Holy moly, the Mac keeps growing like crazy. It’s amusing how Apple wanted the iPad to disrupt the Mac but the advent of M-Series chips on the Mac has really nipped that ambition in the bud.
Then, I found myself using the earlier machine, without the high DPI. That learned me. It was hard to imagine all the work I'd done staring through a screen door at those pixels.
Similarly, I've been using the M1 MPB since I got it. I only remember that it never makes noise when I'm reminded of it, such as in this conversation.
At some point, I'll end up using an Intel laptop of any sort, and I'll hear that whirring noise. It will be jarring, I've grown used to laptops not making sound they way phones and tablets don't.
I take a lot for granted about my M1 MBP.
And it all becomes noticeable when using anybody else's computer.
The screen, the speed, the battery life, the fan, the heat. Its all so... crippling on other people's machines.
It isn't that it is superior in every single way, but it is the balance of features that hits a sweet spot, making other cars feel like they have noticeable bugs.
Things that I thought had been solved decades ago, things like how to make basic switchgear that doesn't feel like it's going to break off in my palm*. How to indicate a turn signal in the center of my field of vision rather than where non-essentials like HVAC normally go. How to let me change HVAC settings without feeling around on a touch screen. How to support Carplay like a base model Corolla. The most basic mitigations for NVH so highway speeds don't sound like a mouse sneaking cheese in a wind tunnel. How to make ACC intuitive rather than a song and dance of checking what color a piece of text is. All suddenly were suddenly lost.
* I guess now we know why the OG Model S needed Mercedes window switches.
Pixels aren't there to be seen, there is literally no display which wouldn't be, ceteris paribus, better at high DPI.
It's like speakers which hiss: easy to ignore until you spend time with ones which don't.
The notion that I care about a clearer picture on the screen I use to make my living, for hedonic reasons, is pretty comical actually. It's straightforward ergonomics which pays off in a lot of ways.
I've had to rip the dGPU out of the machine and cut the fan thresholds back to virtually nothing just to make the machine tolerable now. A lot of what Apple does is stuff you don't need, but it definitely spoils you.
There are M1 machines with fans, but you can rest assured they did the tuning so that you don't end up paying thousands for a machine with poorly thought out fan curves that don't incorporate basic hysteresis.
Will never forget that era of the Mac.
That taught me?
That larned me?
I also get 7-8 hours of work (that is compiling code during these hours) and something like 12 hours without compilation work.
I'm using Archlinux with Sway and enable/disable GPU as needed. It's not as perfect as Apple's new M2 but it's close to competition.
Anyway, I’m so focussed listening to the lack of fan noise that I sometimes hear a ‘phantom’ fan noise. Like the lack of fan noise doesn’t seem right so my brain makes it up.
I love this m2 Air so much.
The problem is everywhere. The HVAC industry really cheaps-out on rubber grommets.
The MacBook Air M1 is just another level of solidarity and speed and battery life.
It just works.
So long as Apple continues on their existing pathway I'll forgive them pretty much anything.
I think we'll see a big boost in Mac sales when M3 drops. It'll be on 3nm and should be a much bigger upgrade for M1 owners.
Mac Mini doesn't sell enough to matter much.
Serendipitous solutions enthrall me, and broadens my thinking for when I'm faced with a condondrum.
I assume you are also playing along :) ?
For what I do with a laptop, a Chromebook is fine. And it's what I use.
Are you possibly able to understand that other people do other things with their laptops and so see value in the technology?
Like I spend my time compiling things. A fast, low-energy processor is brilliant for me, because it lets me work faster and for longer. Can you not understand how I'd see value in that?
But I don't own any Apple technology and can't think of a reason I would buy any.
Yes I do work in tech as a full-stack developer and sysadmin.
If Apple is compiling my application 1.5x as fast and lets me work 1.5x as long without recharging, that saves me genuine time in the day, either to do more work, or to work on my hobbies, or to take more time out. That's really valuable to me. That's why I buy it, and why so many other people buy it. The cost is pretty insignificant considering it's where I earn all my money and do 50% or so of my hobbies.
The M1 Max (the highest end chip available in a Mac laptop) is slower than competition from Intel and AMD, though. I'm not sure what its supposed to be 50% faster than, unless you are only comparing it to old Intel Macs.
I'm sure you can get even faster single-core by brute-force burning power, but Apple were trying to do something more intelligent by balancing with power.
I think anyone seriously trying to claim they can't see any value in this is clearly just being silly.
Yeah, that’s not true; it doesn’t even make any sense. And certainly not performance per watt.
Most people don't use a laptop much at home, preferring to consume media on a phone or smart TV. At work, most people use web applications and microsoft office and not much else.
So why do they need a fancy car? People like fancy cars. They have been buying them for years, and they aren't going to stop.
Now you are driving your jeep off road on your mountain ranch saying some people need an SUV and you are right, but you aren't rebutting what he is saying.
> I sometimes wonder what value these people see in this stuff.
And you answered it yourself with your own example:
> Now you are driving your jeep off road on your mountain ranch saying some people need an SUV and you are right, but you aren't rebutting what he is saying.
That's an example of someone seeing value in it right?
He’s a very casual user. In part, his positive impression was due to me setting up Ad blockers on his MacBook. But it’s also due to the speed, screen, build quality, and the expectation of longevity.
Also, he can resell the Apple for a pretty good price if he wants to. His Chromebook is practically worthless on the used markets.
He feels like it was money very well spent. Apple’s numbers suggest there are many like him.
Supposedly it works for him although there are some features still unsupported like 3d graphics
The m2 is a great piece of kit, I never realized how disruptive heat, vibration, and fan noise was until they were gone. I'm actively trying to put together a fanless desktop similar to the openbsd fanless desktop that is posted here from time to time. https://jcs.org/2021/07/19/desktop
The non-M1 offerings are relatively terrible. You have to make some trade-off of battery life, thermals, display, keyboard, trackpad, ports, and reliability.
Lots of threads with people saying “well no one needs 2K screens at 120Hz, just get 1080p 60Hz”.. meanwhile those laptops cost >$2K.
The Starlabs Starfighter specs were announced, they look tempting but slow display and no TB4 on Ryzen processors.
The Dell XPS used to be a favorite of mine, but they are plagued with quality control issues.
Lenovo thermals are bad this generation, and my experience getting my work Lenovo repaired was terrible. Plus I’ve read about quality control issues.
I’ve decided to just use an x86 instance somewhere for the specific things, but no doubt Apple hit the magic sauce with the M1.
https://www.ultrabookreview.com/56563-asus-zenbook-s13-revie...
But despite reviews by spring/summer they never seemed to materialize as actual products available for purchase (note 5xx series, not previous generation 3xx) :/
But seriously, I need a full-sized keyboard, a mouse, and at least 2 monitors to feel productive.
Yes, I realize you can probably hook those up to a laptop with a bunch of adapters and hubs too, but I also use my machines to game, so...
> I don't know why developers are so infatuated with laptops
I need a laptop now and then either way, and having two computers means double the cost and more work to keep everything between them in sync. And I switched to a console for gaming, Windows 10 updates pissed me off enough that I'll never touch a Microsoft OS again.
So, you don't use macos?
The thing that annoys me most is that there's no global shortcut for new terminal windows. It's possible with some weird hacks but never really reliable or fast.
Did you look at skhd?
https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd
I found it through the yabai window manager - but I'm starting to think I might be better off with something less ambitious - as macos apis are restricted and yabai needs a lot of privileges to work with screen/desktops :'(
But skhd is very simple and powerful - it can run commands and also insert text (I rebind some keys for brackets and tilde which are annoying on Mac intl layouts).
Eg:
# open terminal, blazingly fast compared to iTerm/Hyper
cmd - return : /Applications/kitty.app/Contents/MacOS/kitty --single-instance -d ~
alt - k : skhd --text "~"The solution to keyboard / mouse / monitors / webcam / mic / speakers, is a powered USB-C hub. One plug, and you're at a desktop. This wasn't practical on Macs until the M1. With an M1 Air I did tons of work with no slowdowns for two years. It slowed down once or twice so now I'm on a Pro. PS. you can move between rooms very easily. And travel.
Edit: You're right about gaming. Mac fails at this, desktop or no. I played WoW and Stardew on my i7 Mini with an eGPU, but Apple Silicon doesn't have eGPUs, and no good games work on it. This also goes for VR.
When I go to the office I just bring my laptop and plug it into a hub at a hot desk. Then I have external monitors and all my processes just as I was running them earlier.
As of tomorrow, my wife and I will officially be “digital nomads” flying around the country staying in hotels. I perfected my mobile setup over a year ago.
I visit my parents semi often and work from there.