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MacBook Air with M5

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Re: MacBook Air with M5

#141

Post by ajross »

bhouston wrote: post #96
tiffanyh wrote: post #59

I'm not sure why the negative tone in this thread. The MBA is an amazing value, and appears to have only gotten slightly cheaper . This is a solid product, that continually receives incremental improvements and delivered at a lower price point (when spec'd out).

The MBA is an absolutely solid product that is actually sufficient for the large majority of full stack devs. I use it (MBA 15" M3) with a large complex TypeScript code base, and it is fast and amazing at 24GB of ram or more. PS. The biggest speedup I got this past year (10x) was switching to native TypeScript (tsgo) and native linting (biome or oxlint).

> absolutely solid product that is actually sufficient for the large majority of full stack devs

Worth pointing out that the same thing is true for a $350 windows box. The news here isn't "The M5 Air is a disappointment", it's "Laptops are commoditized and boring".

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#144

Post by c-hendricks »

ajross wrote: post #138
tiffanyh wrote: post #59

I'm not sure why the negative tone in this thread. The MBA is an amazing value, and appears to have only gotten slightly cheaper . This is a solid product, that continually receives incremental improvements and delivered at a lower price point (when spec'd out).

> The MBA is an amazing value, and appears to have only gotten slightly cheaper. Looks to me like the base model went up by $100, no? The whining is just whining. It's a fine laptop, but it's not significantly improved from the one they shipped a year ago. Add to that the fact that laptops as a whole are well on the way down their commoditization slope and the general HN desire to cheer about Great New Apple Devices,…

Base price went up, as did storage and the new price is cheaper than the previous price + equivalent storage I think

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#145

Post by lenerdenator »

ajross wrote: post #141
bhouston wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The MBA is an absolutely solid product that is actually sufficient for the large majority of full stack devs. I use it (MBA 15" M3) with a large complex TypeScript code base, and it is fast and amazing at 24GB of ram or more. PS. The biggest speedup I got this past year (10x) was switching to native TypeScript (tsgo) and native linting (biome or oxlint).

> absolutely solid product that is actually sufficient for the large majority of full stack devs Worth pointing out that the same thing is true for a $350 windows box. The news here isn't "The M5 Air is a disappointment", it's "Laptops are commoditized and boring".

> Worth pointing out that the same thing is true for a $350 windows box

Depends. Are you doing dev on Microsoft's stack, or are you doing dev on all of the other stacks?

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#146

Post by WalterGR »

Someone1234 wrote: post #8
clouedoc wrote: post #5

What about MacBook Pro M5? Waiting for that one.

The MacBook Pro M5 came out about six months ago[0]. The MBPs M5 Pro and M5 Max were released today also[1]. [0] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-unveils-new-14-... [1] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/03/apple-introduces-macb...

Posted here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47232453 - “MacBook Pro with new M5 Pro and M5 Max”

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#147

Post by cguess »

wpm wrote: post #123
NoLinkToMe wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah not sure if it's so necessary. Everyone carries their phone. Power users (i.e. nomads who need connectivity in many different places) have lots of unlimited data plans available that are modestly priced (I've travelled asia the last few months and used e-sims for like $10 a month in each country). And that's a niche group, but even they have their phone as a hotspot. Downside is that it burns battery, but if you…

If "just hotspot your phone" was hunky dory why does Apple sell iPads with cellular modems? Also, have you ever used an iPad with a cellular modem? It's a far better experience than tethering. One (larger) battery to run down instead of two, lower latency (the extra hop from iPad to phone over Wi-Fi is gonna add at least a few dozen ms to every single web request), and best of all, I don't have to think about it. I d…

> If "just hotspot your phone" was hunky dory why does Apple sell iPads with cellular modems?

Because iPads are fundamentally different than laptops. Workers use tablets in the field all the time, often for shorter, quick, one-off checks and such. If you're in a fleet truck or on a job site, having a tablet on the passenger seat to check on work orders is easy. Pulling out a laptop is a much bigger pull, and more awkward.

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#148

Post by cybice »

m1 has perfect performance. Screen is the issue. Having all modern devices with 90-120Hz and good brightness, Im feeling headache switching on air on regular basis.

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#150

Post by whalesalad »

throw393234 wrote: post #128
caymanjim wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a ThinkPad X1. Had to send it back for repairs three times in the first year, including a complete motherboard replacement, and it died again immediately after the warranty expired. Been a $2800 door stop since then. The case is flimsy plastic that gets beat to crap easily. The trackpad is over-sensitive in all the wrong ways which makes it hard to use as an actual laptop. Plus it's weaker and slower than an…

I also bought a ThinkPad X1 back in 2015. Used it for 9 years with no issues at all. I installed Linux on it last year and still use it.

why did you create a throwaway account for this
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