How much MacBook is enough MacBook? | The Vergecast

The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, Alex Cranz discuss the Apple Macbook Air M3 review, Jon Stewart's take on AI, and a whole lot more of this week's tech news.
Further reading: www.theverge.com/2024/4/5/241...
00:00 - Intro
06:45 - MacBook Air M3 review
23:28 - LG Suitcase TV review
27:45 - Best printer 2024, best printer for home use, office use, printing labels, printer for school, homework printer you are a printer we are all printers
38:08 - Microsoft working on Xbox AI chatbot
40:43 - Samsung Bixby is not dead y'all
47:04 - Jon Stewart calls out Apple
53:07 - Europe’s alternative iPhone app stores
58:09 - TikTok without the algorithm?
1:02:35 - FCC vote on Net Neutrality
1:08:40 - X gives people blue checks they didn’t ask for
1:15:23 - Spotify price increase
1:18:58 - OpenAI's new voice clone model
1:23:22 - Google Podcasts is dead
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[@TheVerge]

psst… we were nominated for a Webby and you can help us win! 👀you can vote for the People's Voice Best in Technology podcast here: trib.al/KqgdWnz

[@smithskyes]

Also thanks producer Liam for the chapters

[@tayjn]

Nilay, David, AND the Heinecube in the studio at the same time!

[@EddieTee77]

But no game or controller.... Always missing a piece lol

[@jarrodjob]

📦 🍺 and Netflix Documentary disclaimers. Where’s the evidence ⏰ (TikTok)?

[@dstep801]

Agreed! Like ye olde Vergecast. Amazing!

[@A_Noid]

I think David is right about the 8gb thing. For someone reading The Verge, yeah, they might be annoyed by the performance limitations of 8gb of ram in a Macbook. For the majority of people buying Macbook airs, yeah, they wouldn’t notice or care, and they’d be better off saving $200+tax.

[@Ronniezim]

The lady complaining about how horrible swap is literally didn’t know how to even tell if a machine is using swap. lol. Apple shouldn’t charge what they do for ram…but 8gb is fine for the average user 100%.

[@smithskyes]

Thanks everyone. Love having all their verge content together

[@Digosaurus]

David is right yoooooooo Base spec MacBook Air is fine for most people.. I am one of those people.

[@tstartrekdude]

Casual users have more tabs open then tech people. Also, Paul.

[@GordonChaffin]

Yeah, I usually get scolded for my tab bloat by IT/tech co-workers.

[@Aanike09]

My hot take is that no one listening to this podcast is a casual

[@rubenbest1]

Anyone reading this you probably need 16GB of ram. If you aren't here 8GB should be fine.

[@chidorirasenganz]

I think the reason they are selling 3 different design generations of the mac is the same reason they are doing it with the iPads and iPhones. They own the entire product stack and aren’t being held up by Intel

[@TheBalkanSpy]

My 64GB RAM, M1 MAX macbook pro only uses 20-25GB of ram for the most amount of the time. It only peaks at around 55-58GB when I do heavy video editing with DaVinci, After Effects, Affinity designer open at the same time.... I thing the average productivity worker will be MORE than fine with 8BG, 12GB would be really nice as a baseline spec tbh.

[@shelby3486]

12gig as base model , that would be amazing 😍

[@Kantares71830]

No. Nobody is happy with 8 GB. Memory is darn cheap and starting with 8 is BS. 16 is bare minimum for comfortable use.

[@rocketmunkey1]

@@Kantares71830 All these comments where "people" say they'd be happy with 12 GB implies thats what Apple is planning on doing, they must be Apple employees, which real person wouldn't want 16GB base ?

[@kemistrypops]

Pocket cast don't allow the option to switch between video and audio podcasts. If it does, can someone tell me how to?

[@ferretgodowndahole3602]

Love that I'm watching this in one window with David saying emulators will never be allowed in the App Store, while in another Window i just read a story about Apple allowing emulators. So trippy.

[@AA-yw1nh]

Trippy or David is always wrong to the point that he's a liar?

[@MihneaStoian]

My wife has a base 8GB/256GB M1 Air and it doesn't skip a beat. She's an office and Google apps user, with the apps open and 50+ tabs on chrome. Very impressed with its performance. Don't see a point to upgrade it.

[@incee_netinai]

David has the most insane take with the 8GB

[@amr92557]

Finally David makes it to the office 😬😛

[@AbhishekBiswas1990]

Researched a lot on whether to get MBAir or M3 MBPro or M3 Pro MBPro. Finally made the best decision to get Apple certified refurbished 15inch M2 MBAir with 24GB Ram, 1 TB RAM at the most competitive price for a Macbook

[@DurrellRandle]

I think a better solution to the suitcase TV is big tablets with a USB C in port

[@brucebanksshow]

Nilay hit the nail on the head with the Google Home complaint. It is so frustrating how that product has not gotten better or it feels like it has gotten worse.

[@dae1973]

Finally…..someone said it. 8 for regular folks is ok

[@johnroberts2905]

For $/£1100 ? Hell no. 8GB would be fine, if Apple were selling it at $/£700.

[@dae1973]

@@johnroberts2905 I already. I’m talking about 8g in general.

[@trevozneoma]

I've noticed Nilay fidgets with his phone a lot, often rubbing the back and I gotta know...is that a Finewoven case!? For the record I also fidget with my phone in the same way which is probably why I noticed it.

[@ToddHoff]

One thing to consider, is over time, your System Data can mysteriously become over 200GB all by itself. I'd go with bigger storage too, unless you plan to fresh install frequently.

[@tecialist]

How much Vergecast is enough Vergecast?

[@ChanningChea]

No such thing

[@bistose]

1:17:33 David, Since there's remixes and all that, "All of the music on earth " is available to you only on KZbin music, not Spotify :D

[@brachiator1]

A good quality Chromebook has 8 GB RAM and a 128 GB SSD. The base MacBook Air with 8 GB RAM will be fine for most people. But Apple upgrade prices are too high. The $700 M1 MacBook Air sold at Walmart is a great value, especially for students. It would be interesting to see how well these laptops sell.

[@Chris_Hruska]

the question is why does 1 tab take 200MB just to display a single photo?

[@Geblawi]

It’s cool, now, to hate on Apple, eh?

[@JoeGasz]

You might want to check on the Chromebook it might not be getting security updates anymore like my Samsung Chromebook last year.

[@kirielsonmaclaine9424]

Google failed when looking for character images for Iwaju which is on Disney plus

[@trishamody2792]

Verge isn't the same without Dieter Bohn

[@dn1150]

David needs to Pepsi Challenge everyone on casual use of the 8GB/256GB vs. a higher spec'd options.

[@sullivan4052]

1:16:06 you say that but tidal just dropped their highest hifi tier to 9.99 a month!

[@ChompChunk]

tiktok has young people uploading, no other platform has that organically. it's not the algorithm it's ecosystem.

[@kirkbrown3415]

M1 Macbook Air 8gb 256gb - perfectly fine - browsing, streaming, Photoshop and light Final Cut Pro. Majority of buyers have no need to upgrade the ram.

[@Akiidan]

I don’t disagree with you but I often feel like my M1 Max 16 in struggles with just Lightroom 😅😂

[@MattSwain1]

Are you sure about Photoshop in 8Gb? Let me be clear, I don’t have a M-series anything, but I am a Photoshop user so I’m curious. If I throw large RAW files at it and ask it to do stuff with adjustment layers and the like, is 8Gb really enough? My instinct tells me I’d quickly be regretting not getting 16

[@jsebrech]

I really would like to see you all use the base config macbook air for all your work for a week, and then have the macbook air m3 discussion again. It would be a lot less handwavey and a lot more "this is what worked, and this is what didn't". Seeing how my son absolutely abuses the base m1 mac mini I got him with a gazillion windows open and it barely even stutters, I think you'd be surprised just how good the base config m3 macbook air is.

[@ameyaspadhye]

Interesting how in the era of short-form video content, podcasts on a totally opposite spectrum are getting popular day by day. I think KZbin will try to capitalize on this by first killing Google Podcasts and then adding a separate "Podcasts" button on KZbin in the near future.

[@dman7895]

sounds like a lot of speculation on an non-issue. not really important if still making the M1 airs or just walmart selling through old stock.

[@sagarn007]

hmm I felt totally thrown off that LG would even think of releasing a suitcase TV and it excited you all for a little bit.. I may be really loosing interest in tech now if that is really exciting!! Also I was not expecting you all to provide your view on Vision pro spatial personas without even trying it.. opinion on VR/AR should not be formed without experiencing it in my opinion.. its not like reviewing a 2D content..

[@doristhesender]

Who remembers Nicola Fumo on the Vergecast ?

[@alecfotsch3533]

I worry I'm losing my edge because nothing about the $1,200 TV in a suitcase excites me.

[@kemistrypops]

Of David doesn't use Google search, what is he using now?

[@TCrimson05t]

So here's the conclusion that I have arrived at and it's that it makes more sense to buy that LG suitcase TV than it does to buy a base price MacBook. Those are just facts. Lol

[@adamcarlson4922]

What’s wrong with KZbin music? It has everything I want and it’s bundled with ad-free KZbin, which is objectively great.

[@komasho96]

I have a MacBook Pro with 8GB. Rarely used swapfiles. Awesome computer!

[@CAndrewK]

They need to bring back the regular MacBook. The MacBook Air is too heavy

[@davidjacobs6244]

lol,it’s not heavy.Don’t you have any muscles?

[@mattydsmith]

I've got an original M1 Air with 8gb and an M2 Mini with 16gb and I can't tell the difference between the two day to day. I use the Mini with a Studio Display, so I might notice the difference (the Air was plugged into the Studio Display for a while before I got the Mini). Also, I sometimes use my M2 iPad Pro (with 8gb I think?) and don't notice the performance difference there much either.

[@itschrishuerta]

I got my wife a base spec M1 MacBook for her birthday last year and not once has she asked how much ram or storage it has. All she needs is a web browser and it’s perfect for what does (Netflix, Hulu, email).

[@milk_bath]

Sounds like you could have gotten something less expensive and still not hit the performance cap. Sounds like a Chromebook would be a good choice.

[@itschrishuerta]

True but my wife knows what a MacBook air is and not a Chromebook. Followed David’s “buy the best laptop you can afford” and for this instance, MBA was it.

[@jonahhammond2438]

Please talk about how Kanye is trying to make a Yeezy app to sell his entire music catalog for $20 and if that will work out or not

[@bbccole]

Shout out to Girls5Eva!!!

[@Krauser1226]

The mental gymnastics people will do to defend 8GB of ram in a 1000+ dollar computer sold by a multi-trillion dollar company in 2024 is insane. If HP or Asus or Dell or any other OEM shipped a computer with 8gb of RAM they'd be ridiculed but when Apple does it, people try to justify that "it's all normal people really need" as if any user doing such light work that 8gb of RAM isn't noticeable needs a MacBook in the first place. Just admit they're ripping off consumers who don't know better. The base price of the Air is 1500 as far as I'm concerned, because an 8gb/256gb machine in 2024 is unacceptable.

[@GreenStorm01]

256 Gigs of storage isn't enough, at all, for nobody. Nowhere, never.

[@Target135]

I bought a Kia Optima in 2013 and for most of the years since then I’ve wanted to buy a Tesla…. until the last few years and post-Covid Elon. It was a pretty slow creep, but I’ve come to a point now where I literally don’t feel like I can buy the car anymore with how much Elon disgusts me and how much he represents his brand (more than most CEOs). Now I’m thinking about an EV9 in the next year or 2 when it’s time to buy.

[@AdamJakowenko]

Saying you've "gone over" is like an automated phone system telling you it's "experiencing higher than normal call volume". You're always over. We established this. You've essentially set a norm for length, which is the time you're taking for each episode now. Therefore you can stop saying you've gone over... you've just gone normal time. p.s Ironically, by no longer saying this, you'll actually shave a bit of time of the episode.

[@shanghaichica]

The base MacBook Air is always enough for me.

[@himdabo]

Is it me or does anyone else think that Apple has become the very IBM that Jobs/Woz detested?