I'm still on the fence. I could use a new laptop but everything I've looked at doesn't live up to what I would hope for in terms of battery life and specs.
The M1 seems to fit the bill. But I'm hesitant to buy into something that I can't run linux on.
> The M1 seems to fit the bill. But I'm hesitant to buy into something that I can't run linux on.
Exactly. Apple is even introducing further restrictions on macOS, to turn it into a closed system like ios totally under Apple's control. (They've already crippled all application firewalls so that they cannot block any apple authorised software from accessing the internet, and they can even bypass VPNs, all in the marketing speak of "security" while the real reason is to better spy on its users).
> all in the marketing speak of "security" while the real reason is to better spy on its users
Not really. Apple's vice is the tendency to lock down their platforms too much and we're seeing this with the new laptops; their track record with regards to privacy is pretty good.
> their track record with regards to privacy is pretty good.
So was Google's. Till they decided to screw their users. Once bitten, twice shy.
If Apple was serious about user privacy, it wouldn't be crippling application firewall on the new macOS to allow Apple apps to bypass them, even if the user is explicitly blocking them. Nor would they be forcing us to create a unique id to track and record our every activity on their device (yes, they treat it as their device by giving you an illusion of ownership). Nor would they be crippling Safari to not allow you to block all coookies or cripple its extension apis that would have allowed better ad blockers and trackers to be developed. Nor would they be forcing us to use App stores, forcing themselves in between u users and developers to gauge us both of money, while also invading our privacy.
What are you referring to re: Google? Google has always been a data vacuum, but their privacy and transparency has been on a long upward trend and is currently the best it has ever been.
As I pointed out with the firewall / VPN changes, most of their recent actions are all directed at ensuring that only Apple gets to decide how you protect your data (and what you can protect). And these these major changes that take away control from the user also help Apple to harvest more and more user data. (Another similar change, that allowed Apple to spy on your internet browsing "anonymously", was made with Safari when it disabled the user options to control cookies and crippled ad and tracker blocker extensions.)
Yes this is a drawback for me as well. I have basically moved completely away from Windows toward Linux for my home media PC, and I have enjoyed it so much I would like to do the same on the laptop. I was seriously considering an XPS 13" before I bought an M1 air, but it just doesn't seem like any other laptops are quite there at the moment. It would be nice if AMD's next low-power line gets more adoption by laptop manufacturers.
Most of machines (a dozen or more) run gnu/linux for the longest time; not long ago the only deviations were lone openbsd box and the macbook pro I got issued at work (because of an ios apps development).
Apple Silicon was hyped and that hype was backed by some early benchmarks; I still was sceptical because it goes against all my Ryzen logic essentially :D
Got my hands on the Air M1 this week finally and this thing is absolutely impossible. Single-core math benchmarks (scimark4) are 10-15% faster than my trusty ryzen 3900X. Synthetic tests apart - C/C++ compilation is more than 2 (two!) times faster than macbook pro with 6core i7 CPU, that is a huge deal for me. All that with passive cooling!
On a different not another hyped thing that I really want (and waiting for) is a new Raspberry Pi 400 - it is a quite capable tiny computer embedded in a keyboard, those things are a piece of beauty I think :)
Yeah, it like someone went two years into the future and brought back this chip.
As a Chromebook fan (and I used one as my daily driver), it seems like Apple has out-Chromebooked all Chromebooks with the M1 MBA. Unless AMD or Qualcomm pulls a rabbit out of their collective hats in the next 6 months, the MBA will be my next laptop.
I have 3 chromebook bricked due to update issues. My 2009 imac is going strong and gut feeling says my 2020 MBA will definitely outlast 2023 chromebooks.
I’ve gone back and forth about the iPad, but now that I’m in a non-technical field, it’s on the tipping point of being my daily driver. When I’m with clients and can hold it in my hand to share info it feels like I’m living in the future.
Good point. As a technical professional I’ve always been on the fence about the iPad because of its limitations. I love the form factor and specs, but it just isn’t good enough for e.g. programming.
If I was mainly writing and doing some simple graphical work I’d ditch my other devices in a heartbeat.
Same. I guess the iPad Pro is interesting for artists, but I have owned a couple of iPads and it turns out I would much rather have a laptop and an e-reader.
Yeah it's actually pretty cool. I got an M1 air, even though I normally don't jump on 1st gen products, partly out of COVID boredom I suppose. I thought I would use it along side my 2017 15" MBP at least until things caught up on the software side, but I have barely touched the pro since I got it. The screen is smaller, and the speakers are not quite as good, but it's so snappy, light and quiet that it more than makes up for it.
There are still some rough edges: for serious development a lot of things are not quite there yet: e.g. last time I checked, there's no native release for NodeJS, and home-brew is still hit-or-miss. A lot of things work with Rosetta, but it surely takes more tweaking and trial and error to get things running than normal. But I've been programming mostly in Rust lately, and that works flawlessly on nightly, so I haven't really thought about compatibility since I was kicking the tires the second day I had it. YMMV depending on which tools you use.
All in all, I think this is the most I have really had fun using a laptop since I got my first MBA in 2012 or so. It was so light to travel with, and powerful enough for everything I needed, so it pretty quickly replaced my other laptop for pretty much everything.
But as more information has come out it seems like the hype has actually increased.