Anyone who knows what Linux actually is, isn’t buying these.

It will just hammer that swap file until you get it under a couple dozen chrome tabs!

Nah chrome (worst case scenario) with about 80 tabs total on a M1 Air w/8gb is okay, I see it often doing IT support. This should be a bit better. A18pro is pretty efficient.

Used Macs carry a pretty big inflated premium for about 6 years while supported.

I have six or more 10+yr-old refurb Macs running all different distros of linux, testing for permacomputing viability then selling very cheap. They run mostly great, though the laptops all struggle with sleep and battery management compared with macOS. Some, the cameras or mics need a lot of terminal futzing around to get working adequately.

Get a lenovo 480 if you are shopping for a used laptop. A 2015 MacBook pro running Debian derivatives or Fedora is very pleasant if you’re not picky about battery life. Zorin is pretty for that mac aesthetic.

I buy new because my service requires up to date production software, and output on time-is-money schedules. Business expenses amortize quickly, due to tax, equipment turnover is expected.

Utter bullshit disinformation. SoC, look it up.

That’s odd, because it is similar in performance to the M1 Air which is still pretty banging at basic introductory media production.

If you are running a proper production lab you aren’t using $600 computers anyway, or you are economizing guerilla-film style. If you wanted to introduce 1080p NLE or basic DAW to incoming noobs, probably an okay device… but a lab should be using desktops anyway or your curriculum is badly broken. Definitely get minis if you’re doing macs.

This basic laptop in a premium case with great battery life is for folks doing lots of admin or studying and running office, with Pixelmator or Affinity or other mid range production apps. It WILL run photoshop fine if you don’t work on large files.