Hacker News Reader

Comment by ChrisMarshallNY | Hacker News Reader

Friend of mine just got a new M1 13-inch MBP.

He "likes" it, as opposed to "loves" it; because he doesn't actually care that much (he's not a tech nerd). He likes his iPad a lot more.

He would probably feel the same way about a new Dell or Lenovo. It's just not that important to him. Computers are a "necessary evil." He's a musician, and he asked my advice, so he got a Mac.

For myself, I am waiting on the M1X/M2, later this year. I have a couple of big external monitors, and I know the M1 has issues with those. I've already weaned myself off of my BlackMagic eGPU Pro, in anticipation.

View on HN

> He would probably feel the same way about a new Dell or Lenovo.

Not sure if this was ever true for someone who used a Mac before. Going to a Dell or Lenovo feels like a huge downgrade. Everything about these laptops feels cheap in comparison to a Mac. They are bigger, thicker, heavier, more plastic, hotter, and less elegant. Also the track pad and other screen on the Mac is so much better. Even if some Windows laptops come with a crazy high resolution, the OS looks shit on it and the user has to go into the Windows menu and play around with all the UX controls until the proportions of the start bar, windows and other UI elements somehow make sense on the high resolution again. Of course there is a million Windows apps still out there which don't scale at all. I cannot imagine that a user who was on Mac for more than a year could go back to Dell or Lenovo and feel excited about it. Now with the M1 the contrast is even worse. I have an M1 and Intel MBP and even going back to the Intel MBP feels really crappy because I need to charge my device when working for a full day. I got so used to the M1 not needed a single charge during the day that it's really odd to think about how other laptops still do. I treat my M1 like my iPhone. I plug it in over night, that's all it needs.

I agree with you, but one thing that I have learned, is that non-nerds tend to hate "computers."

By "computers," they mean things with screens, mice and keyboards that don't have a simple, fixed user interface. I know that some of the iPad Pros are starting to look a lot like "computers."

Me? I love "computers." But I'm a nerd. We're supposed to love them.

I am really looking forward to getting my grubby little mitts on a new laptop, when they come out.

> Everything about these laptops feels cheap in comparison to a Mac. They are bigger, thicker, heavier, more plastic, hotter, and less elegant.

This is completely wrong. For example, a Lenovo X1 Carbon is 2.5 pounds, which is lighter than a MacBook Air at 2.8 pounds. It also offers 32GB of ram, does not have a glued-in battery, does not use glass and the keyboard is much less likely to fail. I am tempted by the M1, but from my experience Apple machines are heavier, fragile, less reliable and less user-serviceable. I also don't understand the aversion to plastics. Aluminium makes MacBooks heavy and can attenuate radio signals.

> For example, a Lenovo X1 Carbon is 2.5 pounds, which is lighter than a MacBook Air at 2.8 pounds. It also offers 32GB of ram, does not have a glued-in battery

.. and yet if feels heavier, looks shittier, is less durable, full of Lenovo spyware and overall still much worse quality. I have had so many Lenovo laptops in my life that I can say for sure that there is nothing good that comes out of this company.

It's like buying a Wilkinson razor with 5 blades, plastic covering and which weights only a few grams in total. Yes, on paper it's lighter, has more blades and has super easily replaceable parts and is also much cheaper, but if you buy a thiers issard carbon steal cut-throat straight razor you will only have one blade, it will be much heavier and more expensive but you will still have the best shave in your life with zero irritation and not look like a cheap red faced pig afterwards. That's the difference between Lenovo and Apple in computer hardware.

>feels heavier

How is that possible? It's lighter.

>is less durable

Citation needed. I've heard MacBook keyboards tend to self-destruct when encountering small specks of dust though?

>full of Lenovo spyware

This is FUD. The ThinkPad line comes with stock Windows, which you can replace with Linux.

> How is that possible? It's lighter.

If the same screen sized laptop has bigger bezels, the grip is bulkier, less sleek overall form factor makes it feel heaver in your hand even if it's a few grams lighter. That's why it's called "feel" and not "is".

> I've heard MacBook keyboards tend to self-destruct when encountering small specks of dust though?

Citation needed. My MBPs haven't self destructed yet despite being daily in use for years.

> >full of Lenovo spyware > This is FUD.

Google Lenovo Superfish

I have a Pro Display XDR hooked up to a MacBook Air and the only glitches I have had would be unplugging and plugging in the display while in sleep mode which just requires me to unplug the XDR and plug it back in.

That's interesting, how big are those monitors exactly? Regular 4k or something more?

I have a 49-inch LG Ultrawide (Split into 3440 X 1440, 1680 X 1440), and a 4K monitor that I use for presentations and classes (so it is not on all the time).

I have become addicted to the vast real estate of this big honker. I did have it set up, once, using the whole screen width (5120 X 1440), but that was too wide for me (also, Apple does not yet natively support that resolution. I had to use a third-party screen res tool).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com