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New MacBook Air with M2

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Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#311

Post by chrisjc »

commandersaki wrote: post #291
chrisjc wrote: post #253

I'm sorry if this doesn't add anything to the discussion, but one of MKBHD's latest reviews discusses the differences between the MacBook Pro 13 and this new MacBook Air. The video does a great job of shining a light on all of the tradeoffs between the two devices. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSdKnNj7ozk This little device is a beast!

What annoys me about MKBHD's video is that he complains about an ageing design like it's a bad thing for the general case. I laud any manufacturer that's come up with a time tested design that doesn't change, which is why the IBM Thinkpads of the day were so popular. But in this specific case, MKBHD is right, this is an Apple being lazy about design and probably reusing their existing parts and tooling just to slap o…

At the same time he did seem to suggest that it was a design that is aging quite well.

Personally, when I look back at some of the original MacBook Pros with the milled chassis, I think they still look better than any recent Windows or Chromebook laptop. It really is quite a timeless design.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#312

Post by marricks »

Thaxll wrote: post #280

The pricing outside the US is outrageous though. Those are very expensive laptops. €1520 for the base version with only 8GB lol

Which typical Air buyer needs 16gb ram, the college student with 50 tabs open and Spotify in the background?

People complaining about low ram sound like the bros asking how many cylinders a car has. Doesn't matter for most people.

Just complain about price, yeah, it is expensive!

---

This is coming from someone who does light gaming on an 8gb m1 MacBook Air and has plenty of tabs open. I don't see lag.

Then again, I use safari, maybe Chrome it'd be different.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#313

Post by simondotau »

geerlingguy wrote: post #250
dcolkitt wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't Macs basically a rounding error for the overall company?

Their Mac business is still a Fortune 500 company in terms of revenue by itself. Besides Halo effect, they still make a ton of money off Macs, and now that their chips cross pollinate with the iOS devices, it makes no sense to kill it off.

Not to mention, the Mac platform is effectively the SDK for the iOS/iPadOS platform. And it's a thing which pretty much every single person who works at Apple uses on a daily basis. The Mac is not — I assure you — going anywhere.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#314

Post by kitsunesoba »

wombat-man wrote: post #194
Darmody wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I come from linux and I feel like I've been given a machine for computer illiterate people who are going to do some office work at Starbucks. Stereotypical, yes, but that's how I feel. I need this basic software feature. Yeah? Too bad, the OS won't allow you to do that. Maybe you'll find a paid app that does it. I do pay for software but when you have to pay for basic stuff that should come out of the box, it's a no…

yeah finder is pretty annoying. I don't know how to just get the path of where I'm at a lot of the time.

There’s a toggle to enable a path bar in the View menu, along with an option to enable a status bar and a bunch of other things.

It pays to explore the menus of apps under macOS — it’s not like under GNOME or Windows where menubars are vestigial and paltry if they exist at all, Mac apps actually put a lot of useful things in them.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#315

Post by waynesonfire »

pavlov wrote: post #148
bluedino wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the worst the Mac has ever been Which one was that?

The 2016 MacBook Pro was a turd. The butterfly keyboard would inevitably break. I went through several of these laptops. To add insult to the injury, this model's unique innovations were "Touch Bar" and "no ports"... I've been buying Macs since 2000, and the 2016 MBP is definitely the worst Mac I ever had. It was enough to drive me to purchase a Surface Book as an alternative.

Sheesh, did you skip the MBP 2015? That's the best one they ever made, even to this day. I've been using MBP 2015 since then and just recently "upgraded" to M1. The MBP 2015 is still a better machine, better screen and keyboard.

I can type waayy faster on the 2015 with less errors and the screen is better on the eye strain. The whites on the M1 are BRIGHT. I don't need a flash light shining at my face. Turning down the "brightness" doesn't address the problem. That just makes the whole screen darker or but the whites are still as bright. I'm still learning the laptop, maybe there is a contrast setting.

Oh, and the trackpad on the 2015 doesn't feel like sandpaper. On the M1, the tip of my finger is numb most of the day.

Anyway, for such a fanboi and you skipped the best MBP. Bummer for you. I can't imagine going from 2015 to 2016 and being satisfied with that. I'd have returned it the same day.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#316

Post by jeffhuys »

z9znz wrote: post #254
balfirevic wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the difference in keyboards?

This image illustrates the differences: https://appuals.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/1-11.jpg The difference is that one keyboard is made for humans who touch type, and the other keyboard is made for people who like to lift up their hand and move it every time they want to hit return... or left shift. The ones with the shorter left shift and narrower/taller return key are just bad designs. They make keys you use fr…

I'm not in the US, so I'm kinda alone in this, and forgot to tell my work I wanted an international one, so I got an M1 pro from work with the international lay-out.

I've been using US layout since I was ~8. And all my other systems have the US layout. I am having such a hard time to get used to it.

I keep hitting ± when I mean ~ (why would I even need a ±/§ key on my keyboard?). I keep hitting \ when I want to hit Return. I keep hitting ~ when I want to hit shift.

Frustrating. Agreed with the "bad design" point.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#317

Post by duxup »

jeffhuys wrote: post #300
duxup wrote: post #265

I gave the iPhone a try after a long time on Android (since the nexus) and I’ve been very happy. I’m going to give the Air M2 a spin for a work/ personal device too. Im excited.

Oh, man, you're in for a treat. Make sure to enable Handoff - copy on your phone (Google Authenticator, for example), CMD+V on your laptop. CMD+Tab to something on your phone (a Safari tab, for instance) from your laptop, and vice versa. A lot of other neat stuff awaits you!

Will do.

I’m really excited for all the differences.

Who knows long term (I expect ups and downs) but I plan on geeking out over all the little differences.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#318

Post by amelius »

carlycue wrote: post #39

This thing is going to sell like hotcakes. The combination of single core CPU and graphics performance, device thinness, battery life in this laptop is unmatched. It’s funny how Apple came back from the worst the Mac has ever been to the best in a span of few years. Johnny I’ve doesn’t dictate things around Apple anymore but the silicone chips team now does.

> but the silicone chips team now does

You mean silicon. Silicone means something else.

https://www.livescience.com/37598-silicon-or-silicone-chips-...

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#319

Post by solarkraft »

SenHeng wrote: post #193
pavlov wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 2016 MacBook Pro was a turd. The butterfly keyboard would inevitably break. I went through several of these laptops. To add insult to the injury, this model's unique innovations were "Touch Bar" and "no ports"... I've been buying Macs since 2000, and the 2016 MBP is definitely the worst Mac I ever had. It was enough to drive me to purchase a Surface Book as an alternative.

I'm grateful for the 'no ports' move. It really helped jump start moving everything on to USB-C. Yes, the implementation details are still being worked out. particularly how the mass manufacturers can cut cost while still the most wanted subset of supported features.

> Yes, the implementation details are still being worked out

We're about 7 years into USB-C and I still had to do a ton of searching to find a dongle that does HDMI at 60 Hz, USB-A and charging (how crazy to want all that, right?!). I also had to buy a shady (AFAIK it violates the spec) extension cable to build a dock setup ("real" docks are in the hundreds of Euros). It cost me about 40€ to get back features I used to get for free and has reliability issues.

USB-C is a blessing for charging, but I'm a bit disappointed by the ecosystem for the rest.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#320

Post by Hamuko »

qwertyuiop12 wrote: post #310
waynesonfire wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

are you a new mac user or something?

2-3 years ago the price was less than 1000€. 1500 for the base model is ridiculous

Maybe you can snatch up some on sale. I picked up my dad a base model M1 Air for 880€ last autumn. Should be good value, since he got 10 years out of the last one.
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