Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the Pro sweet spot currently for RAM/disk/screen? Edit: nvm, looks like the Air supports two external displays but the Pro only supports one.
- MacBook Pro with M3 chip = one external display - MacBook Pro with M3 Pro chip = two external displays - MacBook Pro with M3 Max chip = four external displays Given that I would personally go for the M3 Pro with 18GB memory, but it depends on your needs of course.
New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip
851–860 of 1001 posts
Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip
#852Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lenovo Ideapad 5 Pro 14" 14ACN6. Got one at Costco over a year ago for around $700US. Runs Pop_OS! really well. Weight is very much light enough for me. Edit: There is one downside I found. I replaced the 512GB SSD with 1TB and nearly needed stitches because the bottom plate was so sharp. Oh and I just looked it up, it's listed at 3.04lbs
Dell Latitude 5400, i5-8265U [0], 14" matte screen. Bought refurbished, self-upgraded to 32GB and 1TB M2 PCI SSD with about 10 mins worth of work. Currently running Firefox (14 tabs), LibreOffice Calc (spreadsheet), LibreOffice Writer (word processor), 3 WebStorm project windows (JetBrains JavaScript IDE), Kitty (terminal emulator), on Arch Linux w/Gnome (Wayland). No fans running, about 6 hrs battery life on WiFi be…
Literal skylake processor is not in the same performance class as M3 no matter what you tell yourself. The battery life alone is literally an order of magnitude different.
Just like OP said, this is not really a comparable machine. It’s fine if it meets your needs, but the apple is also a better machine and you shouldn’t dump on people for acknowledging this reality.
Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip
#853Earlier quoted context omitted.
I finally made the switch to Apple after being thoroughly frustrated with Windows laptops. It's not even close to a competition. Macbooks are just so far ahead of everyone else that you can't even compare them. Most Windows laptops have abysmal batteries, to the point that you can barely call them laptops. The trackpads are downright unusable. The keyboards are a hit or a miss. And for some reason, so many companies…
I think ThinkPads are better than MacBooks. You can get P14 with 32gb of RAM, 1TB SSD, very fast and quiet CPU (AMD U series), decent battery, 2.8k OLED screen and it weights 1.34kg (weight between 13 inch and 15inch new Airs). It also has imo better ports and a track point. The problem is that Windows sucks more and more with every iteration and there is nothing Lenovo or other manufacturers can do about it. Lenovo…
I got P14s with 64GB of RAM, 1TB SSD and other specs maxed out for $1050 (patiently waited for a sale from Lenovo). Other than the battery life, the P14s is roughly equivalent to a Macbook Pro M2 Pro for $3500.
Windows sucks in the default install, but if you know what you're doing you can remove all the junk from it and make Windows almost as efficient as, say, Linux (and way more efficient than macOS).
In my opinion, Macbooks are for people who'd rather pay more than take care of and optimize their laptops. I could have paid 3 times as much for a similarly spec'ed Macbook, but then I'd have to put up with a silly notch, not having a right Ctrl key, a keyboard getting shiny after a couple of months and other annoyances. So why even bother with Macbooks?
Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip
#854Earlier quoted context omitted.
The term you’re looking for is “caliber”, since many will interpret “weight class” to mean the actual weight of the laptop.
> “caliber” What are you talking about? Laptops aren't even round.
also, there isn’t even a barrel let alone any sort of rifling? So how could we conceivably measure laptops in terms of barrel length if there’s no diameter or length?
I just don’t see the metaphor here /s
Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip
#855I was recently buying a Dell laptop for my sister and it boggles my mind how most other companies (maybe Framework is an except) still have dozens or even 100s of SKUs for consumer laptops. I didn't enjoy the process of looking through dozens of various lines that Dell has and then other companies like Lenovo and HP earlier in the process, just to find a "mid-range usable computer with a decent screen". If you didn't…
I've always assumed that the number of SKUs is so that retailers can have a (relatively) unique model and avoid price comparisons. Like mattresses.
Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip
#856Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree 100% with what you've said, but this sentence: > Way over-priced storage and RAM upgrades, can't connect multiple monitors unless you pay up, and you're stuck with MacOS. Basically boils down to "Apple is selling a much better product, and they know it." I.e. your first bullets (over priced storage, RAM, charging for multi monitor support) all just boil down to "Apple charges more because they can". The "you'…
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> thread making absurd claims about 'apple is way better than everyone' based on nothing but anecdotal experiences...
I'm not sure why you think "anecdotal experiences" are invalid when people are talking about a personal choice. I.e. I don't need some sort of double blinded study to "prove" Mac laptops are better. I've used other laptops, and I have a strong preference for Macs for a myriad of reasons that have nothing to do with marketing (to be honest I can't even remember the last time I saw an actual ad for a Mac). You may disagree, that's fine, but it's silly to pretend the personal preferences of others are somehow invalid or less than.
Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip
#857I really wanted to love the 13" Air but two things made me switch to the Pro after trying it for a few weeks. One is that the internal speakers suck in comparison to the Pro. I 'm not looking for audiophile quality from laptop speakers, but the Pro speakers are good enough for casually watching youtube videos, TV shows, podcasts, etc, whereas the Air speakers are harsh and tinny. The second is that the default resolu…
> It's some weird in-between resolution that creates aliasing on text and such
yeah, the fact that such basics are still broken is the biggest scandal to me in these premium machines with so much tech progress otherwise
Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip
#858Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's different from being "overpriced." Overpriced would be "costs more than it should for what it is," not "costs what it should but is more product than I can afford."
> Overpriced would be "costs more than it should for what it is," not "costs what it should but is more product than I can afford." But it's also that, because their bottom configurations are weird/crippled. It's hard to find a PC laptop with a 4k screen for much less than $1000, but then the $1000 machine has 12 cores and 32GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Apple's $1000 laptop has 8 cores and 8GB of RAM and 256GB of…
The bad part of Apple DRAM is that it's not upgradable or replaceable unless you can figure out how to open up the M3 multi-chip-module and nanosolder a new RAM module.
The good part is that the DRAM is connected to the GPU as well as the CPU.
Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip
#859Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depends. To me, software is the thing that will keep me from Apple products. IMO Linux and Android are light-years ahead and are becoming even further ahead every year.
I have a hard time considering Linux "light years ahead" when they still can't even figure how to do HDR.
My daily driver before this was Linux and anyone who says "Linux is light years ahead" is kidding themselves
You have to set up a bash script to do something as basic as change the scrollwheel speed. Bluetooth is extremely spotty. Installing most software is still a pain unless you know all sorts of terminal-fu
Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip
#860Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh come on, you're overexaggerating a bit. If you follow your pattern with Apple, you'll end up with a measly 8GB/256GB model which will only be useful for basic browsing. (And with more and more Electron apps, might struggle even with that once you hop onto a video call.)
I do all of my development on a measly 8GB/500GB model. The only application that has performance problems for me VCVRack, and that’s only after I surpassed 900 modules
I bet it struggles if you open 800 browser tabs and 900 VCV rack modules.