Ok Comboomer posted:

Unibody MacBooks are built like Volvo brick shithouses that you can wield as a weapon in a pinch—but I mean it when I say that the biggest danger you’ll encounter with them is drops and bumps.

I dented the corner of my old MacBook Air’s display dropping it off of my lap at work. Dropping a MacBook onto its hinge is a great way to gently caress up its ability to close properly without some expensive parts replacement

retpocileh posted:

Everywhere I go online people absolutely adore the 14" and seem to recommend it most frequently as the ideal laptop. I just wanted to add a contrasting perspective. I've had an 16" M1 Max for the last couple of years and I absolutely adore this thing. The extra screen real estate is really nice for whatever you're doing, especially while traveling. I spent about a year and a half traveling nonstop internationally and had zero times where I wished I had a smaller laptop or felt like it was too heavy, bulky etc. I'm also not a big guy.

My wife has an M2 air and I get the appeal. It's tiny and nimble and weightless, and she loves it for all those reasons.

I'm just saying that, if in your heart you really want that bigger screen, like I did, chances are you won't find it cumbersome.

If you do regret it, with the holiday return policy in effect, as long as you order online directly from Apple, any items received between November 3rd and December 25th, you have up until January 8th to return.

As for which processor and how much ram to get, unless you're doing a lot of local ML inference, running a bunch of VMs, or gaming, then just the lowest end 16" with 18 gigs of ram will be more than enough to keep your experience on the OS buttery smooth for years.

Ok Comboomer posted:

I’ve dailied a 15” 2013 Pro, which is arguably bigger than the current 16” model, for a decade and it’s never felt cumbersome or unreasonably big, but also I’m probably gonna switch to 14” for my soon-to-be new computer. Before the 15” I dailied a black Polycarb MacBook and then a 13” 2011 Air and I just love the sleekness of that form factor/general size.

Also, it sounds dumb, but Space Black 14” feels like the perfect synthesis of my favorite Macs from the past. I’ve been talking about the idea of a Son-of-BlackBook here for a fair bit now, but the 2013 is long enough in the tooth and Space Black is compelling enough of a finish to push me toward a buy soon.

You really can’t go wrong either way, but it’s probably worth seeing them in person if you can.

Macichne Leainig posted:

At what point should I be concerned about memory pressure?

Like my concern is that 18GB is not enough for my workload. Here's what it all looks like with what should be my heaviest set of dev tools running (Docker, WebStorm, PyCharm all at once).

It hasn't slowed down or anything but if I want to keep the computer for several years, my window for returning this one and buying a different one is closing.

Twerk from Home posted:

The bar is green, I wouldn't worry about it at all. Computers doing fine.

Are you running docker x86 via Rosetta or running ARM docker? My docker x86 experience was painfully slow before docker desktop updated to use Rosetta.

Macichne Leainig posted:

At what point should I be concerned about memory pressure?

Like my concern is that 18GB is not enough for my workload. Here's what it all looks like with what should be my heaviest set of dev tools running (Docker, WebStorm, PyCharm all at once).

It hasn't slowed down or anything but if I want to keep the computer for several years, my window for returning this one and buying a different one is closing.

I know the advice is basically "if you can afford it, go for it" but also if I'm being unreasonable and this memory pressure is fine then cool!

Macichne Leainig posted:

At what point should I be concerned about memory pressure?

Like my concern is that 18GB is not enough for my workload. Here's what it all looks like with what should be my heaviest set of dev tools running (Docker, WebStorm, PyCharm all at once).

It hasn't slowed down or anything but if I want to keep the computer for several years, my window for returning this one and buying a different one is closing.

I know the advice is basically "if you can afford it, go for it" but also if I'm being unreasonable and this memory pressure is fine then cool!

BUUNNI posted:

I mean it's useful for me to know that just having a browser open with Spotify playing music means half of the available RAM is being used.

Arivia posted:

But it’s not. Most of that RAM is precaching other stuff MacOS thinks you might use soon. It’s been that way for years now, close to a decade. Your RAM being used is not the same as having no free memory for when you actually open other applications to do poo poo.

mediaphage posted:

intensive apps is highly variable tho. 16 is fine for the vast majority (i think 8 is fine if you don’t do much besides browse the web like a normal person but it’s still insane that apple starts there)

like i can edit 40mp images with layers and poo poo in 16 gigs fine but i’d still argue that can be in intense task if i have a bunch and i’m doing some stitching or stacking

someone who is doing data analysis on a huge set will need more (my so has 128gigs on their imac)

complaining that 18gb is silly because your ram meter has mistakenly convinced you you’re running out of memory for spotify is dumb tho

BUUNNI posted:

I think you’re confusing or conflating two different users in your post. I don’t have 18GB of RAM and I never said I did.

mediaphage posted:

this started because you were decrying how terrible 18gb is to another poster then as an example in support of that assertion talked about staring at ram meters and getting an incorrect picture of how your computer uses ram

both of those are your posts

Hasturtium posted:

Yeah… I was surprised when the Monterey-running 2014 mini I was recently given showed memory usage of 4+ GB sitting at the desktop on a fresh boot, but prowling the activity monitor bore out that it’s just aggressively prebuffering for smoother performance. Good thing too, that little guy is pokey - it’s not far removed from the 2014 Air I had in grad school.

I’ve been talking about getting a Studio since they were first announced, and am finally close to pulling the trigger on a base model Max. But given how much less demanding I generally am of most hardware now, I’m tempted to just pick up a base M2 Pro mini for about $1200 at Micro Center instead. Most of its use case would be grinding through my entire backlog of physical media with Handbrake and possibly doing some low impact 4K30 editing of GoPro video. “If you can afford it, buy it” is good advice a lot of the time, but I just don’t know here. The Max would absolutely be all the machine I’d need for the next five years, minimum, I have no doubt there. But would the mini do the job?

BUUNNI posted:

That may be true but each person is going to use their computers differently. With 16GB of RAM I have definitely noticed that certain applications aren't very responsive when I need them to be, and I don't think the statement "8 or 18 GB of RAM isn't sufficient for really intensive applications" is controversial.

Opening a large CSV file with ~11 million rows with 16GB of RAM is a crapshoot sometimes on my Air. For someone that uses their computer for data analysis it can be a hinderance.

BUUNNI posted:

You are making very strange claims about the way I use my computer, I never said I stare at RAM meters but I do have a useful program that allows me to see my RAM usage and for the purposes of heavy-duty software usage my humble opinion is that 16 or 18 GB of RAM is not sufficient. It's nice that for your purposes you feel like you have more than sufficient memory but I was simply adding my experience to the discussion. There is no need to be so condescending to someone adding their thoughts on a thread about hardware. I've added an image showing my RAM usage just from running ArcGIS on Parallels and so people can more clearly see what I'm talking about. If you feel 8Gb of RAM is enough then so be it. There is no right or wrong answer for this because different people will have different experiences and perceptions.

BUUNNI posted:

Get more RAM. Trust me. 18 GB is a joke for a "pro" computer. I have 16 GB on my Air (which I truly enjoy using) but having the CPU/RAM usage on my top bar really opened my eyes to just how intensive some applications can be. Plus you'll be future-proofed and the Macbook will hold its resale value much better.

Kibner posted:

BUUNNI posted:

My eyes never leave the menu bar as I'm typing these posts

Arivia posted:

I didn't respond to you saying that at all. I just pointed out that going "oh no i used half the RAM with a single browser window playing spotify" is incorrect and misrepresenting how MacOS manages memory. Get the memory you need for your day to day tasks, your fun, your hobby or your job, but expecting a pure number like "40% of my RAM is full" is not how the OS works. Even your example image you posted of running ArcGIS on Parallels shows that, with none of the actual listings of memory being used matching up.

Basically stop janitoring your RAM and complaining that other people aren't janitoring their RAM like you are, because the way you are doing it doesn't even make any sense.

Arivia posted:

turn off your monitor

BUUNNI posted:

No one is complaining about janitoring their RAM usage, but 8 or 16GB of RAM just won't cut it for most intensive applications. This isn't controversial.

xgalaxy posted:

I was transferring from an old iPad to a new one tonight and it has been the most frustrating experience I’ve had in a long time.
This used to work flawlessly and now it’s riddled with bugs and it’s quite terrible.

But this is just my latest frustrations with Apple software. There all kinds of bugs littered everywhere. And it just keeps getting worse.

So much for the "Apple magic" these days.

xgalaxy posted:

I was transferring from an old iPad to a new one tonight and it has been the most frustrating experience I’ve had in a long time.
This used to work flawlessly and now it’s riddled with bugs and it’s quite terrible.

But this is just my latest frustrations with Apple software. There all kinds of bugs littered everywhere. And it just keeps getting worse.

So much for the "Apple magic" these days.

BUUNNI posted:

You are making very strange claims about the way I use my computer, I never said I stare at RAM meters but I do have a useful program that allows me to see my RAM usage and for the purposes of heavy-duty software usage my humble opinion is that 16 or 18 GB of RAM is not sufficient. It's nice that for your purposes you feel like you have more than sufficient memory but I was simply adding my experience to the discussion. There is no need to be so condescending to someone adding their thoughts on a thread about hardware. I've added an image showing my RAM usage just from running ArcGIS on Parallels and so people can more clearly see what I'm talking about. If you feel 8Gb of RAM is enough then so be it.

MarcusSA posted:

Anyone have a good recommendation for a 16 MBP carrying case? Really want something smaller that will hold the laptop, charger, mouse, and an extra cable.

I have water field case that I used with my 15 MBP but I never really cared for it. I'm willing to pay a bit more for something decent but not outrageous obviously.

Ok Comboomer posted:

would a padded sleeve that can go into something like a backpack/etc work? Because if so Herschel makes one that I really like.

MarcusSA posted:

Anyone have a good recommendation for a 16 MBP carrying case? Really want something smaller that will hold the laptop, charger, mouse, and an extra cable.

I have water field case that I used with my 15 MBP but I never really cared for it. I'm willing to pay a bit more for something decent but not outrageous obviously.

MarcusSA posted:

Yeah that could work I was just hoping to get something where I wouldn’t need a backpack.

Link the sleeve though!

Well I still need a sleeve because I just ordered this lmao

https://saddlebackleather.com/15-grandfather-briefcase/

I've been eyeballing it since it was released and it's a decent price cut.

MarcusSA posted:

Anyone have a good recommendation for a 16 MBP carrying case? Really want something smaller that will hold the laptop, charger, mouse, and an extra cable.

I have water field case that I used with my 15 MBP but I never really cared for it. I'm willing to pay a bit more for something decent but not outrageous obviously.