Re:Apple Unveils M2
by intrasight on Monday June 06, 2022 @09:39PM
(#31648879)
How about replacing with a "real" computer? I stopped accepting these compromises around 2004, and since then have built my own computers from discrete components.
Re:Apple Unveils M2
by mwcampbell on Monday June 06, 2022 @10:25PM
(#31649183)
As semiconductor technology advances, increasing miniaturization and integration become normal and expected. I imagine that in the 70s and early 80s, some people thought that the only "real" computers were minicomputers such as those made by DEC, or even mainframes. Highly integrated computers such as the Apple Silicon Macs are the logical continuation of the trend that began with the first microcomputers.
Having said that, the desktop form factor has its place. My next PC will be a desktop. But it will also be a Windows PC. I wish there was a Windows PC that had the same level of integration, and performance per watt, as the M1 Mac mini.
Re:Apple Unveils M2
by intrasight on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @08:35AM
(#31653274)
"integration" and "performance per watt" are way overrated IMHO.
My desktop is on 24/7 with multiple VMs running. I walk up to it and begin working - no startup or setup. Electricity cost is probably $20/month.
- One week suspend, resume under linux (reliable).
- Keyboard and trackpad centered under display, and as good as best of class from 10 years ago.
- 4K / hidpi display
- no/minimal fan, cool running
- 12+ hour "typical" battery life; at least 4 when running slack and zoom (and maybe compilation jobs)
- as fast as a 10 year old midrange desktop e.g. i7: 2700)
- don't care about video acceleration, but video out must reliably work.
- No dual GPU switchover garbage.
- not intel brand (the last N Intel machines I have used have had severe chipset/cpu issues)
- ability to not run systemd in a supported config.
All the laptops I have found fail on multiple of these points. My pine book pro meets as many of them as most high end laptops do (so, not all that many), but at least it was cheap and worked out of the box.
Still waiting for a "real" laptop to replace it, but everything I've seen has glaring fatal flaws.