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The M1 MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever owned

bou.ke

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Re: The M1 MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever owned

#151

Post by nojito »

_5vzs wrote: post #59

tldr; I got a Macbook Pro M1 for $975 in mint-condition at a Best Buy and already put the return label on it. While Geekbench showed great results, actual usage of the machine and headaches ensued were contrasting. To put it bluntly - M1 machines are currently unstable. There are numerous Bluetooth issues [1], formatting issues [2], Wifi 6 issues [3], VPN issues [4], firewall issues [5], and shocking security issues…

I find comments like these more telling of flawed workflows and not of the device.

For comparison's sake, we just rolled out ~100 of these in my department and the reception has been nothing less than stellar.

Re: The M1 MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever owned

#152

Post by eyelidlessness »

threedots wrote: post #32
breck wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious, why not an external monitor? I have the M1 13 for on the go. An external monitor for day to day.

The 16" MBP is terrible with an external monitor (or at least mine is with my external monitor). Fans spin up like crazy and the case gets hot enough to fry an egg on. It's the one terrible weakness of an otherwise great machine.

I’ve had this experience and seen many others mention it too. I always make a point when I have time to mention how I’ve solved it.

If you haven’t already, try plugging the power in on the right side, and the display/any other peripherals on the left. It sounds crazy, but this has been the solution for tons of people. Apparently the heat generated by power input (even at a steady full charge) is enough to spike the sensors near the components on the left side.

I haven’t experienced any downsides to this change other than having to spend a few minutes rearranging stuff on my desk.

Re: The M1 MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever owned

#153

Post by cenal »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #93
alphadevx wrote: post #24

In my experience, the latest computer I buy is always "the best computer I've ever owned". They get better every year, why is this still surprising?

That was true 10 or 20 years ago for sure. These years it’s more of a meh, “hey look the keyboard works well again.”

I went from a 2017 MBP 15" to a 16" 2019 MBP late last year and the keyboard is clearly a big selling point but lets not forget how much better the audio is either. It's under played in most reviews but it's a night and day difference. I feel like I'm in a home theater every time I use it.

Re: The M1 MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever owned

#154

Post by rhexs »

bouk wrote: post #147
rhexs wrote: post #91

Is parallels running the ARM windows preview emulating 64 bit X86 fast enough for anything practical? Can I play ten year old games?

Yes it is fast enough. People are playing GTA V and many other games at completely acceptable performance. Here's a bunch of reports people made for games: https://applesilicongames.com/

Pretty impressive —- Parallels supports some sort of GPU pass through on ARM already?

Re: The M1 MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever owned

#155

Post by bouk »

jeswin wrote: post #76

I think we really need a break from people submitting more M1 Mac unboxing articles, unless there's significant original technical content. This is turning into fanboyism.

It's just... really good. It's an uncanny feeling that many haven't had for a while

Re: The M1 MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever owned

#156

Post by niftylettuce »

nojito wrote: post #151
_5vzs wrote: post #59

tldr; I got a Macbook Pro M1 for $975 in mint-condition at a Best Buy and already put the return label on it. While Geekbench showed great results, actual usage of the machine and headaches ensued were contrasting. To put it bluntly - M1 machines are currently unstable. There are numerous Bluetooth issues [1], formatting issues [2], Wifi 6 issues [3], VPN issues [4], firewall issues [5], and shocking security issues…

I find comments like these more telling of flawed workflows and not of the device. For comparison's sake, we just rolled out ~100 of these in my department and the reception has been nothing less than stellar.

Did you view the links? There are core problems with Bluetooth, Wifi 6, and security of the device (not workflow).

I don't think my workflow is flawed, here's what it produces: https://github.com/niftylettuce

Re: The M1 MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever owned

#157

Post by peckrob »

webmobdev wrote: post #28

Yeah, right - if you choose to ignore the following: You can't upgrade the RAM, you can't upgrade the SSD, it doesn't have replaceable battery and you are forced to run a crippled OS on it (macOS Big Sur deliberately cripples VPN and firewall on it so that select Apple softwares can bypass them, allowing Apple better access and control over your data and softwares). (And if you don't care about any of the above, then…

I can think of exactly one time in my life I have upgraded anything on a laptop, and that was probably more than a decade ago. Back when they still came with 4200rpm 2.5" hard drives, and I put a newer drive in a then 5 year old Dell because I needed it to last another few years.

I did have a battery go bad in my MacBook Pro about 8 year ago, and it was replaced by Apple free of charge even though it was WAY out of warranty and I didn't have Applecare. Service like that alone is enough to keep me as a customer.

Most of the rest of the time by the time I am ready to start upgrading components, I am just wanting a newer, faster machine in general. I am not saying these things are not important - the are obviously important _to you_. But Apple has figured, correctly in my opinion, they are are not important to a _lot_ of people, or at the very least are not deal breakers. And more often than not I find myself in the latter camp.

Re: The M1 MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever owned

#158

Post by eyelidlessness »

thatswrong0 wrote: post #47
threedots wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 16" MBP is terrible with an external monitor (or at least mine is with my external monitor). Fans spin up like crazy and the case gets hot enough to fry an egg on. It's the one terrible weakness of an otherwise great machine.

Yeah this this has been abysmal for me. It does this even if you use it with the main display closed (clamshell mode) Makes my 2018 "Pro" machine feel like an 8 year old device struggling to keep up with very basic tasks because of thermal throttling (and this is even after getting the fans cleaned by Apple recently)

Clamshell mode is generally worse for thermals. Even though you’re not dedicating power to the internal screen, you’re trapping more heat in the case. Other than that, take a look at my sibling comment for a potential solution.

Re: The M1 MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever owned

#159

Post by dukeofdoom »

breck wrote: post #30
dukeofdoom wrote: post #4

I'm reluctant to buy it because of ports, and tiny amount of drive space. Waiting for the 14 inch, hoping for more ports, larger base hard drive, and new design for similar cost of upgrading the air.

I got the 1TB SSD. Wouldn't call that tiny. Then I have external arrays for bigger datasets. How much space would you need? IIRC they go up to 2TB or maybe even 4TB.

The 256 is too small for me, I edit videos sometimes. $200+ to upgrade the internal drive. I'm hoping the 14 inch will come with a larger internal drive, and more upgrades.

Re: The M1 MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever owned

#160

Post by dayvid »

mbesto wrote: post #98
alphadevx wrote: post #24

In my experience, the latest computer I buy is always "the best computer I've ever owned". They get better every year, why is this still surprising?

You must be new to Macs. I'm still on the MBP 2015 and it's "the best computer I've ever owned". Everything since then has technically upgraded parts, but the regressions (touchbar, butterfly keyboard mishaps, etc.) are not worth the upgrade. That's why this is surprising.

I LOVE my 13" 2015 MBP and only stopped using it because of keyboard errors. With that said, I believe the new Macbook Air and Macbook Pro have the Magic Keyboard which I think is essentially the same as the 2015 Macbook Pro keyboard and more up-to-date (though maybe not upgradeable).

I recently bought a Zephyrus G14 which I think is one of the closer equivalents to a 13" MBP for Windows with a powerful GPU.

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