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lnenadyesterday at 12:47 PM5 repliesview on HN

It's not a valid comparison. Up until this (theoretical) machine, the playing field wasn't equal. Windows laptops in general couldn't really compare in many aspects with Macs since M1 (outside of gaming), batteries were horrible due to bad efficiency, performance wasn't amazing even with the best SKUs, and the distance between the vendor and Microsoft was always impacting different aspects of the finished product. Even with the ARM Surface, the ecosystem still wasn't ready for ARM, the performance was lacking. If this device doesn't cost an arm and a leg, it will offer something that is really the first instance of a Windows device that's a better choice than an M-Macbook in many ways (at least on paper).


Replies

threetonesunyesterday at 12:53 PM

Back when Macs were suffering under poor Intel chips there were valid competitors in battery life and size and weight from Dell. Except they ran Windows, and the trackpad was never as good as a Mac, and you'd find yourself searching for driver updates for things like the built in camera, which also wasn't very good because Dell doesn't have an entire division building amazing tiny cameras for phones.

Microsoft maybe had a chance when they decided to build their own Surface tablets/laptops but trying to make an OS that worked for that but also worked for your corporate issue Lenovo laptops is (as Apple seems to know), impossible.

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wiseowiseyesterday at 1:37 PM

I have Surface copilot whatever. The battery life is great. OS is a complete garbage. No amount of HW thrown at windows will fix its issues.

bryanlarsenyesterday at 2:30 PM

> Up until this (theoretical) machine,

A little earlier than that. With Intel's Lunar Lake / Panther Lake, x86 laptops are again in the same ballpark as a Mac efficiency-wise. There are reputable reviews where people are getting 16-20 hours of battery life out of them doing real work, in both Windows & Linux.

M5 is probably still better, but at least the x86 machines don't embarrass themselves any more.

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drfloyd51yesterday at 1:16 PM

That is a lot of misdirection that doesn’t address the main point of the of OC.

This fancy new device still runs windows. And that is a non starter from many people.

spjtyesterday at 1:07 PM

As if the reason people don't like Windows is because the ads on their desktop weren't loading fast enough.