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MacBook Air M4

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Re: MacBook Air M4

#671

Post by dijit »

sunshowers wrote: post #608
usefulcat wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think "egregious" would be a fairer, more accurate adjective. I know people who have been victims of actual abuse; it's not remotely the same thing as paying too much for a laptop.

I've been repeatedly abused for big parts of my life, and I have a CPTSD diagnosis from it. It's not just paying too much, it's one of the world's most valuable mega-corporations asking you to pay too much. If it were a boutique shop I wouldn't call it abusive. It's a combination of the bad behavior and the exercise of raw power that makes it so.

The network effects of Apple devices are really tiny, compared to say: Microsoft, which holds nearly every company in Europe ransom in effect because Excel is a default tool you need to interact with your government in nearly every country as a business.

Sure, your iPhone doesn't connect as seamlessly to your Windows computer as it would a Mac, but those aren't network effects, thats vertical integration.

Nobody is forcing you to buy a Mac, and Apple themselves are intentionally overcharging for upgrades on the basis that: "If you really need it, you'll pay for it". Most people don't need it but will buy the upgrades anyway then complain that they're too expensive.

I'm aware that it limits the longevity of the devices, but that might also be intentional here, not abusive though. Just a bit bare-faced profit seeking. Which seems to be working because, as you point out, it's one of the worlds most valuable mega-corporations.

If someone else comes out with good premium laptops I'll move over happily, but for now the best laptop you can buy is unfortunately a macbook, and they've decided that upgrades are worth this money, if you don't agree then the answer is to simply not upgrade, or avoid the devices entirely.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#672

Post by wtallis »

motorest wrote: post #565
indemnity wrote: post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$899 (edu) or $999 is extremely competitive for what you get. Most people buying an entry level computer these days should at least consider stretching to get a MBA than the $300-400 shovelware, they’ll get so much use out of it. My wife is still using her 2020 M1 Air and it’s still as snappy as the day we got it, still works for all her use cases. Incredible value.

> Most people buying an entry level computer these days should at least consider stretching to get a MBA than the $300-400 shovelware, they’ll get so much use out of it. I don't think that expecting everyone to waste 3x the money to scratch the same itch is an informed take, specially when the $300 shovelware has far better specs in terms of RAM and by far HD. Nowadays you can even get better performing miniPCs for h…

> Nowadays you can even get better performing miniPCs for half the price than your MacBook Air M3

This is a stupid comparison: even a Mac mini pretty much fulfills this, since the M4 is a step up from the M3 and the actively-cooled mini can sustain higher performance than the passively-cooled MacBook Air, and at about half the price of an M3 MacBook Air.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#673

Post by malthaus »

dmazin wrote: post #36

I'd be tempted, but the MacBook Air M1 still kicks ass. I don't care if this is 2x faster. The M1 is still very fast.

same here. it even runs most of my demanding ableton projects just fine.

i need more compute? using a saas solution i need more storage? tiny external ssd or cloud storage

the 8gigs of ram also aren't holding me back, i think most people just cry based on principle and would be fine with it in a double-blind test

Re: MacBook Air M4

#675

Post by emrah »

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…

The specs on paper do not do Apple justice. The screen alone is worth it. Your eyes are worth it

Re: MacBook Air M4

#676

Post by natnatenathan »

mcgrath_sh wrote: post #42

I have considered going back to Mac after about 5-7 years on Windows/WSL, but the storage premium is just too much to swallow. If the $999 was a base 16GB RAM and 512GB storage, I'd consider it. I just added another 32GB of RAM to my 2020 built desktop for $50. You can get a 1TB crucial M.2 drive for $70. I know I'm comparing apples and oranges, but the storage cost is too much, and 256GB is much too little. Edit: to…

I think you are crazy. The performance difference between MacOS and WSL is like night and day. I was just shopping for a Linux laptop and I have found that the top end models from Microsoft, Lenovo and Dell to be as or more expensive than Apple (with the exception of having user replaceable SSDs). There is nothing in the PC world that compares to Apple Silicon. If the price is too much, look at the refurb or used market where you can get really significant discounts.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#677

Post by kombine »

hypercube33 wrote: post #588
teaearlgraycold wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can easily take my M3 MBA on trips, using in on the plane both ways and a couple hours there for a few days, and not charge it once. I honestly looked for alternatives when I bought it last summer but there weren’t any competitive options.

I mean my AMD T14 G4 gets like 12 hours of battery running windows, 150 browser tabs and a virtual environment. Not sure how the newer ones are and no they aren't as sleek or probably durable as a metal apple or dell XPS but I haven't got any complaints for the price.

I have T14s Gen 3 AMD running Linux and I don't even come close to 12 hours, maybe half of that. That's my biggest complaint.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#678

Post by ildon »

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…

The way I see it is that Apple competitors have given up on premium portable devices. Apple tech is so far ahead that consumers looking for the best non gaming hardware will most likely choose Apple devices.

For competitors, spending a huge amount of money in R&D to try to compete with Apple, will be most likely at a loss. At least until some chip manufacturer (read: Intel) doesn't step up their game.

As a consequence, competition has moved to the middle-low quality segment, one in which they can still compete because of 2 main factors: Apple is not interested in that segment and most companies won't move away from Windows (even if they probably should).

Re: MacBook Air M4

#679

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

TheDong wrote: post #623
usefulcat wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I'd be free to not buy from them if they released iMessage and facetime for android so people wouldn't get kicked from groupchats and prevented from being able to video call their grandmother when they switched phones. Google hangouts / gmail works fine on iOS and android. Same for whatsapp, zoom, signal, etc. Heck, even microsoft teams. Apple has more money than any of those companies, and yet also has the wildly mo…

This seems wildly overblown.

I'm running Windows laptops / desktops these days, and drive an iPhone and the sun hasn't exploded.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#680

Post by sunshowers »

dijit wrote: post #671
sunshowers wrote: post #608

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been repeatedly abused for big parts of my life, and I have a CPTSD diagnosis from it. It's not just paying too much, it's one of the world's most valuable mega-corporations asking you to pay too much. If it were a boutique shop I wouldn't call it abusive. It's a combination of the bad behavior and the exercise of raw power that makes it so.

The network effects of Apple devices are really tiny, compared to say: Microsoft, which holds nearly every company in Europe ransom in effect because Excel is a default tool you need to interact with your government in nearly every country as a business. Sure, your iPhone doesn't connect as seamlessly to your Windows computer as it would a Mac, but those aren't network effects, thats vertical integration. Nobody is f…

Yes, the whole point of abuse, and why there's a social taboo against it, is that it works. It achieves its desired effect.

Microsoft is also a deeply abusive corporation. The discussion was not about them, though.

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