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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. Th

by jrib 6y ago

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.

skohan 6y ago
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.
webmobdev 6y ago
> 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).
- st1x7 6y ago
  > 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.
  - webmobdev 6y ago
    > 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.
    - dodobirdlord 6y ago
      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.
- niek_pas 6y ago
  Do you have sources to back up your claims of spyware?
  - webmobdev 6y ago
    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.)
drosan 6y ago
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 :)

by jrib 6y ago

skohan 6y ago

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.

webmobdev 6y ago

> 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).

st1x7 6y ago
> 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.
- webmobdev 6y ago
  > 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.
  - dodobirdlord 6y ago
    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.
niek_pas 6y ago
Do you have sources to back up your claims of spyware?
- webmobdev 6y ago
  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.)

drosan 6y ago

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 :)