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> importantly desktop-comparable speed for even heavy tasks like photo/video editing are really, really good Because it has dedicated hardware to make photo &

> importantly desktop-comparable speed for even heavy tasks like photo/video editing are really, really good Because it has dedicated hardware to make photo & video editing good. Which is great, if that's your jam. It's dead silicon if it isn't, though. M1/M2 strike a great balance for performance & battery life, absolutely. But it's very narrow in what it can achieve desktop-comparable speeds on when it comes to heavy workloads, and other laptops are drastically faster at rather large areas of consumer computing like gaming. > Honestly unless you're required to run windows, it makes a macbook kind of a no brainer right now Or if you're just a casual / lite user but want something other than 13.3", which is the only size Apple offers an economical model. Or if you really like having a touch screen, which Apple refuses to do for some reason. That second point is basically the entire reason my SO is hunting for alternatives to the Air.

sovnade 4y ago
You're right..the lack of a touch screen is weird. I do use mine for dev work/etc though (M1) and it's completely fine, even with only 8gb. I've never had any slowdowns or felt like it was holding me back.
KptMarchewa 4y ago
>But it's very narrow in what it can achieve desktop-comparable speeds on when it comes to heavy workloads Very generally, Java is one of those things. CPU performance is really, really good for non-rosetta workloads. I agree though that despite Apple's wild claims the general GPU performance isn't that good - not that it's bad for very quiet laptop.
- kllrnohj 4y ago
  > Very generally, Java is one of those things. CPU performance is really, really good for non-rosetta workloads. Single-threaded (or "lightly threaded") absolutely. But if we're saying "desktop-comparable" and "heavy workloads" I'm gonna assume a multi-core workload and go throw things like the 5950X or 12900K into the ring at a minimum, and the 5995WX at the extreme. M1 ultra starts at $4k after all, it's absolutely fair to include Xeon-W & Threadripper Pros against that. M1's big cores punch above their weight, but they still can't make up that much of a core count deficit.

sovnade 4y ago

You're right..the lack of a touch screen is weird. I do use mine for dev work/etc though (M1) and it's completely fine, even with only 8gb. I've never had any slowdowns or felt like it was holding me back.

KptMarchewa 4y ago

>But it's very narrow in what it can achieve desktop-comparable speeds on when it comes to heavy workloads Very generally, Java is one of those things. CPU performance is really, really good for non-rosetta workloads. I agree though that despite Apple's wild claims the general GPU performance isn't that good - not that it's bad for very quiet laptop.

kllrnohj 4y ago
> Very generally, Java is one of those things. CPU performance is really, really good for non-rosetta workloads. Single-threaded (or "lightly threaded") absolutely. But if we're saying "desktop-comparable" and "heavy workloads" I'm gonna assume a multi-core workload and go throw things like the 5950X or 12900K into the ring at a minimum, and the 5995WX at the extreme. M1 ultra starts at $4k after all, it's absolutely fair to include Xeon-W & Threadripper Pros against that. M1's big cores punch above their weight, but they still can't make up that much of a core count deficit.