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I've been on my M1 Air, 16GB, since a few weeks after launch, more than six years now. I still use it daily with lots of Docker containers, VS Code, tons of Ele
by epistasis 5mo ago
I've been on my M1 Air, 16GB, since a few weeks after launch, more than six years now. I still use it daily with lots of Docker containers, VS Code, tons of Electron apps, a small macOS arm VM, and lots of browser tabs simultaneously. Recently, Claude's VM environment is getting exercised simultaneously. Usually the memory pressure is into yellow, but responsiveness is still far higher than any Mac from the Intel days, and far more usable than any Windows laptop that I have the misfortune to experience when borrowing somebody else's computer. And despite all that memory pressure, my SSD isn't getting worn out by swapping, I'm at only "3%" of SSD wear, if those stats on the CLI are to be trusted.
I'm not sure I'll need another computer anytime soon. Even though the kids jumped on it once when I left it on the couch for a few minutes, bending the case on one side of the keyboard. It bent back mostly flat. Gives it a bit of personality.
Never before has $1099 (or whatever) of hardware gone so far for me.
- davnicwil 5mo agoa bit of an aside but what's amazing is that Docker's recent beta VM for Mac (I think released a couple of months ago now) has dramatically improved the performance you get out of your CPU. Using a macbook air, even a recent one, before this Docker was definitely usable but noticably slower. Probably still worth it but a noticable tradeoff using it as a dev machine Vs a pro. Now that tradeoff has basically gone away.
- wiseowise 5mo agoAnd you forgot the best part: it is completely silent.
- epistasis 5mo agoI did forget, because a silent laptop is now table stakes for me. I can't imagine buying anything with an audible fan again. I'd rather stay on the hardware I have.
- bee_rider 5mo agoI wouldn’t want a fan on a Windows laptop, for sure. On Linux they are fine as long as the lowest speed is “off,” since they’ll only kick on if you explicitly ask the computer to do something crunchy.
- teaearlgraycold 5mo agoI appreciate a light whoosh from a laptop.
- HerbManic 5mo agoI have no problem if it is the occasional spin up, but it is rare to have system that can do just that. My Thinkpads seem to only use the fan occasionally but then my work load is very light.
- overfeed 5mo agoNo fan = leaving performance on the table due to lacking thermal headroom.
- wiseowise 5mo agoIf I wanted maximum performance I would use a desktop.
- __patchbit__ 5mo agoWhen the M5 Mac Mini Pro 64GB RAM and more release, I'd like to seamlessly mesh the Neo to the Mini the way Plan 9 imagined. And, a payment would be all that you need to expand on the cloud. Happy to see Gerbil Scheme occupies 4GB RAM use on the Neo while building.
- kergonath 5mo agoSo what? The right amount of performance is what allows you to do what you have to do quickly enough. Anything beyond that is useless. It’s not like you have to use 100% of the theoretical performance of a computer all the time.
- refactor_master 5mo agoStill baffles the mind that Apple solved this issue some 20+ years ago, and others _still_ haven't. I remember being basically surrounded by jet engines running Word in school. A few years ago in an old job I got a monster-specced Dell laptop, and it would still roar if I opened anything. I had to pull all the nerf tricks through the BIOS to at least keep it somewhat tolerable in low-load scenarios (i.e. most of the workday).
- wqaatwt 5mo ago> Apple solved this issue some 20+ years ago All the i7/i9 Macbook pros that I used back in the day were obnoxiously load. Even when not under particularly heavy load.
- prawn 5mo agoEven a 2015 MacBook for me ran the fan hard almost constantly. First Apple silicon MacBook was silent. Now using an M1 Max MBP from 2021 and external hard drives are the thing making noise on my desk.
- heelix 5mo agoAgree. The i9 went full fans as soon as I fired up docker. The arm based macs are an entirely different beast.
- AnthonyMouse 5mo agoA fanless CPU needs more, lower-clocked cores to have the same multi-thread performance as an actively cooled CPU with fewer cores, and higher core count CPUs cost more. So you only get a fanless CPU if you either a) get a low multi-thread performance CPU or b) pay for a high-performance CPU and then get only medium performance out of it by running it fanless. Notice that even Apple's highest performance laptops have fans; fanless there isn't a thing. But Apple's fanless machines do b) and then they just charge you the premium. There are a few fanless PC laptops that do the same thing, but most people don't want that, because they'd rather save a significant amount of money by getting the same performance out of a less expensive CPU with a fan.
- tcoff91 5mo agoThe quiet isn’t even the best part of passive cooling. It’s that the cooling will never stop working due to dust clogging fans.
- stodor89 5mo agoEntry-spec M1 Air is the best computer ever made. I can't stand Apple, but it's the truth. I used one sporadically to build my stuff for Mac. Going back to my Windows workstation after that always felt like travelling 15 years back in time. I recommended M1 Air to everyone whose workflow was compatible with a Mac. Most of the people who acted on that recommendation still use it and don't really think about upgrading.
- nyantaro1 5mo agoI absolutely loved that m1 air, but one time there was a MacOS update, and it bricked. I discovered that another mac is required to recover my M1. As if I had another working mac laying around somewhere. I would love to go back to mac, but those things really scare me.
- abrowne 5mo agoIf a {Dell, HP, Lenovo} firmware update fails leaving the computer bricked, can you use another {Dell, HP, Lenovo} to restore the firmware? (Honest question: I'm a longtime Mac user, I use Macs at work and I can tell you the correct DFU port for each model. But my home computer for the last 6 years has been an HP EliteBook with Ubuntu.)
- stodor89 5mo ago[dead]
- paustint 5mo agoI had a ton of issues with my Macbook pro M1 16GB, memory pressure would be in the yellow always and into red frequently which caused sound stutter and all sorts of issues. My M1 air (I think 8GB?) had similar issues My M2 24gb was amazing - especially since it allowed dual monitors. I recently upgraded to the M4 32GB and it is my "do everything" computer and is absolutely awesome. My personal experience with the m-series is that get as memory as possible. I do feel the M1 had issues based on the couple I owned. EDIT: Even on 32GB my memory pressure is constantly in the yellow, but have not seen it go to red
- astrange 5mo agoMemory pressure sort-of means something sort-of doesn't. It's certainly possible that critical pressure could cause audio issues, but it could also be impossible to ever notice. More importantly you shouldn't be experiencing audio stalls, so complain in the feedback app if you do.
- 05 5mo agoThat sound bug being there for so long would be pretty embarrassing for Apple if they haven't lost the ability to get embarrassed about the shitshow that OS X... i mean, macOS has become a long time ago.. Low memory handling is better that what Linux does, we can all at least agree on that :)
- interludead 5mo agoMy concern with the Neo is that it may have the same "feels impossible for the price" quality early on, but the 8GB ceiling gives it much less room to become the kind of absurd long-lived machine your Air turned into
- invalidSyntax 5mo agoYou can't change the RAM, so using it as a student, and then use it as a reliable sub pc in the future might make it last long.
- ako 5mo agoSame with the iPad Air m1, handles everything you throw at it, does video editing, office, etc. Connected to an external display and keyboard feels like a full laptop, on the couch is the best consumption device. And with Claude it can handle your coding sessions.
- mghfreud 5mo agoHow do you use iPad for coding?
- robrain 5mo agoThere are terminal/ssh apps (a-shell, blink [shonky business model, sadly] etc) for remote coding, at least one git client (Working Copy), plenty of text editors. Remote makes it way more useful, but bashing out well-formatted code on the road is trivial in Textastic, for instance.
- PaulHoule 5mo agoFor years my favorite hackathon kit has been a tablet + cheap bluetooth mouse + cheap bluetooth keyboard. It could be an iPad or an Amazon Fire tablet so long as it can run an RDP client and I can log into my home computer or a big cloud machine.
- KronisLV 5mo agoI got the 8 GB version of the M1 Mac Book air for a freelance stuff where I had to ship stuff for iOS as well. Really wish I had gone for the 16 GB version, since I had no idea just how bad the memory situation would eventually get. That said, it’s at least a good little computer for me being on the move!