$500 Mac vs PC laptop challenge!

[@lukemiani]

Who won? M1 MacBook Air or Stanley? Plus, check out the all new CleanMyMac :) clnmy.com/Luke

[@zenvio]

cleanmymac is worthless

[@mikaelbiilmann6826]

No McAfee but CleanMyMac…? 😮😅😂

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

Here's the list of reasons why Stanley is better: 1) thinner bezels. OK, I can't think of anything else. If Stanley had an edge in almost every category, I still couldn't do it because Windoze absolutely sucks. I feel psychologically degraded with micro-disrespect micro-aggressions just by using it. I feel like a number instead of a soul. I feel like I live in a cardboard shack instead of a marble palace. I feel like McDonald's instead of Ruth Chris steakhouse.

[@420247paul]

windows hands down you know that m1 is gonna be a useless paperweight before long you should only buy them new the ssd and battery has a lifspan of about 3 years and they cant be replaced easily

[@phillipward]

Good comparison… Is it possible to install windows on the MacBook and then repeat the comparison with the Dell. Does the MacBook run Windows better than the Dell?

[@electricmiragemedia]

Windows user of 25 years here. It is absolutely shocking how bad the Windows setup experience is, as well as all of the ads MS has crammed into Windows.

[@johnbergmann2896]

And you still have to pay for the OS that is stuffed with ads. And you get version updates every 5 years that you pay for. MacOS is free and new versions and features yearly. Doesn’t make sense to me.

[@thelasthandbook6704]

I figured I was a Windows lifer as much out of inertia as anything else. But the death of Windows 10 will probably push me off the platform, as much as I'll be stuck with Windows 11 at work, sigh.

[@lbgstzockt8493]

MS seems to be doing everything in their power to make one of their core products as unappealing to as many people as possible. The amount of people who are seriously switching to Linux, MacOS or even ChromeOS for their main PC has probably grown a lot in recent years, not because the competition has gotten so much better but because MS made Windows actively worse in many ways.

[@michaelwright2986]

The thing I hate the most is the way Windows tries to ensnare you into using their cloud and software-as-a-service, which amounts to legal ransomware. After three Windows 11 installs/upgrades, I've finally found out how to turn that stuff off (I hope), but you still seem to need a MS account. I'm not fond of macOS, either, but if I had to use Adobe products, it's what I'd choose.

[@JohanlastZa]

And that they have the audacity to charge you a premium for said software

[@TazzSmk]

you wasted an opportunity to put whole sponsor block before Windows gets ready xD

[@lukemiani]

😅

[@mouna5252elle]

Bs you can get nvme ssd for 50bucks windows would boot faster than you think even better than your bs mac

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

@@mouna5252elle LOL. I frequently say jealous rationalizations like this about someone's Porsche or Ferrari when I feel bad about my Toyota being not as nice. It's funny to see someone do it over two computers that are equally priced, though.

[@krunge]

​@@mouna5252elle did you watch the video? He showed that the Windows laptop has an NVMe and was a lot faster than the MacBook but it still didn't help it...

[@mouna5252elle]

@@Äpple-pie-5k the macbook is a flagship model the pc is mid range even if the prices are the same he should've compared an old flagship pc with it that sells for the same price

[@zdwdadwdawdawdwad]

You don't need clean my mac.

[@ilythabi]

Why do you say so? I find it quite useful.

[@TheosTechTips]

@@ilythabi Just keep your mac clean. "Cleaning" utilities are total garbage. They run even more bg processes and startup items to "keep it clean".

[@adampavelec857]

But, but… it has glossy icons! FFS!

[@TheosTechTips]

@@adampavelec857 I just like looking at it!

[@DBeitniz]

Clean My Mac is garbage, all cleaning software are mostly garbage, the only one’s I recommend using is OnyX once a month and DaisyDisk maybe once every two months. No real reason to clean your Mac weekly as the same cache will build up anyway, cleaning it monthly makes much more sense

[@rionsanthosh2103]

First, nonetheless I'd still probably go with the M1, it was a game changer. Stanley put up a tough fight tho.

[@lukemiani]

Stanley tried his best fr

[@anandmishra-wl3ks]

bhai as an I can understand other indian mentality why most of people are crazy for apple

[@jannybravo8429]

​@lukemiani what's a good price for a used m1 mac 16gb ram and 500gb storage

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

@@lukemiani Tough fight? Smaller bezels and 256GB more SSD was the only thing I saw to compensate inferiority in every other department.

[@qyucide]

@@anandmishra-wl3kstf are u saying

[@zeekay9941]

Best Buy has a Lenovo laptop with Ryzen 5 7235HS, 12GB Ram, 6GB RTX 3050, and 512GB SSD for $550 right now. Always remember to shop around.

[@Totyamuri]

But is it an ultrabook?

[@daniell4919]

Want to share the link?

[@MaskRobloxOfficial]

I think the main point he was trying to make, as he said in the conclusion, is that the MBA isn't better than ANY $500 windows computer, like of course you could go for a gaming laptop like you suggested but he said that the MBA is a more complete package. If you want to game then don't buy a macbook, period. But for anything else? like battery life or portability as an example, idk if you can beat it

[@cadenchurchill4296]

The M1 Macs were really game changers. For a fairly basic user like me it’s still going to be a while before it’s even worth upgrading. Amazing how far thin and light laptops have come.

[@erichill414]

I’m a basic user as well and I love mine. By the time I need an upgrade (most likely years from now) I’ll pick up a 2nd hand M3 air at a good price.

[@cadenchurchill4296]

@@erichill414 That’s a good idea. I’m probably going to get a base Pro, mainly for the better display.

[@Me-eb3wv]

I’m a basic user and I got myself a Chromebook. Has all the benefits of a MacBook Air (easy to use, thin and light, long battery life, updates are quick etc) but it was way cheaper

[@TheosTechTips]

@@Me-eb3wv And it has the downsides of having a locked-down environment. But for basic use, it's pretty good.

[@cheapme1850]

Same here. I got my M1 a few years ago because the fan on my previous Intel MBA was irritating. With the low intensity use I have, no need to change any time soon, and I prefer the wedge shape over the newer MBA.

[@freeglas]

How much can you trust the expertise of someone claiming "clean my mac is THE BEST WAY to keep it in tip-top shape"?!

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

Except for price, it does seem to keep it in good shape. Do you have info you want to share about what's better?

[@Littlebrownchicken]

@@Äpple-pie-5kI don’t, I just don’t have junk on my laptop

[@TheosTechTips]

@@Äpple-pie-5k Yeah. None. Just keep your Mac clean.

[@MoHaMMaDMi-el1uy]

It's an add, they'd do everything for it even the most trusted KZbinrs, one day I saw Jarrod criticizing a laptop and saying it's terrible for the price the other day he said that the Sam laptop is a great choice ... All of it because he was sponsored

[@heliosho]

That's a paid ad.

[@90pctdeficit]

I'm using MacBook Air15 M3 currently, I switched from Windows couple of month ago. No regrets so far, not even a bit. No noise, no charging every 3-4 hours, sounds better, feels better, and it's not heavy at all. And I never thought that I'll be using only touchpad, I thought those KZbin guy's are just lying, they aren't)))

[@rcchannel1482]

same opinion, and the touchpad is amazing

[@UnboxingWhyNotWhyNot]

2:54 to skip the sponsorship ad

[@AsenPetrov]

Hey Luke, when were you in Bulgaria, you should have announced in advance, you have fans here!

[@sirhide-x5y]

I am not in Bulgaria but I agree

[@debanjanmondal3706]

Hi Luke, love from India. Long time viewer. The M1 Air was recently on sale for INR 56,990 (USD 679) on Amazon. Brand new and taxes + import fees included. Honestly can't think of anything better than this. The value it brings is just a class apart than anything else on the market - and this was released 4 years back!

[@beaniemac]

One of the reasons I use Apple products is to avoid a bunch of ads

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

Yeah that's reason #29. I can think of about 28 even more important reasons.

[@atarixle]

make a test with a Linux equipped Laptop. I bet you even find debian's vintage installer 1000x more userfriendly than Windows' ones.

[@hnasheralneam]

Even arch has a less hostile installation process 🤣

[@EvertonToledoDeMoraes]

@@hnasheralneam less invasive for sure

[@michaelpapyan3828]

I overall agree with most of the points you made in the video, but one thing that kinda baffles me is the fact that people think that the lack of fans on MacBook Air models is an advantage,. The real advantage is having a silent machine, as someone who owns a MacBook Air I would prefer to have fans in it even if they never spin up, you still get no fan noise while the device is new and for years to come, but in the future when the machine inevitably slows down you will still have a machine that runs cool thanks to the fans in it.

[@geertromain]

So get a MacBook Pro then...? 🙄

[@aidanhelfrich4887]

@@geertromainfor 1600 dollars though that’s a tough pill to swallow

[@budgetkeyboardist]

Audio recording guy here. The lack of fans is a big plus for recording.

[@michaelpapyan3828]

@@budgetkeyboardist even if you need the fans to be silent for a certain amount of time you can just install macs fan control or something like that and manually set the rpm to 0, so again not having something is never an advantage, considering you can just not use it when you don't need to and use it when you do.

[@michaelpapyan3828]

@@aidanhelfrich4887 I just got a 16 inch m2 pro macbook pro used but in almost new condition(97% battery and 80 cycles on it plus no cosmetic damage). it cost me around 1300$. you can get 14 inch m1 pro and even m2 pro macbook pros for around 1000-1300 usd. Granted not everyone is comfortable buying used products which is understandable and valid

[@ZombieRofl]

8:05 This is something not many people are talking about witch is a huge dealbreaker for Windows laptops.

[@Lee.S321]

It's software. If you want to you can change setting to maintain the performance profile plugged in or not. Out of the box Windows laptops are set to optimise based on the tasks running or whether you have the grid to draw power from. Macs give you fewer options. My laptop is set to run at 15w max when on battery, to maximise battery life. It's personal preference.

[@PhongPham-ox1le]

⁠​⁠@@Lee.S321thank god the mac have fewer options. Imagine have to go through all of the unecessary things instead of just use it

[@Lee.S321]

@@PhongPham-ox1le Took about 5 seconds when I first up the laptop. Wasn't a big task tbh. Just means I can prohibit it from using too much juice when i'm out & about. My GF's MB Air doesn't limit its performance so it doesn't last as long as my ASUS S13.

[@AnEagle]

​@@PhongPham-ox1lemacs have many options, just not those ones. I mean coming from Linux I've found Mac to be completely overwhelming with the amount or configuration required to get usable workflows

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

@@Lee.S321 Nonsense. It totally outlasts an ASUS S13. And it DOES have a lower power mode. It makes me think your gf doesn't have a MBAir and isn't even your gf.

[@catgirl_eva]

I feel like comparing the MacBook Air to the Surface Laptop (7th Edition) would've been a better comparison. Both ARM, both with haptic trackpads, both with high DPI panels. The big difference between the two being price, though a second hand Surface would definitely cut the cost a bit.

[@Rusty01]

he compared it, but his comparison was a bit biased towards the mac

[@catgirl_eva]

@@Rusty01 Honestly, all of his Mac vs PC comparisons are biased toward the Mac.

[@Wolfywolf7]

@@Rusty01 I mean, the stats speak for themselves. The only advantage for Dell is double the storage at that price point.

[@Rusty01]

@@Wolfywolf7 not saying the dell is a better deal or the Mac, just saying he is Mac reviewer so he will have his biases

[@Wolfywolf7]

@@Rusty01 Fair All that he said here was true.

[@vintagewander]

"So I bought this Dell XPS..." Oh boy that's not good

[@tomwagner4516]

No you are fine if you need a windows laptop. It’s a great little computer. Enjoy!

[@ducdashot1239]

the mark of the beast

[@stefanpaul9443]

I will go with my M1 MBA until it will fall apart ….

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

Treat it well and that may be many many years from now.

[@Littlebrownchicken]

Take care of it and that will be a very, very long time.

[@kaischmidt730]

one thing - whenever i see a macbook air of this kind, it somehow makes me crave for one on a level that no other laptop, newer or older, does.

[@manuel-xax]

At last, here in France we're starting to see 500€ M1 MBA. I even saw yesterday a base model M1 MacMini priced 350€ 🙂 I love my base M1 MBA. It has hardly been turned off more than a week (in total !) since I got it : late january 2021 ! Unreal little machine, possibly the best laptop ever made. Sublime trackpad, awesome speakers, superb keyboard & screen (so good, it had le forgiving bezels), incredible battery life. Packed in a great aluminium body. Same kind of ground braking computer as when the Amiga 1000, the Archimedes / RiscPC went on sale.

[@ranveerbadhan]

I’ve been using the M1 MacBook Air for two years without any issues, mainly use it for light graphic design, photo editing, and web browsing, and it handles all of that without any hiccups, completely satisfied and the battery easily lasts me through the day.

[@Bethos1247-Arne]

how would unified memory architecture favor the Mac? It is a marketing term which has nothing to do with the ability to allocate more RAM than physically present.

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

It's a marketing term which uses 2 words to describe something that needs a whole 5 page article to describe to a layperson. Unified memory favors the Mac because: 1) It's faster, not by a little, but INCREDIBLY SO. 2) The need for burning watts from your battery and needing a to spin up a fan that sounds like a jet engine, to transfer gigabytes constantly back and forth between standard RAM and RAM for graphics card, ... just got Thanos-zapped, it's totally gone. 3) The need for "keeper software" that manages and optimizes all the above processes: thanos-zapped, zero, gone, adiosed. 4) Discussions of "VRAM", cache, and swap, transcends the education level of this comment, but it's markedly superior at that too; and this does entail "VIRTUALLY" allocating more RAM than physically present. All of the above are reasons that Unified Memory Architecture favor the Mac. And not by a little. But by enough that Microsoft would literally gamble its future on a 5 year plan to switch to away from x86_64 architecture towards ARM, even though having a software-portfolio-monopoly all built on x86_64 is one of the last advantages it has over Mac. This is before we even mention that the OS architecture tends to need/use about 700KB for every 1MB needed/used on Windows. It's not specifically relevant to UMA but still very relevant to any comparisons between macOS-based vs Windows-based PC's, when architecture and RAM are the topic of analysis.

[@Bethos1247-Arne]

@@Äpple-pie-5k the latency of the RAM is a bit lower on Apple, but the CPU cache caches most accesses anyway. While the RAM is quite fast, it has to be shared with the GPU. The XPS seems to only have CPU-integrated GPU so bandwidth is shared as well but if then would also be a "unified memory". It means nothing positive, only that GPU and CPU compete for bandwith allocation. Both MacOS and Windows try to swap memory to disk of apps which are deemed to not be actively used for some time, freeing up RAM before new applications are started. If a system has dedicated VRAM (that XPS model probably don't have it), it would be RAM additional to the system memory, and typically offers a lot more bandwidth which can be used indepenendent of CPU bandwidth needs. A non-unitied memory architecture usually gets you overall more bandwidth. I have an M2 Macbook Air 15" with 16 GB of RAM and the Activity Monitor shows RAM pressure like you would expect. With Lightroom open and some background apps running, it turns yellow and if you dare to have some more Chrome tabs open, it can turn red and you do get the short system freezes when MacOS swappes from/to SSD. IF it comes to swapping, that XPS seems to have faster SSD speed which would be helpful to reduce the breakes the computer takes. "Unified memory" means just "shared memory" which has no advantage per se. Normally on Mac you use a lot of Apple apps or Apple-optimized apps while on PC you typically run applications which cannot offer that amount of optimization. THAT means you can get away with somewhat less RAM on Mac. Not the unified memory marketing term.

[@Padgriffin]

One word. Swap. On an x86 computer the latency induced by Swap results in a noticeable hiccup- on Apple Silicon you genuinely can’t feel it.

[@lbgstzockt8493]

If anything it is actually a downside for the mac as the GPU and CPU both compete over the same resource pool. If you have a workload that needs lots of RAM and VRAM the Windows machine might actually be faster because it has to hit the swapfile less often.

[@austinnafziger4159]

@@lbgstzockt8493 On systems with an iGPU on Windows, that is not the case. There is still only one pool of RAM available. It is even worse in the fact that there will mostly likely be duplicate data on the CPU side and GPU side of the allocations. The UMA on Mac does away with that. GPU and CPU can access the same data without duplication.

[@tompov227]

Seeing apple make MacBooks with great hardware, incredible performance and battery life, and software that is the polar opposite of Microsoft spyware ad selling service that they are pretending is an operating system, reminds me of the golden age of the MacBooks when the intel switch had been completed and a base model 13" Unibody MBP was actually worth buying and was a really incredible machine for the price. Now that they bumped the base ram to 16 GB I am really happy to see Macs in general stand out as such a compelling option.

[@JungleHam]

Macbook first boot and setup: takes three minutes Apple fanboys: 😃 Windows laptop first boot and setup: takes three minutes Apple fanboys: 🤒🤕😵🤬

[@AbdullahBasit24]

Amazing how processors improve significantly every year. I got a brand new Hp 15 laptop for $500 and that thing is faster than this Xps. However, the Xps has a better build quality and display than my brand new laptop.

[@xgui4-studios]

12:56 : personnally i would prefer the dell 512 go ssd over the macbook 256 ssd is way too small for my need

[@sysaeyoung]

I am currently daily driving the 9315 with an i5, 16gb ram and 512gb ssd got it mostly for the design and all the features, and the battery. also, this might not be much, but i just love the fact that i can run all my powertoys and the the fact that you can charge the thing on the right probably not a big thing to most people, but to a college student, that is a pretty big advantage lol

[@sysaeyoung]

also just the one fact that it runs x86 windows and gives me enough battery to last through the day makes it worth it like i can't run samsung odin on apple silicon so yeah....

[@Pocketkid2]

At 10:33, why is the 3D render so small on the MacBook screen comapared to the Dell? Are they truly running at the same resolution?

[@windowssevenpower]

Because The Mac as a higher resolution

[@andyH_England]

I have the same display on my XPS 13 X Elite, and it is basically only 1080p compared to 2.5K on the Macbook.

[@FubarMike]

If the xps had a headphone jack and upgradeable storage and ram it would be a real winner for me. I really can't do much with less than 16GB RAM.

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

$9 Apple Dongle DAC outperforms the internal DAC of every headphone jack on even the most luxury flagship laptops. So the headphone jack is never an excuse. That's why Apple got rid of it on iPhone. So headphone jack is not an excuse. Upgradeable RAM is unfortunately a thing of the past on all high performance high efficient laptops now. Upgradeable RAM just sucks too much battery life, makes too much heat. The small sacrifice for this is to just buy your laptop with double the RAM you need and be happy about the HUGE power and efficiency gains. For SSD storage this is a little different from RAM. 1) Some laptops do still allow SSD upgrading, and 2) Toward the end-of-life on the laptop you would have the option of plugging in a SSD on the USB, this is even possible to mount it internally if you want to permanently use up one of the USB-C ports. The best bet for someone looking for a budget laptop in 2024 is a lightly used Macbook Air M1 with 16GB of RAM.

[@0w3nn]

@@Äpple-pie-5k No, not having a headphone jack is an absolutely valid reason, removing it means lack of convenience and making the only other (experimental) alternative (wireless earbuds) as the only option. This is not like when they removed dvd drives. When they removed dvd drives, there was something innovative that was objectively better in every single way called usb drives. When they removed the headphone jack, the only replacement is wireless earbuds which have tiny batteries that die in a couple of years and are easily lost.

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

@@0w3nn You seem ignorant of the pro/con quadrant matrix which Apple navigated to appeal to sophisticated users. A headphone jack is the analogue audio-out end fed by an internal DAC housed in a digital electromagnetic storm known as a computer device. This solution is universally acknowledge as dog-crap among the audiophile community and even many musically unsophisticated people can tell the quality is suboptimal. So bad in fact, that lossy bluetooth will often sound better than lossless wired in this environment. It's like filet mignon with caca sauce compared to a NY Steak with some average but nice sauce. Now, imagine you could replace that with: THE BEST WIRED LOSSLESS EXPERIENCE on the market, with a $9 external DAC dongle, for lossless wired fans, ~AND~ Simultaneously came out with high-tech bluetooth 5.x AirPods that made the lossy wireless experience SUPERIOR to the wired lossy experience (of an internal DAC➡jack). Your lossless wired users would jump for joy at finally entering Valhalla at audiophile entry-level quality (assuming the proper headphones), while your convenience-first users would have superior audio quality AND ergonomic convenience to the cheap-crap internal DAC-to-jack electromagnetic flack crowd. WIN/WIN for everyone except someone with cheesy $5 earbuds, and hey, 95% of such people are crass and tasteless and on Android anyone. Someone had to lose and Apple picked classy people for the WIN/WIN. These people previously had only one option--your beloved internal DAC-to-JACK-to-output-CRAP. Now they got two. And the people who can't hear the difference in crap audio still can still get cheap crap on the cheap crap devices they probably bought anyway.

[@tompov227]

Imagine knowing in 2018, that 5-6 years later the MBP line would go from a 4 pound Core I9 oven to this

[@mepurionus]

I'm just using macbook and windows PC (not laptop) as that happen to be best combination for me. Macbook for work, Windows for fun

[@alexmason7393]

Yeah me too brother I own an m3 pro and all of my important work related stuff there and gaming on windows

[@mikaelbiilmann6826]

Me too. However, at the mo’ I have no MacBook or iMac, just my iPad Pro and 13 PM. I use my Windows laptop and pc for Escape From Tarkov.

[@zsamps]

Yup. M1 Pro for school and mostly casual stuff, but I enjoy my Windows army for games and fun.

[@Littlebrownchicken]

I’m waiting for windows to actually work on Mac and not with parallels so I can use one laptop for both.

[@enashimo]

​@@Littlebrownchickenyou can actually boot up windows with Mac though just on a virtual machine

[@Highest]

Thing is, there's no real world comparisons in this video... and dell isn't really a laptop we recommend anymore in the windows laptop space

[@anetizen6404]

I dunno… Dell made this model to compete against the _M2_ MacBook Air instead of this one 😅

[@Highest]

@anetizen6404 it doesn't really change that there was no actual comparison in this video and the 13th gen is the one that compares to m2 and 11th gen to m1 (apple silicon had a 2 year gap between m1 and m2)

[@aidanterry8336]

@@Highest How is there not a comparison if he literally comparing the performance of an M1 versus an intel 12th gen? Would you be happier if he compared it to a 14th gen intel device that would be upwards of $1000 for the same category. Or maybe to destroy a budget windows machine? This is a fully valid comparison. People shop used and newer doesn’t mean better.

[@Highest]

@aidanterry8336 there's no real-world comparison in this video. He's not using them as a daily driver to see which one lasts longer or could use the apps he uses. He didn't use similar apps on both to see what extra features one had or how one ran better. I'm not saying compare old vs new. I'm saying make actual comparisons.

[@deanzaZZR]

That's nuts. I haven't heard the fan in my personal M1 Mac Mini and my work provided M1 MacBook Pro in years, ever since I upgraded to AS.

[@stevenmqcueen7576]

Watching this video on my mid 2012 MacBook Air. Still going strong after two battery changes and half a dozen drops off the arm of my couch onto the floor.

[@clicks59]

I recently became a Mac-a-holic.I have a 2017 Intel MBP that I really learned to love. I purchased it 2019 and it's still going strong. I decided to get a second laptop for mobile recording and started doing some research. My audio interface uses Thunderbolt connectivity so why not get a laptop with Thunderbolt ports. I opted for a 2015 MBP 15" 2.8 ghz, 16 MB and a 1TB SSD. Yeah, it's old but it performs nearly as good as my 2017.... and for $100.00 (okay, $107 after taxes), I couldn't beat it. That's where the Mac-a-holic comes in. It's Luke's fault. His videos are so good and inspiring. Thanks!

[@alessandrot1264]

Hi Luke, can you please make a video about the 16 inch 2019 MacBook Pro 5 years after its release, those machines are now 500$ and i was wondering wheather it could be an interesting deal in some ways or garbage al all. Thank you

[@letssaylalala]

IMO the 2019 16 inch is still interesting if you run a lot of apps that use 16/32 gigs of ram (docker, for example) and/or you absolutely need Intel to run whatever tools you need for work. Other than that, the base 8gb/upgraded 16gb M1 all the way.

[@mikaelbiilmann6826]

I have been looking at them too. Prices going down. I use headphones anyway so the fan noise isn’t that big of a deal for me.

[@christophkarliczek2951]

Stop buying Intel based MacBooks in 2024. M4 is about to be released this month, that‘s four generations Apple Silicon now. Intel compatibility will be dropped soon. The 16 2019 are throttling all the time and get very hot due to the fact that the heat i7/i9 are old and cooling them is a nightmare. Wouldn’t recommend it. Head for a 14.2/16.2 M1 Pro instead.

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

@@christophkarliczek2951 The reasons you give are correct, but may not apply to all use cases. Someone with a $500 budget wanting a 16" screen who needs native Windows, might be the exception to the rule. But I will add more reasons not to do it. The battery life is bad, the battery will be aged, and the cost of replacing that battery starts making a used 15" or 16" Apple silicon laptop look a lot more appealing.

[@josemedeiros007]

Cool video Luke, I am contemplating buying a 15 inch Mac Book Air to replace my 2013 13 inch Macbook Pro which has only 8 GB of RAM, how much ram is in the Macbook Air M1 you tested?

[@FireFoxDestroyer]

CleanMyMac is supposed to keep my Mac in shape, but when I drop it, it still gets dented :(

[@TheosTechTips]

Lol true.

[@thecoffeesloth]

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know if a mac can be booted externally from a Docking Station rather than directly connected to your mac?

[@mjbakedbeans]

I used to have a blade 14 and switched to a 16 M3 pro. It’s great. Still use windows for my desktop though and that will never change but now I want to stay on Mac for laptops.

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

You could get a cheap Mac mini that brings the superiority of Mac laptop experience right to your desktop!!! I did and I'm so much happier. So much more productive, efficient. And ... enjoyable !

[@mjbakedbeans]

@@Äpple-pie-5k yeah problem is I have 2 powerful windows desktops for gaming. A Mac mini will not replace those. Always had a thing for the Mac mini though

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

@@mjbakedbeans Considering the low resale value of a Windows PC, I think it best you keep one as a dedicated gaming station. A glorified high priced gaming console, so to speak. Then the Mac mini doesn't have to replace it. You can use it for every other task where productivity and superior user experience matter.

[@jangsten91]

Watching this video on your phone while your new pc is taking ages to set up is kind of ironic

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

heh, shoulda got a mac

[@RobertLeather]

Seriously, if you are starting by pegging your tent by complaining about a process that happens ONCE... And are you also suggesting that Mac doesn't have updates? Come on Luke, there's a million and one better things to say.

[@kaylibmulder5483]

Used Windows for years and changed to a Mac. Will never go back.

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

Once you go Mac ...

[@nickhaldem9626]

@@Äpple-pie-5kyou will always return for gaming

[@Alexpsy1]

@@jameschalkwig787 valid but that's 1% of the users.

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

@@jameschalkwig787 I see NO programmers return to windows except for game devs who never left. Your typical 2- or 3- platform dev who creates stuff for Windows/Linux/Mac most definitely uses a Mac in 2024. And probably has for many years. Windows 11 is despised among those in the know. For B2B it is more industry specific. I see some industries literally "quicksanded" and locked into Microsoft--just as MS intended them to be. And many others have chucked it and won't come back, except in the form of Bootcamp or Parallels.

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

@@nickhaldem9626 I play games that challenge the mind cognitively through intense layers of strategy. Not FPS graphics candy worried over frame rates. So for me, no I won't return. I can play everything just as well on the Mac. And occasionally a graphics-candy game as I don't mind having 100 choices to pick from instead of 1000.

[@tomwagner9980]

I feel your pain. I recently bought a new HP laptop for my sister as she needed one for the games she plays. Setting up Windows 11 and migrating her info took 3 hours, with endless ads. But overall it is a pretty good laptop. It all comes down to Windows or MacOS. I prefer Apple and MacOS but the build quality from the major companies are quite close.

[@APPLE1TO1]

Man you could of done the sponsor during the updates.Perfect spot.

[@The_Hero_Is_Back]

Great video! I own a 2011 Thinkpad. It’s still getting Win10 updates. It can be noisy, but it’s always been fast enough for my needs. I’d love to know that my next Mac would be supported for 14 years. Maybe with Apple Silicon. We don’t know yet.

[@goobfilmcast4239]

Dude, those aren't "updates"..... it's the ThinkPad "phoning home" and sending ALL OF YOUR DATA back to the home company in China !

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

an M4 Apple Silicon will be the longest lasting laptop in a long time, provided you get sufficient RAM/storage. Obviously M1 or M3 will last long too, a year or three less than the M4.

[@0w3nn]

@@goobfilmcast4239 Shoot we got the conspiracy theorist

[@chidorirasenganz]

Which version of blender did you use? I would use at least 4.2 because that has screenspace raytracing for eevee plus some other stuff like realtime displacement which puts it on par mostly with cycles

[@thehobnob]

Great video - the M1 MacBook Air is genuinely one of the best computers ever made, in terms of the bang for the buck, and this just shows that. Aaaaages ago you did a couple of videos comparing ThinkPads to Macs - it would be interesting to revisit that, especially with the AMD options now!

[@NormanF62]

I’ve an HP ZBook G4 Xeon quad core I picked up for $350. I also an HP ZBook G2 i7 dual core I bought for $100. Total investment $500 for the top of the line mobile workstation! They rival a MacBook Pro for build quality, design and productivity. I’m happy to have both!

[@joytech23]

My M1 MBP is about 2 months away from being 4 years old. I still use it every single day. I have a PILE of newer laptops and if I travel, chill on my bed, render a quick video or plan or go on a short trip domestically, I will always put my M1 MBP in my bag over any other device I own. It simply has better battery life, solid performance and has been dependable for all this time. I will only upgrade when Apple stops supporting it, and hopefully we're still a few years away from that lol.

[@barron204]

Watching this video on a MacBook Air M1 16gb. Works fine.

[@robinfuijk]

"Apple is overpriced and you can get a Windows computer with better specs for the same price!"... The Windows computer for the same price:

[@azenyr]

Old intel cpus are just sad. Newer ones are better with the new iGPUs. Next time try to get a used ryzen system. Those gpu scored would change a lot

[@marcq1588]

You have not mentioned anything about starting your Dell PC about Windows Account... Did you need to provide one or not?

[@MaiElizabeth]

1:22 Totally agree

[@technocatdance]

I am patiently waiting for 15 inch airs to get a little cheaper on the used market. for now my 2017 15 inch pro still handles everything just fine

[@MrSunDevil23]

Hey Luke, long time subscriber. Question. I have a 2018 MBP, top of the line. Running Sequoia makes it really slow. I know this is probably the last iteration of MacOS that it will run. I don’t care about any of the new bells and whistles so what I am wondering is…. If I reinstall something like Catalina will it bring back the zest that I loved in the past as the OS has less overhead or does the hardware actually slow down overtime i.e. BatteryGate. Love to see a one by one comparison as I know you have TONS of hardware laying around. Keep up the good work!!!

[@carlobolognesi4217]

1:28 yes because MacOS OOBE is the most straightforward ever with its hidden "share analytics" options. I think we all agree that Linux OOBEs are the best ones.

[@williamsquires3070]

I’ll still take the Mac over the PC, mostly because I hate all the Windows versions after 7. Microsoft hasn’t improved with age, unlike fine wine. 😅

[@fergusyoung6782]

I paid £1718 for my Dell XPS 15 back in 2021 with a 20% off Black Friday student discount and the M1 MacBook Pro that I picked up back in January with a cracked screen for £270 runs rings around it. Including a replacement used screen I’m £380 into that lil m1 MBP and it’s baffling how performant that thing is despite being one year older and half the MSRP of my XPS. Is it perfect, no, the fact I only have 8 gigs of ram is kicking my arse a bit when I have a bunch of things open and it’s multicore and graphics performance are bested by my Dell (granted only for about 5 minutes until the dell is heat soaked and the fans are primed for take off)

[@El_Fig_408]

Picked up a 16/256gb M1 about a year and a half ago for $750. It’s a champ and does everything I need it to do when I’m not in the office. Battery life, size, and screen are perfect for keeping in my bag. Also when paired with an external Bluetooth speaker it’s great for streaming content when your sick in bed!

[@rg975]

Windows laptops are such a terrible experience. I’ll never buy one again after using an m1 Mac for the past 3 years

[@thebottomband]

Battle of the Titans!

[@azeliak]

I am still on base model of M1 Air, and the only thing that makes me think of upgrade is having larger screen (15”)

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

It's a whole new world of luxury and amazingness with 15" screen. But if you use it at the same desk the majority of the time, I'd say the upgrade money is better spent on a nice 27" 4K display.

[@0w3nn]

ew large screens you can barely fit it on a school desk

[@peteb5461]

Fantastic as always sir!

[@marksimmons5886]

I will never get rid of my M1 MBA. I have a M3 14" pro as a home workhorse but the MBA is lighter and for everyday use its an exceptional machine, beautifully made.

[@muharremk1]

Great video as always. Can you give us the link to the wallpaper on the mac?

[@universalvibe72]

I picked up a 14.2" M1 Pro 16/512 secondhand for about $550. Pretty much excellent condition. I was really taken back at the performance achievements over the 16" i9 8core 32gb. The i9, really did it for me as far as performance goes. I understand why the M series CPUs are holding the value that they are.

[@freduah4253]

I wonder if you had a budget of 800$ MAX, which Windows laptop would you use, to do the exact same thing as you do daily on a MacBook, including work not only browsing on your own time. Would you be able to handle it well after all these years on Mac OS?

[@alonebysunset]

why are we comparing x86 to ARM? just older laptops of the same year? I think this is like making a comparison between the allies and the axis when the axis made their opening assault and took as much land as possible just at that moment when the allies were not prepped. maybe a comparison with an ARM PC and an ARM Mac?

[@MaikkunDev]

Compare a new Intel/AMD laptop like the Zenbook s14 to an M3 or M4 (when they eventually come out)

[@natayaway]

This is a very stupid question... but does the M1 MBA screen work on a 2016/2017 13in MBP?

[@tomscott88]

My M1 16gb 1TB has got significantly slower at the end of Sonoma and now with sequoia. All that snappiness that made it game changing feels like it’s disappearing don’t think it will be the go to for much longer

[@andyH_England]

If your battery is healthy then it may be worth trying a full reset as new, no backup. I did that on my iPad mini and an MB Pro 13 M1 and they were like new again.

[@tomscott88]

@@andyH_England ye it hasn’t been done since new which was feb 2021 and it’s at 86% I also have a 14 m3 max which probably doesn’t help but it does feel sluggish

[@arturoehr]

Don't update the OS, it only slows down devices for perceived obsolescence

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

You may have installed too many doodads and gadgets on it. Make a guest user account with no extra software installed on it, and evaluate the performance. If it works like new, then you diagnosed your problem. If guest user is snappy then you need to be researching what @andyH_England said to do. I'm running Sequoia on a 16GB 1TB MBP which I barely use and it's still snappy. (I use my desktop Mac 99% of the time. That one is still on Sonoma because of mission critical work.)

[@Padgriffin]

My M1 Base model felt just as snappy on Sequoia as it did when it first came out of the box. It definitely needs a reset.

[@davidlosangeles314]

The iPad Mini 7 Was NOT WHAT ANYONE EXPECTED 😢 Mother Flowers killed the pink color

[@DJGARRRY]

Luke is there away to reset NVRAM & SMC in Terminal on Macbook Pro when keyboard not responding please do a video on that.

[@AlienFactor]

Congratulations bro on half of Million subscribers 🙏🏻💻ℹ️🗣️

[@todaysgrailtomorrowsbeater]

There’s no comparing the Apple ecosystem to anything else, it’s so freakin seamless it feels like magic….!

[@prebenjaeger]

Intel 12th gen is uninteresting, though.

[@deeomayall]

I guess that the problem is that, on Mac, you get that performance whether you spend £500 or £1200, whether new or used. Only from £1500 do you start having 16GB RAM, decent storage capacity, and support for two external displays... M1 Pro Macs are unreasonably expensive used, since they are obscenely expensive new. (Not even getting into the fact that the minimum amount of RAM and storage for any £1000+ computer in 2024 should be 32GB and 1TB, but I guess mama Apple really wants us to be happy with less for some reason.)

[@JevonDS]

Although I do agree Apple holds out on RAM as a business move, OSX is far more RAM efficient than Windows though. The RAM in the M1 is fine for general computing but I agree that power users (that do heavy video editing/rendering, etc.) may need more. That said, I doubt anyone is getting a laptop (Mac or PC) that checks all those boxes and compares to M1 CPU performance for only $500 lol

[@mendodsoregonbackroads6632]

Im pretty much a power user. The 8GB models do get the job done, just barely. The 16 GB models almost never run out of memory. With a couple of rare exceptions (like the time I tried to run a 70GB Model LLM) I always have at least 3-4 GB of unused RAM overhead, even when video editing with all my other typical Apps still open. It looks like 16GB is going to be the standard going forward, because “AI”s are pretty ram hungry when you run a query, but you can totally run one of the smaller models (7B-8B) on 16GB. Next time I get a new Mac I’ll probably get 24GB or 32GB and I know that memory is mostly going to be wasted and seldom used to the full. I don’t know what goes on over there in the windows world with RAM, but with MacOS, unless you have some kind of a niche need, like running a professional sound mixing studio, or making huge CAD drawings, 32GB is totally unnecessary. Most people are going to be using about 12 GB, if that much.

[@deeomayall]

@@mendodsoregonbackroads6632 Two simple points: - Things that you consider for "power users" aren't really for power users anymore. - Future proofing. Firstly, editing 4K+ footage and running a 24-track DAW project heavy on sample libraries is now an activity that every student or person with an Instagram profile will do regularly. Both workflows are *literally* supported by iMovie and GarageBand, bundled into Macs. Computers that are up to both tasks are unreasonably rare or expensive, namely: PC laptops don't have discrete GPUs, and Macs don't have the RAM and storage. Compare with how affordable it was for over the last decade to buy a laptop that did HD video and simpler DAW work, when fewer people did those activities! People using a PC for emails just shouldn't upgrade in the first place, unless their platform dies. Second, "most of your RAM sits unused". As it should on a laptop that has soldered RAM, and as it did when you bought your laptop 10 years ago which still came with 16 gigs of RAM. Now more than ever, over-provisioning with RAM and storage is non-negotiable, to make sure that the increasingly expensive hardware we buy lasts the 8+ years that the hardware we bought 8+ years ago has lasted us.

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

For $800 I got 14" Macbook Pro M1 with 16GB/1TB. Worth every penny of the $300 more vs. a 13" Macbook Air with 8GB/256GB.

[@theblablareal]

Apple will never be able to create a mac like the M1 Air for quite a long time

[@martyk656]

2 weeks ago I bought a used Dell Inspiron 15" for $200. 11th Gen i5, 16GB RAM and 256GB NVMe. I promptly replaced the 256 with a 2TB. A year ago I sold my M1 Air for $700, and bought a Studio. I can't imagine buying a Windows laptop that wasn't upgradeable, which is by far still the norm. I won't say this is an unfair comparison, but you not only got a good deal on the Air @ $500 - but you also way overpaid for the Dell. For $500 you could get a better Dell Laptop directly from Dell Refurbished. Especially if you grab one during their weekly 30 to 40% off sales. The M1 Air & Mini were incredible value from Apple when released. I doubt we'll ever see anything close to it again from them.

[@Äpple-pie-5k]

Ironically where the terrible depreciation and resale value on Windows PC's, becomes an "advantage" sometimes, LOL

[@intensifiedhipster]

Well technically, both of them have unified RAM!

[@unidentifiedrat]

1:21 that's why I did the setup for Windows 10, then updated to 11

[@unidentifiedrat]

Only to immediately go back to 10

[@2handsomeforlaw]

I love my 16/512 M1 Air; it's my daily driver, whether I'm working in the Adobe suite, Resolve, or Blender.

[@Kev4Kev]

Is the ram upgradeable in the Dell ?

[@xgui4-studios]

no

[@stevemcclure2879]

Thanks for another great video! I was given a windows laptop that was actually pretty nice in this price range. I used it for a couple of days and ended up giving it to somebody else. It took me the same amount of time to get it set up as well. I still prefer my iPad Pro 12.9. I love the gold MacBook Air M1 and still would like one even though I don’t need it. They have them at Walmart for 650!

[@pweddy1]

0:20 That box! 🤣

[@AstralPhnx]

Imagine having a used market where macbooks sell for 500 dollars.

[@rishabhchawla]

At this price one can easily get a entry to mid range gaming window laptop. Which will perform much better.

[@Lauterec]

Will windows ever go full ARM? Even as a PC gamer, I can’t help but feel like the days of x86 are numbered. It feels like the architecture is holding us back even when the clocks and the efficiency gets better little by little every year like it always has.

[@xgui4-studios]

no, i am pretty sure x86 will stay for server, entreprise , gaming and workstation and legacy compatibility reason

[@hnasheralneam]

Most Linux updates can be installed in place, so there's rarely a need to restart your computer. Upgrade your PC today! (For kernel and some security updates restarts are needed, but they are rare for stable distros like Ubuntu and you don't need to wait for the computer to update while off)

[@deadwillowtree]

except for when you update your kernel, or install a third party driver, or a variety of other reasons where it DOES need to restart! - a Linux user since 2020

[@fizdog]

I have Linux on another laptop and I've restarted it quite a lot due to updates. 😅

[@ducdashot1239]

not entirely true, linux doesnt need to restart for basic security and feature updates but there are several critical updates that still require a restart on linux, theyre just very rare

[@xqlenty]

You can solve most of your problems with windows by installing the ltsc version(though it can be hard to grab a license, if you don't want to pirate it), or really, just install Linux, as for now its more then usable for most of the users, support a bunch of software(or you can emulate it, just like on mac) and a lot of distros are ready fast and easy to set up

[@WuRay-g6l]

LOL, Now the windows setup process even asks you to BUY GAMEPASS?! Its so funny

[@louisfifteen]

Which model is the XPS??

[@oRevived]

XPS 13 9315

[@louisfifteen]

@@oRevived Thank you

[@AandBruce]

I love this comparison, definitely showing it to people when they ask windows or Mac

[@ducdashot1239]

4:20 thats partially due to windows pc not being limited to a single style of device... + theres a reason dell rhymes with hell, their logo is the mark of the beast for windows pc users. speaking of mac being stuck with a limited styles/ options. as a die hard apple hater... the recent m4 mac mini is actually making me consider atleast running a mac as my everyday tasks machine, really reminds me of the early 2000's when apple was actually innovative and competitively priced. anyway, the appeal of windows is its incredible versatility and how varied the devices that run it can be, this is sort of the opposite side of the coin of why mac is so loved. people often think its the app ecosystem that gives mac its appeal and ye thats part of it but honestly i think their biggest strength is the uniformity. you dont have to worry about unique drivers, devices being compatible with your laptop but not your pc, software is almost guaranteed to work across all your devices because they all share similar architecture, never having to wonder if a file will work on your home pc vs work pc and viceversa. mac has a lot of bad things about it but god damn do i feel jealous sometimes as a windows user at how mac users can be assured that their pc can run all the programs they need without needing extra drivers, troubleshooting and random github code to force workarounds.

[@benedeklippai0203]

Maybe next time compare 2021 high end used PC to a 2021 Macbook Air for 500usd. It would be much more fair

[@starlte4life]

5:18 what's the videos name

[@hoooodyhoooooo]

Wow, Bulgaria spotted! Genuinely impressed, came for a review I'm positive I don't need since the Macbook will run circles around the Dell (I've got a company laptop with the same processor and it's just a joke in comparison to the Air M1)...and yet I saw you driving a beast of a machine in BG :D Cheers!

[@davidsimeonov]

Ти да видиш…бая нашенци го гледат ве