5 ms·

The M1 MacBook Air: Perfection

31 points by herbertl 6y ago

Hokusai 6y ago
Tldr; the guy has purchased a new computer, it is better than his previous one.
- globalguy 6y ago
  Good one!
prvc 6y ago
"Buying it twice" doesn't mean what he intends it to, considering he always had the intention of returning one.
phren0logy 6y ago
With the ability to run iOS apps, the lack of a touch screen leaves me scratching my head. The only reason I have resisted buying one is that the lack of a touch screen is, in my view, going to make it feel like I missed the boat once that's inevitably added.
- tstrimple 6y ago
  I'm tired of paying for touch screens and then never using them. Most screen resolution upgrades come bundled with a touchscreen but I hate smudges on my screen. That people willingly to that to themselves on a regular basis is baffling to me. Especially because you've got to move your arm further to touch the screen than to touch the trackpad. It's just less efficient for most computer interactions.
  - dogma1138 6y ago
    What annoys me the most is the fact that it moves your screen. I don’t understand why Apple didn’t just put a sensor like FaceID in the Macs and went for motion tracking for hand gestures or just turned the entire trackpad which is already capacitive into a touch screen like interface. Touches are easily emulated with mouse clicks the rest of the gestures are also simple enough for a trackpad. Heck from my limited experience with the M1 it seems that swipes work like they should in normal apps but not so much in iOS apps which left me scratching my head as to why.
- DiederikvandenB 6y ago
  I would assume it’s only a matter of time now before touchscreens are added to MacBooks.
- bstar77 6y ago
  Problem is that many, if not most, iOS apps would have a terrible user experience with a laptop touch screen. Most apps have swipes that assume a phone or tablet form factor and virtually all games expect you to use your thumbs. The better play is to have iOS developers update their apps to better work on a laptop. I don’t see how a touch screen will improve this.
  - phren0logy 6y ago
    I don't really want to run iOS stuff on my laptop, but I'm sure there are times it would come in handy. They would be terrible, but functional. They would be terrible, but functional.
    - bstar77 6y ago
      They would only be terrible if they are not properly updated for a laptop experience. The Overcast podcast player is a good example of an iOS app that works great as a Mac app too.
- Deinos 6y ago
  It just feels like stubbornness to me at this point. I don't think there would be enough overlap that adding touch to the mac would reduce tablet sales... totally different experiences in a lot of ways. I've had touch on my last 2 Thinkpads and find that I utilize it quite a bit. I haven't noticed a ton of fingerprints, but I also take care of my equipment (probably a little more fastidiously than most...). Having the ability to do a little pen work in certain apps has been clutch, and if I wanted to utilize the pen or touch more... I would get a more dedicated device(e.g. Thinkpad Yoga or Surface Pro). Feel like this would be similar workflow in the Apple world... Macbook with some helpful touch... iPad when you need to focus on touch...
  - coldtea 6y ago
    >It just feels like stubbornness to me at this point. I don't think there would be enough overlap that adding touch to the mac would reduce tablet sales... totally different experiences in a lot of ways. Apple cannibalizes its own products all the time, it's not about reducing tablet sales. It's probably more about not really making sense (at least, them thinking that), even where it is available (on Windows laptops). It might be added at some point, but not because its actually useful, but after they have exhausted more useful differentiating factors to add to newer models.
- 495636483 6y ago
  Let's be entirely honest, also: A perfect "laptop" would be a convertible, or tablet + X. The Air is not missing touch; the iPad is missing a full-access operating system. IMO, there is nothing a laptop has, a tablet couldn't. Just make it a tiny bit thicker, or add a detachable module for extra battery and ports and storage or whatever. Why is it better? Most importantly, the ergonomic constraints of a laptop make it totally unfit for a device our lives grow around. It's a legacy, not necessity, now, as we got the power. With a tablet you can have an optional "iMac" setup with a minimalistic stand and free keyboard/touchpad. Most of the time a laptop doesn't actually sit on a lap, so there is no need to ruin your back over the form factor. Then there is pen input, which I became insanely dependant on. Hand written notes and little drawings are now essential for helping me to think and work. Visualizing an algorithm to understand it? Yeah like on paper, but add undo, copy/paste and move to it. Sign papers you got sent by mail and send them right back. Screenshot, annotate, process like a human. Imagine poking into e.g. assembly, but being able to draw on the code, highlight, look up... Really, how much "arkane" ASCII habits have we come up with, because we cannot easily fuse digital and AFK note taking? How often have you been _describing something, because you couldn't just draw an arrow right across the text, code, diagram and so on, to reference your note? It's crippling to our mind! There is no fucking reason to have laptop and tablet as distinct atomic units. The constraints are entirely artificial to sell us both, at this point. If you sometimes need much more processing power, there should be an optional compute module, but really that's not an argument for the Air anyway. You've been denied an _ergonomic, yet extremely mobile work environment, because people want to sell you both. There is no other reason. (Also Linux please)
  - chronolitus 6y ago
    Your description sounds close to the Surface Book. I'm suprised Apple hasn't come up with a contender. I guess the market for that kind of device is just not big enough for them?
    - dillera 6y ago
      I have a surfaceBook- I never take off the keyboard. I would never use a touch-screen on a laptop as finger marks on the screen are not optimal for working.
- coldtea 6y ago
  Have you ever used a laptop with a touch screen for any reasonable time? Did you really use the touch for more than a few minutes as a novelty? I'm not talking of laptops with detachable screens here (there it does make sense).
- mjhagen 6y ago
  Touch targets are way too small, especially if you run your screen at a higher resolution.
ape4 6y ago
A perfect laptop would also be waterproof, user upgradable hardware (eg add more memory), user serviceable, hardware buttons for camera & bluetooth, more travel for keyboard (I know that's hard when its thin but I can ask).
- robert_foss 6y ago
  Run your OS of choice
  - mhh__ 6y ago
    Can't be doing that now!
    - dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
      https://www.techradar.com/news/you-can-now-run-linux-and-windows-on-the-m1-macs https://www.techradar.com/news/you-can-now-run-linux-and-win...
      - mhh__ 6y ago
        "Near native performance" i.e. not native
        coldtea 6y ago
        Yeah, so? Native performance doesn't mean anything aside from the same program/OS running on the same system. In other words, "native performance" is the baseline for a relative speed comparison, not some absolute value that makes sense in itself. Thus, "Near native" on the M1 could be faster than native on an Intel machine. Or on an ARM, for that matter: https://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple-m1-runs-windows-faster-3798990/#:~:text=Apple's%20new%20M1%20processor%20can,Microsoft's%20Surface%20Pro%20X%20series.&text=When%20running%20the%20ARM%20version,multi%2Dcore%20rating%20of%204%2C769 https://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple-m1-runs-windows-faster....
r00fus 6y ago
It’s so popular it seems out of stock everywhere in the Bay Area. Mail order places are in back order. I suspect a really good Mac quarter for Apple.
waterfowl 6y ago
I just ordered one of these for my bad at computers dad yesterday - having to wait longer for the 16gb upgrade but consider it 10 year proofing. This article makes me want to buy one for myself(but I have several serviceable older MBPs already).
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
almostdvs 6y ago
Only supports 1 external display. This is holding it back from my org
- ckluis 6y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq_FyjcAULA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq_FyjcAULA
jnsie 6y ago
Is there a restocking fee? If I'm reading this correctly he buys multiple laptops, uses them, then returns the one he no longer wants?!?
- berberous 6y ago
  Apple typically has a very generous 14 day return period with no restocking fee. Currently, it’s even longer as they have a extended holiday return window.
  - jnsie 6y ago
    Probably a really silly question: but can they sell the product as new thereafter?
    - ncw96 6y ago
      No, a lot of these returned devices end up in Apple’s refurbished store, or are used as replacement devices for warranty claims.
    - johndoe0815 6y ago
      The probably don't - https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished
detritus 6y ago
I know we don't like 'Reddit-esque' pointless posts like the one I'm about to make, but I really enjoyed the author's use of 'hyperbolic chamber'. Bravo! - ed. and it didn't deserve the preëmptive footnote disclaimer
rmtech 6y ago
It's still a highly user-hostile Apple. Though you can tell this review was written by a true iSheep from the part where s/he talks about the dictation key. "Apple thinks I should use that functionality more, so I will!"
- barnaclejive 6y ago
  Actual quote is "Apple wants us to use that feature more. And they should, it’s good!"
mcv 6y ago
I love the idea of the M1 and think it would be great to leave the hot Intel + separate GPU architecture for a smaller, cooler and faster RISC architecture, but Apple seems to have taken this as an opportunity to lock down even more. That's no good to me.

31 points by herbertl 6y ago

Hokusai 6y ago

Tldr; the guy has purchased a new computer, it is better than his previous one.

globalguy 6y ago
Good one!

prvc 6y ago

"Buying it twice" doesn't mean what he intends it to, considering he always had the intention of returning one.

phren0logy 6y ago

With the ability to run iOS apps, the lack of a touch screen leaves me scratching my head. The only reason I have resisted buying one is that the lack of a touch screen is, in my view, going to make it feel like I missed the boat once that's inevitably added.

tstrimple 6y ago
I'm tired of paying for touch screens and then never using them. Most screen resolution upgrades come bundled with a touchscreen but I hate smudges on my screen. That people willingly to that to themselves on a regular basis is baffling to me. Especially because you've got to move your arm further to touch the screen than to touch the trackpad. It's just less efficient for most computer interactions.
- dogma1138 6y ago
  What annoys me the most is the fact that it moves your screen. I don’t understand why Apple didn’t just put a sensor like FaceID in the Macs and went for motion tracking for hand gestures or just turned the entire trackpad which is already capacitive into a touch screen like interface. Touches are easily emulated with mouse clicks the rest of the gestures are also simple enough for a trackpad. Heck from my limited experience with the M1 it seems that swipes work like they should in normal apps but not so much in iOS apps which left me scratching my head as to why.
DiederikvandenB 6y ago
I would assume it’s only a matter of time now before touchscreens are added to MacBooks.
bstar77 6y ago
Problem is that many, if not most, iOS apps would have a terrible user experience with a laptop touch screen. Most apps have swipes that assume a phone or tablet form factor and virtually all games expect you to use your thumbs. The better play is to have iOS developers update their apps to better work on a laptop. I don’t see how a touch screen will improve this.
- phren0logy 6y ago
  I don't really want to run iOS stuff on my laptop, but I'm sure there are times it would come in handy. They would be terrible, but functional. They would be terrible, but functional.
  - bstar77 6y ago
    They would only be terrible if they are not properly updated for a laptop experience. The Overcast podcast player is a good example of an iOS app that works great as a Mac app too.
Deinos 6y ago
It just feels like stubbornness to me at this point. I don't think there would be enough overlap that adding touch to the mac would reduce tablet sales... totally different experiences in a lot of ways. I've had touch on my last 2 Thinkpads and find that I utilize it quite a bit. I haven't noticed a ton of fingerprints, but I also take care of my equipment (probably a little more fastidiously than most...). Having the ability to do a little pen work in certain apps has been clutch, and if I wanted to utilize the pen or touch more... I would get a more dedicated device(e.g. Thinkpad Yoga or Surface Pro). Feel like this would be similar workflow in the Apple world... Macbook with some helpful touch... iPad when you need to focus on touch...
- coldtea 6y ago
  >It just feels like stubbornness to me at this point. I don't think there would be enough overlap that adding touch to the mac would reduce tablet sales... totally different experiences in a lot of ways. Apple cannibalizes its own products all the time, it's not about reducing tablet sales. It's probably more about not really making sense (at least, them thinking that), even where it is available (on Windows laptops). It might be added at some point, but not because its actually useful, but after they have exhausted more useful differentiating factors to add to newer models.
495636483 6y ago
Let's be entirely honest, also: A perfect "laptop" would be a convertible, or tablet + X. The Air is not missing touch; the iPad is missing a full-access operating system. IMO, there is nothing a laptop has, a tablet couldn't. Just make it a tiny bit thicker, or add a detachable module for extra battery and ports and storage or whatever. Why is it better? Most importantly, the ergonomic constraints of a laptop make it totally unfit for a device our lives grow around. It's a legacy, not necessity, now, as we got the power. With a tablet you can have an optional "iMac" setup with a minimalistic stand and free keyboard/touchpad. Most of the time a laptop doesn't actually sit on a lap, so there is no need to ruin your back over the form factor. Then there is pen input, which I became insanely dependant on. Hand written notes and little drawings are now essential for helping me to think and work. Visualizing an algorithm to understand it? Yeah like on paper, but add undo, copy/paste and move to it. Sign papers you got sent by mail and send them right back. Screenshot, annotate, process like a human. Imagine poking into e.g. assembly, but being able to draw on the code, highlight, look up... Really, how much "arkane" ASCII habits have we come up with, because we cannot easily fuse digital and AFK note taking? How often have you been _describing something, because you couldn't just draw an arrow right across the text, code, diagram and so on, to reference your note? It's crippling to our mind! There is no fucking reason to have laptop and tablet as distinct atomic units. The constraints are entirely artificial to sell us both, at this point. If you sometimes need much more processing power, there should be an optional compute module, but really that's not an argument for the Air anyway. You've been denied an _ergonomic, yet extremely mobile work environment, because people want to sell you both. There is no other reason. (Also Linux please)
- chronolitus 6y ago
  Your description sounds close to the Surface Book. I'm suprised Apple hasn't come up with a contender. I guess the market for that kind of device is just not big enough for them?
  - dillera 6y ago
    I have a surfaceBook- I never take off the keyboard. I would never use a touch-screen on a laptop as finger marks on the screen are not optimal for working.
coldtea 6y ago
Have you ever used a laptop with a touch screen for any reasonable time? Did you really use the touch for more than a few minutes as a novelty? I'm not talking of laptops with detachable screens here (there it does make sense).
mjhagen 6y ago
Touch targets are way too small, especially if you run your screen at a higher resolution.

ape4 6y ago

A perfect laptop would also be waterproof, user upgradable hardware (eg add more memory), user serviceable, hardware buttons for camera & bluetooth, more travel for keyboard (I know that's hard when its thin but I can ask).

robert_foss 6y ago
Run your OS of choice
- mhh__ 6y ago
  Can't be doing that now!
  - dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
    https://www.techradar.com/news/you-can-now-run-linux-and-windows-on-the-m1-macs https://www.techradar.com/news/you-can-now-run-linux-and-win...
    - mhh__ 6y ago
      "Near native performance" i.e. not native
      - coldtea 6y ago
        Yeah, so? Native performance doesn't mean anything aside from the same program/OS running on the same system. In other words, "native performance" is the baseline for a relative speed comparison, not some absolute value that makes sense in itself. Thus, "Near native" on the M1 could be faster than native on an Intel machine. Or on an ARM, for that matter: https://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple-m1-runs-windows-faster-3798990/#:~:text=Apple's%20new%20M1%20processor%20can,Microsoft's%20Surface%20Pro%20X%20series.&text=When%20running%20the%20ARM%20version,multi%2Dcore%20rating%20of%204%2C769 https://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple-m1-runs-windows-faster....

r00fus 6y ago

It’s so popular it seems out of stock everywhere in the Bay Area. Mail order places are in back order. I suspect a really good Mac quarter for Apple.

waterfowl 6y ago

I just ordered one of these for my bad at computers dad yesterday - having to wait longer for the 16gb upgrade but consider it 10 year proofing. This article makes me want to buy one for myself(but I have several serviceable older MBPs already).

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

almostdvs 6y ago

Only supports 1 external display. This is holding it back from my org

ckluis 6y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq_FyjcAULA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq_FyjcAULA

jnsie 6y ago

Is there a restocking fee? If I'm reading this correctly he buys multiple laptops, uses them, then returns the one he no longer wants?!?

berberous 6y ago
Apple typically has a very generous 14 day return period with no restocking fee. Currently, it’s even longer as they have a extended holiday return window.
- jnsie 6y ago
  Probably a really silly question: but can they sell the product as new thereafter?
  - ncw96 6y ago
    No, a lot of these returned devices end up in Apple’s refurbished store, or are used as replacement devices for warranty claims.
  - johndoe0815 6y ago
    The probably don't - https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished

detritus 6y ago

I know we don't like 'Reddit-esque' pointless posts like the one I'm about to make, but I really enjoyed the author's use of 'hyperbolic chamber'. Bravo! - ed. and it didn't deserve the preëmptive footnote disclaimer

rmtech 6y ago

It's still a highly user-hostile Apple. Though you can tell this review was written by a true iSheep from the part where s/he talks about the dictation key. "Apple thinks I should use that functionality more, so I will!"

barnaclejive 6y ago
Actual quote is "Apple wants us to use that feature more. And they should, it’s good!"

mcv 6y ago

I love the idea of the M1 and think it would be great to leave the hot Intel + separate GPU architecture for a smaller, cooler and faster RISC architecture, but Apple seems to have taken this as an opportunity to lock down even more. That's no good to me.