The M1 MacBook Air: Perfection | Hacker News Reader

The M1 MacBook Air: Perfection

500ish.com

31 pointsherbertl48 comments

A perfect laptop would also be waterproof, user upgradable hardware (eg add more memory), user serviceable, hardware buttons for camera & bluetooth, more travel for keyboard (I know that's hard when its thin but I can ask).

Some people associate repairability with bulk and thermal issues. This is almost never the case.

There is ultimately some tradeoff between repairability and size/weight/thermals due to physics. But companies compromise on repairability way below an actual physical limit.

Examples:

- To replace the batteries of a MBP Retina, you must disassemble the entire motherboard before freeing up the batteries [0]. A lot of people end up damaging the board in the process.

- The Surface Laptop isn't even meant to be opened. If you open it, you can't put it back together [1]. I wonder what "physical tradeoff" Microsoft made here that even Apple didn't have to make in an iPhone?

- All MBPs after MBP Retina have the NVMe drive soldered on [2]. The drive is paired with the secure enclave, but clearly they could've offered a mechanism/service to pair a new drive rather than force the user buy a whole new laptop.

[0] https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Retina+Disp...

[1] https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Laptop+Tea...

[2] https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+16-Inch+2019+Tea...

The perfect computational device would kind of be just a much better brain, no keyboard no buttons no screens no untrusted software no untrusted hardware.

Run your OS of choice

Can't be doing that now!

https://www.techradar.com/news/you-can-now-run-linux-and-win...

"Near native performance" i.e. not native

Yeah, so?

Native performance doesn't mean anything aside from the same program/OS running on the same system. In other words, "native performance" is the baseline for a relative speed comparison, not some absolute value that makes sense in itself.

Thus, "Near native" on the M1 could be faster than native on an Intel machine. Or on an ARM, for that matter: https://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple-m1-runs-windows-faster....

Native means you have access to the hardware through the kernel of your choice, it's not about performance.

If there is a hypervisor in between you and your CPU - let alone emulation - you lose direct access to things like performance counters (which I need to be able to do a lot of things I enjoy programming). On top of that you also now have to trust (this isn't even security, the implementation can be buggy) a hypervisor - they effectively have to mimic the behaviour of a CPU, they aren't perfect.

>Native means you have access to the hardware through the kernel of your choice, it's not about performance.

Yeah, I know what "native" means.

I talked about the use of "native performance". That when used for comparison, it doesn't mean anything, unless it compares between the program running on the native OS and virtualized on the same machine.

So, saying

"Near native performance" i.e. not native"

(a) doesn't say anything as a general statement (of course it's less than 100% of native, as its virtualized), and

(b) is moot as an argument against the M1 (since this "non native" performance could still could be e.g. 100% or even 120% of the native performance of another machine, which would make it more than enough).

$200 Pinebook Pro?

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/06/pinebook-pro-review-...

My 10 year old Thinkpad x230 has most of that (retail price circa $100)...

If someone makes the "non-apple M1" ARM SoC, then I'd be 100% sold on an PineTAB, if it got pen input, too. I would drop all the money I got on that.

2K @ 12" or 13", some USB-C ports, 500GB storage and a good battery. Vanilla butter brain bath for some magnetic dock connector. Standard Linux DE for all I care.

That would be the perfect mobile device.

External mobility module with mobile internet, GPS, small laser beamer, lidar and camera; Compute module with additional graphics or cpu power.

All this would be possible today, although not for pine64.

>$200 Pinebook Pro?

I think he also means it would be usable. That has neither the battery life, nor the speed, as in TFA.

>more travel for keyboard

I am glad I am not the only one.

.7 mm - butterfly keyboard

1 mm - new 16” MBP scissor keyboard

1.3 mm - old scissor keyboard

I dont want a 0.3mm thinner MacBook at the expense of typing experience. To me it is a world of difference.

Edit: I guess there are too many M1 news this is now being flagged.....

eGPU support

It’s so popular it seems out of stock everywhere in the Bay Area. Mail order places are in back order. I suspect a really good Mac quarter for Apple.

With the ability to run iOS apps, the lack of a touch screen leaves me scratching my head. The only reason I have resisted buying one is that the lack of a touch screen is, in my view, going to make it feel like I missed the boat once that's inevitably added.

I'm tired of paying for touch screens and then never using them. Most screen resolution upgrades come bundled with a touchscreen but I hate smudges on my screen. That people willingly to that to themselves on a regular basis is baffling to me. Especially because you've got to move your arm further to touch the screen than to touch the trackpad. It's just less efficient for most computer interactions.

What annoys me the most is the fact that it moves your screen.

I don’t understand why Apple didn’t just put a sensor like FaceID in the Macs and went for motion tracking for hand gestures or just turned the entire trackpad which is already capacitive into a touch screen like interface.

Touches are easily emulated with mouse clicks the rest of the gestures are also simple enough for a trackpad.

Heck from my limited experience with the M1 it seems that swipes work like they should in normal apps but not so much in iOS apps which left me scratching my head as to why.

Let's be entirely honest, also: A perfect "laptop" would be a convertible, or tablet + X. The Air is not missing touch; the iPad is missing a full-access operating system.

IMO, there is nothing a laptop has, a tablet couldn't. Just make it a tiny bit thicker, or add a detachable module for extra battery and ports and storage or whatever.

Why is it better? Most importantly, the ergonomic constraints of a laptop make it totally unfit for a device our lives grow around. It's a legacy, not necessity, now, as we got the power. With a tablet you can have an optional "iMac" setup with a minimalistic stand and free keyboard/touchpad.

Most of the time a laptop doesn't actually sit on a lap, so there is no need to ruin your back over the form factor. Then there is pen input, which I became insanely dependant on. Hand written notes and little drawings are now essential for helping me to think and work. Visualizing an algorithm to understand it? Yeah like on paper, but add undo, copy/paste and move to it. Sign papers you got sent by mail and send them right back. Screenshot, annotate, process like a human. Imagine poking into e.g. assembly, but being able to draw on the code, highlight, look up... Really, how much "arkane" ASCII habits have we come up with, because we cannot easily fuse digital and AFK note taking? How often have you been _describing something, because you couldn't just draw an arrow right across the text, code, diagram and so on, to reference your note? It's crippling to our mind!

There is no fucking reason to have laptop and tablet as distinct atomic units. The constraints are entirely artificial to sell us both, at this point. If you sometimes need much more processing power, there should be an optional compute module, but really that's not an argument for the Air anyway.

You've been denied an _ergonomic, yet extremely mobile work environment, because people want to sell you both.

There is no other reason.

(Also Linux please)

Your description sounds close to the Surface Book. I'm suprised Apple hasn't come up with a contender. I guess the market for that kind of device is just not big enough for them?

Yes! But the major pain is Windows (and the hardware, isn't as efficient) It's like a worse Apple. I would also immediately go with a thinkpad $X Yoga, if there was a ryzen AND >FHD model.

I think most people looking for a "laptop" just aren't aware, how useful a pen is. They don't think "annotate everything", anymore, even tho they grew up like that. Their mind has grown bend over the laptop.

The device itself isn't all to the appeal, too: The inter app operability is key to get the mind free. iOS does this quite well, superficially. But for me the honey moon phase ended when I realized - well, Stallman was right!

The locked down, and locking-in, overly profit-driven ecosystem just kills it for me.

I believe an ultimate device like that could really revive the Linux desktop, because the device would thrive with a holistic ecosystem, where apps can coexist, don't habe to fight for the user's wallet.

Well I pay Apple for two devices now, laptop and iPad, rather than just one.

I think at some point they will eventually do it, but why rush it while you’re still raking in money.

I’m suspicious multi-user iPad support is delayed for similar reasons. Many spouses have their own iPad now, when they could probably share if there was multi user support.

I have a surfaceBook- I never take off the keyboard. I would never use a touch-screen on a laptop as finger marks on the screen are not optimal for working.

I get that about touch. For me typing and touch/pen input would make two distinct modes. In typing mode, I absolutely want the precision of a mouse/touchpad. Arms need to be rested on the table or similar. Working free-..ehm.. armed, in front of you is a disproven scifi-only concept. Same as transparent displays...

It just feels like stubbornness to me at this point. I don't think there would be enough overlap that adding touch to the mac would reduce tablet sales... totally different experiences in a lot of ways.

I've had touch on my last 2 Thinkpads and find that I utilize it quite a bit. I haven't noticed a ton of fingerprints, but I also take care of my equipment (probably a little more fastidiously than most...). Having the ability to do a little pen work in certain apps has been clutch, and if I wanted to utilize the pen or touch more... I would get a more dedicated device(e.g. Thinkpad Yoga or Surface Pro). Feel like this would be similar workflow in the Apple world... Macbook with some helpful touch... iPad when you need to focus on touch...

>It just feels like stubbornness to me at this point. I don't think there would be enough overlap that adding touch to the mac would reduce tablet sales... totally different experiences in a lot of ways.

Apple cannibalizes its own products all the time, it's not about reducing tablet sales.

It's probably more about not really making sense (at least, them thinking that), even where it is available (on Windows laptops).

It might be added at some point, but not because its actually useful, but after they have exhausted more useful differentiating factors to add to newer models.

Problem is that many, if not most, iOS apps would have a terrible user experience with a laptop touch screen. Most apps have swipes that assume a phone or tablet form factor and virtually all games expect you to use your thumbs. The better play is to have iOS developers update their apps to better work on a laptop. I don’t see how a touch screen will improve this.

I don't really want to run iOS stuff on my laptop, but I'm sure there are times it would come in handy. They would be terrible, but functional. They would be terrible, but functional.

They would only be terrible if they are not properly updated for a laptop experience. The Overcast podcast player is a good example of an iOS app that works great as a Mac app too.

Have you ever used a laptop with a touch screen for any reasonable time?

Did you really use the touch for more than a few minutes as a novelty?

I'm not talking of laptops with detachable screens here (there it does make sense).

Touch targets are way too small, especially if you run your screen at a higher resolution.

I would assume it’s only a matter of time now before touchscreens are added to MacBooks.

I just ordered one of these for my bad at computers dad yesterday - having to wait longer for the 16gb upgrade but consider it 10 year proofing.

This article makes me want to buy one for myself(but I have several serviceable older MBPs already).

Is there a restocking fee? If I'm reading this correctly he buys multiple laptops, uses them, then returns the one he no longer wants?!?

Apple typically has a very generous 14 day return period with no restocking fee. Currently, it’s even longer as they have a extended holiday return window.

Probably a really silly question: but can they sell the product as new thereafter?

No, a lot of these returned devices end up in Apple’s refurbished store, or are used as replacement devices for warranty claims.

The probably don't - https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished

Only supports 1 external display. This is holding it back from my org

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq_FyjcAULA

I love the idea of the M1 and think it would be great to leave the hot Intel + separate GPU architecture for a smaller, cooler and faster RISC architecture, but Apple seems to have taken this as an opportunity to lock down even more. That's no good to me.

"Buying it twice" doesn't mean what he intends it to, considering he always had the intention of returning one.

I know we don't like 'Reddit-esque' pointless posts like the one I'm about to make, but I really enjoyed the author's use of 'hyperbolic chamber'. Bravo!

- ed. and it didn't deserve the preëmptive footnote disclaimer

Tldr; the guy has purchased a new computer, it is better than his previous one.

Good one!

It's still a highly user-hostile Apple. Though you can tell this review was written by a true iSheep from the part where s/he talks about the dictation key. "Apple thinks I should use that functionality more, so I will!"

Actual quote is "Apple wants us to use that feature more. And they should, it’s good!"

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