The Macbook M1 Pro 13” from 2020 has two downsides:
- It’s too small, so it damages my posture. I end up hunched like a shrimp and narrows my shoulders. It being small, I feel comfortable using it in bed or leaning against the wall, pushing my neck forward. Whereas a desktop monitor has me looking up.
- If you don’t use glasses (which exacerbate your nearsightedness), your vision levels to how close your electronic devices naturally are, such as the length of your arms or how close you hold your phone. The 13” being a smaller screen is closer to my eyes and makes my vision worse than a larger screen and computer I must use on a desk.
Misc:
- Those who have Windows PCs at a desk like some government bureaucrat are more in the real world, whereas those constantly glued to their phones likely have higher rates of psychosis.
- The medium of communication and thought relates deeply to the world around us. Live in Germany in a nice small town of high quality, and most American social media feels far away and meaningless. Live in the beige carpet cardboard style in the US, and suddenly these forms feel near.
- New Mac smell is annoying
Contenders for its replacement are the Macbook Pro 14”, Macbook Air 15”, and Macbook Pro 16”. 16GB/512GB for now should be enough.
Best thread on it:
Question for me: what gives me the highest level of developer productivity?
MBP 14”
- Screen too small. Would be great otherwise.
MBA 15”
- Tinny/light sounding trackpad.
- Screen resolution at 60FPS feels slow (but much just be MacOS 26 beta)
- Keyboard seems worse than Macbook Pro 14” but unsure
- Speakers not as bad as expected. In store sound/feeling on table is not same as holding it on lap or moving it around. Lack of speakers on the side make me comfortable picking it up without feeling I’ll ruin the grille.
- Screen heavy is annoying
MBP 16”
- Think this is the right size. No downside from using it on a plane because I can move my arms back and align the computer on my legs rather than having to use the tray. Only downside is it being expensive.
- Think the Macbook Pro M1 Max with Space Gray (which is dark as opposed to silver) FEELS HEAVIER despite weighing almost the same. Difference is 2130g vs 2116g—either noticeable to me or somehow psychological.
Other notes
- Space Gray feels like a heavier laptop because of the color. I would get Silver.
- 120Hz is more important the larger the screen gets. 60Hz is fine on 13”. Felt that 60hz on MBA 15” was annoying.
- The answer for me is either 16” MBP for posture or 13” for portability. Leaning towards 16 despite the price.
Best Buy Laptop
Best Buy Laptop Refurb 16GB 1TB 16”
- Had tinny rattle noise caused by small metal pieces jiggling around when typing and tapping the bottom of the laptop with finger as if playing piano (should sound hollow)
- Batteries smelled weird, wondering if they would explode (not like new laptop smell, was something else)
- Did not start out with 120Hz out of box, I had to adjust it.
- 1TB may actually be unnecessary, performance of 24GB RAM 512GB SSD may feel better. But new laptop so I haven’t had time to accumulate tons of stuff on it.
- Luckily Best Buy had extended holiday returns (reg. 15 days)
The battery life on refurb is probably not worth it. Was at 93%, yet 6h usage used close to 65% while the new M4 had 9h usage with around 45%.
