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As someone who is comfortable with linux and macOS and also someone who used an M1 MBA here is my take because this article does not do justice to each of the p

As someone who is comfortable with linux and macOS and also someone who used an M1 MBA here is my take because this article does not do justice to each of the platform pros and cons: 1. The M1 Macs are amazing. If you are the kind of person who needs a GUI and involves lot of app related work go for it. (this person seems more interested in stuff like that so linux ain’t gonna cut it for him). The cons? A super restrictive platform (even more than it was under intel) and a very pricey hardware affair where getting anything fixed is hard. My speaker was faulty after my 2016 mbp already had a broken display thanks to apple. I hope new MBPs do a much better job at hardware after the keyboards that seem to be fixed now. 2. Linux can do everything almost that Windows / macOS can. But not necessarily better. In GUI it’s still a mess but wayland actually fixed tearing so I’m not sure what is the deal here. Overall I think you need to spend time with linux to become comfortable vs expecting a distro to solve all your requirements. If you really want the fine control go with Arch it’s usually good for cutting edge hardware.

minimaul 6y ago
for 1. The cons? A super restrictive platform (even more than it was under intel) You can still boot arbitrary unsigned OSes - Apple still allows this, but it is obviously going to take time for other OSes to grow support for apple's custom hardware. So it's still a computer you can control if you want. for 2., wayland is still a very rough experience imo (I periodically try it on an all-intel system, which ought to be a good target as everything is OSS supported, etc). Lot of apps still don't have native wayland backends (although this is improving!) and it seems generally less stable than boring old X11 for me.
- kaba0 6y ago
  What compositor did you try for wayland?
  - minimaul 6y ago
    Mostly kwin, but also sway a little. I understand that GNOME is a bit further along than either of these, though?
    - kaba0 6y ago
      Sway is quite ahead, but yeah, plasma is the least stable as of yet.
- tumblewit 6y ago
  True that its still new but with zero support from Apple this is going to require some serious reverse engineering to get anything useful especially with the GPU drivers.
Theodores 6y ago
I like where you are coming from, however I think we need to recognise that Windows and OSX are proprietary consumer operating systems whereas Linux is not. To take an automotive analogy, road cars and SUVs are designed for the rules of the road and they come with things like a warranty. Meanwhile race cars are different. You might have to put the engine in yourself and good luck with the warranty. Comparing the road car (SUV or truck) with the race car is not a fair comparison. The race car doesn't have the cup holders, sat nav, seats in the back, airbags, central door locking or tyres for the road. In everything that matters to most drivers the race car is just useless. But most drivers are not racing drivers, so what would they know.

minimaul 6y ago

for 1. The cons? A super restrictive platform (even more than it was under intel) You can still boot arbitrary unsigned OSes - Apple still allows this, but it is obviously going to take time for other OSes to grow support for apple's custom hardware. So it's still a computer you can control if you want. for 2., wayland is still a very rough experience imo (I periodically try it on an all-intel system, which ought to be a good target as everything is OSS supported, etc). Lot of apps still don't have native wayland backends (although this is improving!) and it seems generally less stable than boring old X11 for me.

kaba0 6y ago
What compositor did you try for wayland?
- minimaul 6y ago
  Mostly kwin, but also sway a little. I understand that GNOME is a bit further along than either of these, though?
  - kaba0 6y ago
    Sway is quite ahead, but yeah, plasma is the least stable as of yet.
tumblewit 6y ago
True that its still new but with zero support from Apple this is going to require some serious reverse engineering to get anything useful especially with the GPU drivers.

Theodores 6y ago

I like where you are coming from, however I think we need to recognise that Windows and OSX are proprietary consumer operating systems whereas Linux is not. To take an automotive analogy, road cars and SUVs are designed for the rules of the road and they come with things like a warranty. Meanwhile race cars are different. You might have to put the engine in yourself and good luck with the warranty. Comparing the road car (SUV or truck) with the race car is not a fair comparison. The race car doesn't have the cup holders, sat nav, seats in the back, airbags, central door locking or tyres for the road. In everything that matters to most drivers the race car is just useless. But most drivers are not racing drivers, so what would they know.