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MacBook Air M4

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Re: MacBook Air M4

#91

Post by volkadav »

rs_rs_rs_rs_rs wrote: post #12

If you have an Air and use Intellij IDEA or any other Jetbrains IDE can you let me know how the performance is? This really looks like an amazing computer if it can handle long IDEA hours on medium projects.

I used[1] jetbrains tooling quite a bit on my m1 air and never had problems, though I did opt for the 16gb ram version. The newer models are presumably at least as performant if not better?

([1] These days my daily driver is an m1 mbp of some whizzbang 32gb variety, which only replaced the mba because my spouse wanted a travel machine and the mbp came for the low low cost of being caught in the late 2022 startup crash. For day to day ordinary backend dev work there really isn't a noticeable difference in my experience, except I guess the mbp is more awkward when working-from-couch. arm vs x86 was sometimes a little awkward around launch, but I can't remember the last time it was an actual hassle.)

Re: MacBook Air M4

#92

Post by bananapub »

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.

what do you mean? they cut prices, improved battery life and improved performance, like they do almost every year. every few years they do something big like a new form factor or a new CPU architecture!

Re: MacBook Air M4

#93

Post by BonoboIO »

hackathonguy wrote: post #79

I love that the base model starts with 16GB of RAM here. The value of these computers is incredible - I purchased a Macbook Pro in 2021 and it's still powering through every task I throw at it. Before Apple started making their own chips, I felt like I had to upgrade every 2-3 years to prevent my laptop from becoming a hurdle in completing every day tasks (remember when tab management was a thing?). Really happy with…

AI is finally forcing them to do it

Re: MacBook Air M4

#94

Post by spwa4 »

sccxy wrote: post #9
Analemma_ wrote: post #4

Apple Intelligence is a complete dud in my view, but fortunately it doesn’t bother you if you don’t use it, and it’s all worth it for Apple to start shipping base configurations with a decent amount of RAM.

But once you activate AI, then you are not able to uninstall this AI crap from your computer.

I don't know. On the one hand I kind of agree that AI products currently suck, especially the ones built into OSes.

On the other hand, both using ChatGPT myself and the few usage figures they have released are very impressive.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#95

Post by WillAdams »

throw0101d wrote: post #63
dijit wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear: 1) Apple releases incremental upgrades! Why won't they make huge strides every year so I can upgrade! 2) People who upgrade every year are sheeps! 3) Apple support devices for longer than Android, that's nice! (yes, not Windows though). 4) God, why do their benchmarks compare devices that are 3-5y old?! Apple is marketing to people who have devices that are old, because they are old. "Hey, you noticed th…

> 2) People who upgrade every year are sheeps! > 3) Apple support devices for longer than Android, that's nice! > 4) God, why do their benchmarks compare devices that are 3-5y old?! 2 and 4 kind of contradict each other. I wouldn't be surprised that the average upgrade cycle for a lot of folks is in that 3-5 year range, for both personal and corporate buyers.

Since graduating from college in 1993, working in the graphic design industry full-time through 2019, I had two brand-new Macs (a PowerMac G3/800MHz, and a G5), the balance were hand-me-downs from other employees --- the G5 in particular was especially long-lasting, though ultimately it was supplemented by an Intel iMac.

Each year when Apple came out with new machines, we would make a game of putting together a dream machine --- ages ago, that could easily hit 6 figures, these days, well, a fully-configured Mac Studio is $14,099 and a Pro Display w/ stand and nano texture adds $6,998 or so.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#96

Post by kccqzy »

mcgrath_sh wrote: post #42

I have considered going back to Mac after about 5-7 years on Windows/WSL, but the storage premium is just too much to swallow. If the $999 was a base 16GB RAM and 512GB storage, I'd consider it. I just added another 32GB of RAM to my 2020 built desktop for $50. You can get a 1TB crucial M.2 drive for $70. I know I'm comparing apples and oranges, but the storage cost is too much, and 256GB is much too little. Edit: to…

Of course. Apple wants you to purchase their iCloud offerings and put your documents on iCloud Drive.

I just buy lots of storage on my desktop and access it remotely. Tailscale makes it easy to do so.

Re: MacBook Air M4

#97

Post by kome »

metayrnc wrote: post #6

After 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!

Re: MacBook Air M4

#98

Post by ownagefool »

stringsandchars wrote: post #85
throw0101d wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2) People who upgrade every year are sheeps! > 3) Apple support devices for longer than Android, that's nice! > 4) God, why do their benchmarks compare devices that are 3-5y old?! 2 and 4 kind of contradict each other. I wouldn't be surprised that the average upgrade cycle for a lot of folks is in that 3-5 year range, for both personal and corporate buyers.

> I wouldn't be surprised that the average upgrade cycle for a lot of folks is in that 3-5 year range, for both personal and corporate buyers. My personal laptop is a 2014 MacBook Pro. I'll be buying one of these new M4 Airs, and comparing to an 11-year-old computer .

yeah, managed to eeek about 10 years from minimum spec 2013 mbp

Re: MacBook Air M4

#99

Post by dylan604 »

madeofpalk wrote: post #55
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.

What innovation is there from a laptop these days? Apple Silicon chips were the innovation we needed (better performance for better battery). Last time people cried for Apple to innovate they added the touch bar to laptops. Computers (and phones) are a mature product category where I don't want innovation, I just want them to be functional.

And butterfly keyboards. Don’t forget their innovative trash can MacPro. Hockey puck mouse anyone? Apple has an impressive history of missing the mark.
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