> I want to believe.
If we can end up with superfast, supercool ARM-based Linux laptops, that'd be a huge deal :)
If we can end up with superfast, supercool ARM-based Linux laptops, that'd be a huge deal :)
I have wanted a powerful "enough" fanless laptop for many years. I got excited about 4 years ago with Intel's short-lived M line and I bought an Asus ux305. It served me well for front end web dev (had to use a cooler stand under sustained high load though). Great Linux support and battery life (after installing tlp). I remember feeling a bit of awe that it was reasonably snappy with no fan, but it was not quite there. I can only imagine the feeling is an order of magnitude greater with the M1.
I don't own any Apple products, but I still hope that raising the bar will benefit me later on. I'll be pretty pumped when this level of hardware can run a mainline kernel.
This actually worries me.
Lately, anytime I look outside the Apple ecosystem, I wonder to myself what all these companies are doing... sure, I could see AMD closing the gap, but Apple's made additional choices for integration beyond what AMD would do alone.
I guess my summary would be: other companies trying to "match" Apple hasn't really gone well in the past decade, short of a few select standouts.
My main use machine now and for last couple years has been a Google Pixelbook. Lightweight (2.4 lbs) and fanless, solid 8+ hours on a charge, great for general use on chromeos, okay for Linux with built-in Crostini container.
I've had an iPad, but have never had any other Apple product. I've been pretty much anti-Apple since 1979, when as a 15-year-old I bought a Radio Shack TRS-80 over the much more expensive and glitzier Apple IIe.
I now have a Macbook Air M1 on order. We'll see how it goes. I'm sensitive to weight, prefer very light laptops. At 2.9 lbs it will be a noticeable step back from the ux305 (2.6 lbs) and Pixelbook (2.4 lbs). If I end up not bonding with the Macbook I plan to sell it; Apple's generally high resale value is a factor in giving the M1 a try.
While I dislike apple and have never owned any of their devices I can't help but feel thankful to them because now that we know this is possible soon others will re-create their success and we will hopefully have the same perks on a more open platform
ARM based Linux server CPUs? Very likely. Low end/ Chromebook style laptop ARM CPUs, Already exist.
Performant ARM CPUs designed for laptops? I expect you just gotta hope Windows on ARM takes off or start porting Linux to M1 Macs.
https://www.techradar.com/news/you-can-now-run-linux-and-win...
What makes you think Windows won't take off on ARM?
In any case, if it can be done -- i.e. if there aren't locked down specs -- you can bet Linux will be ported to M1 Macs.
I have no idea if it will or not. Microsoft's current strategy on ARM seems pretty unlikely to succeed though.
> In any case, if it can be done -- i.e. if there aren't locked down specs -- you can bet Linux will be ported to M1 Macs.
I'm confident (and hopeful) we will see an M series Linux port. How good it will be without support from Apple is questionable. The current state of Linux on Mac doesn't exactly inspire hope.
I'm not familiar with Microsoft's current ARM strategy, but they can always pivot of it turns out it's really the future. I must reluctantly admit Microsoft has been capable of some pretty surprising and welcome changes in its history.
but growing more today than it was a few years ago because of the prevalence of Chromebooks in education. Many of which run ARM CPUs!
I also wonder about the driver situation. Intel hardware has excellent support on Linux, everything works out of the box. Apple probably has zero interest in contributing drivers to the Linux kernel.
I can dream of an even better one, though!
Apple showed Debian running in a VM on an M1 prototype Mac nearly 6 months ago.
I get that it won't be acceptable for some Linux diehards but the superfast, supercool ARM laptop running Linux will soon be an M1 MacBook Pro.
...except I cannot afford a macbook. The one I'm using now was paid for by my employer.
More generally, I'd love to see fast ARM platforms not built by Apple.
And even the build quality... a friend who's an Apple fan used to tell me "they are better quality, they have less problems" yet his macbooks seem to break down at about the same rate as my Dell, HP or Lenovo laptops, so...
I've decided macbooks look good, have good quality screens and the best touchpads. I'm unwilling to pay a premium for that, and I don't even like OS X/macOS...
> I'm afraid that when/if fast ARM alternatives arrive, they will probably cost 80-100 % of what the MacBooks cost.
Possibly! I wouldn't buy them when they are the latest new thing, either.
The macbook I was given costs, after customs, taxes and everything, $4000. Not $1000. Are there cheaper macbooks? Sure. Why would I want them, though?
First, this discussion is about the new MacBook Air that costs $1000 US which is why I mentioned that price point. I suppose tariffs and such would increase that substantially, so that's a fair point. My bad. That said, I believe there was discussion about the hypothetical situation where you did want a Mac.
More to the point, I checked your post history before I commented, and I gathered you are a developer, somewhere in South America (?). I suspect that the code I write is probably no better than the code you write. But your pay is presumably quite a bit less than mine. My point was that it's unfortunate that like work doesn't yield like rewards.
Now here I am going to make some assumptions... In all likelihood, people are amassing wealth off of your work in the same way they profit from mine. But due to local wage norms, they can pay you less and reap higher margins. They get to upgrade the yacht, but you might not even have enough free time time to use a boat even if you could afford one.
It's possible that I extrapolated too much and that your situation is nothing like what I have inferred. Sorry in advance if that is the case.
You know, the M1 Mac mini is $699…
And since you can attach up to 6 displays to it (or the MacBook Pro), you'd never have to look at macOS if really didn't want to. ;-)
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/11/24/m1-macs-able-to-run-six...
Is it actually possible to replace macOS with Linux though?
The main issue is driver support, since graphics, networking, etc. is all Apple proprietary hardware.