Even though my Framework Laptop 13" is relatively new (it's over a year old now), my fiancee is in the market for a new computer, since hers is a circa-2016 Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon, which has a disgusting touch bar that has been severely discolored over the years. The fans run at full-speed during most basic tasks, and the battery life is atrocious, getting a mere 1-2.5 hours of only lightweight usage. While it had a good run, we're worried about it failing soon, being over 8 years old. It's also just not suitable as a laptop anymore, since it performs poorly and basically always has to be plugged in. While we could pursue replacing the battery and possibly even the touch bar, this computer is so old and cheap that it's only a matter of time before something goes wrong again.

So, I've been doing a lot of research on new laptops. Since she doesn't really care about laptops all that much, she's perfectly content to take my Framework while I get a new computer. The Framework is new-ish, sturdy, and most importantly, she knows it is reliable and has acceptable battery life. With Alpine Linux, it is a perfectly capable machine for her use case, which is basically just Firefox and LibreOffice. She already runs Alpine on her Thinkpad, and you might be surprised that someone that isn't tech-savvy at all actually likes Alpine and Plasma, so we're just going to clone the hard drive in her current laptop and call it a day.

For me, the obvious choice for a new laptop was the 16" Framework. When I bought my Framework, the 16" wasn't available, nor was it even publicly announced (I probably would've just waited for it). The 13" was a little small for my tastes, but I really wanted the ability to make changes to and repair my Laptop, and the desire for those two things was basically the only factor I considered. The Framework was good enough and it had that customization, so I went with it, even though it was a little small.

The 16" Framework laptop has all the customization capabilities of the 13", and in fact has a few additional ones as well, with the ability to add a discrete GPU and more expansion cards, as well as customize the input panel with a plethora of keyboard and trackpad options. That, combined with great end-user accessibility of the internals and stellar Linux support, and I had pretty much decided that was the laptop I was going to get when I get a new laptop.

But for better or for worse, things change.

There are two main factors that made me decide to look at other laptops. First, the Framework Laptop 16" is expensive. The Ryzen 9 7940HS with 16GB of RAM, 500GB of NVMe SSD storage, no Windows license, and no expansion cards (I already have plenty), is $1,827. That does include the power supply, but does not include a GPU. That's pretty much the bare minimum I can get away with for a laptop these days, but if you wanted the GPU and a Windows license (which most users are going to want) then you're looking at an extra $600, putting the Framework laptop at around $2,400, for only 16GB RAM and a 500 GB SSD. If you want enough expansion cards to fill the empty slots on the laptop, you'll spend another $100 at least. I'm just lucky I already have the expansion cards. Unfortunately, Framework laptops (and maybe laptops across the board) are just getting more expensive. For reference, I ordered my 13" Framework in 2022 and paid $1,545.48 for it. Now, in 2024, the exact same configuration (which doesn't include an SSD since I already had one) is $1,841.

Second, I'm getting to the point in my life where I need things to just work. As much as I absolutely love tinkering with computers and troubleshooting them, I really don't have time for that anymore. I need a computer that I can just turn on and get to my creative work, which includes writing, composing/arranging music, and learning Biblical Greek. I need a computer that allows me to just focus on what it is I turned on the computer for, instead of allowing me to go down the rabbit hole of customization and power-user stuff. The fact of the matter is that if I can tinker with it, I generally will, and that's just not a productive use of my time anymore. So the logical solution is something that I simply cannot tinker with.

At this point I am sure you can see where I am going with this post. The above, combined with the fact that out of necessity I am required to spend more time on modern websites and mobile apps, which often don't work properly on Linux¹, was why I decided to price out a MacBook, mostly just for fun, until I realized that it is actually more affordable than the Framework and is objectively the better laptop. I have always been under the impression that Apple products were way overpriced for the specs, but having done the research, I am shocked to find out how wrong I was. A 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD 15" M3 MacBook Air is just $1,700, which is cheaper than what another 13" Framework of the same specs I have now would cost. And it's still cheaper than a more modest configuration for the Framework 16" with no Windows license and no expansion cards.

Hardware Comparision

The MacBook Air is surprisingly affordable. While still very expensive, it's no more than I've come to expect to pay for a laptop suitable for my needs. Additionally, it's just better at being a laptop than the Framework. The build quality of Apple products is unrivaled, particularly if the Framework is the competition. MacBooks have a premium look and feel about them, and they are incredibly durable. This is because they use premium materials that are made to last. The same cannot be said for the Framework 16", which has more plastic components, bends and flexes easier, and generally just looks and feels "cheaper."

The MacBook is also much smaller and lighter. Yes, I am sacrificing some screen space, but 16" is overkill for my use case anyway, since much of the time, I have my laptop docked to my workstation. 15" strikes the perfect balance of portability and screen real estate, but Framework doesn't offer it as a size. The 13" is amazingly portable, but the screen is too small, and the 16" is just too clunky all around. Additionally, MacBook Air is thinner and lighter than even my 13" Framework, making it ultra-portable, which is great for school.

The MacBook Air's battery life is stellar, while offering objectively better performance with Apple's M3 chip, which is unrivaled in laptop CPUs. Not to mention that the MacBook Air is fanless. It has no active cooling, and generally this is not a problem because of how efficient M3 is. On the other hand, the Framework will get much worse battery life and run hotter; it just isn't as efficient, and requires active cooling. If I want a device that is quiet and efficient, yet powerful, the MacBook meets those criteria better than the Framework. 2 days of battery would be unheard of for Framework, which has poor battery life in comparison to pretty much any other laptop, but 2 days is standard for MacBook Air.

From what I can tell, MacBook Air also just has better specs all around. Even though RAM and storage are the same as what I'd get with Framework, it's going to be faster because of M3, and things like the keyboard, display, microphone, camera, speakers etc. are all superior to most other laptops, particularly the Framework, which has modest components even in comparison to recent Windows laptops. After watching people handle and review both laptops on YouTube, I can confidently say that the MacBook looks and performs better in every use case, and nobody has any complaints about the battery life, whereas battery life is the chief complaint about the Framework. Overall, the MacBook Air is much more sturdy, and looks like it will stand the test of time better than the Framework.

Sure, the Framework is upgradable, but if the product is of high quality from the start, those upgrades will be less necessary. Frameworks are also expensive to upgrade. If I want the latest Ryzen CPU in my 13" i7 Framework (which still won't compare to M3), I'm spending $700 for the mainboard and then I have to buy new RAM and a WiFi card. So in theory, while having a laptop that you can upgrade every few years to keep up sounds great, it's extremely expensive. If I had the choice between getting an new MacBook every decade, or a new Framework mainboard every 5 years, well, economically it evens out, so why not go the low-maintenance route and just get a new MacBook?

I really wish the MacBook was as repairable and upgradable as the Framework. But I've also come to realize that with the Framework, I'm still spending a lot of money and I'm still locked into using only Framework components. And if I don't want to upgrade my CPU, I'm stuck with the current generation of RAM and other components that I already have, so I can replace things, but I can't really get any better performance through upgrades anyway.

Finally, I can get a MacBook a lot quicker than I can get a Framework 16". If I wanted to, I could walk into Best Buy or another electronics store and bring home the exact MacBook Air that I want today. Framework won't be shipping this batch of pre-orders until June, so I'd have to wait a few months to get one. That's probably not the most important criteria when choosing a laptop, but there certainly is something to be said for just walking into a store and getting the exact computer you want instead of having to wait for it. It means that if our laptops do fail, as this ThinkPad probably will soon, we can just get another one quickly and not be offline for too long.

Software Comparison

Now you may be wondering how I, a hardcore Linux user that has a soft spot for the BSDs, deal with MacOS, which is the antithesis of everything I stand for when it comes to software. It's true, I do wish MacOS was open source and I could have more control over it, and it's true that if the M3 MacBook Air supported Linux well enough, I'd totally try it out. And yet, MacOS, I think, is a big part of what makes a MacBook worth it. First of all, I can honestly say that I never thought I'd be defending MacOS before I sat down to write this post. But a lot of research and thought has gone into this (I even spun up a Sonoma VM), and there are some things that I like.

First, applications are fully contained. I can just download a .dmg file, copy its contents to my Applications folder, and launch it. That's how easy it is to install apps. No need to deal with package managers and dependencies, just download a single file. The App Store is present too, but I don't really anticipate needing to use it too much. If at all possible, I will probably just use the .dmg files. This is appealing because I can just save them on my server and not worry about losing my software. I like to archive my software just to be prepared in the event that I lose internet access or otherwise can no longer get the software I want. On Linux, this looks like mirroring the entire repository for the distribution I use, thanks to the complex dependency chains that make it impossible to realistically only mirror the subset of packages I actually use. But on MacOS, I can just download the files for the software I want and put them in a folder for storage.

MacOS is also fully POSIX-compliant, even more so than Linux since it is officially certified and Linux is not. I like POSIX a lot, and it means that I can run all of the same apps I ran on Linux on MacOS without too much trouble. It also means that I can develop applications that will run just as well on Linux and Mac. Somewhat related, having a Mac means I can do mobile development as well. With Linux and Windows, I could only do Android app development, but with Mac, I can do both iOS and Android. Not that I am planning on it, but it is nice to have the option, since a few of my long term plans do involve an iOS app to be realistic.

Of course, MacOS also has far better native and third-party app support than Linux. The built-in apps can do all of my basic tasks, including email, calendar, to-do lists, contacts, and the like. Third-party apps can do everything else. There are plenty of "cross-platform" apps that I've wanted to run, but I can't because I use Linux, and that's just not supported. MacOS will have many more apps for me to choose from, which hopefully means increased productivity.

Another thing that we need to talk about is security. MacOS is without a doubt more secure than any Linux distribution could ever be, and that's because of the hardware chain of trust. Macs have really secure hardware, and this translates to really secure software. MacOS can have a locked bootloader that verifies its authenticity and integrity, and if someone steals your computer, it's going to be impossible to get any data out of it. You can generally say the same with Linux and full-disk encryption, but even then, you have to disable secure boot unless you want to deal with signing keys and all that, and in that case, someone can still just disable secure boot. A Linux system can be tampered with in ways that a MacOS system just can't be. Since normal computers allow users to have some control, they sacrifice security. MacOS is also much less of an attack vector than Windows or Linux, since it is less widely used.

Finally MacOS just works. Not only is it visually appealing, it also supports all of the Apple hardware out of the box, and it's going to work with my printer and other hardware I have laying around the house. Linux is tricky, especially with printing. But instead of having to mess around with software to make things work, I can trust that MacOS is just going to always work, because it's designed to just work. Linux doesn't have the same service guarantees that MacOS does, and since I have such limited time to tinker, those guarantees are nice. As I already mentioned, I need a computer that stays out of the way and lets me forget about it because everything just works, and I think a Mac allows that.

A Note About The Walled Garden

I absolutely do not want to become locked into Apple's walled garden. I'm not going to use iCloud or iMessage. All my files will still continue to be written in LibreOffice, MuseScore, and other free software that is cross-platform and works on Linux. I'm still keeping my Nextcloud server around for syncing my calendars, contacts, and other information. I'm still using my own email server. In other words, my data is still very much my own. Maybe my laptop is changing, but my server and all the data I keep on it will be the same. My files will be synced with the Nextcloud desktop client, which works very well on Linux and I anticipating it working even better on MacOS.

As long as I can help it, I don't want to be dependent on any one laptop operating system. I want everything set up in such a way that I can pick up any computer and use it. I do use Linux on the server, and when I want something to tinker with, that will be what I tinker with, but for now, I'm choosing MacOS because it will do everything I need it to do and stay out of my way. MacOS is a surprisingly minimal operating system for daily use, and that is refreshing. Of course, it's ~14GB size makes it feel hefty in comparison to my ~2GB Alpine Linux install, but the interface is clean and simple.

What's The Catch?

As far as I can tell, there is only one catch in my mind, and it is that the M3 MacBook Air only supports 2 external displays, which, honestly, is unfathomably stupid. I've been using laptops docked to workstations with more displays than that for years, and these aren't exactly what I'd call high-spec laptops. It is unfortunate because I currently do have three displays. They're older displays, so it's not like they're 4K or anything crazy. They're just regular 1080p displays, so a MacBook of all laptops should have the bandwidth to drive them.

It isn't like Apple doesn't make MacBooks that support more displays, but in order to get more than two displays, you have to go all the way up to the MacBook Pro with the M3 Max chip, which starts at roughly $3,200 and is just way overkill in every other area. So it is honestly kind of disappointing that I can't use my current setup and will have to go down to two monitors, but at the same time, I don't really feel like this is a dealbreaker. My setup at work just recently got upgraded to two monitors from one, so I'm used to working with less space, and I always find large numbers of monitors to be a little obnoxious anyway. So do I really need three displays? Considering the fact that one of them is probably 12-15 years old and has a slight flicker and very poor colors, I'd say probably not. I think I can get by with my two better monitors without a problem.

Conclusion

It really makes me sad to say it, but Framework + Linux just doesn't make much sense for me anymore. It's only making my life harder, because there is software I want to run and websites I need to be able to visit that I just can't because of my hardware and software choices. MacBooks and MacOS have gotten so much better than they were years ago when I was looking for alternatives to Windows. With Apple Silicon, Macs are lighter, cheaper, and more powerful than ever, and more so than anything else on the market right now. And with MacOS, they just work. It really is the best of all worlds, and that's a hard thing to pass up at this point in my life.

I do want Framework to be successful, and I want Linux to be successful as well, but until Framework laptops are affordable and I can use Linux for visiting the websites I need to use, then MacOS it is for me. It's time to be productive, to get real work done, and to built a life for my future family. As much as I want to love Linux, it doesn't really allow me to do those things anymore. I could probably try to spoof my browser user agent and all that nonsense, and I have been doing that for my banking websites, but at this point, it's just too much. Because the other part of this is that there's a lot of social pressure to use what everyone else uses. I can't talk about computers with anyone without them saying something along the lines of "just use Windows" or "just get a Mac."

I've become increasingly frustrated at computers, because they never work the way I think they should. Everyone tells me that the reason for that is because I am stubborn and make bad tech choices. Maybe they're right, or maybe they're not. Since I've never used a Mac, and it's the most computer for my money right now, I'm going to give it a try and see what happens.

It's important to note that I haven't actually had my hands on either a Framework 16" or an M3 MacBook Air 15", but I've watched a lot of review videos and done a lot of reading, so I feel fairly confident in my judgement of these laptops.