In Defense of MacBooks

The number of times I've been told this exact line is approaching the triple digits. Usually it's just low effort ragebait because it should be quite obvious that not everyone wants or can use a PC. Some people like a previous ragebaiter I've met₍₁₎ don't do anything except sit at home and play video games. In that case, you have a single use location and use case so of course a PC with a dedicated graphics card will be the best deal for you. If you won't leave your chair to even take a piss, you don't need the portability or flexibility of a laptop. However, real people like me who actually use their computer for productivity have vastly different needs. I'm a person who uses my machine for coding, CAD, and video editing. I occasionally attend hackathons or work with friends on projects, which means I need a machine that I can bring with me. Sure, a portable metal folder won't exactly match the performance or upgradeability of a jet engine box but it's good enough for anything short of heavy blender renders and *checks notes* it's portable.

1: This person was clearly ragebaiting, they were making the "argument" that anyone who used a laptop did not need to and could "just work from home!"

In the past few years, laptop performance has improved to a point where lightweight consumer laptops like the MacBook Air can handle demanding professional tasks such as computer aided design and light video editing. As of writing this post, the fastest CPU for single threaded performance is not in the Core Ultra 9 285k or the Ryzen 9 9950X but the Apple M5. Mind you, these are desktop CPUs that consume several times the power of the M5. While there are laptop processors that can deliver more performance than even the highest end M4 Max, their high power consumption leads to reduced battery life and reduced performance on battery while the M4 Max can maintain its high performance whether plugged in or on battery. The vast majority of professional workloads no longer require a desktop PC.

MacBooks, like any other laptop line, are not perfect but often its flaws are often the only target of discussion. The main flaws of MacBooks are their high prices, lack of upgradeability, and closed source software. Many people I know in the open source maker community opt to use Framework laptops due to upgradeability and repairability which is an entirely reasonable choice. But Framework laptops also have flaws, such as having worse battery life than comparable laptops and being more expensive than other brands. Each laptop has its own strengths and weaknesses and tradeoffs must be made when selecting one. Contrary to popular belief, people choose MacBooks because of their easy to use operating system, long battery life, and single threaded performance, not because they're an Apple fanboy. 

Ultimately a computer whether it's a desktop PC, windows laptop, or MacBook is a tool that enables users to complete tasks. Whether you are able to complete those tasks comes more down to the skill of the user rather than the type and quality of the machine. Take my two classmates who I'll call G and I as an example. G recently built a PC with a high end graphics card. G does not do anything other than homework and game, and sometimes the former is optional. G has a high end machine, but his own lack of skill prevents him from using it effectively. Meanwhile I uses a mid range PC with a weaker GPU. I designs his own custom rockets with CAD and is the captain of our school's rocketry team. I's machine is less powerful than G's machine, but his high skill level allows him to accomplish far more than G. Their PCs are simply tools that allow them to accomplish what they can with their skill or lack thereof. At the end of the day, what matters is not the tools a person uses, let it be Unity, GitHub Desktop, or a MacBook, but what a person is able to accomplish with those tools.