Comment by regexorcist

15 hours ago

I'm constantly surprised by just how bad macOS is as a Linux user. I currently have to deal with it sometimes as I run my local LLM server on it and it's painful. That said the hardware is great, I run Asahi on another M1 MBP and Linux makes it the best laptop I've ever used.

64 comments

regexorcist

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simonsan  15 hours ago

> I run Asahi on another M1 MBP and Linux makes it the best laptop I've ever used.

Until you need to repair something or change some hardware ... Which is something the author of the article totally neglects, IMHO.

  • vladvasiliu  7 hours ago

    > Until you need to repair something or change some hardware

    How often does this happen, though? I have a 2013 MBP that still works perfectly. And I'm not even talking about the screen, which is ridiculously better than most new pc laptops. And then, of course, there's the touchpad, which, for some reason, is still unmatched in pc land.

    It has 512 GB of SSD and 16 of RAM. This is basically what the new "upgraded" PCs people get at my office. In 2026, 13 years later.

    Yeah, I'd use my decade-old mac any day rather than the crappy HPs at work.

    • andybp85  6 hours ago

      in my day job doing enterprise web apps at a mac shop 16G became unusable for the engineers 3-5 yeas ago. i managed to weasel into them getting me a 64G M1 Pro in 2022 (now they won't buy us any higher than 32G). i'll probably still be using this thing in six years!

      to be fair, given the choice between a decade-old macbook and basically any current windows box with same specs, i'd take the macbook every time. but, if i could put linux on it...

      9 replies →

  • culopatin  3 hours ago

    By the time something breaks, you’re so far behind in tech that you’re not buying parts for it anymore. I used to be in the “must be able to fix/upgrade” and then realized in practice it never happens.

    • SV_BubbleTime  1 hour ago

      Of the four frameworks I bought to test. I’ve repaired components from two, a screen and a touchpad both from damage.

      But, two other frameworks were totally unacceptable for users, so it wasn’t really a great experiment.

      3 replies →

  • erooke  15 hours ago

    Totally neglects? FTA:

    > The Framework is more expensive, slower (in most cases), louder (its fan ramps up quite often), has a pretty poor display, but it is a touchscreen, has a 360° hinge, and is more repairable and upgradeable.

    > While the Neo is probably one of the easiest Mac laptops to repair in recent memory, the Framework 12 allows you to upgrade components including a DDR5 SODIMM, 2230-sized NVMe SSD, WiFi card, and even four modular ports around the sides. I outfitted mine with 2x USB-C, 1x USB-A, and 1x full-size HDMI.

  • stodor89  10 hours ago

    > Until you need to repair something or change some hardware

    The overwhelming majority of people would just go buy a new one. The downtime for ordering parts and waiting repairs has a price tag, likely greater than the laptop's price. Maybe that will change with how the prices of everything have been soaring lately.

  • wand3r  2 hours ago

    The author does mention it, they just don't deeply analyze it. Frankly, it goes without saying. If you are considering a framework and reading articles about it, you almost certainly understand the tradeoff and it was mentioned in the article. Given the build quality of Apple and the option to lock in Apple care vs. the insane cost of computer parts, it isn't that important. Especially for an entry level laptop.

  • dbg31415  10 hours ago

    I’ve had MacBook Pros for as long as they’ve existed and, honestly, I’ve never needed a repair.

    The only real issue I’ve had was when I dropped one and destroyed the screen. It was covered by AppleCare, and Apple replaced it.

    I usually get a new laptop every 3 to 4 years and pass the old one to family members. My dad is still using one that’s about 10 years old and it works fine for what he needs. No issues.

    So the repair argument is a bit hard for me to relate to. I understand things break. But I also think taking reasonable care of your stuff goes a long way. “A stitch in time saves nine,” right?

    I guess I’ve replaced the feet on a few of them but that’s a $5 dollar kit from Amazon and a screwdriver and a little bit of glue…

    And for normal wear and tear, like battery life, Apple laptops can get a battery replacement through the Apple Store for a pretty reasonable cost.

    Anyway, Apple makes good product products that don’t really break from me or my family. I’ve been really happy with all their stuff.

    I had way worse luck, for example, building a PC to game on. Two or three years and I had to replace the power supply and I think four years and I had to replace the SSD. Like those things were annoying. I’ve never had hardware from Apple go bad on me.

    (Not since I had a Performa 5200 and they had to send somebody out to fix the logic board.)

    • kelnos  10 hours ago

      Consider that maybe you've just gotten lucky? Laptop components do break. I haven't had Mac laptops in a bunch of years, but just off the top of my head I've had a keyboard key break (MacBook Air), and a mainboard die (MacBook Pro).

      But if you don't need repairs, you might want upgrades. I have a Framework 13 from 2022 and I expect I won't be buying a full new laptop for many many years. It's great that you've been able to repurpose your old laptops for other family members, but every new laptop manufactured eventually becomes e-waste.

      7 replies →

runeks  8 hours ago

> That said the hardware is great, I run Asahi on another M1 MBP and Linux makes it the best laptop I've ever used.

I'm considering going this way on my M1 MBP. Is there anything you miss wrt. hardware compatibility?

mannanj  4 hours ago

Is it possible to use M1's efficiency on Linux, i.e. is battery life comparable for you on Linux vs Mac?

commandersaki  15 hours ago

Funny it’s the opposite for me. What if I want to switch between desktops of multiple users; easy with fast user switching, not really a thing in Linux (yeah I’m sure it can be hacked up, but bleh).

  • thefossguy69  15 hours ago

    The biggest papercut preventing me from being productive on macOS is it's horrible window management which cannot be traversed with keyboard shortcuts like one does in WMs like bspwm and others on Linux and that absolutely insane ~500 ms delay in setting the focused window when moving between virtual desktops.

    For some reason, Apple's ideal desktop experience is tailored around focusing on one application at a time. Which is certainly true for some workflows, but that's not me.

    • wbadart  2 hours ago

      I'm stuck with macOS at work and these have also been the most painful parts of the experience for me. Luckily, I recently found Rectangle[0] and InstantSpaceSwitcher[1]. The former gives keyboard based arranging (though not focus; still just use cmd+tab for that) while the latter gives instant transitions between virtual desktops (including shortcuts for navigating directly to a target, rather than sliding over sequentially).

      [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47708818

      1 reply →

    • majormajor  14 hours ago

      > For some reason, Apple's ideal desktop experience is tailored around focusing on one application at a time. Which is certainly true for some workflows, but that's not me.

      This is a very weird-sounding take to someone who has used Macs for three decades and recalls that for most of that time they never even had a full-screen mode.

      Apple's desktop experience DNA is still, for better or worse, deeply anchored to spatial arrangement of partially-overlapping windows (or non-overlapping, if screen is big enough and window small enough), driven by mouse (Expose hot corners back in 2004 were basically the end-game after which they haven't made any new significant changes to this, and haven't had to). Their full-screen/single-app modes are IMO a weird half-baked Windows-maximize alternative.

      But yes, it's a very mouse-oriented, single-desktop spatially-organized-and-layered world.

      3 replies →

    • altcognito  14 hours ago

      It is bizarro. With multi monitor sometimes I click windows and things don’t show. Dragging when more than one dialog is open is unpredictable. The corners are huge, even when maximized. Even the vaunted application bar is so weird - and windows is trying to copy it! Why can’t we use the entire bottom of the screen? Apps don’t show there anyway! You can’t get rid of it and replace it with something else? Just not allowed.

      Stretch an app across two monitors? Not with that config! Display port? Oh no! Scaling cleanly? Never heard of it.

      Seriously bad stuff. I’ve thought about writing a book with everything wrong with it. It’s bonkers.

      4 replies →

  • pjerem  11 hours ago

    Wow, this feature is so broken on macOS (I have a family shared Air M2) since at least a full decade that it's really not what I would have take as an example.

    OTOH, switching users on Gnome or KDE login managers is flawless.