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MacBook Air M4

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Re: MacBook Air M4

#791

Post by greazy »

swat535 wrote: post #149
CountHackulus wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last time they "innovated" on macbooks we got a touch bar (ignoring M chips). I'm good with incremental improvements if we can avoid those gigantic blunders.

Right and I'm not sure consumers are willing to tolerate innovation. I recall the amount of hate touch bar got on HN and everyone asking Apple to revert back to building normal machines (which they did with Macbook Pro).

The issue with the touch bar is that it replaced the F keys which are (at least for me) my most used short cuts. I don't use the track pad gestures, never really got the hang of them. So the F keys were used a lot.

They should have added the touch bar, not replacement the F keys with it.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#792

Post by secondcoming »

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…

Are the Precision Workstation laptops not made any longer? They're beasts.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#793

Post by spaceman_2020 »

homefree wrote: post #411
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…

There's nothing close, Apple has better talent and the vertical integration gives them an edge (especially on performance per watt on their chip designs). Since the M series chips, there's been no other option if you care about quality. There are crappy alternatives with serious tradeoffs if for some reason you are forced to not use Apple or choose for non-quality reasons.

My pet peeve is the trackpad

How on earth are there literally ZERO non Apple laptops with a trackpad as smooth as Apple’s?

This is an old technology. Surely someone must have reverse engineered this by now?

Re: MacBook Air M4

#794

Post by spaceman_2020 »

ericmcer wrote: post #448
homefree wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing close, Apple has better talent and the vertical integration gives them an edge (especially on performance per watt on their chip designs). Since the M series chips, there's been no other option if you care about quality. There are crappy alternatives with serious tradeoffs if for some reason you are forced to not use Apple or choose for non-quality reasons.

The leap from intel to the M series chips really left everyone else behind. I can't even use my 2019 Macbook anymore it feels so sluggish. I have an M3 Pro and it blows all my old computers out of the water. Can handle pretty insane dev workflows (massive Docker composed environments) without issue and the battery life feels unfair. I can put in an 8 hour workday without my charging cable, I don't think I have turned…

Same for me. Workflow handles everything from web dev to Photoshop to Ableton - all working together - without hesitation

Re: MacBook Air M4

#795

Post by lotsofpulp »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #793
homefree wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing close, Apple has better talent and the vertical integration gives them an edge (especially on performance per watt on their chip designs). Since the M series chips, there's been no other option if you care about quality. There are crappy alternatives with serious tradeoffs if for some reason you are forced to not use Apple or choose for non-quality reasons.

My pet peeve is the trackpad How on earth are there literally ZERO non Apple laptops with a trackpad as smooth as Apple’s? This is an old technology. Surely someone must have reverse engineered this by now?

How on earth are there still no non Apple laptops that instantly and reliably go to sleep when you close the lid?

Re: MacBook Air M4

#796

Post by spaceman_2020 »

lillecarl wrote: post #637
hypercube33 wrote: post #588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah everyone that went from "old shitty Intel" to M1 or above somehow gaslit themselves into believing nobody could catch up. AMD did catch up quickly, it's too bad they had to solder RAM to match but it is what it is...

The problem is that those AMDs still have to run something as awful as Windows 11

Re: MacBook Air M4

#797

Post by fpoling »

alwillis wrote: post #557
ninetyninenine wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what other advantage did this give them? Like name specific examples. Feel free to leave, but I honestly don't see where you're coming from.

> But what other advantage did this give them? Like name specific examples. Feel free to leave, but I honestly don't see where you're coming from. Back when Apple used Intel processors, they were at the mercy of Intel's roadmap; if Intel missed a deadline for a new chip, Apple had to change plans. Obviously, that's no longer the case. Back in the Motorola/IBM days, their G5 processor ran so hot that Apple had to crea…

It is unclear how much Apple have to pay to Qualcomm in patent fees. It can be still substantial.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#798

Post by spaceman_2020 »

indymike wrote: post #369
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…

I've been using LG Gram laptops running linux. They are fantastic. My current daily drive is 3lbs, 17" display, 32GB RAM i7 CPU, and I bumped the SSD to 2TB. It is lighter than my 13" Macbook air and cost $1200 at Costco. Oh, and battery life is 14-16 hours of use.

I got one for my wife - it’s ridiculously lightweight

Re: MacBook Air M4

#799

Post by drunkonvinyl »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #793
homefree wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing close, Apple has better talent and the vertical integration gives them an edge (especially on performance per watt on their chip designs). Since the M series chips, there's been no other option if you care about quality. There are crappy alternatives with serious tradeoffs if for some reason you are forced to not use Apple or choose for non-quality reasons.

My pet peeve is the trackpad How on earth are there literally ZERO non Apple laptops with a trackpad as smooth as Apple’s? This is an old technology. Surely someone must have reverse engineered this by now?

I’ve always wondered if the Apple trackpad was just the capacitive part of an iPhone screen. It feels like glass. It responds similarly. And they have a huge user base sample size for improvements.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#800

Post by spaceman_2020 »

leeman2016 wrote: post #701
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…

I think there are good ThinkPads out there. P1, P16s, T16, P14s Most of which support: - Up to 96 GB RAM - 8 TB SSD (Dual slots) - Upgradable memory and storage - 4K OLED displays - Excellent build quality What more is needed?

In my country at least, these are priced at par or higher than Macbooks

Makes zero sense to get a P series when you could get a Macbook

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