- What’s your use cases for the computer?
- Do you have any interesting peripherals?
- What are some of your favorite Mac apps?
- Are there currently any gripes with your setup? If you could change one thing about your Mac, what would it be?
I’ll start: Two years ago, I bought the legendary M1 MacBook Air (actually I just checked my receipt, and it will be exactly two years tomorrow, huh!). I’m typing from it right now.
It has truly been amazing since day 1. To me, this computer is an embodiment of the Apple Silicon transition, as it combines an Intel-era body with the new-era M1 chip. Mostly thanks to the overkill heat dissipation and battery, the result is a ridiculously awesome laptop.
I’ve done a fair share of graphic design, programming, now almost 4 semesters of university studies, and even quite a bit of gaming on this computer. It has taken everything I’ve thrown at it so far, and I’m sure there’s many more years of happy use to come. I wouldn’t change it for anything.
Although I’ll admit, I’m quite jealous of the M2 kids and their MagSafe port. Two Thunderbolt ports is sometimes just not enough :,)
I’m using the MacBook Air M1, which I bought around the time it came out.
Use case
I mainly use it for my job, which is writing technical documentation. I also code apps, including Mlem, the iOS client for Lemmy and Cork, a GUI for Homebrew.
Sometimes, I also game, mainly Minecraft and Rimworld. The performance is nothing to write home about, but it’s good enough for casual gameplay.
Peripherals
The MacBook is connected to a Thunderbolt 3 dock via a single cable, so the setup is really clean. I then connect everything, including my 4K monitor, mouse and keyboard, three external drives and headphones to the dock. It works perfectly!
Apps
I don’t really use any special apps. 99% of the time, I use built-in apps like Safari, Calendar, Notes etc. One special app that I use more than most is Craft for note taking.
Gripes
I have the base model M1, so that means 8GB of RAM and 256 of storage. The lack of RAM really hurts, I can’t have more than one mildly-demanding app open at one time, and it really slows the entire thing down.
If I could afford it, I would definitely get more than 8GB of RAM.
A fellow M1 MBA connoisseur! 🤝
Yeah, 8 GB can get painful. That’s actually one of the few embarrassing aspects of Apple Silicon – even right now, you can still get brand new Macs with M2, but only 8 GB of memory. Like, I understand why it exists, but raising the minimum to 16GB is long overdue at this point.
Thanks for sharing!
You bet that Apple will only include 16GB as a base when it’s about as good as 8GB is today. I’m not hopeful at all!
And thank you for sharing your perspective, too :)
M1 MBP as my everyday workhorse. Had the 2019 MBP at work and a Hackintosh at home. Wanted some compact Macbook with the Touchbar. So when the M1s were released, I upgraded to a “proper” Apple device and couldn’t be happier.
It’s connected to a 32" 4K DELL U3219Q, so nothing fancy.
I’m using it with the Magic Keyboard (small one) with Touchid, a Magic Trackpad and the Magic Mouse. And if I could change a thing, I’d put a Touch Bar on the Magic Keyboard as I really like its versatility. (And, of course, keep it with newer MacBooks as well.)
Fav apps: Strongbox, ShellFish for SSH, Panic Nova, Dash, Fork, Beyond Compare, Hexfiend, Alfred, PCalc, iTerm, Anybox, Downie, Swish, FNable, AirBuddy, News Explorer, MacUpdater, AppCleaner.
Fav Safari extensions: Wipr, Redirect Web, History Book, Rewinder
That’s really interesting that you specifically seek out the Touch Bar!
A lot of people kind of just have it because for several years you couldn’t get a MBP without one… But I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone that would actively enjoy the Touch Bar. You might be part of a very small minority here!
What is it that makes it useful for you, if I may ask? Do you use some tool like BetterTouchTool to customize the Touch Bar, or do you just enjoy Apple’s stock implementation of it?
I love the easy volume and brightness changes (tap and just slide your finger) or things like the big red Mute button for video calls. I don’t use BTT but instead use Apple’s own customisation features (you can drag&drop different controls onto the Touchbar when customising toolbars in apps) where I want something different to the defaults.
Things like typing suggestions and emojis are the icing on the cake.
M2 Air.
Use cases: planning to crush it with music/audio, video editing & voice-over, software development, and art (tablet, etc).
Peripherals: will be getting said tablet, good microphone, video camera/DSLR live feed link, and some sort of audio controller and/or looper.
Fave Mac apps: I feel like a complete n00b to say that the only app I’ve used long enough and was an actual joy to use, was iMovie. I’ll be grabbing a strong IDE for dev work. But I’ve only just begun.
Gripes: alleged limited support for just one external display. I’ve read there’s ways to add more, but it gives me a twitch after Windows laptops that always seemed to do it by default.
Also I’m unsure whether to use my cheap, Amazon USB hub I already have - for connecting monitor(s?), peripherals and power - because some sources say it could hurt the M2. Not sure if that’s warranted or FUD.
Long story:
I was raised on PCs, from Tandy 1000 to MS-DOS 6.22 to Windows 8, because of school/cost/marketing/parents’ limited knowledge.
Finally in my late 30’s I got to use a 'Pro for work (startup, software job), and even though I had to quickly learn ‘the Mac way’;
It took everything I threw at it.
I had to let go of the Pro after that job, but randomly later I was editing a video on a Windows laptop w/ Movie “Maker”, which took 4 days of slow-downs, glitches, restarts.
I then grabbed my girl’s older 'Air and recut the whole thing (in iMovie) in 1/8th of the time.
So CUT-TO last week; a friend said he wanted to sell his M2 'Air 15.x", 2 months old, because it was bigger than he thought and doesn’t have desk-space in his small condo. He bought it new for $1700, but only asked for $1k for it (!?) (Yes; there’s a receipt).
I couldn’t-not.
I’m not religious about Mac vs PC. They both have their pros & cons. I just haven’t given enough time to the other side. So the clock starts now.
…
[Downloads CallOfDuty_Installer.exe]
Mac Studio M1 Max, 32 GB, 1 TB SSD (but a bunch of external hard drives) + Apple Studio Display.
I use it mainly for video editing and graphics stuff. Well, sometimes for little gaming.
Wheww that’s a powerhouse you got there!
Obligatory question to a Mac Studio user though: Do you ever hear the fans? Haha
Not, when it is not under heavy load. If so, the fan is not that loud.
M2 Air
Use: this is my main work computer, which I use to develop MacOS system software.
Peripherals: a 32-inch 4k display, which I use instead of my laptop screen.
Apps: All I use are Terminal, Firefox, Slack, Outlook, & Zoom.
I wish I worked on Linux. The system would be less opaque.
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currently writing this from my 16" M1 Pro, great laptop, it is a bit big and heavy tho
i got it as a starting uni gift so its been mainly used for homework and other internet dumbshittery and a bit of lightroom
Macbook Pro 14" / M1 Pro; Is my replacement for my other MBP of 2012 - i’m Mac-User since 1999 :)
I mostly do anything on it like software development, graphics stuff, web, music listening, chat, …
By far my favorite apps are Firefox, Apple Mail, Affinity Photo and Designer, Panic Nova, Little Snitch, iTerm and Carbon Copy Cloner.
If i could change something: replaceable battery and internal storage.
Using a 2014 Mac Mini booting to an external ssd, with only 4gb of ram, and an early 2015 13’ MacBook Pro with 8 gb of ram, going to upgrade the storage to 1tb and install a new battery.
Both given to me via my neighborhoods Buy Nothing Group on Facebook.
Not the latest and greatest, but they serve a purpose for me.
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