MacBooks are just better. Even before apple silicon they had a distinct fit and finish advantage, but now with the M series chips they are just on a completely different level.
Hardware specs have gone up, prices have come down, competition prices have gone up, competition software has gone way down. The only way I’d recommend a laptop besides a Macbook is if you can find some nice second hand or refurbished laptops, preferably lightly used business class and/or from an auction. And even then, I’d only recommend it if they’re wanting to commit tk Linux and need a laptop specifically, or need a Windows only application. Vendors are really out here selling Windows laptops with 8 GB RAM, horrendous build quality, at damn near 1k. My work provided Windows machine is an i7 (2024 I think, maybe 2023) 32 GB RAM and sits at 16 GB RAM with my basic set of Office applications and browser tabs open. My work provided Mac has an M2 and 8 GB RAM, sits at a little under 7 GB RAM, and feels less laggy with the same programs and tabs open.
Desktops are a different story, though in specific use cases, Mac Studio/Mini/iMac are decent options too.
ever heard of Linux and Framework? arm is great for phones, doesn’t belong In a laptop…
M1(and successors) are amazing processors. but, being stuck into a ecosystem for one is not worth it. I for one cannot wait for full size RISCV CPU cores… honestly, the market desperately needs a shakeup from all of this “I didn’t have a choice, so I chose the most expensive thing that met my minimum specs” copium.
?? I’m not following. sure you can run arm based CPUs as a mobile device, but performance of large applications or x86 applications is poor.
there is also the addressable memory space issue that exists due to most arm core designs targeting phones… the bus is super limited, despite the architecture technically supporting much much more.
current RiscV cores suffer this same flaw as well.
the reason arm cores have better battery life is they are designed with phones in mind… not a desktop cpu. x86 mobile CPUs are cut down desktop CPUs with tdp restrictions. there is a massive difference as a result.
we are talking completely different design philosophies. it’s like comparing a ebike to a sports car… sure the ebike gets great energy economy when you scale the batteries. it’s half petal powered and has tiny draws on lightweight frame. it’s apples to oranges.
motorcycles would be more apt, but for arm, none really exist outside of obscenely priced workstations.
Lol definitely not a bot. I’ve always been more of an Apple hater due to the ecosystem and business practices, but they’ve turned it around a lot in the 2020s. They’re still a trillion dollar company and not to be trusted, but yeah, they make great laptops.
I main Linux on my desktop and old laptops, like I mentioned. You can say ARM doesn’t belongin laptops but Apple has proven that’s not true. They outperform just about any chip, with battery life efficiency that is not even approachable by any other laptop chips. That’s just the facts. You can spend 3k for a laptop chip that is as good in performance as an M5 (which costs 1k), or you can get a Snapdragon chip that is almost as good as an M5 for efficiency, for over 1k. But not both. That’s where we’re at. Intel especially is asleep at the wheel. At least AMD is making good desktop CPUs still.
I’m also excited for RISC V, I’m considering getting one on an SBC to make a CyberDeck out of. It’s not come as far as ARM yet but it’s promising and we need an open standard.
Have to agree. I used to write their laptops off as a joke before 2020 due to them having the worst feeling/least reliable keyboard and having overheating issues, however they addressed every issue I had with their laptops when they debuted the M1 models. This seriously made me change my opinion of Apple overall and even the new MacBook Neo is impressive for the price too.
MacBooks are just better. Even before apple silicon they had a distinct fit and finish advantage, but now with the M series chips they are just on a completely different level.
Hardware specs have gone up, prices have come down, competition prices have gone up, competition software has gone way down. The only way I’d recommend a laptop besides a Macbook is if you can find some nice second hand or refurbished laptops, preferably lightly used business class and/or from an auction. And even then, I’d only recommend it if they’re wanting to commit tk Linux and need a laptop specifically, or need a Windows only application. Vendors are really out here selling Windows laptops with 8 GB RAM, horrendous build quality, at damn near 1k. My work provided Windows machine is an i7 (2024 I think, maybe 2023) 32 GB RAM and sits at 16 GB RAM with my basic set of Office applications and browser tabs open. My work provided Mac has an M2 and 8 GB RAM, sits at a little under 7 GB RAM, and feels less laggy with the same programs and tabs open.
Desktops are a different story, though in specific use cases, Mac Studio/Mini/iMac are decent options too.
easy to find the bots in this thread.
ever heard of Linux and Framework? arm is great for phones, doesn’t belong In a laptop…
M1(and successors) are amazing processors. but, being stuck into a ecosystem for one is not worth it. I for one cannot wait for full size RISCV CPU cores… honestly, the market desperately needs a shakeup from all of this “I didn’t have a choice, so I chose the most expensive thing that met my minimum specs” copium.
https://system76.com/desktops/thelio-astra-a1.1-n1/configure
Seems to work fine outside the Apple ecosystem.
?? I’m not following. sure you can run arm based CPUs as a mobile device, but performance of large applications or x86 applications is poor.
there is also the addressable memory space issue that exists due to most arm core designs targeting phones… the bus is super limited, despite the architecture technically supporting much much more.
current RiscV cores suffer this same flaw as well.
the reason arm cores have better battery life is they are designed with phones in mind… not a desktop cpu. x86 mobile CPUs are cut down desktop CPUs with tdp restrictions. there is a massive difference as a result.
we are talking completely different design philosophies. it’s like comparing a ebike to a sports car… sure the ebike gets great energy economy when you scale the batteries. it’s half petal powered and has tiny draws on lightweight frame. it’s apples to oranges.
motorcycles would be more apt, but for arm, none really exist outside of obscenely priced workstations.
Did you actually look at the link?
There’s nothing mobile about that computer, it’s cool to not like arm but Apple isn’t the only company selling it.
Lol definitely not a bot. I’ve always been more of an Apple hater due to the ecosystem and business practices, but they’ve turned it around a lot in the 2020s. They’re still a trillion dollar company and not to be trusted, but yeah, they make great laptops.
I main Linux on my desktop and old laptops, like I mentioned. You can say ARM doesn’t belongin laptops but Apple has proven that’s not true. They outperform just about any chip, with battery life efficiency that is not even approachable by any other laptop chips. That’s just the facts. You can spend 3k for a laptop chip that is as good in performance as an M5 (which costs 1k), or you can get a Snapdragon chip that is almost as good as an M5 for efficiency, for over 1k. But not both. That’s where we’re at. Intel especially is asleep at the wheel. At least AMD is making good desktop CPUs still.
I’m also excited for RISC V, I’m considering getting one on an SBC to make a CyberDeck out of. It’s not come as far as ARM yet but it’s promising and we need an open standard.
Have to agree. I used to write their laptops off as a joke before 2020 due to them having the worst feeling/least reliable keyboard and having overheating issues, however they addressed every issue I had with their laptops when they debuted the M1 models. This seriously made me change my opinion of Apple overall and even the new MacBook Neo is impressive for the price too.