simonh (u/simonh) - Readit News

simonh commented on From M1 MacBook to Arch Linux: A month-long experiment that became permanenent ssp.sh/blog/macbook-to-ar... · Posted by u/articsputnik

ksec · 7 hours ago

>So we shouldn’t be impressed by Apple silicon because it also runs in phones?

My point is HN was not impressed in any shape or form, even when presented with figures, when Apple silicon was used in iPhone, but is impressed with it when it was running inside a MacBook.

And you just basically reiterated my point. People are comparing devices, not CPU. ARM has Core design IP that could rival Apple's M3 design today. i.e from CPU IP Core perspective it isn't five years ahead. It just isn't being used in the current laptop range for different kind of reasons.

simonh · 3 hours ago

So you don't understand how individual people can have an opinion contrary to what 'Hacker News' thought in the past?

I participated in those conversations back then, it was a hotly contested issue, even aside from the weird criticism of individual opinions for not conforming to some imagined collective you don't seem to agree with anyway.

simonh commented on From M1 MacBook to Arch Linux: A month-long experiment that became permanenent ssp.sh/blog/macbook-to-ar... · Posted by u/articsputnik

ksec · 10 hours ago

>all of that in one package was unheard of in a laptop before Apple silicon.

My point is, it was available on iPhone. And has always been the case but people brush it off because it was an Smartphone SoC.

And I literally just stated there are ARM CPU Core offering available. You either compare the whole MacBook / Laptop, or you compare the CPU / SoC. The first being there aren't many choice compared to. The latter are there but not being used by laptop manufacturers.

And this is not the first time HN has mixed the two up. And god I missed the old Anandtech where this distinction was clear.

simonh · 9 hours ago

So we shouldn’t be impressed by Apple silicon because it also runs in phones?

And yes, there are ARM laptops ASUs just brought out a laptop running on the Snapdragon X Plus. Geekbench Single Core 2231 versus the M4 at 3678.

I mean, I’m sure it’s fine for a lot of people, but fine for a lot of people isn’t all that impressive in 2025. The other ARM chips are still a long, long way off from getting close to base M series performance and features. When you start looking at the pro, ultra, etc M chips it’s another level again.

simonh commented on From M1 MacBook to Arch Linux: A month-long experiment that became permanenent ssp.sh/blog/macbook-to-ar... · Posted by u/articsputnik

cycomanic · 13 hours ago

> But the quality of MacBooks is just another level. I had 3 or 4 so far since 2010, and each of them held at least 5 years. Crazy good.

When I read things like this it really sounds like there is some reality distortion field in the mac world. How is that anywhere special? I'm running a thinkpad X1 as my 2 main laptops (it was my only work machine until 2 years ago) and I never felt the need to replace it. It gave me 8-10h battery life and the only issue I ever had was that 1.5 years ago the battery was reaching end of life and capacity started dropping very fast.

That was just a 70$ repair I could easily do myself.

My youngest daughter just inherited my mother's x220 (?) (she has been running Linux) that I got for my mother in 2011 or 2012. That never received any work and still works fine except that I didn't change the battery so you have to run it of ac power.

My older daughter and my mother both just got some used thinkpads that are >3years old and don't have any issues either.

So from my experience a 5 year lifetime for a macbook is really nothing special and definitely not "crazy good".

simonh · 13 hours ago

I don’t know what he’s talking about. I’ve not had a Mac last less than 7 years as a main workhorse, and my 2014 first generation 5k 27” is still going strong as a living room machine. It could still be my daily driver to be honest.

simonh commented on Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription autoexpress.co.uk/volkswa... · Posted by u/t0bia_s

ciupicri · 7 days ago

Though Starbucks is a francise, so it's expected.

simonh · 4 days ago

This isn't the profits of the franchisees, it's the profits of Starbucks.

simonh commented on Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription autoexpress.co.uk/volkswa... · Posted by u/t0bia_s

JKCalhoun · 7 days ago

I loathe that model. I recognized it decades ago when, each year or so, Sony came out with a new phalanx of new televisions. They would have price points of high-end, less than high-end and moderate. What was frustrating was when the same panel (LCD) was used in a line up and the only features that differentiated the various price tiers were seemingly in the software. High-end might have picture-in-picture for example. Maybe that required a whole additional tuner? Maybe — but other features seemed like they were simply nerfed in the lower priced models.

It's as though, and now I know this sounds crazy, as though some bean-counter with a spreadsheet was actually the one determining price and features and not a team of engineers saying, "Here's what we can deliver competitively."

And while to a younger crowd, that might sound obvious, I would like to suggest that the older U.S. model (and now we're going back to the early days of the wireless, perhaps up to early Hewlett Packard times) was to beat your competition on price and features. You would never nerf a thing in your product line up.

Am I wildly off base here, naive, or have an ignorant reading of the history of U.S. Capitalism? I'm merely a layman so am happy to hear from someone who has studied this stuff.

A bit of a tangent, but I'm also reminded of the era when HeathKit was an option. My dad recalls at least that the HeathKit kits were not always inexpensive — but the completed consumer electronic project would be of very high quality. I know he but some of his early "hi-fi" equipment from HeathKit kits.

A recent headline decelared that China is run by engineers, the U.S. by lawyers. Perhaps it should have said the West is run by marketing.

simonh · 7 days ago

If you think the US is consumer capitalism in the raw, visit China. It’s a whole other level.

simonh commented on Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription autoexpress.co.uk/volkswa... · Posted by u/t0bia_s

slt2021 · 7 days ago

This is called transfer pricing. VW can make cars in the US, but barely make any profit, thus minimizing taxes paid to the US. The subscription payments however can flow freely to the Switzerland directly, where royalty payments are taxed at the lowest possible rate.

This is how pharma works: pharma entities in the US dont make any profit, because they send royalty to the IP holder entity in Switzerland, where these royalty payments are taxes at the lowest rate possible and profits are sheltered that way from the US and EU taxation

https://www.investigate-europe.eu/posts/deadly-prices-pharma...

simonh · 7 days ago

This is also how US companies operate in Europe, e.g. Starbucks in Europe paying enormous royalty fees to the US for the name.

simonh commented on Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription autoexpress.co.uk/volkswa... · Posted by u/t0bia_s

Esophagus4 · 7 days ago

I’ve always wanted to see the data for this.

Very curious to know - are the efficiencies of scale being passed on, or is this just additional revenue for manufacturers?

simonh · 7 days ago

If it’s just extra revenue that implies that, if the manufacturer actually made 2 physically different models, they could just sell the cheaper model at the expensive model price and then charge extra for the upgrade on top of that. In other words there is zero customer price sensitivity. That seems unlikely.

simonh commented on Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription autoexpress.co.uk/volkswa... · Posted by u/t0bia_s

jqpabc123 · 7 days ago

Of course the FOMO for pointless features

Unfortunately, this sort of thing is not limited to "pointless features".

The motor for the windshield wipers on some VW models cost $600 plus installation which is likely to be at least as much as the part itself.

So just buy an aftermarket part and install it yourself? Sorry, no can do. The wiper motor is computer controlled using a proprietary protocol protected by DMCA.

Maintenance is not just a "pointless feature".

simonh · 7 days ago

We broke the charging port cover on our car a few weeks after we got it. Someone clipped it with their leg walking past while it was open. Small piece of plastic to replace. £60.

simonh commented on Exile Economics: If Globalisation Fails lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n... · Posted by u/mitchbob

hgomersall · 11 days ago

It's not a UBI needed but a job guarantee. Those people that no longer have a job need to be made productive, both for society and for themselves. It's not like there aren't plenty of things that need doing!

simonh · 11 days ago

Now you need to move and re-house the people to when it needs doing, train them, invest the capital costs needed, build out the administrative overhead, and tax the productive profitable economy to pay for it all.

If there are things that need doing, you need to consider is it better for the government to do it, or to pay the private sector to do it. In principle the latter will still need to employ people.

simonh commented on Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition projecthyperion.org... · Posted by u/codeulike

trvz · 17 days ago

It would be cruel to their children.

simonh · 17 days ago

As adults we make our decisions as best we can. We can’t not make decisions, and the ones we do affect future generations whether they like it or not. That’s just life.

Having said that I worry about the sustainability of these projects. If these are not indefinitely sustainable on arrival, then future generations are doomed to die out with no hope of survival. I’ve no problem with a carefully judged risk, there are no guarantees in life, but there has to at least be a reasonable chance.