I’m looking for an Apple MacBook Air M2 alternative that could run Linux.

I need something fanless, super lightweight with very long battery life. The only apps I use are Shotcut video editor, Chrome and Firefox.

Any advice?

Is it a good idea to get a MacBook Air m2 and use something like Asahi Linux or should I wait for arm linux laptops to become available.

    • ReallyZen@lemmy.ml
      0·
      8 months ago

      With the advent of the m3, m2’s and m1’s still in inventory can be a steal, particularly 'Air macs which can be sub-1k easy. My mbp m2pro 16g was 1500. I’m not impressed by real-life macos performance tho, a lot of it is impressive in parts (blender rendering for instance) but everyday life is just the same… Yes, the same hanging Color Wheel Of Doom.

      I hope your 5k investment isn’t having sound playback hiccups because dropbox is trying to log in and refresh in the background. I am actually furious with the 10% of the time I have to use macos on this machine.

    • Cwilliams@beehaw.org
      0·
      8 months ago

      My budget for laptops has always been <$350. Why are you willing to spend so much on a laptop?

      • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
        0·
        8 months ago

        Cheap, or second hand laptops, aren’t as good as new laptops. Whether the difference is worth it is a matter of opinion, but the difference between a $350 machine and a $3500 machine is extremely obvious.

        • flashgnash@lemm.ee
          0·
          8 months ago

          If it’s a ThinkPad second hand can be just as good if not better than new/modern I’ve found

      • kunaltyagi@programming.dev
        0·
        8 months ago

        If it’s a revenue generating machine, the impact of 10 or 20% improvement in day to day could recoup the additional cost in a few months or a year.

        Similarly, for someone who travels a lot, having a useful battery life of 8-10 hours of internet+video playback allows a work routine that is worry free wrt charging and this allows tighter travel schedules.

        Ofc, this isn’t the case every time, but this creates anchor effect on several segments of the market. This also doesn’t include the extra cost of “luxury” aka thin and light or small bezels.

        350 USD is perfectly fine if you don’t need a ton of battery life or color accurate screen or multimedia or multicore workloads. If you need any of this, most of the options get pricier than 700 USD. It’s not uncommon to have to shell out 1500 USD or more for the desired specs.