It just works

[MBAir2010]

the battery life on the new MacBook's are incredible, even the PCers are drooling over this feature.
as far as that aspect making the MacBook "better" depends on the user.
i need to install drivers on the Dell XPS this morning and need to find and install "battery balance" so I can squeeze 9 hours of baseball watching while using the laptop in a screened porch today. this feature would be included in BigSur.
oh
as far as "It Just Works!" does not apply to windows 10, I needed to install drivers, one just to read a micro SD card.
maybe that is better because in the future, there might be a better driver for the Dell an di have a choice.

 

[Steve Adams]

The MBP 13 M1 gets approx 13 hrs of battery life in real world useage, not the 16 claimed by apple etc since that's with everything turned off and down. The xps 3910 get 11 hrs running the same setup and programs. Hardly DOUBLE. and hardly worth crowing about. Leave apples and the reviewers nonsense specs out of it and go by what real people are seeing.

I get up to 8 hrs on my cheap small battery dell inspiron with screen on full brightness depending on what I am doing. 13 - 8 is NOT 8 the last time I checked.

 

[MBAir2010]

Just for the record, the Dell XPS 9380 gets (just unplugged) 7hr45min running bose sound touch software, battery saver at best battery life, wifi internet and 4 other apps running. last month the longest was 4 hours.
now i have 8rhs-25min left?

 

[Steve Adams]

Yes, and the 9310 gets better battery life. Around 11 hrs with screen bright and doing normal computer applications.

 

[09872738]

The MBP 13 M1 gets approx 13 hrs of battery life in real world useage, not the 16 claimed by apple etc since

your claim. How‘s it I get 15 hrs each day. Real world usage. Sure, YOU know better about MY experience. SUUURE you do. Tell me now, who‘s on cool aid?

 

[I7guy]

You guys get good battery life. I have an asus laptop with the 4720hq processor that is now a few years old. If I get 4 hours, I’m lucky. However I run virtual machines and want to get the best performance, so I run on balanced.

What are your use cases that allow for 10+ hours of battery life?

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

For me its windows on desktop and MacOS on laptops.
Till the butterfly keyboard epoch I sold my apple laptops and used only win 10.
Although I tried quite a lot of windows machines (surface pro, surface book 2, 3x lenovo thinkpad, msi, huawei matebook x pro, lg gramm '15) each and every one created me software headaches ... usually after some win update.
So I am happily back to mac. My M1 MBP 16/512 does everything I need and the battery life is truly stellar.
On the other hand, on desktop I stay with windows.
What is curious, is that I had no major issues with windows on desktop in the last 10 years. When windows works, it is a superior os (at least compatibility wise) and easy to use. The problem is that I wasn't able to make it work consistently on laptops.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Laptops ... Macbooks all the way.
Desktop ... Custom PC is my preference, Windows 10 is great on desktop.



Reasons why I choose MacBooks:

I never had or played with a PC laptop yet, that has a trackpad as good as MBs.

MBs have the absolute best Sleep battery life. Yes, there might be several PC laptop models that might have better onscreen battery life. But Sleep/Standby battery life is no contest.

I've had tons of PC laptops and tons of MBPs, which now the MBA M1 is my first MBA. I only ever had one issue with a
MBP 2015 15', and that was with the screen coating, which Apple replaced for free and I didn't have issues afterwards. I've had tons of issues with multiple brands and models of PC laptops, from everything you can think of. Apple and ASUS are truly the only ones I trust when it comes to build quality.

Resale and trade in value is amazing with MBs, and completely horrible with PC laptops. This doesn't even need an explanation.

This isn't really a reason of my choice, but MBs/MacOS is just more easier to use and stable. A couple years ago I bought my mother and aunt MBAs, and haven't got a call from them about any laptop issues since, with the exception of teaching them how to manage their photos. And they were not coming from cheap low spec PC laptops.

Occasionally, Windows updates gets in my way, and always at the wrong damn time. And no matter what your settings are to prolong it or schedule it, unless you completely disable it, it will slap you in the face unexpectedly when you need your laptop urgently. Thankfully, SSDs have greatly improved the updating speed.

With a few exceptions, the Metro side (if that's what it's still called) of Windows sucks. The settings on the Metro UI is redundant of the control panel, and sometimes conflicts with control panel settings. Shouldn't have to make sure settings on both sides are consistent with each other. The Metro Windows app store is also complete trash, with the exception of the Xbox app, Email app, and a few games. And no matter how fast your PC is, the Metro part of Windows is just so much slower. I understand MS wants to make things more user friendly and touchscreen friendly, but they should ditch the Metro UI and just focus on redesigning Windows. The Metro UI of Windows is much more tolerable on a desktop vs a laptop with a smaller display. Which IMO defeats the purpose MS intended.

I just don't trust video rendering on Windows (laptop or desktop) while multitasking. Doesn't matter how low or high spec the Windows machine is. From my own experience, if multitasking while exporting a video from any video editing software, you run a risk of a bad export. Whether it's too many dropped frames, audio sync issues, or complete corruption. Doesn't happen all the time while multitasking, but often enough that I make sure to quit all my apps/programs before I export. Never had this issue on a Mac, even in the early days of OSX. I can render audio and video from two separate programs while browsing on chrome with no issues.

The ability to use iOS/iPadOS apps natively on M1 chip macs. So far the apps I'm using are Wyze, Etrade, Lotto, Amplifi and Speedtest. They work flawlessly 99% of the time, and very convenient. Truly the beginnings of a game changer.

The desktop on MacOS is easier to customize without 3rd party apps. Changing Desktop icons on Windows and getting them to stay that way can be a hassle. Then there's that shortcut arrow you have to get rid of, which will eventually come back after an update or two. Something this simple as shown in the pic, would be hard to do and keep in place on Windows without some 3rd party app, and would still revert back to the original folder or app icon eventually. On my Desktop Windows PC, I don't care about changing icons or text location. But on my laptops, I get anal about having a clean custom look.

If you have to reinstall Windows from scratch, you have to make sure to save all the drivers from the manufacturer site, especially if the laptop has unique hardware features. And sometimes the drivers from the manufacturer don't even install properly. Leaving you with a bunch of troubleshooting and possibly another reinstall just to get things right. Then there's countless Windows updates you have to get out the way. This is expected on my custom PC desktop, but can't stand going through this on a Windows laptop. With MacBooks, you just install and you're good to go.


Finding a laptop PC that checks all or most the boxes is hard. From display, build quality, battery life, price, specs, manufacturer software, and etc. There's always something. At least with MBs, I know what I'm getting and sacrificing.

 

[LeeW]

your claim. How‘s it I get 15 hrs each day. Real world usage. Sure, YOU know better about MY experience. SUUURE you do. Tell me now, who‘s on cool aid?

My daughter who is a PE teacher and uses an M1 MBA for lots of Zoom calls and many other tasks has stopped taking her charger to School. She says it gives her a solid 13 hours daily with battery left before she charges for the next day.

Her Asus Zenbook which cost just £50 less than the MBA got her 6 hours tops. So yeah, a significant improvement.

 

[09872738]

My daughter who is a PE teacher and uses an M1 MBA for lots of Zoom calls and many other tasks has stopped taking her charger to School. She says it gives her a solid 13 hours daily with battery left before she charges for the next day.

Her Asus Zenbook which cost just £50 less than the MBA got her 6 hours tops. So yeah, a significant improvement.

Teacher as well (CS). I also stopped bringing a charger. My colleages on Dell XPS 13s and HP Laptops make it just close to half my battery runtime - in case they don‘t stress their machines. So yes, it is indeed that efficient.

 

[09872738]

You guys get good battery life. I have an asus laptop with the 4720hq processor that is now a few years old. If I get 4 hours, I’m lucky. However I run virtual machines and want to get the best performance, so I run on balanced.

What are your use cases that allow for 10+ hours of battery life?

I teach computer science in higher education. Lots of Keynote/Powerpoint, Word. Programming exercises (C, C++, Java, C#).
Some classes require VMs - currently using the Parallels Preview running Windows/Arm and Kali Linux.
MS Teams running in background, plus a lot of team meetings

 

[ADGrant]

It's a saying I've heard about mac's and Linux as well but I don't know. I'm still in the flip flopping phase and trying to work some stuff out before I actually buy. My beef with my Linux systems is lack of support for what I want to do with it, creative stuff like photography. Sure can be done but not sure I'd trust the box to bring in cash especially if it's a creative thing, which leaves the other two major operating systems.

If you needed a system / computer / OS for your bread and butter, to not fail when you need it, what would you do? Back in the day I remember mac's used to be what one would get, "they just work" but what about for actual work?

Don't really have to be portable but could be, would need ports especially for drives. Windows irks me, it's also very not very secure, really need to pay attention, which is good, but don't want to get ransomwared. Mac's more secure but limited stuff I can do with it.

Linux secure as well, also more limited what I can do, but it's an uphill battle to learn it and get anywhere.

What "it just works" is going to work best? Windows would probably do everything, but...

If you want a "Linux like" OS with support for "creative stuff like photography", you should stick with MacOS. Has all those creative apps and its unix underneath. Supports the same shells as Linux and most of the commands are almost identical. Running docker on the MacOS command line feels exactly the same as doing the same thing on linux. Same with all the other command line stuff.

 

[MBAir2010]

You guys get good battery life. I have an asus laptop with the 4720hq processor that is now a few years old. If I get 4 hours, I’m lucky. However I run virtual machines and want to get the best performance, so I run on balanced.

What are your use cases that allow for 10+ hours of battery life?

the Dell XPS has battery balance software i need to reinstall, or maybe not-its better!
in windows 10 there is battery settings that can add hours to your battery, depending on usage and settings
i never used my Dell XPS non-work and unplugged until this year so the battery tho 2 years old, is relatively new.

 

[MBAir2010]

I never had or played with a PC laptop yet, that has a trackpad as good as MBs.

the Dell XPS trackpad has the same feel and actions as a MacBook air

and
you made some good points, but some aspects you stated did not prove true in my experiences this week while installing a new ssd drive in the dell XPS.
I did a fresh reinstall windows from scratch and the install was easy, and uncluttered compared to the 30 time machines install i performed. yes i did upload 10 drivers, but that went smoothly.
time machine dumps everything and takes too long compared to windows 10

you also forgot to include very important issues such as
that i can swap a ssd drive if i want to, and the Dell XPS is not disposable like every MacBook made since 2017? were they can't be upgrade. heck even Dell had large arrow where to take out the screws (real screws Phillips head) they don't mind me upgrading MY laptop- apple support forums always deletes my advice on fixing MacBook air.s

I'm happy you love the MacBook M1 and i was going to purchase that, but don't trust apple's short leash on supporting and upgrading their products, which is very important, to me.

this reply is in good nature and not a conflict between laptops, instead informative from my experience on installing windows 10 in 2012.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

the Dell XPS trackpad has the same feel and actions as a MacBook air

and
you made some good points, but some aspects you stated did not prove true in my experiences this week while installing a new ssd drive in the dell XPS.
I did a fresh reinstall windows from scratch and the install was easy, and uncluttered compared to the 30 time machines install i performed. yes i did upload 10 drivers, but that went smoothly.
time machine dumps everything and takes too long compared to windows 10

you also forgot to include very important issues such as
that i can swap a ssd drive if i want to, and the Dell XPS is not disposable like every MacBook made since 2017? were they can't be upgrade. heck even Dell had large arrow where to take out the screws (real screws Phillips head) they don't mind me upgrading MY laptop- apple support forums always deletes my advice on fixing MacBook air.s

I'm happy you love the MacBook M1 and i was going to purchase that, but don't trust apple's short leash on supporting and upgrading their products, which is very important, to me.

this reply is in good nature and not a conflict between laptops, instead informative from my experience on installing windows 10 in 2012.

Yes, Time Machine is snail like slow when restoring over wireless network, but backups are no worries. Especially if you had it on auto backup during your usage. Luckily, restoring is fast when directly connected to an external drive. My backups go to my NAS, so I quickly copy the backup from my NAS to an external drive, then restore direct from external drive. Regardless, Apple should still do something about the speed when restoring from a wireless network.

I know what I'm sacrificing or gaining before I buy. This is why I love the resale and trade-in value of MBs.

If I was someone that keep laptops longer than 3 years, then yea, upgradability would be one of my major concerns. But it's actually cheaper for me to keep selling or trading-in for new, cause even on Windows laptops, upgrading the CPU and GPU is damn near impossible on a consumer level. And even if you're skilled enough to do that, you'll probably need a custom bios. Internal storage and memory upgrades can only take you so far.

 

[LeeW]

If I was someone that keep laptops longer than 3 years, then yea, upgradability would be one of my major concerns. But it's actually cheaper for me to keep selling or trading-in for new

Indeed, one of the major plus point for Apple laptops. The resale values are always good enough to make it more worth while to renew instead of upgrade. Never found that on the majority of Windows-based machines.

 

[MBAir2010]

the disposable laptop and other products is why I switched from Apple full time and ventured to Dell
and Windows this year because i'm one of the few who thinks things should last forever
especially somethings that are not great environmentally wise with all that recycling no matter how ALL companies lie and brag. My Macbook from 2010 should function for another 10 years no matter what schemes those Cupertino schmucks are brainass-storming to prevent this time frame as I type this.

anyways,
why does music sound fuller through windows 10 (groove music) compared to itunes?
I hear and feel more instruments and fuller bass listening to Crowded House through a Bose Soundtouch and notice a big difference. and launching the album took 1 second to the speaker. there was too many obstacles listening to a song through iTunes.

 

[ADGrant]

I used all modern OS'es. I find windows 10 the best out of all of them. Sure MacOS got little swirly animations etc, But, for ease of use, forward thinking and modern thinking, Win10 has them all beat. MacOS looks and operates basically the same with not MAJOR changes to the overall UI since I had my 2007 macbook. My son now has a MB air with Big Sur on it and I see no real difference in functionality and the backwards thinking is still there "just to be different" from windows.

I am a marketing specialist, photographer and videographer as my profession. I spend countless hours editing everything and creating graphics etc and my dell desktop chews right through it. My notebook is a little slower at the tasks as its a lower spec'ed 2 in 1 which I wanted to sit down with clients, have it in tent mode to show them things etc.
MacOS needs to modernize and for gods sake, embrace touch.

True, MS has added a lot of lipstick to their pig but underneath all that lipstick it is still a pig. 32bit apps are still a thing on Windows (even some of Microsoft's own applications). The registry still exists. It still has drive letters even though no PC has an A or B drive anymore (they were for the floppy disks). The standard command line still feels like MS-DOS from 1983. The native UI APIs are still C based.

MS has been working hard to fix some of the issues. They have been working on Linux integration for a while now. They seem to have given up on their original idea though and have switched to conventional virtualization.

Windows biggest advantage over MacOS is it runs on so much different hardware allowing people to build their own PCs. All that GPU and custom hardware support makes Windows the high end gaming platform.

 

[ADGrant]

I tend to steer people clear of Macs due to a couple of reasons.
First the price - Most people don't need to spend nearly 3,000 dollars on a laptop (MBP) and the MBA generally wasn't equipped to a point where it was beneficial. I remember a friend who had a Mac had one of those "ah ha" moments when he was ready to buy a new mac and he's like why should I spend 3k when I can spend 1/2 that for something just as good.

Second reason - Tech support, no not Apple's but me. I don't want to be tied to that family member/friend when he's trying to do something on the Mac when he knows how to do it on a PC. With a PC they'll know what to do and how to do it. I'd rather not turn into the Mac guy that can help you all the time

There's now a third reason - the immaturity of the ARM platform why pay apple to beta test a revision 1 product. How long will apple allow Rosetta 2 to be supported? Correct me if I'm wrong but when Rosetta goes away doesn't emulated windows support or is that something different?

Interesting. I tend to steer people to Macs because I know they will come to me for help anyway and I would rather deal with MacOS problems than Windows problems. Worst case I can tell them to go to the Genius Bar.

BTW you are incorrect in believing that Windows support has anything to do with Rosetta, it does not. Windows on ARM is Microsoft's product and Microsoft's problem. Personally, I would stay away from Windows on ARM and stick to Intel Macs if I want Windows on my Mac.

 

[jeyf]

apple is trying to stuff some very medium quality hardware into a premium market.

 

[I7guy]

I teach computer science in higher education. Lots of Keynote/Powerpoint, Word. Programming exercises (C, C++, Java, C#).
Some classes require VMs - currently using the Parallels Preview running Windows/Arm and Kali Linux.
MS Teams running in background, plus a lot of team meetings

So is your laptop screen on 10+ hours a day with active work being performed, or does the battery last you 10 hours elapsed time, with the laptop in sleep mode most of it.

For example, can you watch youtube videos for 10+ hours in maximum resolution?

 

[09872738]

So is your laptop screen on 10+ hours a day with active work being performed, or does the battery last you 10 hours elapsed time, with the laptop in sleep mode most of it.

For example, can you watch youtube videos for 10+ hours in maximum resolution?

Its actual use. I use the machine e.g. for presentations in class, pretty much always on (full screen plus beamer). Most days (7.35 to 16.05) remaining battery is just short of 50 % (40-50%) when leaving the school.
As for the youtube question: did not try, gimme some time and I‘ll test that. Based on recent experience I assume its very possible

 

[I7guy]

Its actual use. I use the machine e.g. for presentations in class, pretty much always on (full screen plus beamer). Most days (7.35 to 16.05) remaining battery is just short of 50 % (40-50%) when leaving the wchool.
As for the youtube question: did not try, gimme some time and I‘ll test that. Based on recent experience I assume its very possible

Thanks for the response. I really wasn’t asking you to test YouTube videos, but it’s an example of an use case that uses wifi, decoding, keeping the screen on and processor going….all things that can stress the battery.

Whatever the case, I’m jealous.

 

[MBAir2010]

Yup, these M1 MacBooks feature incredible battery life!
i saw a video of someone running non-stop video on the MacBook Pro in December and that lasted over 20 hours.

not to sound negative,
but
that would suck if the life of battery ran out as in 1-2 years to supplement these long times and need to be replaced.
I would not put this past apple because when you are the King, ya can do anything!

 

[Steve Adams]

You guys get good battery life. I have an asus laptop with the 4720hq processor that is now a few years old. If I get 4 hours, I’m lucky. However I run virtual machines and want to get the best performance, so I run on balanced.

What are your use cases that allow for 10+ hours of battery life?

Your battery may be weak now and ready for a replacement. I worked my battery hard in this laptop and cycled it every day. It lasted 3 years. Once I was getting 4-5 hrs of runtime instead of the 7-8 plus I was getting when it was new I just bought a new battery and got my runtime back. That was a couple of years ago and I have been much nicer to this battery and it's still kicking out good numbers. But swapping my battery takes 30 mins at most. That included going to my mail box up the road to get the battery.