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MacBook Air M4

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Re: MacBook Air M4

#851

Post by [deleted] »

caleb-allen wrote: post #788
kerkeslager wrote: post #603

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In guhidalg's defense, they did say that the "Mac laptops feel faster" (emphasis mine) not that they are faster. There's a trick here with Macs, which is that their user interfaces for the OS and many programs are tightly integrated with the hardware which makes the UI faster--that's the "feel faster"--it's a software, not hardware thing. In cases where the software is equivalent (i.e. cross-platform compilers like G…

The arm architecture is also optimized for UI-like tasks, quick to start and stop processes on one of many cores with differing power constraints, whereas x86 is more for workstation-type sustained workloads

[deleted]

Re: MacBook Air M4

#852

Post by acomjean »

frontfor wrote: post #616
acomjean wrote: post #601

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ran some bioinformatics pipelines on an AMD pangolin notebook. Its was faster than the apple M2 (I think it was an M2 or M3) notebook my work neighbor had. My machine had more RAM, but still for workloads that use the extra cores it made a difference.

The performance alone says nothing. What about the battery life, size, weight, temperature, fan noise, and quality of the touchpad? These are important trade offs in any laptop.

When we’re both plugged in and my process finishes 10 minutes faster, it says something. Also the gp post specifically was about performance and specifically not efficiency.

I could get 7+ hours from my work Linux laptops battery and I don’t really care for macOS. The OS quality matters more than the touch pad to me. I’ve come the appreciate a Mat screen. But im glad there is choice.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#853

Post by vishalontheline »

commandersaki wrote: post #728
tredre3 wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like you haven't actually looked into it if that's the impression you got, because both Thinkpad (X1) and Framework (13) make a laptop that fit your requirements. The X1 carbon even offers a 4k OLED option if you want it.

I have a framework 13” and a few MacBooks. The framework is a really mediocre laptop, even for PC laptops. I don’t even think it really has potential to be honest.

I've been considering a Framework laptop for some time, but your comment made me reconsider. What do you think are the biggest shortcomings of your Framework 13"? How long ago did you get it?

Thanks!

Re: MacBook Air M4

#854

Post by minton »

crazygringo wrote: post #180
overstay8930 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know Apple wants to differentiate ProMotion as a Pro feature, but even non-tech people I know are wondering why Android phones run smoother than iPhones. Stuff that would be completely unheard of purely because of how noticeable 60hz vs 120hz is. Actual reputational damage is going on because of these poor decisions, I’m not surprised iPhones are struggling to obtain new market share. They just look like old and sl…

> but even non-tech people I know are wondering why Android phones run smoother than iPhones. Stuff that would be completely unheard of purely because of how noticeable 60hz vs 120hz is. Are they? I'm a tech person and I can barely notice it at all. And I don't think I have a single non-tech friend who is even aware of the concept of video refresh rate. Whenever there's something that doesn't feel smooth about an int…

I run Windows daily at work on a 60Hz display. I recently got my son a gaming PC complete with a 144Hz monitor. I was genuinely confused why Windows itself “felt” so much better. Just dragging windows around seemed like magic. It’s not that the UI is lagging on my machine, it’s more the smoothness of things when they move around. It makes everything seem faster, despite us timing various things and finding no actual performance differences.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#855

Post by spaceman_2020 »

checkyoursudo wrote: post #816
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #793

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

This is seriously the thing I like the most about my 2017 and 2023 macbooks. The trackpad feels so good. Every other manufacturer that I have tried, and no it is not all of them but a lot, they all make my fingers feel bad after using them. I don't know if they are rougher or textured somehow? The only one that does make my finger pads feel sore is the macbook.

It's also the accuracy. I'm able to do light photo editing work right from the trackpad, even basic sketches and airbrushing. Have never been able to do anything remotely close with other laptops

Re: MacBook Air M4

#856

Post by marricks »

potatoman22 wrote: post #485
Spunkie wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone I know that got an M1 cheaped out on the 8gb model and are now struggling to use a browser with heavy sites and multitasking(zoom) at the same time. But also apples upcharge on RAM is disgusting, so it's hard to blame them for picking the lowest spec model.

Totally an anecdote, but my 8gb M1 runs fine with multiple browsers/tabs, VS Code, and Spotify all open. Usually performance is only an issue for me when working with larger ML models. I wonder why others are getting worse performance? Maybe it's the specific sites they're using?

Could be chrome vs safari or ff

Re: MacBook Air M4

#857

Post by acomjean »

ayushnix wrote: post #643
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 always feel that the kind of laptop I want is a unicorn if I exclude Apple M-series laptops. Is there a laptop out there which is fanless (passively cooled), supports Linux reliably, has great performance per watt, has decent raw performance (anything better than a recent lower end AMD/Intel laptop processor), and has great build quality?

I don’t think there are any fanless x86 but I had a system76 pangolin for work. It was quite well built (I bought the next gen one for myself). They OEM the notebooks though, so the quality is decent (I’m coming from a 2015 Mac book, pretty much the gold standard of Macs)

https://system76.com/laptops

Re: MacBook Air M4

#858

Post by dijit »

sunshowers wrote: post #725
dijit wrote: post #693

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, any profiting and market segmentation is abuse? The same word we use for raping kids? Give off.

No, not any profiting is abuse. I thought I made that quite clear. With apologies for quoting myself: > 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. I was raped as a kid, friend. Many times.

> I was raped as a kid, friend. Many times.

and many of my friends were, which is why I would prefer we keep words with strong meaning quite strong.

A company operating as a company, not even unethically in this case is too far away.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#859

Post by LeSaucy »

arjonagelhout wrote: post #785
ericmcer wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I have the M3 Max, and a custom built pc using some Ryzen chip that has roughly equivalent benchmark scores to the M3 Max. The amount of cooling and power required for such a PC versus the aluminum slab with small fans that almost never turn on is a testament to the insanely good engineering of the M series chips. I compile large c++ codebases on a daily basis, but the M3 Max never makes me feel like I can “grab a cu…

M series mac's are my dream c++ development machines. Just this week I was investigating some potential bugs in Qt's javascript engine and I was recompiling it from source across multiple tags to bisect. On my i9 mac I would compile Qt overnight, on my m3 pro it takes about 10 minutes, on battery, silently. Truly remarkable.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#860

Post by leeman2016 »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #800
leeman2016 wrote: post #701

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I know, right?

In the US at least, they usually go on sale. If you can manage to get a corporate discount, you can get them at a sane price.

At December, for example, I got a latest P14s at around $1,100 which is OK price for the machine you get.

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