Are you open to other brands than Apple?
It seems that nothing comes close to Apples M4/M5 chips?
1 Like
The new Intel Panther Lake processors looks interesting. But you will have to adapt to a different OS.
I like the Apple hardware, but hate MacOS. I bought an MBA but sold it again within a week. A while later, I tried again with a Mac Mini, but again sent it back.
I even prefer windows to MacOS and manage to use both Windows and Linux and switch between the two (I use Windows for work).
3 Likes
Nice to see that Intel is catching up with Apples 2020 notebooks 
@PhilMongoose I used to love Windows but was forced to upgrade to Windows 11. Which is driving me nuts sometimes. It’s just a bad OS in general in my opinion and I only use it because I’m used to it + gaming of course.
1 Like
The problem I had with MacOS is that I didn’t like the defaults and it was not possible to customize it.
I manage to customize both windows and linux to work how I want and so can seamlessly move between them as all my keyboard shortcuts are the same etc.
I also know the feeling. I stuck with windows XP for a loooong time before moving to windows 7. Latest versions of windows are really trash.
For games, I now only buy ones that work on Linux. Valve/Steam is doing a good job which will help make more and more games work on Linux.
3 Likes
Idk what you’re optimizing for when your usage sais you could buy a 20 yo, midrange at the time, laptop with an internet connection and it would work fine…
1 Like
Weight - or rather lightweightness - has always been underestimated and underappreciated by consumers.
That on the other hand, I believe, has always been exaggerated.
Granted, given that you’re a gamer, you may be more sensitive to refresh rates, and you’re sitting closer to that screen than to your TV. That said, television and movies work at much lower refresh rates, and it’s OK (if not imperceptible) to the average consumer.
For your use case, I don’t really see it matter.
once you are used to high resolution, high frame rate monitors, it is a horrible experience to use “normal” ones. at work i can’t use any of the monitors provided by my company because they are so much worse than my MacBook pro one
For me this discussion is typical. The original idea was to buy a tool to cover some basic use cases. Usecases which could also be covered by a smartphone or a tablet:
but the discussion is bot about which tool would cover @Cortana needs. It is a discussion which tool is better, in a technical perspective. Clearly the Pro offers some perks, great laptop. But browsing, some spreadsheets, using your private cloud infrastructure etc is a job which can be done by the cheaper MBA. And lets be honest: for use on the couch, in the train it doesent matter on which side the usb c ports are. its not the same as you have a fix installation on your desk.
Pls dont get me wrong, I personally would find me sometimes in the exact same situation when buying a new tool or sports gear. I dont judge anybody but me personally it helps sometimes to make me aware of this. And it is something I observe often here in switzerland. A tendency not to buy the product that covers our needs best, but the product which is best (judged not on the scale of our needs, but at technical specifications).
@cortana if I would choose a apple product for the use between train and couch, i would go for the air. It covers your needs probably for many years. its light and slim. that helps not only when putting it in the backpack but also when using it in the train. Also if you take it with you always you will have more mechanical damage to the laptop, another reason to buy the cheaper product.
I would like to recommend to write down again the intended use cases. Maybe to a short Nutzwert analysis to decide which product covers your needs best.
Anyway, I am sure you will enjoy your new laptop, because both are great.
8 Likes
You‘re completely right and thanks for pointing that out. A MacBook Air for 1-1.2k should cover all my needs and spending 1.7-2.0k on a Pro would be unnecessary if I‘m being honest. Maybe I got carried away and just wanted a new toy to play around lol.
I‘ll be on vacation till end of March anyway. So enough time to think it over and also wait for the Macbook Air M5 to probably release next month.
2 Likes
2 Likes
Again, cloud storage is great, I love it and use it. Still, you need continuous internet access. If you’re on the train between Landquart and Davos, there are moments with no internet access. If you are in the middle of a workflow, no internet might ruin your whole workflow. To mitigate, you can choose to cache your data locally and have it (continuously) synchronize with the cloud. This very convenient solution, however, increases your storage needs.
1 Like
@JEPG
1.5 weeks vacation, 1.5 weeks working, 3 weeks vacation and suddenly it‘s April lol.
@gaijin
All of my data is on my NAS (10Gbits connection) but yeah, internet might not be available everywhere.
not strictly related but questions about value for money remind me of something my friend once said regarding whether to get a mid range phone or high end one
“I spend more time looking at my phone than I spend talking to any of my friends or family. Of course i should spend 500 bucks more to get the best one”
5 Likes
Or spend less time on the phone!
4 Likes
Steam Deck and now Steam machine is the answer.
Admittedly the Steam Machine is VERY tempting, I will need to take a good look. Oh and my wife said “only reason I am tolerating this thing is because it’s black on black (our TV stand/furniture is black, as is the PS4), if it was another colour you’d need to find a way that I don’t see it” (PS5 is bright white - Steam Machine is black).
I have a MacBook Air M3 16GB Ram 512 GB SSD, and use it for work and personal stuff. I have never had any problems with the performance, and I even run a Linux VM inside of it for programming (I’m coming from Linux). So, to be honest, if you’re not a power user, a MacBook Air is more than enough.
Currently, an M4/16GB/512GB costs about CHF 1000, which is crazy if I think about it.
1 Like
Yeah it‘s pretty cheap for what it‘s worth.