From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.advocacy

On 6/4/26 8:44 AM, Tom Elam wrote:

On 6/3/26 8:32 AM, -hh wrote:

Tom Elam <thomas.e.elam@gmail.com> wrote:

On 6/2/26 4:46 PM, -hh wrote:

On 6/2/26 16:19, Tom Elam wrote:

On 6/2/26 11:27 AM, -hh wrote:

That M1 does not represent the M1 which you bought back in 2021

Why didn't you make the above comparison to your 2021 M1's specs?

So, let's take a stab at that


Base 2021 MBP Specs
$1,999: M1 Pro 8-core CPU, 14-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD

My MBP's Specs:
$2,699: M1 Pro 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD


Base 2026 13" M4 Air specs

$999, Apple M4 CPU, 10-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16GB RAM 256GB SSD.

My M4 Spec:
$1,199 with 512GB SSD upgrade

All else except screen size about the same.

Oh, so the CPU/GPU speeds are all the same?

No, the core numbers are about the same

So then you were lying when you claimed this differentiation. Check.

And 16 vs 32 vs 8 gb RAM doesn't matter anymore?

Yes it does, but 16 is enough now, was not in 2021

But it was a trivial price change then.

Nor 4 vs 2 speakers?
Or MagSafe vs no MagSafe?
Let alone Thunderbolt 5, 4 vs 3?
Fast charging up to 70 watts vs no fast charging?
12mp 1080p camera vs 720p Facetime camera?
WiFi 6E vs WiFi6?

Yes they do, but above is 2021 MBP spec vs not 2021 Air

Doesn’t matter, because a 2021 MBP was what you bought.

Hugh, you have aggregated all the specs for the 2021 MBP and Air versus
the 2026 Air and lumped them together to create a confusing comparison.

Nope: I quoted what you posted, so all aggregation and lumping was by
you.

I wanted the smaller and lighter Air version versus the 16" MBP and
the 15" M4 Air. With that smaller size I got less weight, no fans, and >>>>> similar perceived performance. The smaller screen helps offset the GPU >>>>> difference.

But of course there's also the 14" MBP.

Covered below.

Only in that you went smaller in 2026, not 2021.

And, I paid $1,500 less than the 2021 M1 MBP. Not the same exact
specs, but my needs have changed significantly. The 2021 M1 Air is
faster than the 2017 HP, but as shown versus the 2026 M4 Air a lot has >>>>> changed.

Except for how you were pointing out all of those differences prior.

You are confusing the 2021 model spec comparison

No, I started with a quote of what you said were noteworthy differences.

Now if we compare my M4 Air to the base 14" M4 MBP the Apple list
price was $1,599. Given my lower demands now versus 2021 I could not >>>>> justify the extra $400 for the MBP.

Except for going from a 13" to 14" display.

Not material to me.

It depends.  I’ve used various sizes and find that going below 14”
quickly
gets marginal.  Especially with age and vision correction needs.  It
appears that 14”-15” is the sweet spot for utility vs transportability. >>
-hh

We make rational decisions at a point in time. Decisions based on
knowledge and what you want achieved at that time. Then time goes by.
Lots of things change. You make another similar decision and it's
different from prior. Both were valid decisions at the time they were made.

You are very fond of projecting your criteria onto others. Take screen
size. I thought 13" might not to work either. Then I tested that. Gained some useful knowledge. It does for me on a Mac. I have 20-20 vision at screen distance, and have since cataract surgery ~15 years ago. Made a decision and kept the Mac.

Have you tried the 13" MacBook Air? YMMV

13" is not a big enough screen... unless it has the sharpness of the
ones Apple uses.
--
CrudeSausage
Zephyrus G14 2021 running on Ubuntu 26.04
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.advocacy

Tom Elam <thomas.e.elam@gmail.com> wrote:

On 6/3/26 8:32 AM, -hh wrote:

Tom Elam <thomas.e.elam@gmail.com> wrote:

On 6/2/26 4:46 PM, -hh wrote:

On 6/2/26 16:19, Tom Elam wrote:

On 6/2/26 11:27 AM, -hh wrote:

That M1 does not represent the M1 which you bought back in 2021

Why didn't you make the above comparison to your 2021 M1's specs?

So, let's take a stab at that


Base 2021 MBP Specs
$1,999: M1 Pro 8-core CPU, 14-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD

My MBP's Specs:
$2,699: M1 Pro 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD


Base 2026 13" M4 Air specs

$999, Apple M4 CPU, 10-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16GB RAM 256GB SSD.

My M4 Spec:
$1,199 with 512GB SSD upgrade

All else except screen size about the same.

Oh, so the CPU/GPU speeds are all the same?

No, the core numbers are about the same

So then you were lying when you claimed this differentiation. Check.

And 16 vs 32 vs 8 gb RAM doesn't matter anymore?

Yes it does, but 16 is enough now, was not in 2021

But it was a trivial price change then.

Nor 4 vs 2 speakers?
Or MagSafe vs no MagSafe?
Let alone Thunderbolt 5, 4 vs 3?
Fast charging up to 70 watts vs no fast charging?
12mp 1080p camera vs 720p Facetime camera?
WiFi 6E vs WiFi6?

Yes they do, but above is 2021 MBP spec vs not 2021 Air

Doesn’t matter, because a 2021 MBP was what you bought.

Hugh, you have aggregated all the specs for the 2021 MBP and Air versus
the 2026 Air and lumped them together to create a confusing comparison.

Nope: I quoted what you posted, so all aggregation and lumping was by you. >>

I wanted the smaller and lighter Air version versus the 16" MBP and
the 15" M4 Air. With that smaller size I got less weight, no fans, and >>>>> similar perceived performance. The smaller screen helps offset the GPU >>>>> difference.

But of course there's also the 14" MBP.

Covered below.

Only in that you went smaller in 2026, not 2021.

And, I paid $1,500 less than the 2021 M1 MBP. Not the same exact
specs, but my needs have changed significantly. The 2021 M1 Air is
faster than the 2017 HP, but as shown versus the 2026 M4 Air a lot has >>>>> changed.

Except for how you were pointing out all of those differences prior.

You are confusing the 2021 model spec comparison

No, I started with a quote of what you said were noteworthy differences.

Now if we compare my M4 Air to the base 14" M4 MBP the Apple list
price was $1,599. Given my lower demands now versus 2021 I could not >>>>> justify the extra $400 for the MBP.

Except for going from a 13" to 14" display.

Not material to me.

It depends. I’ve used various sizes and find that going below 14” quickly
gets marginal. Especially with age and vision correction needs. It
appears that 14”-15” is the sweet spot for utility vs transportability. >>
-hh

We make rational decisions at a point in time. Decisions based on
knowledge and what you want achieved at that time. Then time goes by.
Lots of things change. You make another similar decision and it's
different from prior. Both were valid decisions at the time they were made.

You are very fond of projecting your criteria onto others.

Nah, I merely took your own list from this past week and noted how it seems that you radically changed within days.

Take screen
size. I thought 13" might not to work either. Then I tested that. Gained some useful knowledge. It does for me on a Mac. I have 20-20 vision at screen distance, and have since cataract surgery ~15 years ago. Made a decision and kept the Mac.

Have you tried the 13" MacBook Air? YMMV

I’ve spent some time with the MBA specifically in the Apple Store, but settled on MBP. Over the years, I’ve used laptops with screen sizes from 12” to 17” to understand the trades. Similarly so for desktop screen setups; probably one of my favorites was a matched pair of Apple 24” LED Cinema Displays.

-hh

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.advocacy

CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:

On 6/4/26 8:44 AM, Tom Elam wrote:

On 6/3/26 8:32 AM, -hh wrote:

….  Especially with age and vision correction needs.  It
appears that 14”-15” is the sweet spot for utility vs transportability. >…

13" is not a big enough screen... unless it has the sharpness of the
ones Apple uses.

It’s not screen sharpness as much as one’s visual acuity (vs age). For our visual perception peaks by age 20-25, and it’s all downhill from there…even notwithstanding cataracts surgery, because that doesn’t restore max PD.

-hh



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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.advocacy

On 2026-06-04 3:39 p.m., -hh wrote:

CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:

On 6/4/26 8:44 AM, Tom Elam wrote:

On 6/3/26 8:32 AM, -hh wrote:

….  Especially with age and vision correction needs.  It
appears that 14”-15” is the sweet spot for utility vs transportability.

…
13" is not a big enough screen... unless it has the sharpness of the
ones Apple uses.

It’s not screen sharpness as much as one’s visual acuity (vs age). For our
visual perception peaks by age 20-25, and it’s all downhill from there…even
notwithstanding cataracts surgery, because that doesn’t restore max PD.

I'm starting to see my own vision worsen, but it's not significant yet.
I'm mostly just noticing that I have a lot more trouble reading the tiny
print on the labels of products.
--
CrudeSausage
M4 MacBook Air
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.advocacy

On 6/4/26 3:39 PM, -hh wrote:

CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:

On 6/4/26 8:44 AM, Tom Elam wrote:

On 6/3/26 8:32 AM, -hh wrote:

….  Especially with age and vision correction needs.  It
appears that 14”-15” is the sweet spot for utility vs transportability.

…
13" is not a big enough screen... unless it has the sharpness of the
ones Apple uses.

It’s not screen sharpness as much as one’s visual acuity (vs age). For our
visual perception peaks by age 20-25, and it’s all downhill from there…even
notwithstanding cataracts surgery, because that doesn’t restore max PD.

-hh

At 80 my eyes are just fine in good light. Tested 20-20 for close and
20-40 distant at my last FAA medical. But at night? I don't fly at night nowadays. My artificial lenses are clear as the day installed, but that
does not fix the decline in the rod cell health. It's noticeable.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.advocacy

CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:

On 2026-06-04 3:39 p.m., -hh wrote:

CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:

On 6/4/26 8:44 AM, Tom Elam wrote:

On 6/3/26 8:32 AM, -hh wrote:

….  Especially with age and vision correction needs.  It
appears that 14”-15” is the sweet spot for utility vs transportability.

…
13" is not a big enough screen... unless it has the sharpness of the
ones Apple uses.

It’s not screen sharpness as much as one’s visual acuity (vs age). For our
visual perception peaks by age 20-25, and it’s all downhill from there…even
notwithstanding cataracts surgery, because that doesn’t restore max PD.

I'm starting to see my own vision worsen, but it's not significant yet.
I'm mostly just noticing that I have a lot more trouble reading the tiny print on the labels of products.

Yup. And the degradation of max PD is why night vision goes to hell.

At age ~80, it’s <4mm, which vs peak of youth is an aperture area loss of ~70% for light gathering, which can also affect what one can resolve;
classical photometric line pairs go from B&W to grey…

<https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/11/6/191613/66487/Regulation-of-pupil-size-in-natural-vision-across>

-hh

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.advocacy

On 6/5/26 6:28 AM, -hh wrote:

CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:

On 2026-06-04 3:39 p.m., -hh wrote:

CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:

On 6/4/26 8:44 AM, Tom Elam wrote:

On 6/3/26 8:32 AM, -hh wrote:

….  Especially with age and vision correction needs.  It
appears that 14”-15” is the sweet spot for utility vs transportability.

…
13" is not a big enough screen... unless it has the sharpness of the
ones Apple uses.

It’s not screen sharpness as much as one’s visual acuity (vs age). For our
visual perception peaks by age 20-25, and it’s all downhill from there…even
notwithstanding cataracts surgery, because that doesn’t restore max PD. >>

I'm starting to see my own vision worsen, but it's not significant yet.
I'm mostly just noticing that I have a lot more trouble reading the tiny
print on the labels of products.

Yup. And the degradation of max PD is why night vision goes to hell.

At age ~80, it’s <4mm, which vs peak of youth is an aperture area loss of ~70% for light gathering, which can also affect what one can resolve; classical photometric line pairs go from B&W to grey…

And the rod cells diminish, further compounding aperture loss.

<https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/11/6/191613/66487/Regulation-of-pupil-size-in-natural-vision-across>

-hh

If you are having issues reading small print one item not mentioned is
lenses clouding.

Another very seriious issue is macular degeneration (MD), an age-related
eye disease that damages the macula, leading to the loss of sharp,
central vision. While it does not cause total blindness and peripheral
vision typically remains intact, it can make everyday tasks like
reading, driving, and recognizing faces difficult. One symptom is
difficulty seeing fine details, or having a fuzzy spot in the center of
your vision.

Lenses clouding can be corrected by new lenses. There is no cure for MD.
But onset can be slowed. See an eye doc.

My 103 year old mother-in-law is legally blind from severe MD that
started about 10 years ago.
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