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MacBook Air M4

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Re: MacBook Air M4

#351

Post by jamespo »

paxys wrote: post #279
atonse wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a particular use case where you'd need the extra (I'm assuming you're wanting this for on the go use cases, otherwise you'd probably use a hub at your "home" location)

Any hub actually worth using (Thunderbolt ports, high enough charging wattage, dual displays, 2.5Gb Ethernet) will run you like $300-$400, which is almost half the price of the Macbook. I'd rather have a couple more ports on the device.

But if the extra usb-c port is taken up by a charger what's the benefit?

Also the air physically can't accomodate USB-A, ethernet, hdmi etc.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#352

Post by LeifCarrotson »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #315
gavinray wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gen question: why do people care how bulky a laptop is? I buy gaming laptops because they're the only powerful laptops and their size has never bothered me when traveling

If you don't travel from your house with it I understand your confusion, the weight is a factor when traveling. I never have back pain, but when I do, its because I'm carrying a heavy laptop around on my back.

I travel with my laptop a lot, but much prefer a beefy workstation for all the work I do when I get where I'm going. The weight of the laptop is not a big deal, even my big Lenovo P53 (~30mm thick 15.6" black brick) is only 3 kg.

I do use an Osprey 22L hiking backpack for my daily driver, it's got a waist belt to transfer weight to my hips, a chest strap to keep the shoulder straps together, and internal semi-rigid frame... but that's more for all my other stuff, and for activities I do in the woods far from stuff like 'laptop computers'. Even if it's just in a handheld briefcase, 3 kg is not a lot. That's about as much as a water bottle - which I also have in the backpack, as well as a bunch of miscellaneous stuff that also weighs a few kg.

I herniated a disk a couple years ago due to a waterskiing accident, but I've fully recovered and even while dealing with that injury, walking around airports and so forth with any laptop is not not strenuous.

In hindsight, I wish I'd gone for the big P73, I miss the giant 17" screen of my old 40mm thick, 3.5 kg Dell Precision... but the OLED on the P53 is beautiful. 17" UHD OLED when, Lenovo?

Re: MacBook Air M4

#353

Post by klaas- »

m01 wrote: post #266
ruuda wrote: post #247

My 4-year old Dell XPS 15 is up for replacement, but somehow no manufacturer aside from Apple is making laptop with decent specs nowadays? I want 2TB storage, a 4k (or close) HiDPI display, good build quality, and not a bulky gaming laptop. The XPS 15 was perfect, it had those specs, except it only had 1TB storage which is now full. I was expecting that to not be an issue 4 years later ... But now Dell discontinued X…

Can you upgrade the storage of your XPS laptop? Maybe check out the Framework laptops? For example the Framework 13's new screen is 2.8k @ 256PPI apparently [1], which has slightly more pixels than the Macbook Air M4[2] (obviously pixels isn't everything), but you can get up to 8TB NVMe storage + an extra storage expansion cards if you're happy to sacrifice ports and up to 96GB RAM. [3] [1] https://community.frame.wo…

I'd say the primary problem of framework is security updates for bios etc

Re: MacBook Air M4

#354

Post by electrograv »

VincentEvans wrote: post #336
electrograv wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, human visual perception exists along a spectrum of temporal, spatial, and chromatic resolution that varies from person to person — I’ve even met some people who can’t perceive the difference between 30hz and 120hz, while to me and most people I know, the difference between 60hz and 120hz is enormous. So you could make the same argument against high DPI displays, superior peak screen brightness, enormously better…

Lol, reminds me of audiophile discussions when most people listen to youtube streaming a recompressed version of an mp3 someone uploaded.

It’s deeply flawed logic at best (or an intentional red herring at worst) to cite the existence of pseudoscience discussed elsewhere, as an argument against real science being discussed here.

There is a well-understood science to both auditory and visual perception, even more concretely so for the visual side. The scientific literature on human perception in both categories is actively used in the engineering of almost every modern (audible/visual) device you use every day (both in hardware design, and software such as the design of lossy compression algorithms). We have very precise scientific understanding of the limits (and individual variation) of human visual and (to a slightly lesser extent) auditory perception and preferences.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#355

Post by usefulcat »

sunshowers wrote: post #268
ndiddy wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of Apple's pricing strategy over the past few years is that since they have a monopoly on storage/RAM upgrades, they can price base model computers at margins below what they'd normally be comfortable with, and then gouge users on the upgrade costs to claw back some of those margins. That's how they're able to charge $400 for an extra 16GB of RAM.

Everyone already knows this is what they do, they're just pointing out that it's abusive.

Abusive is a stretch. If you don't like it.. you're free to not buy from them?

Re: MacBook Air M4

#356

Post by tcmart14 »

nordsieck wrote: post #231
jghn wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* People who have been left behind by Apple's push towards phablets

> People who have been left behind by Apple's push towards phablets It's my impression that Apple really tried to service this market - that last model was probably the iPhone 13 mini. I assume that there just isn't enough demand for smaller phones to justify the effort to develop them. I was honestly hoping that we'd get a small phone as the iPhone SE 4. But it seems like that's not to be. At least, if the 16e is th…

I was curious about the SE4 since I had an SE2 and Verizon let me trade in the SE2 for the SE3 for free. Based on the rumors of what the SE4 was going to be, we did get an SE4, it was just rebranded as the 16e. The rumor was they were gonna get rid of the button and go with the more recent iPhone style and such. I wonder if they will rebrand the Apple Watch SE as an Apple Watch 10e or something along those lines.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#357

Post by carlosjobim »

mcgrath_sh wrote: post #337
carlosjobim wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's absolutely professional levels that you are demanding both in storage and RAM. Apple sells computers in the premium/professional market segment. They're not going to change that. If you're not making money from the equipment or if you can't afford it for consumer use, there's probably nothing that they will do for you, you're not in the intended customer segment.

Charging a 400+% markup for storage and RAM does not suddenly make a laptop professional. Sure, if there was a significant difference between screen size, chip, battery life, etc, you could argue the $999 one is a prosumer device and the $1799 laptop is a professional device. The only difference between a $999 laptop and a $1799 laptop is 768 GB of storage and 16 GB of RAM. I will even be generous and say that is a $…

If you are buying professional work equipment, a difference of a few hundred dollars does not matter. Professionals in any field usually have equipment worth thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

And if you're buying a computer as a consumer because it is a premium machine, well then you eat the price if you really want the machine, or you have to go for non-premium competitors.

You're comparing McDonalds to a nice steak in a good restaurant. The good restaurant will charge dearly for a bottle of water while McDonalds gives you free refills, and so on. The business models are different and the market segments are different.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#359

Post by ruuda »

RohMin wrote: post #251
ruuda wrote: post #247

My 4-year old Dell XPS 15 is up for replacement, but somehow no manufacturer aside from Apple is making laptop with decent specs nowadays? I want 2TB storage, a 4k (or close) HiDPI display, good build quality, and not a bulky gaming laptop. The XPS 15 was perfect, it had those specs, except it only had 1TB storage which is now full. I was expecting that to not be an issue 4 years later ... But now Dell discontinued X…

First time I've heard someone say a thinkpad is bulky

I should have said "large" then, I could only find a 16" model with the specs I want. It's not bulky in the sense that a gaming laptop is.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#360

Post by ivanmontillam »

usefulcat wrote: post #355
sunshowers wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone already knows this is what they do, they're just pointing out that it's abusive.

Abusive is a stretch. If you don't like it.. you're free to not buy from them?

Yes, but it's perceived as abusive when two of the most feared devils come into play against you in a two-flanked attack: Network Effects and Vendor Lock-in.

I feel cornered when my social circle all use iPhones and then they want to Airdrop me something and I just can't receive it. I'm an Android man, I cannot stand the blue pill Apple feels to me.

Peer pressure is a serious threat, presented in the form of... abusive behaviour indeed.

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