4 ms·

I think "commodity" laptop manufacturers have successfully tricked people into thinking a laptop is a collection of integers (16gb RAM, N core processor, etc) b

I think "commodity" laptop manufacturers have successfully tricked people into thinking a laptop is a collection of integers (16gb RAM, N core processor, etc) but I have NEVER used a laptop even close to as performant as the m1 and m1 ultra based macbook pros. You really have to experience it to believe it, it literally never lags no matter what or is ever unresponsive regardless of what i'm doing. Not to mention the full day battery life or anything else like that

notsound 4y ago
It's definitely more complicated than that for most components, but a 256GB SSD you can't upgrade yourself is ridiculous.
blagie 4y ago
I think the key problem is anchoring from low-end prices. If a laptop makes an employee 1% more efficient, that has returns of $2k/year to the employer for an employee whose cost is $200k/year. Note that cost >> salary, so this corresponds to perhaps a $100k salary. Reliability is king. A failed device will typically cost thousands of dollars in lost productivity, IT costs, etc. A device which fails at a critical moment can have almost arbitrary costs. From a business perspective, Apple, Latitude / Precision / XPS, and Thinkpads are usually the only devices which make sense. From a home perspective, there are plenty of $200 machines which get the job done. That's one of Apple's problems. Another one is that most businesses spent a lot on upgrades during COVID, and those machines are still within their lifecycle. As we're entering a predicted recession, delaying upgrades is the #1 thing to go. Layoffs also mean there's a glut of machines (there's a ton of nice off-lease stuff on refurbished web sites right now at bottom-barrel prices; I saw a Precision laptop with 64GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Xeon, and NVidia Tesla for under $500 a few weeks back).
rwalle 4y ago
16GB is objectively better than 8GB in every way even if you compare across platforms, so yes it is correctly a numbers game
- DrBenCarson 4y ago
  16>8 but how you use 16 vs 8 also matters a lot (I.e., the OS)
- aembleton 4y ago
  Doesn't the clockspeed of the RAM and the distance to the CPU matter?
Vogtinator 4y ago
> it literally never lags no matter what or is ever unresponsive regardless of what i'm doing That's more the OS scheduling and userspace software than actual hardware. I don't experience any lag even on my father's 10yr old laptop.
sudosysgen 4y ago
The only difference is that the MacBook Pro has a higher refresh rate and a good SSD. Having used both I assure you a modern "N core" processor with 16gb of RAM, a fast NVMe SSD and a high refresh rate screen feels just as responsive as the latest MacBook Pro.

notsound 4y ago

It's definitely more complicated than that for most components, but a 256GB SSD you can't upgrade yourself is ridiculous.

blagie 4y ago

I think the key problem is anchoring from low-end prices. If a laptop makes an employee 1% more efficient, that has returns of $2k/year to the employer for an employee whose cost is $200k/year. Note that cost >> salary, so this corresponds to perhaps a $100k salary. Reliability is king. A failed device will typically cost thousands of dollars in lost productivity, IT costs, etc. A device which fails at a critical moment can have almost arbitrary costs. From a business perspective, Apple, Latitude / Precision / XPS, and Thinkpads are usually the only devices which make sense. From a home perspective, there are plenty of $200 machines which get the job done. That's one of Apple's problems. Another one is that most businesses spent a lot on upgrades during COVID, and those machines are still within their lifecycle. As we're entering a predicted recession, delaying upgrades is the #1 thing to go. Layoffs also mean there's a glut of machines (there's a ton of nice off-lease stuff on refurbished web sites right now at bottom-barrel prices; I saw a Precision laptop with 64GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Xeon, and NVidia Tesla for under $500 a few weeks back).

rwalle 4y ago

16GB is objectively better than 8GB in every way even if you compare across platforms, so yes it is correctly a numbers game

DrBenCarson 4y ago
16>8 but how you use 16 vs 8 also matters a lot (I.e., the OS)
aembleton 4y ago
Doesn't the clockspeed of the RAM and the distance to the CPU matter?

Vogtinator 4y ago

> it literally never lags no matter what or is ever unresponsive regardless of what i'm doing That's more the OS scheduling and userspace software than actual hardware. I don't experience any lag even on my father's 10yr old laptop.

sudosysgen 4y ago

The only difference is that the MacBook Pro has a higher refresh rate and a good SSD. Having used both I assure you a modern "N core" processor with 16gb of RAM, a fast NVMe SSD and a high refresh rate screen feels just as responsive as the latest MacBook Pro.