[Zetaphor]

How does anyone who cares about open source or even development more generally see this and go "Yeah that's the OS I want to use"?

I genuinely don't understand why so many developers are willing to compromise so much for a thin laptop.

[matwood]

> I genuinely don't understand why so many developers are willing to compromise so much for a thin laptop.

Because many developers never run into these issues? A Mac has been my primary development machine since the G4 PB days. I’ve tried to switch to Linux a few times, and it’s always been a worse experience. Then I see these types of stories on HN, and I’m reminded we all use our computers very differently from each other.

[saurik]

It isn't just thin: they are quiet and fast with the best trackpads, reasonable keyboards that (except for the idiotic move when they released the touch bar and dropped the escape key) have a reasonable layout that doesn't change much, and all of the power states work correctly every single time.

I am the second most stubborn person I know in my friend group on this, and after only using a desktop for a couple years during the pandemic, I avoided having a mac laptop for the subsequent five years and it sucked. I finally caved after I realized the new M5 Macbook Air is actually likely to be faster for web browsing tasks and is somehow also (awkwardly?!) competitive at compiling code to the monster modern Xeon build I had just completed, and it doesn't even have a fan!

As far as I am concerned, it is over: Apple has won on everything except screen quality (I am sadly now addicted to OLED and I fundamentally disagree with the Apple position of not having a touch screen on a laptop, a stance that is only more emboldened now that I spend a lot of time with children).

[benoau]

> I am sadly now addicted to OLED and I fundamentally disagree with the Apple position of not having a touch screen on a laptop

Both of these are reportedly coming to the MBP this year (lately rumoured to be next year), although there's going to be a steep price to pay and rumours say it will still just have the MacBook's normal angular range so no good for drawing or iPad apps.

Apple is so far ahead of everyone it's sad but they're catching up and Apple is so unflinching on so many topics it handicaps them, we could be stuck with touchscreen Macs that aren't useful for iPad apps for many years, and later this decade ARM chips will start nipping at the heels of the Pro and Max chips while build/component quality is rapidly improving too.

[kjkjadksj]

The last thing I want is a touchscreen laptop. Wouldn’t that be great adding stupid cost solely for the ipad kids to not feel so alarmed. Nothing like reaching your hand up unsupported to poke at a screen right? Gotta love the fingerprint smudges too and the eventual loss of the concept of an information dense ui entirely as ui elements need to be clicked with the imprecision of your elbow now instead of the mouse.

[1over137]

It's not the thinness, it's the amazing battery life.

[Evidlo]

Framework Pro has that now

[notatoad]

I’ve heard that enough times about various non-Mac options, and every time I’ve believed it, I’ve learned I shouldn’t have. Even if it starts out good, it doesn’t last.

I want framework to succeed, I want them to have battery life as good as my Mac. But I’m gonna let other people test that for me this time. Maybe in another 5 years I’ll believe it.

[AussieWog93]

I use my Macbook for things other than dev work, and that's where Linux tends to fall flat. Weird hardware incompatibilities, jank, huge amounts of time required to maintain the machine rather than just getting work done.

Having to occasionally run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine to download some random low-userbase FOSS app is nothing compared to what Linux users go through.

[ferongr]

You won't appear as hip and fashionable amongst your CA/SV peers lugging a "generic" laptop around.