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MacBook Air with M5

apple.com

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Re: MacBook Air with M5

#341

Post by jruz »

mikae1 wrote: post #320
std_move wrote: post #216

This is the best laptop for the general consumer around $1k. - it has no annoying fans, it is completely silent - a high res display with no PWM flickering and reasonable response times, no burn-in issues, enough brightness for outdoor use - best-in-class hardware, very very efficient, amazing single thread performance, good multi thread, very good GPU - no Microsoft Windows annoyances, ads, bloatware, broken stuff a…

> You can maybe get a cheaper Windows laptop but it will be terrible in almost everything It will be worse at almost everything, except running my preferred OS (Linux). Being able to upgrade/repair RAM, storage and battery at home is quite a perk too.

Not on the latest but I’m happily running Asahi NixOS

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#342

Post by freeone3000 »

overfeed wrote: post #328
std_move wrote: post #216

This is the best laptop for the general consumer around $1k. - it has no annoying fans, it is completely silent - a high res display with no PWM flickering and reasonable response times, no burn-in issues, enough brightness for outdoor use - best-in-class hardware, very very efficient, amazing single thread performance, good multi thread, very good GPU - no Microsoft Windows annoyances, ads, bloatware, broken stuff a…

Why the restriction to laptops? I don't get why prosumers would marry themselves 24/7 to a single portable device, when their conflicting requirements vary by task and circumstances: portability, high performance, low energy usage, and low noise aren't permanent requirements. Sure, there's no single device that has Apple's blend of attributes, but who need that in this age of VMs and broadband Internet? My 32-core HE…

> but who needs that?

I’m really happy with bringing my local workstation with me to a cafe, a coworking space, or on a trip. I love conveniently having one device for nearly everything, from AI fine-tuning to general development to gaming. And I love having a 12-hour battery life under normal use and USB-C charging. The screen is beautiful and great for watching movies on, too.

If you want one computing device, in total, a MacBook is a great choice. It’s overkill in most areas for most people, but it’s not deficient for anyone, and that matters a lot.

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#343

Post by elAhmo »

std_move wrote: post #216

This is the best laptop for the general consumer around $1k. - it has no annoying fans, it is completely silent - a high res display with no PWM flickering and reasonable response times, no burn-in issues, enough brightness for outdoor use - best-in-class hardware, very very efficient, amazing single thread performance, good multi thread, very good GPU - no Microsoft Windows annoyances, ads, bloatware, broken stuff a…

Fully agree. I used to have a company issued MBP M3 Pro, and when I switched roles I got myself base M4 Air. Can't complain at all in the past year, I do feel throttling at times when running longer tasks, but for 99% of the time I don't feel I need anything better.

And I do work as a software developer, so anyone doing lighter usage not in this camp will feel the same.

M5 Air should be pretty much the same.

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#344

Post by windowsrookie »

FriedPickles wrote: post #154
frogperson wrote: post #140

Why wont they put a usb-c port on both sides? So iritating to be limited on where i can sit when i charge.

I'll upgrade my M1 MBA when they do. I remember my Intel MBP running noticeably hotter when plugged in on one side vs the other, so maybe it's trickier than it seems.

This was a limitation of intel CPU's at the time and required additional thunderbolt controller chips separate from the CPU.

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#345

Post by robotresearcher »

giwook wrote: post #186
cj wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm excited about this. The previous generation base model 15" Air was good enough for our company to make it the default computer for everyone. Previously we were giving out base model MBP's. And they're $1000 cheaper. Today, the MBP is just way too powerful for anything other than specific use cases that need it.

Out of curiosity, what are some good use cases for a MBP now with the MBAs being so powerful? I can think of things like 4K video editing or 3D rendering but as a software engineer is there anything we really need to spend the extra money on an MBP for? I'm currently on a M1 Max but am seriously considering switching to an MBA in the next year or two.

It's a personal thing how much you care, but the speakers on the MBPs are pretty amazing. The Air sounds fine, even good for a notebook, but the MBPs are the best laptop speakers I have ever heard.

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#346

Post by [deleted] »

2III7 wrote: post #225
std_move wrote: post #216

This is the best laptop for the general consumer around $1k. - it has no annoying fans, it is completely silent - a high res display with no PWM flickering and reasonable response times, no burn-in issues, enough brightness for outdoor use - best-in-class hardware, very very efficient, amazing single thread performance, good multi thread, very good GPU - no Microsoft Windows annoyances, ads, bloatware, broken stuff a…

- thermal throttling under sustained heavy load, though apparently there is the possibility to add thermal pads to get rid of throttling, probably at the expense of comfort - no Linux support Otherwise I agree, it is a wonderful machine. I'd replace my crappy thinkpad if I could. My 2014 Air is still going strong for light web browsing and terminal use.

[deleted]

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#347

Post by freeone3000 »

dijit wrote: post #232
Forgeties79 wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

maybe I’m forgetting all the benefits of time capsule but you can plug any old storage device into a Mac now and turn it into a “Time Machine.“ It’s pretty turnkey at this point. What would a modern time capsule offer besides maybe remote back ups?

oh no, absolutely- apologies for the confusion. Time "Machine" on MacOS continues to work (though it's clearly not as important to Apple as it once was). The issue is: if you want to back up a phone: it will take space from your laptop and it must be tethered to do the backup. This means that if you have a 1TiB phone, like I do, you need at least 1TiB of local disk on your laptop to be able to do a single backup if t…

I’ve been using Immich to offload photos, and it’s been working well so far.

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#348

Post by mikae1 »

jruz wrote: post #341
mikae1 wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can maybe get a cheaper Windows laptop but it will be terrible in almost everything It will be worse at almost everything, except running my preferred OS (Linux). Being able to upgrade/repair RAM, storage and battery at home is quite a perk too.

Not on the latest but I’m happily running Asahi NixOS

Even for the M1 generation feature support is not complete. Also, this a thread about current models. Asahi is still awesome though!

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#349

Post by overfeed »

freeone3000 wrote: post #342
overfeed wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the restriction to laptops? I don't get why prosumers would marry themselves 24/7 to a single portable device, when their conflicting requirements vary by task and circumstances: portability, high performance, low energy usage, and low noise aren't permanent requirements. Sure, there's no single device that has Apple's blend of attributes, but who need that in this age of VMs and broadband Internet? My 32-core HE…

> but who needs that? I’m really happy with bringing my local workstation with me to a cafe, a coworking space, or on a trip. I love conveniently having one device for nearly everything, from AI fine-tuning to general development to gaming. And I love having a 12-hour battery life under normal use and USB-C charging. The screen is beautiful and great for watching movies on, too. If you want one computing device, in t…

> I’m really happy with bringing my local workstation with me to a cafe, a coworking space, or on a trip

You can, with Tailscale! I had edited my original comment to remove how I occasionally[1] remote to the workstation, but I found out empirically that I typically don't do anything that needs more than 2 cores at a cafe - a $300 Chromebook or $100 second-hand laptop will do.

By all means, if the Macbook hits your sweet-spot of trade-offs, more power to you. Car brand A may have the quickest, most-fuel-efficient, all-wheel drive, convertible coupé, but there are other vehicle types. Perhaps a bicycle and an SUV is a better combination for some other people.

1. I'd say abuut once per year.

Re: MacBook Air with M5

#350

Post by formvoltron »

std_move wrote: post #216

This is the best laptop for the general consumer around $1k. - it has no annoying fans, it is completely silent - a high res display with no PWM flickering and reasonable response times, no burn-in issues, enough brightness for outdoor use - best-in-class hardware, very very efficient, amazing single thread performance, good multi thread, very good GPU - no Microsoft Windows annoyances, ads, bloatware, broken stuff a…

Apple makes great hardware. I kind of knew this when I was 12 and I had an Apple IIc. I'm 52 now.
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