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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

#951

Post by harkinian »

freeAgent wrote: post #681
numbers wrote: post #355

I 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…

If a normal person just wants a “simple laptop,” they can go to Best Buy or whatever brick and mortar and pull one off the shelf. They don’t need to dig into hundreds of SKUs unless they want to do so.

BestBuy will still have a ton of different options that look similar but one is inexplicably a lot more expensive than another, even within the same brand.

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

#952

Post by harkinian »

Dah00n wrote: post #660
yodsanklai wrote: post #630

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This will sound slightly provocative but I genuinely wonder: why would anyone buy anything else than an apple laptop? Gaming? ideology? budget constraints? lack of familiarity with MacOS? They are marginally more expensive, but they also very easy to sell second-hand. I'm speculating that the monthly cost is on par with a PC.

Lots of people doesn't see Apple laptops like you obviously do. Ask provocative questions and you'll get likewise answers. For my needs and my opinions: - The software is worse. Linux is better. Windows has much broader options. I run both. - I game. - Ideology? Yes, Apple is an awful company. - Familiarity? I have used it enough to know it cannot do a lot of things I need, want, like, etc. - Budget? Yes, but not bec…

The biggest downside of macOS is that it breaks compatibility with old software so often, compared to Windows which prioritizes compatibility above all else. So if you use lots of third-party apps that are often abandoned but still useful, Mac is a non-starter.

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

#953

Post by harkinian »

jpalomaki wrote: post #518
skadamat wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed that even Apple products have gotten confusing. But still 1-2 orders of magnitude less I feel than other laptops?

I think the lineup and config options on Apple laptops and tablets are carefully planned to make you spend more than you intially thought. You start with the idea of cheap model, then start going the ladders up.

The tablets are. Buy an iPad, then spend like $600 on hardware accessories and apps to basically turn it into a laptop. Everyone I know who bought one has just left it around the house as a random toy.

But I'm a heavy user, and that 2015 baseline MBP is still fine.

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

#954

Post by nicoburns »

gnicholas wrote: post #783
nicoburns wrote: post #762

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now that laptops (including but not limited to macbooks) can charge via USB C I just have one charger that I take for both my phone and laptop. Sometimes I take two cables so I can charge both at once. Sometimes I don't bother.

My problem was that I brought a USB-C to lightning cable to charge my phone off my computer, but I forgot a USB-C brick (and magsafe or USB-C cable) so that my computer had power. Fortunately there were Apple employees at the conference and they let me borrow a charger while we were hanging out at the bar!

Ah yes, my phone is also USB-C which leaves less room for this kind of issue to occur.

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

#955

Post by wubrr »

Dalewyn wrote: post #818
wubrr wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

>What 'innovation' has Apple introduced in the last 10 years other than their M chips? Computers that Just Fucking Work(tm) if you stay on the One Apple Way(tm), which 99% of people are perfectly content to be on because shit Just Fucking Works(tm). Seriously, Just Fucking Works(tm) is a virtue.

Every single PC I've had in the last 15 years just fucking works ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .... (except some things mostly on apple products).

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

#956

Post by kjkjadksj »

theGnuMe wrote: post #107
kjkjadksj wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5k for a computer with 128gb doesn’t seem like a great deal. You can get that much ddr5 today for like $400 sometimes less than that on sale.

yeah but you can't get an nvidia gpu with at least 128gb (H200) for less than $40k

You can set how much of your system ram your gpu gets in windows and linux

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

#957

Post by xcv123 »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #956
theGnuMe wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah but you can't get an nvidia gpu with at least 128gb (H200) for less than $40k

You can set how much of your system ram your gpu gets in windows and linux

Useless for LLMs. Limited system memory bandwidth kills it. GPU will be mostly idle waiting for memory access. The H200 has 4.8 TB/s bandwidth. System memory is below 90 GB/s

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

#958

Post by dekhn »

lysp wrote: post #912
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.

Not that I am aware of -- I specifically don't pay attention to their charging habits because they don't make sense to me.

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

#959

Post by kjkjadksj »

xcv123 wrote: post #339
kjkjadksj wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5k for a computer with 128gb doesn’t seem like a great deal. You can get that much ddr5 today for like $400 sometimes less than that on sale.

> You can get that much ddr5 today for like $400 Not comparable. M2 Ultra with 128GB RAM has 800 GB/s bandwidth. Maximum bandwidth for a DDR5 Intel 14900K system is 89.6 GB/s. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/236773/...

You can only get 2tb of storage max i believe, you are probably bottlenecked elsewhere if you are actually needing to move that much data that fast into memory in practice. I wonder what the temps would even be doing something that maxes that ram bandwidth

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

#960

Post by wubrr »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #839
wubrr wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> What 'innovation' has Apple introduced in the last 10 years other than their M chips? Most of their 'innovation' is just marketing for people who don't know what they're buying I mean, that’s massive innovation by itself…

And apparently the only thing you can point to...
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