Comment by JSR_FDED
11 hours ago
Run a Linux VM (basically no performance impact) and you have a killer quality Linux laptop. Sure it’s not the same as a dedicated Linux system but with these specs you’re going to do lighter work away from your desk anyway.
Or perhaps this will be the perfect machine for the Asahi team to focus on…lots of demand at this price point, and a lean Linux install would make this machine fly.
Why would you spin up a linux vm for development when you are already running a unix os?
Containers.
Linux is quite different from macOS in many ways. They are both distantly inspired by "unix" (and Apple has managed to convince someone to let them use the trademark, so they really "are" unix, legally at least), but the similarity ends there.
Since this is a A series processor it's not clear if the MacBook Neo supports virtualization though.
I guess that means no Cowork. (edit: assuming that there is no virtualization support)
It's a much better QOL thing I've found to just ssh into a remote Linux box from a Mac. The BSD stuff on macOS isn't bad at all, just an adjustment... and homebrew lets you get your environment however you'd like.
I am curious how long Apple is going to continue to support XQuartz though. There seems to be no equivalent wayland project.
A terminal isn’t enough for everything, especially developers. I use lots of windows at the same time and plenty of non-terminal applications.
When forced to use macOS, a Linux VM provides a very convenient experience.
As well, if you run an aarch64 VM with virtualization there is essentially no lag. It runs great. I have an Alpine Linux one on my M2 Macbook Pro.
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with 8 GB of RAM?
A Chromebook with 8gb ram and stock ChromeOS runs the Linux Dev VM perfectly fine while having 100+ chrome tabs open.