Video Review: Two Months With the M4 MacBook Air

[Fowl]

It's a nice computer. I'd like it better if the USB ports were on opposite sides, not both on the same side.
The only slight slowness I ever notice is due to drive speeds. There are SSDs now that are up to 3x faster, but Apple puts those only in the Pro Max models. Oh well.

 

[seek3r]

NO. leave macOS alone! finder.app, disk utility, having multiple apps open at once, and terminal and all that are the last good things in modern computing

we dont want an iphone or ipad and the reloading full screen app BS. go away!

I like Finder’s UI but its disk handling is terrible, so is handling network volumes, and its performance can tank in an instant or hang (see: disk handling). There’s a lot of chunks of finder that desperately need work under the hood

 

[entropys]

Loving my 24GB 2TB sky blue 15 inch upgrade from my 2015 MBA.

Awesome buy.

 

[bluecoast]

this is my greatest fear

much prefer macOS be left alone

Yeah a good point. I should clarify my remarks.

What I mean is, instead of grafting things like launchpad and stage manager onto macOS, for Apple to profoundly think about what it is that makes the macOS desktop different from its other platforms and celebrate those differences - but create bridges to the other platforms so the experience of using macOS doesn’t feel alien to an iPhone user.

A bit long winded but hopefully you get my point.

So that might mean:

A ux that looks and feels like the iPhone and iPadOS but is distinctly macOS in all of its complexity.

Apps found on the iPhone work the same on macOS.

But macOS allowed to run a wide variety of software with unix tools very much still under the hood for those that want them.

 

[bluecoast]

NO. leave macOS alone! finder.app, disk utility, having multiple apps open at once, and terminal and all that are the last good things in modern computing

we dont want an iphone or ipad and the reloading full screen app BS. go away!

I didn’t mean that at all. See my other post as to what I intended here.

What I want is for the Mac to be the Mac and for Apple to stop grafting on iPadOS and iOS experiences like launchpad which don’t really feel like the rest of the system.

 

[Rygaard]

I would never recommend getting the 1 TB storage upgrade as long as Apple’s pricing remains as high as it is.


The 1 TB upgrade costs $610 USD—that’s 6 to 7 times the price of an external 1 TB USB-C SSD.


I take a lot of pictures, including DSLR shots, and I play games—some of which are real storage hogs.
My Mac mini only has 256 GB internal storage, yet I manage just fine with an SSD permanently connected via USB-C.


Had the upgrade been half the price, maybe. At a quarter of the price—yes, absolutely. But at this price? No.


I already have 1 TB on iCloud and another 1 TB on Microsoft OneDrive.


If your MacBook Air is a workhorse and not primarily a showpiece, here’s a simple trick:
Stick a small piece of Velcro (approx. 2×5 cm / 0.8×2 inches) on the lid, and the matching piece on your external SSD. You can then attach the drive to the back of the screen—no more drives dangling on the table. It also allows for a very short cable and a much cleaner (café) desk setup.


Saw this trick first about 5 years ago—a guy had three SSDs in different colors mounted that way.

 

[svish]

Nice video. The new Air with M4 is a very good laptop. Like the new colour too. Planning to buy one soon.

 

[Colpeas]

at this point the laptops are perfect, its just the OS bugs that hold everything back

compared to 10 years ago when it was the opposite

Just a reminder that Snow Leopard is a 16 year old OS. After that (with 10.7 Lion) things started to go downhill and haven’t recovered so far.

 

[FrozenShivers]

Just curious, why does it matter so much? Modern Mac laptops do so well on battery I never even think about charging specs.

I charge my M4 MBP with a 20w charger, absolute non-issue for me but I guess some people may require it.

 

[snipr125]

Yeah a good point. I should clarify my remarks.

What I mean is, instead of grafting things like launchpad and stage manager onto macOS, for Apple to profoundly think about what it is that makes the macOS desktop different from its other platforms and celebrate those differences - but create bridges to the other platforms so the experience of using macOS doesn’t feel alien to an iPhone user.

A bit long winded but hopefully you get my point.

So that might mean:

A ux that looks and feels like the iPhone and iPadOS but is distinctly macOS in all of its complexity.

Apps found on the iPhone work the same on macOS.

But macOS allowed to run a wide variety of software with unix tools very much still under the hood for those that want them.

Apple need a touch optimised version of MacOS for the iPP (maybe for MacBooks also) if they want to evolve and compete with MS Windows on a broader front. This would also make MacOS more accessible to iPhone/iPad users like you said.

 

[nathansz]

A ux that looks and feels like the iPhone and iPadOS but is distinctly macOS in all of its complexity.

Apps found on the iPhone work the same on macOS.

No thanks

I reiterate, I much prefer macOS to be left alone

Why would you want it to look like and feel like a phone/tablet/touch os?

Literally my worst nightmare

You might like the newer versions of gnome if that’s what you are looking for

 

[nathansz]

Apple need a touch optimised version of MacOS for the iPP (maybe for MacBooks also) if they want to evolve and compete with MS Windows on a broader front. This would also make MacOS more accessible to iPhone/iPad users like you said.

macOS works fine with a touchscreen as is

 

[bluecoast]

No thanks

I reiterate, I much prefer macOS to be left alone

Why would you want it to look like and feel like a phone/tablet/touch os?

Literally my worst nightmare

You might like the newer versions of gnome if that’s what you are looking for

Again, that's not what I was saying.

The additions to macOS from iOS has mostly been inept and it's left macOS a weird mishmash of traditional OS X design with ideas from iOS and iPadOS.

I hate the annual 'here's a few ideas from iOS / iPadOS that we've implemented badly on the Mac!'

The nadir must be stage manager, although the poorly implemented catalyst apps like Systems Settings and News are a not too distant second.

What I'm trying to say, it's time for some deep thinking on where to take macOS in the context of it existing in the world of the iPad and iOS.

My hope then is that Apple let's the Mac be the Mac and to stop grafting on ideas from iOS.

I hope that we never get a touch screen Mac. That's what the iPad should do.

In fact I'd say out of all of Apple's major 3 platforms, it's iPadOS that needs the most work to make it something other than just iOS on a bigger canvas and that's where the 'cool' ideas from iOS should appear.

Steve Jobs said near the end of his life, that PCs are going to be like trucks.

Well let the Mac be a truck. Let it be the most stylish of trucks, sure. But don't make it into a truck SUV hybrid!

 

[bluecoast]

Apple need a touch optimised version of MacOS for the iPP (maybe for MacBooks also) if they want to evolve and compete with MS Windows on a broader front. This would also make MacOS more accessible to iPhone/iPad users like you said.

tbh, I really hope that we never get a touch screen Mac. That's what the iPad should do.

If Apple makes a MacBook with a detachable screen where the UX then becomes more like the iPad, I would be very concerned about trying to morph a computer UI that is all about a mouse and pointer into a touch screen experience.

It would surely be way simpler and would make more sense if the desktop elements that exist already in iPadOS simply became more powerful.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Just curious, why does it matter so much? Modern Mac laptops do so well on battery I never even think about charging specs.

Belkin sells small dual 60 and 70W GaN chargers that cost less than Apple's dual 35W. Don't forget, dual means it is charging two devices and splitting up the measly 35 watts. In this modern device heavy era it's not enough. MBA checkout, a single port 70W charger is an option. Meaning, the single port MBA charger is twice the wattage of the dual port? At the very least, that should be the other way around.

Ideally a dual port 70W plug should be bundled, and when charging with one port it should use the full wattage. Splitting it up only when a second cable is added and is actively in use, for a seamless user experience.

 

[nathansz]

Again, that's not what I was saying.

you literally said :

A ux that looks and feels like the iPhone and iPadOS

 

[nathansz]

What I'm trying to say, it's time for some deep thinking on where to take macOS in the context of it existing in the world of the iPad and iOS.

but why?

 

[bluecoast]

but why?

Do you like how macOS is now?

 

[bluecoast]

you literally said :

OK. What I meant is design patterns that 'feel' the same across all devices and getting rid of any inconsistencies.

I don't think that something should necessarily be on the Mac just because it's that way on the iPhone though.

Every platform should be free to be itself but where there's commonalities, why not merge them into each platform?

A case in point is why macOS and iOS/iPad (and watchOS and visionos) all have slightly different icon designs. I mean why?

And I don't think that something should stay on the Mac just because it's always been that way, so it would be good to examine all of the sacred cows, so to speak.

A case in point. unmounting a drive by dragging it into the trash is pretty illogical unless you are a long time Mac user.

I've seen people scratch their head as to why. Yeah you can right click but that's not especially discoverable either.

I know that this has been in macOS from the start, but I think that it's good to question 'just because' UI/UX paradigms.

 

[nathansz]

Do you like how macOS is now?

yes I do

if I didn't like it I would use a different os

 

[nathansz]

A case in point. unmounting a drive by dragging it into the trash is pretty illogical unless you are a long time Mac user.

I've seen people scratch their head as to why. Yeah you can right click but that's not especially discoverable either.

I know that this has been in macOS from the start, but I think that it's good to question 'just because' UI/UX paradigms

I would say unmounting a drive by dragging it to the trash is actually pretty logical, though I don't do that and I doubt many people do

right clicking seems plenty discoverable, much of the os is based on right clicking so if are learning the os you would surely come across it

to be fair I actually use Alfred to unmount drive. as soon as I type ej I get a list of any mounted drives

how would you propose to unmount a drive?

 

[bluecoast]

I would say unmounting a drive by dragging it to the trash is actually pretty logical, though I don't do that and I doubt many people do

right clicking seems plenty discoverable, much of the os is based on right clicking so if are learning the os you would surely some across it

to be fair I actually use Alfred to unmount drive. as soon as I type ej I get a list of any mounted drives

how would you propose to unmount a drive?

I don’t know I’m not a UI designer I just gave it as an (in)famous example of how macOS can be oblique to those not used to it.

Another one is installing and uninstalling gui apps.

 

[bluecoast]

yes I do

if I didn't like it I would use a different os

Ok. But you say you don’t want the Mac to be more like iOS and iPadOS.

I don’t either.

I don’t like launchpad nor do I like stage manager and the catalyst apps from iPadOS are not great and don’t feel Mac like to me.

I don’t like it that Apple has introduced apps where sometimes if you close its main window the app quits. It’s inconsistent.

But are you ok with all of this or do you want Apple to roll back these changes?

As for me, like I said, I want Apple to rethink them.

That might be removing some of these things but it might be coming with newer better more ‘Mac like ‘ ways of doing the above.

I’m open to new solutions.

 

[moyjoy]

My only regrats, midnight blue. It looks supper cool but it shows dust. Should have picked the Sky Blue, but that is just a color and not important.

The Sky Blue doesn't fare better. When I travel with it I'm constantly wondering "what the heck is that?!".

 

[nathansz]

I don’t like launchpad nor do I like stage manager and the catalyst apps from iPadOS are not great and don’t feel Mac like to me.

I just ignore those things so they don't bother me one way or another.

I don’t like it that Apple has introduced apps where sometimes if you close its main window the app quits. It’s inconsistent.

This I have not noticed. What apps do that?

That might be removing some of these things but it might be coming with newer better more ‘Mac like ‘ ways of doing the above.

There must already be "better more 'Mac like' ways of doing" these things, or they are simply superfluous, otherwise I'd presumably be looking for ways to do them