had my M1 for 7 months, ssd writes are 12gb per day, light user, 3 or 4 tabs open all day long, web browsing, texts, emails, numbers, games. a couple of beachballs after a restart, but other than that, not one single problem to report. but reading the negative posts, all I can think is that......."the sky is falling, the sky is falling!"
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Don't Understand?
- Thread starter drdudj
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Probably work? I've got over 30 tabs open in my browser right now and there's teams, different other urls and different tickets, which I need.
I’m with you on some people trying to do too much on with an entry level model like gaming and 8K video editing, but having a ton of browser tabs open isn’t really a big deal? My iphone alone must have around 200 tabs open—granted, it’s completely different material to the tabs I have open on my MBA which, tbf, has 16gb RAM.
For example, when writing papers, it’s really easy to rack up tabs from doing research. Usually, I have a minimum of 5-10 tabs open anyway. Then when I really get into a workflow, I might open up another dozen tabs. Then sometimes I forget to close them, or I think I might go back to it again frequently, or I am keeping them to look at later. Sometimes I’ll have tabs open in multiple browsers. I’m a little better about closing tabs on macs because I know they can get RAM hungry, but on iphone I’ve kept tabs open for years, including tabs I had open on the previous iphone 😂.
I'm not sure why some people find it bothersome that others of us find it efficient to work with multiple tabs.
On a laptop especially with a lack of screen real estate, tabs can be a lifesaver...
On a laptop especially with a lack of screen real estate, tabs can be a lifesaver...
So, you're really not "just curious" and it's really not that you "don't understand". You're actually critical of the people who have 30 tabs open. You agree with the post you're responding to, that people do that to feel important.
I can't imagine feeling important when I'm struggling to understand something (like some software thing or which kitchen cabinets to buy) and I leave 20 or more tabs open to quickly jump around between them. I usually feel inadequate and confused. And, I usually do have tons of other programs open because I use my computer for my job.
In your opening post, you touched on the capabilities of the MacBook Air. But, that was just preface to your question about why people use their computers a certain way. But, in the end it wasn't a sincere question; it was just a bit of a rant.
so now you're going to tell me what I was thinking, as if there was a hidden intent to my post, when in fact you couldn't be farther from the truth. I truly was curious as to why people would have 30 to 60 tabs open, run numerous programs at the same time, and in most cases complain about the MacBook Air M1 not performing up to the standards they assume it should be able to handle. as to the Macs, isn't the MacBook Air M1 basically an entry level laptop, regardless of how it performs? and I could care less how many tabs a person has open, have a 100 tabs open, have every program on your laptop open, if that's what you need for work, entertainment or whatever, that's great. I just don't get it, especially when some of these people complain about beach balling, high ssd writes, high ram usage. sell your vw bug and buy a 'vette if you want to go faster.
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Not sure what "now" means as this was my first post.
You said "Now that makes more sense than anything else I've read so far.", regarding people feeling important as a reason to have multiple tabs open. If you were just joking around then I apologize. Come to think of it, perhaps the person you were responding to was just joking around.
It really is a silly idea that people keep tabs open just to feel important.
Your original post was kinda hard to decipher. I took me a few reads to understand what you were getting at. The first time though it did sound like a wandering "I hate everything and everyone" rant. Might want to edit it a bit. That's probably why you're getting some responses that seem unnecessarily barbed or directed at the wrong person.
I consider myself a power user to some extent, having used many computers, tried all form factors, always running beta softwares, using machines powered 12 hours a day, including experiencing gaming, from casual to building my own rig. I tried them all. Machines that are becoming more and more useful as they are more and more parts of my generated income. I rarely use Safari with more than 6 active tabs, and I browse the web a lot. I known what I need and what I don't need.
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some take offense to me asking a simple question, "can someone explain to me why someone would need 60 tabs open at one time?" I understand that some people have different reasons; research, work, or just because, but it seems to me that it would be easier/quicker to open the web page as you need it via bookmarks, instead of scrolling through 60 tabs to find that one web page. it seems that no matter what kind of a question you ask in forums like this, you are always going to get some people who find something wrong with you asking that question. not long after joining this forum I asked a Mac related question about something I knew nothing about, and one of the replies was that I shouldn't post questions like that, instead I should research it on my own. after a couple of exchanges with this person I was warned about trying to cause problems. oh well, life goes on...........for now
The responses are not from asking the question, but read your OP objectively and look at all the phrasing around your "question."
To be honest, it reads to me more like a rant. Paraphrasing but "I'm not a power user", "If you don't use your computer the way I do you're doing it wrong", "You're stupid for buying a base model computer if you use it that way" and all of this loaded stuff hinging on the way many of us choose to use our computers.
BTW, back in March of 2012 I bought my first Mac, a base model 13" late 2011 Macbook Pro. It had 4gb RAM and a 500gb 5400rpm drive. I did upgrade to 8gb in a few months, but I didn't have issues then using tabs pretty much the same way I do now.
I should also mention that Macs have changed a lot since then. Many people who were halfway tech savvy bought their MBPs with the base amount of RAM because Apple charged you $200 for an upgrade that was about $50 to do yourself and took 15 minutes(and if you wanted to spend $200 you could 16gb, which was more than Apple officially sanctioned for those computers). Also, the crummy HDD could be replaced by a bigger/faster one for $100, or you could put a better SSD in than Apple would sell you for about half the cost for a given capacity.
Now, you decide ALL of this upfront, and many people don't realize until too late that they bought the wrong computer for their needs. The situation with M1s hasn't been helped by the piles of reviews out there saying "8gb is fine for everyone."
(typed from my M1 MBP 8gb/512gb that's been beating up its SSD since February because I pretty much had to buy it through Best Buy and could only get 8gb from them).
The NAND cells basically lose their ability to retain a charge after so many write cycles. It's well documented and can cause failure. Reading, AFAIK, doesn't hurt them but writing doe.s.
So, what are you trying to say?
BTW, Apple has put themselves out on a limb saying M1 is the way of the future. You do state
That suggests to me that you don't think power users should buy the latest and greatest Apple has to offer
You also say
That's NOT consistent with most any review you find on it. There are people doing photo and video editing and other demanding stuff on the M1, Air and Pro both.
BTW, photo editing for me is great now that Adobe finally quit dragging their rears and made Lightroom native. It was miserable before that.
There's also this gem
Which by implication suggests to me that you think people buying, again, the well reviewed latest and greatest computer from Apple, are stupid since you imply(actually don't imply, say) that you were "smart enough to realize."
Finally you wrap it up with this
Which makes this entire thing read like a massive rant to me.
So, there again, I'm not sure what this whole thing was saying other than ranting about other people not using their computers the way you do.
Also, more than once, I've seen people the term "power user" in what almost seems like a derisive way. Truth be told it's a very ambiguous term...
I know what my intent was with what I posted. you are reading something that isn't there, but that's your point of view, which you are entitled to. enjoy the rest of your day.
For temporary stuff you add the page to the Reading List instead of creating a bookmark (Keep a Reading List in Safari on Mac).
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Yes, but it wasn't clear to many others, myself included. What @bunnspecial said was exactly how your initial post read to me.
There’s no need to be pissy at people who are merely trying to point out that you weren't coming across the way you intended to come across.
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my original post copied below. 1st paragraph: some of the complaints that have been posted in this forum about the MacBook Air M1.
2nd paragraph: I'm a casual user, and in needing a new laptop I read the reviews about the MacBook Air M1 and based on these reviews I knew that this entry level M1 laptop would meet my needs.
3rd paragraph: a lot of the posts complaining about the MacBook Air M1 were from users who I call "power" users; people who not only use their computer for work but also for creating/editing videos, music, photos, extensive research, etc., etc.. if I was one of these "power" users I would never have considered buying the MacBook Air M1.
last paragraph: I honestly had no idea why any one would need to have 30 to 60 tabs open at one time. that was an honest question. several replied with answers that helped me better understand, but for the most part it still doesn't make much sense to me. but I wasn't putting anyone down because of how many tabs they have open.
MacBook Air M1...the ongoing discussion/debate, the pros/cons of the excessive ssd writes, high memory usage, not enough ports, and it's inability to let you have five different programs open, not counting the 2 or 3 browsers you have open with 60 tabs.
now I'm not a computer expert, a novice apple user having switched over from 26 years of windows, but I think I'm smart enough to realize that when I was looking for a new computer, specifically a laptop, that I could have gone with the MacBook Pro at over $4K, if that was what my needs required. but as a casual user; emails, messages, numbers, pages, web browsing, photos and a few games, my needs were met with the M1.
seems like most of the users who complain about the MacBook Air M1 are power users, those with 60 tabs open while they are doing video editing, while at the same time playing an online game while balancing their check book. why would this person even consider buying the M1?
compare it to car shopping. if you wanted a luxury car that had all the bells & whistles, why would you settle for a chevy spark when you should have bought the Cadillac Escalade ESV Premium.
then when the M1 doesn't do what you wanted it to do, you complain, rag on it, when you knew from reading all the reviews about it prior to it hitting the market that it was basically only a killer unit for the casual user.
I don't really understand why someone would need 30 tabs open in their browser? Seriously, can someone explain that to me
2nd paragraph: I'm a casual user, and in needing a new laptop I read the reviews about the MacBook Air M1 and based on these reviews I knew that this entry level M1 laptop would meet my needs.
3rd paragraph: a lot of the posts complaining about the MacBook Air M1 were from users who I call "power" users; people who not only use their computer for work but also for creating/editing videos, music, photos, extensive research, etc., etc.. if I was one of these "power" users I would never have considered buying the MacBook Air M1.
last paragraph: I honestly had no idea why any one would need to have 30 to 60 tabs open at one time. that was an honest question. several replied with answers that helped me better understand, but for the most part it still doesn't make much sense to me. but I wasn't putting anyone down because of how many tabs they have open.
MacBook Air M1...the ongoing discussion/debate, the pros/cons of the excessive ssd writes, high memory usage, not enough ports, and it's inability to let you have five different programs open, not counting the 2 or 3 browsers you have open with 60 tabs.
now I'm not a computer expert, a novice apple user having switched over from 26 years of windows, but I think I'm smart enough to realize that when I was looking for a new computer, specifically a laptop, that I could have gone with the MacBook Pro at over $4K, if that was what my needs required. but as a casual user; emails, messages, numbers, pages, web browsing, photos and a few games, my needs were met with the M1.
seems like most of the users who complain about the MacBook Air M1 are power users, those with 60 tabs open while they are doing video editing, while at the same time playing an online game while balancing their check book. why would this person even consider buying the M1?
compare it to car shopping. if you wanted a luxury car that had all the bells & whistles, why would you settle for a chevy spark when you should have bought the Cadillac Escalade ESV Premium.
then when the M1 doesn't do what you wanted it to do, you complain, rag on it, when you knew from reading all the reviews about it prior to it hitting the market that it was basically only a killer unit for the casual user.
I don't really understand why someone would need 30 tabs open in their browser? Seriously, can someone explain that to me
The SSD writes is definitely a concern, especially for someone like me who expect a computer to last for 10 years or so. It wasn't a problem for many older computers because you can replace the drive, but the M1 is different. Without ability for the crucial part to be replaced due to wear-n-tear, the high SSD writes become a valid concern.
And no, having many browsing tabs open is actually normal for even casual users. You don't even have to do anything fancy. Just use Google services and you will be opening up many tabs whenever you switch to a different Google app without even trying. With so many things are cloud based nowadays, having so many tabs is expected as for some people, all the things they need use a browser. So these stupidly insane high SSD writes is ridiculous imo. I mean why do the system even need to do that? I think there was a post about Safari doing some crazy caching for even closed out tabs that you don't need anymore.
The lack of transparency from Apple made things worse. I mean they are literally silent about many issues. Why? Why can't they at least have a conversation with their own paying customers? No, let's shut those who asked and charge people more money for repairs instead. I don't get it. This is worse in markets like my country where Apple doesn't have an official presence. Their worsening customer services is only augmented by the bad official distributors who only cares about selling stuff, not supporting it. It's as iff Apple stopped caring because they are so big now.
On the bright side, I heard that the latest Big Sur have at least fixed the issue, hopefully.
And no, having many browsing tabs open is actually normal for even casual users. You don't even have to do anything fancy. Just use Google services and you will be opening up many tabs whenever you switch to a different Google app without even trying. With so many things are cloud based nowadays, having so many tabs is expected as for some people, all the things they need use a browser. So these stupidly insane high SSD writes is ridiculous imo. I mean why do the system even need to do that? I think there was a post about Safari doing some crazy caching for even closed out tabs that you don't need anymore.
The lack of transparency from Apple made things worse. I mean they are literally silent about many issues. Why? Why can't they at least have a conversation with their own paying customers? No, let's shut those who asked and charge people more money for repairs instead. I don't get it. This is worse in markets like my country where Apple doesn't have an official presence. Their worsening customer services is only augmented by the bad official distributors who only cares about selling stuff, not supporting it. It's as iff Apple stopped caring because they are so big now.
On the bright side, I heard that the latest Big Sur have at least fixed the issue, hopefully.
I don't think we're ever going to get to the bottom of whether your post was a rant or a serious question. It simply might be that we can't hear your tone of voice. I add a tone of voice when I read your post; I hear criticism. Specifically, I hear exasperation in the sentence "Seriously, can someone explain that to me".
"Could someone please explain to me how anyone can believe the earth is flat". Add an exclamation point at the end if you want other voices to join in the ridicule of flat-earthers. Add a question mark at the end if you're considering joining the movement but just need some convincing.
I didn't react to your opening post because it was hard to be sure about your intentions. When you seconded the opinion that people do it because they want to feel important, it revealed a bias towards criticism; it seemed you had already started to conclude that there really is no reasonable explanation even though you seemed to be asking for one. That is how I read it; I got mad.
Your reply "Now that makes more sense than anything else I've read so far.", to the comment that people keep multiple tabs open to feel important, is something you cannot take back. Just earlier a couple of people gave real explanations of why they keep many tabs open. You were silent on those contributions. But, you quickly responded to the derisive comment, seeming to agree with it. To me, your comment is the smoking gun that betrays you and exposes your frame of mind.
I don't think it's a rule on this forum that the poster has to reply to everyone's response to their post. in fact I know it's not a rule, I've read other people's posts and they don't reply to everyone's responses. did you read my 2nd post in this thread on page 1? probably not. and you are right when you say "tone of voice" but when it is the written word you don't know what the tone is. what you "heard" is not what I said.