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Quote: "These machines are the first general purpose computers ever where you have to make an exclusive choice: you can have a fast and efficient machine, or yo

Quote: "These machines are the first general purpose computers ever where you have to make an exclusive choice: you can have a fast and efficient machine, or you can have a private one." I call BS on Apple having the fastest machine, even at current moment, not to mention in the future. I can make a gaming rig with latest Ryzen CPU that will run whatever I want and be both faster and cheaper than Apple's expensive crap.

alphabettsy 6y ago
How about efficient? A Mac Mini is extremely efficient.
- lostmsu 6y ago
  That whole thing is temporary until 2021 when other companies will get a chance to use 5nm fabs.
  - samatman 6y ago
    Don't count on it. Apple's mobile chips have been consistently the best in the business. When the A14 was released, the second fastest mobile chip you can buy became... the A13. Is this unsurmountable? Obviously not, it's excellent engineering, not a pact with the Devil. But you can't just hand-wave it away either, Apple's silicon is the one to beat, and they have a head start.
    - wayneftw 6y ago
      You can only run Apple’s awful software platforms on Apple Silicon so they’re only competing with themselves and for the few people who actually run macOS in the case of the new Macbooks. Even if the rest of the PC industry never goes to ARM, Apple’s market share won’t change more than one measly percent IMO.
    - lostmsu 6y ago
      Yes, but here we are essentially talking laptop chips, not phone chips.
  - sooheon 6y ago
    All things are temporary. If Apple is consistently ahead in efficiency at any given point in time that's what it means to be ahead.
- unnouinceput 6y ago
  I am most efficient at my desktop. The sheer screen estate allows me to organize my work better than on any laptop, Apple or not. I have 2 laptops, bought them to my kids for this times when online school is a must. I tried to do some work, didn't like the small screen.
  - lorenzhs 6y ago
    The Mac Mini is a desktop computer, it's just much smaller than your typical desktop tower. It doesn't have a screen or keyboard built-in. It's not a laptop. It's a box you connect your screen to. How is this relevant?
    - wayneftw 6y ago
      The Mac mini contains a laptop-grade CPU, RAM and mainboard that lacks expansion. The only thing that makes it not a laptop is the form-factor.
      - lorenzhs 6y ago
        The comment I was responding to was talking about screen size and only screen size. Your points may all be true (except that it has much more space for cooling than a laptop, which has significant effects on noise and sustained performance) but have no relation to the topic at hand.
  - rorykoehler 6y ago
    Mac mini is a desktop computer. Regardless we're talking about energy efficiency not productivity.
  - latexr 6y ago
    > I am most efficient at my desktop. It would be weird if the person you’re responding to were referring to personal efficiency—that depends on the person. They were likely referring to power efficiency.
sneak 6y ago
If you know of any other 8 core, 64 bit, 220+ ppi, >=13", 18 hour battery life machines with a great keyboard that weigh less than 1300g, please do let me know. Bonus points for metal enclosure. If you find such a beast, I will buy it instantly, and I will happily ignore the fact that the MBAir will still have a better trackpad and speakers. I am not looking to buy a "rig", but a laptop.
- socksy 6y ago
  Doesn't the Dell XPS meet those expectations? The 15" version can be specced to an 8 core i9 with around 290ppi and an 87Whr battery, and if you're happy with a 6 core i7 you can get a 13" with around 330ppi (same resolution), but with a 52Whr battery. I'm not sure what "18 hours" means, I am inherently skeptical of any "hour" claims of battery — obviously the less you demand of your machine the less battery it will take.
  - sneak 6y ago
    The 15" is ~700g heavier. The 13" has 2 fewer cores (as you noted), and a slower GPU. 330ppi does sound amazing, though. Apple's way out in front here, and they know it. That's why I wrote this article: because the choice is private xor fast. There's perhaps some good news, though: it may be possible to disable the signed system volume checks on the Apple Silicon macs, which would allow editing of the OS startup scripts/settings.
- robotmay 6y ago
  It's worth noting that Apple's "18 hour" battery life on the MBA is listed when watching something via the Apple TV app, presumably as they have various optimisations both in the OS for that and at a chip level. For regular desktop use it's 15 hours, which is about the same as other higher battery spec laptops.
alekq 6y ago
It is (too) expensive, but crap is certainly not.
Tepix 6y ago
You may find something that runs faster. But it will use a lot more power. These are Apple's low power offerings. There's more to come.
xvector 6y ago
> I can make a gaming rig with latest Ryzen CPU that will run whatever I want and be both faster and cheaper than Apple's expensive crap. No you can not. The M1 chip has the fastest single-core performance of any consumer chip available today, beating every chip in AMD’s brand-new Zen 3 lineup. You can get faster multi-core performance (5950X) but definitely not foe the same price as Apple’s new computers - not to mention the massive power draw and much worse thermals in comparison.

alphabettsy 6y ago

How about efficient? A Mac Mini is extremely efficient.

lostmsu 6y ago
That whole thing is temporary until 2021 when other companies will get a chance to use 5nm fabs.
- samatman 6y ago
  Don't count on it. Apple's mobile chips have been consistently the best in the business. When the A14 was released, the second fastest mobile chip you can buy became... the A13. Is this unsurmountable? Obviously not, it's excellent engineering, not a pact with the Devil. But you can't just hand-wave it away either, Apple's silicon is the one to beat, and they have a head start.
  - wayneftw 6y ago
    You can only run Apple’s awful software platforms on Apple Silicon so they’re only competing with themselves and for the few people who actually run macOS in the case of the new Macbooks. Even if the rest of the PC industry never goes to ARM, Apple’s market share won’t change more than one measly percent IMO.
  - lostmsu 6y ago
    Yes, but here we are essentially talking laptop chips, not phone chips.
- sooheon 6y ago
  All things are temporary. If Apple is consistently ahead in efficiency at any given point in time that's what it means to be ahead.
unnouinceput 6y ago
I am most efficient at my desktop. The sheer screen estate allows me to organize my work better than on any laptop, Apple or not. I have 2 laptops, bought them to my kids for this times when online school is a must. I tried to do some work, didn't like the small screen.
- lorenzhs 6y ago
  The Mac Mini is a desktop computer, it's just much smaller than your typical desktop tower. It doesn't have a screen or keyboard built-in. It's not a laptop. It's a box you connect your screen to. How is this relevant?
  - wayneftw 6y ago
    The Mac mini contains a laptop-grade CPU, RAM and mainboard that lacks expansion. The only thing that makes it not a laptop is the form-factor.
    - lorenzhs 6y ago
      The comment I was responding to was talking about screen size and only screen size. Your points may all be true (except that it has much more space for cooling than a laptop, which has significant effects on noise and sustained performance) but have no relation to the topic at hand.
- rorykoehler 6y ago
  Mac mini is a desktop computer. Regardless we're talking about energy efficiency not productivity.
- latexr 6y ago
  > I am most efficient at my desktop. It would be weird if the person you’re responding to were referring to personal efficiency—that depends on the person. They were likely referring to power efficiency.

sneak 6y ago

If you know of any other 8 core, 64 bit, 220+ ppi, >=13", 18 hour battery life machines with a great keyboard that weigh less than 1300g, please do let me know. Bonus points for metal enclosure. If you find such a beast, I will buy it instantly, and I will happily ignore the fact that the MBAir will still have a better trackpad and speakers. I am not looking to buy a "rig", but a laptop.

socksy 6y ago
Doesn't the Dell XPS meet those expectations? The 15" version can be specced to an 8 core i9 with around 290ppi and an 87Whr battery, and if you're happy with a 6 core i7 you can get a 13" with around 330ppi (same resolution), but with a 52Whr battery. I'm not sure what "18 hours" means, I am inherently skeptical of any "hour" claims of battery — obviously the less you demand of your machine the less battery it will take.
- sneak 6y ago
  The 15" is ~700g heavier. The 13" has 2 fewer cores (as you noted), and a slower GPU. 330ppi does sound amazing, though. Apple's way out in front here, and they know it. That's why I wrote this article: because the choice is private xor fast. There's perhaps some good news, though: it may be possible to disable the signed system volume checks on the Apple Silicon macs, which would allow editing of the OS startup scripts/settings.
robotmay 6y ago
It's worth noting that Apple's "18 hour" battery life on the MBA is listed when watching something via the Apple TV app, presumably as they have various optimisations both in the OS for that and at a chip level. For regular desktop use it's 15 hours, which is about the same as other higher battery spec laptops.

alekq 6y ago

It is (too) expensive, but crap is certainly not.

Tepix 6y ago

You may find something that runs faster. But it will use a lot more power. These are Apple's low power offerings. There's more to come.

xvector 6y ago

> I can make a gaming rig with latest Ryzen CPU that will run whatever I want and be both faster and cheaper than Apple's expensive crap. No you can not. The M1 chip has the fastest single-core performance of any consumer chip available today, beating every chip in AMD’s brand-new Zen 3 lineup. You can get faster multi-core performance (5950X) but definitely not foe the same price as Apple’s new computers - not to mention the massive power draw and much worse thermals in comparison.