I wish, then it would cost me less money to get a new one
As it stands, on my M1 MBP:
I have 82gb free out of my 512gb SSD
Using 14gb RAM out of 16gb, with 4gb of swap (from Activity Monitor)
CPU usually sits at 20-30%, but there are definitely moments where I use a whole core or two, and it comes up regularly enough to be helpful
I used a 8gb RAM, 128gb SSD i5 MBA before this… I never had enough room for XCode and my laptop slowed to a crawl/turned into a space heater regularly. I would love to survive off of lower specs, I just don’t know if it’s practical.
ChromeOS has come a long way in terms of offline usage, and even my ageing ASUS Chromebook supports both Android and Linux apps. If I could find a Ulysses equivalent I could probably swap over quite happily (now that UpNote is available for Linux).
Annoyingly, ChromeOS support for my relatively inexpensive Chromebook has been longer than Apple have supported my MacBook Air.
People buy Macs for the same reason they buy any premium, high-end product. Because they want to.
Why buy an expensive BMW when a Toyota will get you to the same place at half the price? Because BMWs are nice,
Personally, I don’t buy Macs because of their superior performance, outstanding 3rd party app ecosystem, or rock-solid Unix underpinnings. I buy Macs because I’m an absolute snob with no patience for ridiculous computer malarky*.
Yes, I know Macs have their own malarky, but they’re still the best available.
For me also, adding to that many applications available on Apple devices feel better and more polished for me personally. Windows seems to be more geared toward enterprise productivity apps and Apple devices and apps seem to be more focussed on personal productivity.
For my work i’m mainly in the ‘Microsoft world’, but many of their applications are not something i would choose to use personally. For applications like DEVONthink, OmniFocus, Alfred and probably many more i have never found anything that resembles these apps on macOS.
I just enjoy working on Apple devices with Apple’s OS-es more than other systems.
Nice application. Close, but missing a few features I use at least twice a week - exporting multiple sheets to a single document or straight to printer, material sheets, multiple customised export styles for a single document, writing targets.
Pretty impressive and attractive application, though.
I guess I should clarify some things. First, RAM. Kinda hard to compare since Apple’s RAM is now an all-in-one magic board, but I find it somewhat odd that w/ 16gb and with nothing significant running I’m using 10gb. I guess if apps keep expanding their use of RAM then one will always use a lot of what is available. So I’m utilizing more of that than I thought. Thanks?
CPU, however, at the same time is hanging around at 94-97% free/available. Even Lightroom Classic doesn’t affect that number (after startup). I think this shows that I just don’t need the latest greatest chip.
Any way, I’m sure I’m quite the outlier here as I’m basically acknowledging that I’m not exactly a power user any more. And I’m cool with that. YMMV
If buffers/cached-access are included in used memory then you should always be using nearly 100% over time. I don’t know if that use is counted in the Mac’s reporting though.
So, do you think you might sell your Mac, use the money to buy a less powerful device, and have money leftover? Or maybe just next time you’re thinking of upgrading, you would buy a simpler less expensive solution? But wait, you’ll probably never upgrade again. Your needs are so simple, why would you?
As a conversation starter, your topic has generated thoughtful reactions. But, as a call to action, I just don’t see it.
This is a key reason why I buy refurbished. I can get a spec that far exceeds my daily needs for much less than a new Mac. And I have little environmental impact.
My 2017 MBA still runs everything I use flawlessly. The processor is rarely above 10%.
This is a great point. One other benefit of getting higher specs is that ideally, the machine is faster for longer. And Apple has had a decent track record of supporting their older models (though not as long during architecture switches).
Diminishing returns is still a factor though, and I’d argue getting specs above base model of most of the current lineup is not as necessary anymore, except maybe with storage on the base MBA, lol. Futureproofing is a trap.
Also, though I can’t find the article now, I remember reading that while users of Microsoft Office use around 20% of its features, they found that the 20% of features used were different across groups. Based on that, I think sometimes it’s more effective to apply the Pareto Principle to smaller sections rather than the whole.
I can see trying out some other hardware and then selling the MBA M1 if I am satisfied w/ the replacement. Glad to have a conversation, but I had no intention of making a call to action…
One of my main apps wouldn’t work on linux due to ARM8 (aarch64) chip
No major players on linux in the genealogy app world
So TiddlyWiki and MacFamilyTree simply could not be replicated on this device. TiddlyWiki would work on an Intel Chromebook (specifically the TiddlyDesktop server) if it had a Linux subsystem. MacFamilyTree, however, has ZERO equivalent.
Also, in general, the Linux subsystem turned out to be wonky. Can be reset but loses all changes, and my backup contains something that crashes it. sigh
So test drive over, now I have to ‘powerwash’ it to reset it to factory and then find someone to buy it locally (Mexico) - good thing I got it on sale at Best Buy! OTOH, my wife has been using hers with great success. Works terrific for her MS Teams video calls w/ her Spanish teacher.
