Ask Lemmy

8GB is not enough memory these days. But you can always add memory later.

You can always upgrade the memory, and storage of the framework laptop, so you can start with the 8GB and then pick up more pretty cheap later.

One of the best things about the framework is that you don't have to pay for a package upgrade of parts if all you need is just one thing to upgrade.

Also, when you do need to update something, you can just get a new motherboard and memory, and not have to buy a whole new laptop.

Honestly, just get the framework, unless there's a real reason you need a Mac.

I have the m1 macbook air, and its wonderfully performant and long battery life for how I use it... mostly just word-processing and web-browsing.

But the repair concerns are legit, when I decided to get the macbook, I decided I was going to play apples game and opted to get their service plan. I've had apple care+ on a tablet before and their service is great when you don't have to pay their ridiculous repair fees. So at a rate of $100 per year, I'm essentially leasing my laptop after I bought it. I have it automatically backed up to my home server, in the event that one of their stupid engineering designs destroys my data (See Louis Rossmann videos).

Idk if I'd ever really recommend anyone get a macbook if they don't need to, personally, the battery life and standby time are just killer features for me. I have ADHD, and frequently forget to charge my laptop.... if I'm not on my meds and I pick up my laptop to do something and its dead... I'm not going to do that thing. With the macbook, I make next to no conscious effort to keep it charged. If it's under ~20% and I happen to be near a charger, I'll charge it. And thats the extent of me managing the battery.

My wife on the other hand, her windows machine (and most seem to have this problem as I understand) is always dead. She's resorted to putting it into full hybernation mode (significantly slower to wake up) and even then, it somehow seems to still lose quite a bit of battery in between uses.

Aside from that, its light, small, its sturdy. I use windows for work and for gaming on my desktop, so I've got not strong aversion to it, its pretty much just the battery life and standby thats the killer feature for me. So... yeah, thats my take. If the battery situation isn't a big deal for you, go for the framework. They seem like a solid company, making solid laptops, that are easily and affordably repairable and upgradable.

Funny, I was just watching something about framework! It's got some discussion of various framework reviews and the pros and cons of the machine.

https://www.youtube.com/live/KDIXNRgnDWQ/?t=21m49s

With framework being a new company, looks like they're working out some bugs, but they're doing it quickly and transparently. The laptop costs more per performance than other options, but since you can upgrade it down the line, you can save money in the long run.

Compared to a MacBook, it really depends on the applications you use. Video editing is likely going to be better on mac, but good luck trying to game on it. Mac has better battery life, but you'll pay an arm and a leg to repair anything, sometimes being cheaper to buy a whole new machine than pay their exorbitant prices.

So it all depends on the use case, but I'd go with framework. I care that the company isn't adversarial, and it would work for what I use a laptop for.

My place of work uses macs at work, I like them though I'm fairly platform agnostic. I have windows PCs for home theater use, and Linux laptops for personal use. I like macbooks but loath the complete lack of upgradability. We have so many old macs that just get scrapped. PCs are no different, but this is my workplace. If you have to buy a laptop, buy a used one and wipe it or buy a framework. Framework laptops should be upgradable for close to a decade by their vision. That's without third party support. Support a vision for a consumer rights future or buy used IMO.

8GB of RAM wasn't enough for me to use in either person or professional contexts in 2006. My work laptop has 16GB and I'm constantly running low on RAM when I'm working with spreadsheets and relatively simple Photoshop projects. I'm not talking about games or compiling code either.

I would not be looking at systems with fewer than 16GB of RAM for any user for any reason in 2024. And for myself I would not be buying any systems with fewer than 32GB of RAM.

(My personal desktop has 64GB and so far that's been sufficient but I have nearly capped it out when running substance painter, blender, unity, etc.)

So it really all comes down to the software you use. But my advice is to consider 16GB the absolute minimum.

Look at an older year of framework too

I think the framework one is better because you can get a cheaper version now and upgrade it in time. I don't know the specific specs of both laptops, but Apple products are usually overpriced, so look at all specs, the same price might not be the same specs, e.g. CPU might be weaker or no dedicated GPU.

That being said I understand where the love for Apple comes from, their products are very slick and because they control both hardware and software they can get some heavy optimisations.

Finally if you care about privacy enough to question getting a Mac, you should give Linux a try, it's not hard, most people suffer for trying to do things the windows way, but you would already have suffered that if you went with a Mac.

If you're considering a framework laptop I can't imagine you'd want to be stuck on Apple software/silicon.

Are you only considering the hardware/price, or also the software side?

Which OS'es do you have experience with, and/or preference for?

The previous Mac I used was the first one they made with a colour screen (yes, I'm that old). Then last year I got a Mac laptop and I wanted to love it ... but man, that OS is getting in my way something fierce! To such an extent, in fact, that I switched over to my own (arguably inferior) Thinkpad that's been running Linux since forever.

Having an iPhone won’t make Mac any easier, but it will be more integrated. Lots of nice convenience features like a shared note library and your text messages can be interacted with from the laptop.

Not sure what the cost difference is, but considering your other messages were talking about starting out on the path of cybersecurity, a more open platform that you can run Linux off of would probably trump the conveniences.

Just go with framework, it is going to better in every single way, I would probably install linux on it if I were you. (you expressed your concerns about microaoft being an evil corporation)

I think you want the MacBook. I like the ethical principles behind Framework too, but they come with a learning curve. You might only save money if you fix it yourself, are you willing to learn to do that? It will have to run Windows, do you know whether it will run Windows 11, will you have you install and configure it yourself, if so do you know how to do that?

Meanwhile, if you buy a MacBook it will last a good seven or eight years before you need to replace it, at least if you get the 16 GB of RAM (but maybe 8 is enough, 8 has been the standard for like a decade already, maybe software developers finally reached the point where their objective is to do more with less). Sure sometimes Apple comes up with bad hardware like the butterfly-switch keyboard but if you’re getting hardware that’s basically the same as last year check out the news and reviews, anything that bad and people will be talking about it. Also if you buy a MacBook, Apple tries its best that everything just works. The easiest learning curve there is. You may pay a premium in price up front but over seven or eight years you might end up spending less.

For the first year of ownership, if it ever has a problem (that wasn’t clearly caused by you dropping it) you can make an appointment to drop it off at an Apple Store and just pick it up when they fix it. You can buy AppleCare to extend that year into three years. If you’re a resident college student your school’s computer support center might be an authorized repair center and fix it. With a MacBook you are unlikely to incur any repair costs ever so long as you don’t drop the damn thing.

So you have to decide what sort of person you are. I’ve been building and taking apart computers for years, I’ve been a Linux user since 1999, and sometimes I want a project like a Framework to tinker with, but sometimes (especially when I went to college) I want something dependable that just works without having to fuss with it, and that’s Apple. That’s what you’re ultimately choosing, and whether that’s worth the (up-front, at least) price premium.

Framework

Are they comparable in price? What is it that you actually do with your computer?

You're at a time with high risk of laptop tragedies so repairability is an important factor. Framework will be cheaper/easier to repair yourself. However, if you have no interest in DIYing and instead have money to burn to pay for fixes (or a service plan), the mac would be a better option due to the Apple Stores everywhere. A typical repair place won't have familiarity with framework (not that it's particularly exotic) and can be a lot more hit or miss than Apple.

Also make sure you consider a few years down the line when it comes to batteries.

The biggest difference between these two will be the operating system. Although I strongly suspect that the MacBook is a better machine, that won't matter as much as which OS you want to use. Unless the swappable ports are necessary in which case you already know the answer.

One other thing that you should consider is what kind of software you know you need to run. I did read in the other comments that you mentioned Microsoft Office. If you need a native installed version, that’s where Mac or Windows will be stronger options.

That said, I have both a 2017 MacBook Pro as well as a 1st generation Framework laptop. Between the two of them, I prefer the Framework for a wide variety of reasons. Repairability and upgradability being major factors.

If you opt to use the framework laptop, I know the keyboard can be swapped out for a different language one. After looking at all the different keyboards they have, they don’t have Swedish as an option, but as an alternative, you could always get one of the blank ones and add the lettering down the line. Each operating system can change different keyboard formats on the fly, so even if you used a standard English QWERTY one, it could be switched to DVORAK in the OS and function like it. This should be the same for a Swedish language one if I’m not mistaken.

Finally for operating systems, if you need specific apps, Windows will likely give you the most compatibility with whatever you need to work with. Linux on the other hand is what I personally use and recommend if you’re willing to try something else. If you do, Linux Mint is the easiest one to jump into for a wide variety of reasons. And as a side note, you can also dual boot, using Windows for your studies and Linux for everything else.

I know this was a longer response but I hope that gives you some insight for your situation. Good luck!