gained over 9.2 million views on YouTube and has had over 60,000 likes. In December 2015, Brownlee interviewed professional NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant. During one of the 2016 Democratic presidential primary debates, YouTube cosponsored a video whereby Brownlee asked the candidates, by video, whether tech companies and the government can find a middle ground over encryption while simultaneously considering rights to privacy and national security. In April 2018, Brownlee won Shorty Awards Creator of the Decade. In August 2019, Brownlee began co-hosting a technology podcast, Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast. that is commonly referred to as Waveform or WVFRM. The podcast is focused on product reviews and interviews with figures influential in the technology industry. Retro Tech is a YouTube Original series produced by Vox Media Studios starring Brownlee, which was published on December 2, 2019. In the series, Brownlee interviews fellow YouTube creators and celebrity guests and discusses iconic pieces of technology from the past which have had a significant impact on modern life and culture. Brownlee reached 10 million subscribers on December 18, 2019, making MKBHD one of the most-subscribed-to technology-focused YouTube channels. As of July 2025, his main channel has more than 20 million subscribers and billions of total views. His secondary channels (WVFRM Podcast, 438,000 subscribers; Auto Focus, 1.08 million subscribers; The Studio, 977,000 subscribers; Waveform Clips, 487,000 subscribers; MKBHD Shorts, 647,000 subscribers) add 3.52 million subscribers and approximately 394.75 million views. In December 2020, he was honored in the Forbes 30 Under 30 listing in its social media category. In April 2023, Brownlee collaborated with footwear brand Atoms to create the high-top Sneaker 251, named after the duration of his first YouTube video. In February 2024, he joined everyday accessories company Ridge as a board member and chief creative partner. In May 2024, Brownlee gave a commencement speech at his alma mater, Stevens Institute of Technology, and was awarded an honorary doctorate of business administration. In 2025, Brownlee participated in the third Creator Classic, a golf event organized by the PGA Tour for Youtube golf influencers.

Controversies

Panels In September 2024, Brownlee launched Panels, an iOS and Android app for browsing and downloading hand-picked wallpapers. The app drew widespread criticism from the tech community, mainly for its implementation of a subscription model ($12/month or $50/year) that was deemed overpriced. Other common points of criticism included the presence of in-app ads (for free users), its overall lack of quality, privacy concerns, and allowing AI-generated art to be included on its wallpaper portfolio. He later addressed the criticism, significantly reducing the pricing and fixing most of the other problems. In December 2025, Brownlee announced that the app would be shutting down at the end of the year.

Speeding On November 11, 2024, Brownlee published a sponsored review for a DJI action camera that attracted significant backlash regarding a point-of-view shot of him driving at 96 miles per hour (154 km/h) in a neighborhood that had a speed limit of 35 miles per hour (56 km/h). It was also noted that the speedometer was blurred, leading to speculation that Brownlee had deliberately tried to hide the fact. Brownlee received widespread criticism. He removed the driving portion and issued an apology on the social media platform X, admitting to his mistakes, leading to mixed responses. After the backlash from his self posted video, multiple, additional, body cam videos emerged of him being previously pulled over for speeding well above the limit, illegal tint, and obscuring his license plates.

YouTube channels

Marques Brownlee – Brownlee's main channel The Studio – behind-the-scenes secondary channel WVFRM Podcast – technology podcast Waveform Clips – short highlights of Waveform podcast discussions Auto Focus – car-focused channel MKBHD Shorts

Personal life Marques Keith Brownlee was born on December 3, 1993, and grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey. He attended Columbia High School, graduating in 2011, and studied at the Howe School at Stevens Institute of Technology, where he majored in business and information technology. Brownlee graduated in May 2015 and became a full-time YouTuber. His videos were produced at his apartment until he moved out in 2016; he now works out of a studio in Kearny, New Jersey.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Brownlee's logo

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Marques Brownlee

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Marques Brownlee claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Marques Brownlee before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Marques Brownlee ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Marques Brownlee

In research: Marques Brownlee appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Marques Brownlee in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Marques Brownlee is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1993 births, 21st-century African-American writers, 21st-century American male writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Marques Brownlee outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Marques Brownlee in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Marques Brownlee means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Marques Brownlee out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Marques Brownlee in simple terms?

Why does Marques Brownlee matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Marques Brownlee?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Marques Brownlee.