Why the M1 is a step backwards

     There is a crazy amount of hype surrounding Apple's newest lineup of computer chips. They promise ridiculous performance, crushing every intel mac ever made while lasting up to 20 hours on a single charge. The vast majority of media coverage has been positive, which is exactly what Apple wants. At first glance, this seems like a complete victory for Apple - which it is, and a step forward for the tech industry - which it is most definitely not. There are a whole host of problems with Apple's approach, including many that were created by this approach and can only be fixed by buying more products.

     First of all, Apple is now using a system on chip approach. This means that the computer is not upgradeable at all. Period. You can't upgrade componenets if new ones are released, and you can't replace stuff that breaks. I know Apple has been doing similar things with soldered memory on earlier intel models, but this is just as bad, if not worse. SoC means the computer is basically a black box, and many times even if the RAM is soldered the SSD is not. Other laptops (such as the one I'm typing this on) allow you to swap out parts like the RAM, secondary storage (SSDs and hard disks), networking chip, fans, speakers, cooling assembly, touchpad, display, keyboard, and webcam. On an M1 mac (and indeed some recent intel ones) a cracked screen means a replacement of the entire logic board. Many times, it's cheaper to just purchase a new computer. Yes, your average user might not need to be able to take the computer apart and repair it, but it's a fact that having a solid secondary market keeps computers out of landfills. Just look at older lenovo thinkpads. You can buy a T440p, upgrade the processor, put 16Gb of RAM in it, swap the hard drives for SSDs, install a FHD or even a QHD screen, and purchase some hot-swappable batteries to extend the time between recharges. If you don't like the touchpad (many don't), you can buy a T450 touchpad and swap it. At the end of the day, that's one relatively modern computer saved from the landfill. Whereas with a mac, your only choice is to "recycle" it or take it to the Apple store (as repair shops can't fix it) . All this from a company that claims to care for the environment. In other words, what Apple says is bullshit.

     With Apple products, even when the part isn't soldered in, it can still be impossible to fix, due to Apple's stance on right to repair. There's been a history of anti-consumer and anti-repair practices, from using easily stripped pentalobe screws, to checking part serial numbers (and disabling key features even if the part is genuine Apple). Even getting parts is a nightmare, with Apple choosing to restrict as many things as possible (like asking for device serial numbers) to prevent repair shops from creating an inventory of stuff like screens, charging ports, or batteries. These blatantly anti-consumer practices have not been lessened, despite repeated attempts to make Apple comply. Instead, programs like Apple's "at home repair kits" are laughable at best, and at worse a solid "fuck you" aimed at consumers' rights advocates.

     Let us also consider the way the product was advertised. I mean, take a look at the following graph. (Yes, this is actually some promotional material that they put out, if you want to see more funny pictures, here you are)

Graph from Apple displaying relative performance vs power, with no labels, and exceptionally vague implications

     Specifically: where are the labels? What the fuck is "relative performance?" And please. What is "latest PC laptop chip?" They weren't specific, so I'm going to assume they mean the Alder lake i9-12900HX? The Ryzen 9 6900HS? Both of which crush the M1 in terms of performance. What? I know those two were released much more recently than the M1 chip, but the fact remains that Apple was deliberately unspecific, probably to prevent skeptics from testing their claims. I'm not even going to talk too much about Apple's laughable attempt to sell the M1 ultra (beefed up M1) by claiming its graphics performance was comparable to the 3090. The Verge did a great article on that already. Heck, even a community of Apple shills recognizes the flawed comparison and is literally begging people not to compare the M1 Ultra with the "Fastest PC Graphics card" like Apple had on its chart.

     Now, what else is Apple falsely advertising? Let's see. They claim their macs have Thunderbolt ports. However, this is simply not true. Apple shipped a crappy implementation that is missing portions of the Thunderbolt standard (see here, basically means that an external SSD that uses that specific USB version - or a M1 ipad - will be limited to an extremely slow speed.), namely USB 3.1 Gen 2 and USB 3.2 Gen 2, and so it's not USB-4 compliant either. This means that what they're selling as Thunderbolt isn't actually Thunderbolt, because that requires USB-4, and the latter isn't supported properly.

     So far, we've seen what could be described as growing pains for a new platform, coupled with Apple tightening control over users' devices, make the M1 a step in the wrong direction. The right direction consists of:

    > There's more, but I'm tired and this is long enough. To wrap this up, I can't recomend staying well away from anything Apple enough. That means no iPhones, no new macs, no Apple TV devices, no Apple watches, and whatever they've cooked up now. Try using Linux. It's just better - it's faster, even on older hardware, it's completely free, and, best of all, if you don't like something, you are free to change it. If you're coming from a mac, try the GNOME desktop. It's fairly similar in layout, and its touchpad gestures are top notch.
Oh yeah. And if you're an apple fanboy and you're offended by this, that's your fault for a) reading this far, and b) buying apple in the first place. Enjoy your broken products and empty wallet. Rant's over.
Also, at some point, probably tomorrow, I'll replace all the links here with archived versions (I'll put a secondary link on the verge one; they deserve the clicks for exposing that). Until then, rel=nofollow it is for apple and the mac shills.