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New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip

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Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip

#911

Post by dangus »

ffgjgf1 wrote: post #880
dangus wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not on Apple to make sure their cheapest consumer-targeted computer is good enough for enterprise use. To me it’s not really relevant what the old computer models used to do. You have to evaluate what is available today and choose accordingly. Like it or not Intel chips had different strengths and weaknesses. It’s a different design entirely. I’m split on whether this is a dirty price segmentation trick or a leg…

> It’s not on Apple to make sure their cheapest consumer-targeted computer is good enough for enterprise use. Except they crippled it on purpose as a form of market segmentation. Claiming anything else is beyond absurd.

We really don’t know. Personally I’m not surprised that a chip that came from a smartphone has difficulty with multiple monitors. I’m guessing that the Pro and Max chips need a much larger die area dedicated to that functionality.

Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip

#912

Post by lysp »

dekhn wrote: post #683

My kids both needed computers and when the MacBook Air M1 came out I bought a couple for $1200 each (I normally spend $2000 on a new laptop). I wanted decent performance, compatibility, and battery life, and ideally something that would survive a typical teenager's treatment. I'm not a mac person- I would be happier with a Windows or Linux PC or laptop. It looks like they have had the laptops for 3.5 years now, and I…

Do you know if one kept it plugged in vs the other only recharging when needed?

I wonder if that explains the battery difference.

Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip

#913

Post by __mharrison__ »

ffgjgf1 wrote: post #877
__mharrison__ wrote: post #717

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Thinkpad P1 with 64gb. I love that it has a trackpoint. I hate that it had a fan. I guess not so much that it had the fan but that the fan constantly sounds like it is impersonating a helicopter. Not sure where it wants to take the laptop. Also the battery life is horrible, 1 hour or so. And Windows is sluggish. Otherwise, it is a great machine (I occasionally RDP into it when demoing thing for my Windows cl…

> a Thinkpad P1 To be fair it’s not exactly fair to be comparing this to a MacBook. Dell XPS, Lenovo X1/Z/? series would be closer equivalents, of course AFAIK while the battery life is much better fans/temperature are still an issue.

How so? A P1 is basically the same as an X1. Not even sure why they are different models.

Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip

#914

Post by __mharrison__ »

Liskni_si wrote: post #908
fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #752

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s possible to buy an external keyboard with a trackpoint: not as convenient as having it builtin, but it’s great if you’re mostly using the laptop at your desk anyway

Imagine buying a MacBook Air only to need an external keyboard to be able to use it comfortably…

Imagine buying a MBP but using it at a desk 90% of the time... I'm perfectly fine using the machine while traveling but mostly use split keyboards with a non-QWERTY layout at my desk. I've been around enough computer users to realize that there is no "one-true device" that will be ergonomic and RSI-proof for 100% of users. Folks should listen to their body and take action when it complains.

My biggest complaint about the MBP was the lack of Trackpoint. I've survived. My work forces me to have both MacOS and Windows machines, and I'm very happy with my MBP. The P1 and sluggishness of Windows are huge letdowns.

Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip

#915

Post by jwells89 »

paulmd wrote: post #866
jwells89 wrote: post #613

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the first gen and it’s about the perfect size for an ultraportable in my opinion, and its screen, build, and general feel are great but its battery and CPU are underwhelming at best. The newer gens are even more confusing because they don’t offer the cooler, more efficient U CPU variants, only the hotter more power hungry P variants, which exacerbates heat and battery life issues.

U chips are just P chips with a tighter power limit, they’re not inherently “more efficient” (same architecture), just a lower cap. is there really anything stopping you from setting a lower cTDP if that’s really what you want?

Where would you set that? The only PC I’ve seen that lets you explicitly set a target TDP is the Steam Deck, the most I’ve seen elsewhere is the ability to turn off turboboost and limit clock speed.

Regardless, a default TDP above that of a U chip in a Nano is still an odd choice given that machine’s lack of cooling and battery capacity resulting from its size. It means that a lot of buyers who have no idea how to reduce it are going to have a subpar experience.

Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip

#916

Post by uticus »

paulmd wrote: post #852
uticus wrote: post #825

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> not in the same performance class...it's fine if it meets your needs...the apple is also a better machine

all responses here have been along the lines of 'i have x many tabs open no problem. i develop y no problem. i use z containers no problem.' i tried to mirror that, in my response. sounds like the same class for most people in this thread by real usage, if not same performance class by benchmarking.

> you shouldn't dump on people for acknowledging this reality

sorry if i burst the bubble a little, if you excuse me i'll get back to being as productive as the other people crowing about the machine - possibly more so because I've spent the remaining $700-$2200 on other things that boost my productivity.

Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip

#917

Post by blehn »

whynotminot wrote: post #184
blehn wrote: post #118

I 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…

I'm curious what your comparison point was for the audio quality of the MacBook Air. In the Windows world, I rarely if ever come across a laptop where the speakers weren't clearly last in precedence for engineering and BOM consideration. Just astoundingly bad sound quality accepted as normal in the Windows laptop world, even in supposedly premium machines. In comparison, even the least impressive MacBook Air speakers…

Yep I was coming from an older Intel MBP, so the downgrade to the Air was dramatic enough to be irritating. But I agree, the sound engineering in the Air isn't bad in absolute terms, probably even pretty good... just not close to the Pros.

Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip

#918

Post by smoldesu »

eBombzor wrote: post #824
bluecalm wrote: post #599

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You can technically get "more technical specs" for the money but the actual experience of using a TP will never be even close to a MBA. This is coming from someone who's used a T14, T14, a few yogas, and currently use a P14 for work. The last point of TPs using loud and hot Intel CPUs cannot be understated. The P14 throttles so hard when I'm trying to do any work because it's using some sh*t Comet Lake U-series, that…

The Ryzen Thinkpads are the thing to beat for the 2020s. I don't want a $1,800 glass art installation that requires a warranty to reliably fix. I want a good laptop, and you can "fix" the majority of a Thinkpad's problems by simply selecting good internals from the start. In a reductive sense, it's no different than ensuring that you avoid the 12" or 16" Intel Macbook.

And I mean... maybe I'm crazy, but I'd skip on a Mac chassis any day. I've have Thinkpads handle drops at waist-height, my Macbook probably would break in too many places to count if it made the same journey.

> MBs are so efficient for the power profile it runs circles around any x86 mobile CPU when on battery.

You're right, but having seen what Docker does to a Mac I still choose to run native x86 anyways. The battery differential usually ends up moot anyways.

Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip

#919

Post by michaelcampbell »

BHSPitMonkey wrote: post #225
michaelcampbell wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> not in the same weight class as a MacBook Which might not be a consideration whatsoever. It isn't for me; I bring my laptop to the office, or from the office, and am never using it where weight makes one bit of difference.

Commuting to/from an office is usually a prime example of when a laptop's weight would matter.

Again, not for me. I throw it in a backpack and because I'm in the US without good public transport, the distance I carry it is precisely from my house to my car (25'), then from the parking garage to the office.

I "carry" it maybe a total of 3 minutes. The weight is literally not an issue for me.

I get it can be for others, but not EVERYONE.

Re: New 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 chip

#920

Post by johnwalkr »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #232
Teever wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Desktop Parametric CAD isn't coming to Mac anytime soon. I had no problems with Fusion360 running under Rosetta 2 and Autodesk recently released an Apple Silicon version of Fusion360.

Sorry, I was thinking more along the lines of SolidWorks and Alibre which aren't so web-based.

I use soldiworks on an M1 Pro 14" macbook pro under parallels and it's fine for professional work (including ~2000 part assemblies). Not fast but on par with my 2019 13" macbook pro and I've never been unable to do anything that I can do on my desktop.
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