Ask HN: Is There a MacBook Equivalent? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is There a MacBook Equivalent?

#11

Post by RandomBacon » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 4:47 PM UTC

I have a Dell XPS that I bought in 2020 and still use daily, the only issue I've had was the rubber feet/lines needing to be replaced. I still have my previous laptops (only two, because I don't need to buy many when they last forever when you take care of them) and they all work perfectly (just outdated specs, so I use them when I just need to do a presentation or something).

I do notice that most people tend to abuse their laptops; I believe my laptops are outliers because I don't abuse them.

Your laptop performance should not be degrading if you don't allow it to overheat.

In addition to physical treatment, the software that you allow to run on it, makes a difference. (Software maxing out the CPU constantly is going to cause it to overheat and degrade.)

Re: Ask HN: Is There a MacBook Equivalent?

#12

Post by reptilian » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 5:01 PM UTC

Huawei M series laptops are the best pcs I've ever owned. Best in class security and privacy, amazing processors for the money, and whip apple hardware in every metric. Plus repairable in every way. Never going back to mac.

Re: Ask HN: Is There a MacBook Equivalent?

#13

Post by Nextgrid » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 5:01 PM UTC

Alternatively, how about a base model Macbook as a thin-client (running MacOS) + a powerful Linux desktop/server to remote into?

Re: Ask HN: Is There a MacBook Equivalent?

#14

Post by _mlbt » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 5:07 PM UTC

Have you considered getting a MacBook and running a Linux VM on it? I do this using UTM, which is an excellent macOS front end for Qemu and Apple’s own Virtualization framework.

https://mac.getutm.app/

Re: Ask HN: Is There a MacBook Equivalent?

#15

Post by RandomBacon » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 5:09 PM UTC

reptilian wrote: post #12

Huawei M series laptops are the best pcs I've ever owned. Best in class security and privacy, amazing processors for the money, and whip apple hardware in every metric. Plus repairable in every way. Never going back to mac.

> Best in class security and privacy

That is a phrase I would expect an ad to say. Can you quantify those things?

Do they have physical switches for the camera, microphone, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth? Do they have tamper-evident features?

Re: Ask HN: Is There a MacBook Equivalent?

#16

Post by kingkongjaffa » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 5:37 PM UTC

Its not what you asked, but on the off chance you use local LLM’s for anything, getting a macbook with unified memory is a great price/performance ratio without spending tons on graphics cards.

Personally if I was in the market for a new laptop I would be upgrading my 16gb M1 macbook pro, to whatever the latest MBP is with as much RAM as I could afford.

16gb can run 14b models slowly and they are semi usable, good for small tasks.

24gb or 32gb can get you into 27b models that start getting pretty usable.

Re: Ask HN: Is There a MacBook Equivalent?

#17

Post by horsellama » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 7:11 PM UTC

_mlbt wrote: post #14

Have you considered getting a MacBook and running a Linux VM on it? I do this using UTM, which is an excellent macOS front end for Qemu and Apple’s own Virtualization framework. https://mac.getutm.app/

what’s the performance of the vm? can you use it for medium heavy tasks?

Re: Ask HN: Is There a MacBook Equivalent?

#18

Post by brudgers » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 7:47 PM UTC

What is important for you?

Web surfing and watching Netflix? They are all pretty much equivalent.

Running Linux? I don’t think the M chips are well supported, and last I looked it appeared the M3 and 4 are not supported at all…though, I did not look at Arch.

Equivalent in price, aesthetics, or brand identity?

For Gaming? Programming? Training LLM’s? Editing Video?

Battery Life?

Re: Ask HN: Is There a MacBook Equivalent?

#19

Post by is_true » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 7:49 PM UTC

I'm not sure what about CPU performance but if you want a good windows laptop buy an ASUS. I find it easier to find models in Amazon Europe. They have some lines that aren't flashy with added crap.

Re: Ask HN: Is There a MacBook Equivalent?

#20

Post by karmakaze » Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 8:37 PM UTC

If I were getting a PC laptop today, I'd get one with an AMD APU which has great performance/battery. Whether you want a discrete GPU or use the integrated graphics is up to you. The integrated graphics is also pretty good. I'd opt for a system using the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 'Strix Halo' APU with integrated 9060S GPU and up to 128GB of quad-channel LPDDR5x memory (soldered so decide once).