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MacBook Air M4

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Re: MacBook Air M4

#801

Post by coldtea »

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?

It's not like they care

Re: MacBook Air M4

#802

Post by lillecarl »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #796
lillecarl wrote: post #637

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

In the context of software development, I run Linux on those AMDs and it's a great experience. It's not for everyone and I respect that, but it's not too hard these days.

Also a Windows machine with WSL isn't the worst thing, just treat it well.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#803

Post by windowsrookie »

kome wrote: post #208
knowaveragejoe wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you use it as a laptop, or is it hooked up as a desktop for the most part? If the former, I'd try one of the M series in the same role and see if you notice a difference in ergonomics.

At this time (and historically), I mostly use it as a laptop, but I have also used it as a desktop for long periods with an external monitor. As a laptop, I love that it's so tiny. It’s working very well so far... but I’m afraid that at some point, I’ll have to switch to Linux or OpenCore Legacy Patcher. I’m still on macOS 11 (Big Sur). MS Office has already stopped updating, along with some other software (though no…

MacOS up to version 13 runs well using OpenCore even on my 2010 iMac (I did upgrade it with a metal compatible GPU).

Looks like the only issue with your MacBook Air is there may be some metal issues. https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/issues/1...

If those don't look like a problem for you, I'd definitely suggest giving it a try. MacOS 13 should give you at least 3 more years of use out of it.

Going beyond MacOS 13 I don't think is worth it. MacOS 14 is noticeably slower on my 2010 iMac, and there aren't any new features it can take advantage of anyways.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#804

Post by Terretta »

usmanmehmood55 wrote: post #667

> Up to 23x faster than fastest Intel‑based MacBook Air Comparing it to a 6 year old laptop. > Up to 2x faster than MacBook Air (M1) Comparing it to a 5 year old laptop. Love these comparisons.

> Love these comparisons.

It's great it resonates with you! Rather compelling to realize their target upgrade cycle is only every 5+ years instead of a 1 or 2 year treadmill.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#805

Post by PcChip »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #796
lillecarl wrote: post #637

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I have fedora on an all amd laptop and it’s wonderful

Re: MacBook Air M4

#806

Post by [deleted] »

_mlbt wrote: post #66
kotaKat wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone that migrated to the M1 Macbook Air from a Mid-2014 Macbook Pro... the Intel customers are still the ones they're trying to target, amusingly. If they'd just give me onboard mobile connectivity, I'd upgrade to the next Air sooner, otherwise this thing will run until it dies... and maybe some day they'll start comparing performance against their original M1.

I see a lot of people requesting cellular modems in MacBooks, but the integration with iPhone hotspot connectivity is so good that I don’t really see the point of it for most people.

[deleted]

Re: MacBook Air M4

#807

Post by Terretta »

eitland wrote: post #281

> And with groundbreaking Private Cloud Compute, Apple Intelligence can draw on larger server-based models, running on Apple silicon, to handle more complex requests for you while protecting your privacy. Most interesting part of it. Wonder if someone can verify this?

> if someone can verify this?

See the section headlined "Verifiable Transparency":

https://security.apple.com/blog/private-cloud-compute/

Re: MacBook Air M4

#808

Post by Terretta »

Reeddabio wrote: post #50

I have a MacBook Pro from 2017 2.3 GHZ, and I am considering an upgrade. Is it worth it?

The biggest difference between this model and the M1 is that ...

All* software now has native Apple Silicon builds.

* Except abandonware**, of course, but Rosetta is so good you need not notice. That said, I personally recommend never triggering Rosetta which helps you avoid accidentally running legacy drivers etc.

** For some reason, including Steam's installer, even though the games it wraps are universal/native ARM.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#809

Post by lopkeny12ko »

motorest wrote: post #660
yard2010 wrote: post #648

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's mostly overpriced shit wrapped in a nice cellophane. I love it though and I believe there is no better alternative. Everything else is just the shit without the nice package.

> It's mostly overpriced shit wrapped in a nice cellophane. That's orthogonal to the concept of a Veblen good. A Veblen good can very much be shit wrapped in cellophane. The core trait of a Veblen good is that customers buy it as a status symbol. Also, being overpriced contributes to reduce the number of those who can afford to buy one.

Apple products have always been status symbols and this Macbook is no different.

One could easily put together a significantly more powerful Linux desktop for a lower price. This has always been the case, but Apple's marketing tries to convince you otherwise. Honestly, I've always been surprised by how effectively their marketing has misled the tech-savvy crowd on HN.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#810

Post by windowsrookie »

CountHackulus wrote: post #137
ljm wrote: post #41

They don't always hit the mark but I sort of miss the times when Apple would innovate more boldly with their devices. Apple Intelligence isn't it - it's just playing catch-up with a market that tries to slap AI onto everything it can think of. The hardware upgrades are always nice but there's nothing 'out there' like a touch bar or even a 'dynamic island'. Just more safe iterations.

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.

I actually enjoy the Touch Bar on my 2018 MacBook Pro. The screen brightness slider offers more granular control. On my M1 air there is often a brightness gap where the screen is either too bright or too dark when using the keyboard to adjust brightness. Then I have to go to the menu bar to get the brightness level I actually want.

It's even better on the 2019+ models when they brought back the escape key.

I would agree that the added expense of that oled touchscreen isn't worth it tho. The M series Macs often go on sale at pretty large discounts (seemingly even more than the Intel Macs), and removing the oled touchscreen and the T2 chip that controlled it probably contributes to that.

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