Most crucial improvement in this one per my scoreboard is that the new MBA supports 2 external screens AND the builtin one at the same time. Only reason I bothered with a Pro.
MacBook Air M4
881–890 of 972 posts
Re: MacBook Air M4
#882Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition is in fact lighter than the Macbook Air, has Lunar Lake, up to 2 TB storage, great battery life, and a 2880 x 1800 OLED display. It's pricy, though.
Around the holiday season they usually drop to around $1k - Time your purchase - get coupons - get a corporate discount if you can to get them at a sane price
Hmm the Thinkpad T14 might drop to $1000 but I've literally never seen a current generation X1 Carbon go that low.
Re: MacBook Air M4
#883Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gen question: why do people care how bulky a laptop is? I buy gaming laptops because they're the only powerful laptops and their size has never bothered me when traveling
Do you only ever travel by car? Serious question.
americans lol. and i say this as an american. :)
Most of my friends assume the default mode of transport globally is a car. Even to get to a cafe or library.
Pretty funny when you think about it.
Re: MacBook Air M4
#884Earlier 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…
Like others pointed out, if we're comparing like for like, the Mac Mini is in that "mini PC" price range, and again is very competitive.
Re: MacBook Air M4
#885Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
The problem is that you pay with battery life. I did some Windows vs Linux laptop battery life testing when I bought my Thinkpad T14s AMD gen4.
The test itself is simple: a Puppeteer script that loads the Reddit front page and scrolls it at 50 px/s for 10 minutes, in a loop until the battery dies. This actually produces a fairly decent load including video decoding (because Reddit autoplays by default, and there are plenty videos in the feed). I also had Thunderbird, Discord, and Telegram running in the background.
On Windows 11, the battery dies in 500 minutes.
On Linux Mint 21.3, it dies in 200 minutes.
Now, this is because Chrome (and Firefox!) disable GPU-accelerated rendering by default on Linux due to "unstable drivers". To be fair, it really is unstable - when I enabled it and watched the test as it was going, I saw the Firefox tab in a crashed state more than once. But even then, with Firefox + GPU acceleration, I got 470 minutes of battery life on Windows vs 340 minutes on Linux.
Re: MacBook Air M4
#886My 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…
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.
Last time I tried X1 Carbon, it got hot enough when actively using it for longer than 10 minutes to become physically uncomfortable to hold on my lap.
OTOH Macbook Air not only runs cool even when you build stuff on it, but somehow manages to do so without any fans.
Re: MacBook Air M4
#887Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's actually quite crazy that we need to get those bulky pro models just to get the basics like better screens and more memory. The performance between the Air and Pro is anyways pretty much the same, except for long running tasks where pro benefits from active cooling. Wonder if we are going to see some changes here with the upcoming M5 models.
How else do you propose they differentiate, given that the internals are essentially identical?
Just make an Air Pro, make the screen good, charge $500 more and take my money.
Re: MacBook Air M4
#888After getting the initial M1 Air, I am still struggling to find a reason to replace it. Still going strong with no hiccups!
After getting my 2015 macbook air 11' I am still struggling to find a reason to replace it. Still going strong with no hiccups!
I have a 2015 myself and little things become impossible by design, like actually using the new Passwords app with shared data etc.
Re: MacBook Air M4
#889Earlier quoted context omitted.
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!
I got my FW 13 late Sept 2022 when pre-orders were available in Australia. I needed it for work.
Look the modularity and repairability is nice, and I like how it addresses e-waste. However regarding modularity, I would rather have more fixed ports than a choice of changeable ones.
My biggest gripe is battery life, in Linux I can only seem to get 4 hours of usage and that's if I'm lucky. More like 2.5 to 3 hours, and that's usually minimal usage.
My second biggest gripe is the hinges in the laptop. WHen I pick up the laptop with the screen erect at the 90 degree position, it usually falls flat 180 degrees. How this even got past QA annoys me, and the fix is to buy a new hinge kit, but that costs $30 AUD plus $40 AUD shipping, so basically a ripoff.
The keyboard is actually quite decent, but I would've preferred Macbook layout with the fn on the left and half-size inverted T arrow keys. I was hoping a 3rd party would make the keyboard, but the reality is not many 3rd parties are making FW stuff.
The modular ports can be erratic when powering on the laptop, sometimes a usb port doesn't register and I have to eject and reinsert the modular ports, which is annoying.
The display is fine, except mine developed a thin grey line that's noticeable when the pixels aren't lit up. I take care of my laptop carefully, but I feel like this display is weaker than most. Thankfully it's not noticeable when the screen is bright. I also find the screen overly glossy that I had to buy a matte screen protector and apply it, but I believe in newer models you can get a matte display.
The webcam is fine. The speakers are trash. The mic is okay. The trackpad is okayish (for what you can get out of Linux anyways).
Just feels mediocre all around.
Re: MacBook Air M4
#890Earlier 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…
The upgrade to the M chips was shocking to me. My intel suddenly felt like it was defective.
Well, it was. Intel MacBooks had really crappy thermals, getting awfully hot and throttling at any hint of system load.