DrMacintosh

Given by the amount of drops you put your devices through, I would recommend a behavioral change before purchasing another tablet of any make or model. These things are thinner than phones, as a result even with a case they require some care. You wouldn't throw a glass slab on the ground, so why would you do that to an iPad which is basically the same thing? 

Given by the amount of drops you put your devices through, I would recommend a behavioral change before purchasing another tablet of any make or model. These things are thinner than phones, as a result even with a case they require some care. You wouldn't throw a glass slab on the ground, so why would you do that to an iPad which is basically the same thing? 

Yeah but if it's still on the traditional architectures that isn't going to last more than a generation and will eventually run into a wall. All the existing legacy processes are running up against a wall. The industry needs to move away from legacy support and start innovating. 

If its not ARM its not a competitor to Apple Silicon.

It is in everyone’s best interest that iOS does not become Windows in this revised. The user should not have to pay to patch vulnerabilities in the OS. The correct response to that is to say don’t side load. 

On macOS there is a toggle to allow applications to install from the App Store and trusted developers only or install from anywhere. 
 
The default setting must be only the App Store for iOS. Changing this setting should be under security & privacy settings and require user authentication warning them you’re opening the door to unverified software that is potentially malicious. 
 
My biggest fear is that someone could have a 3rd party app installed from an alternate store which compromises the system as a whole or an app can be used by a government entity to compromise a large portion of people. 

To riff on what DrM said, I could see Apple replicating what it did on the Mac, where non-App Store apps aren't allowed by default but can easily be enabled in settings. I could even see Apple requiring a Developer ID signature that lets the company remotely disable an app if it's malware or otherwise illegal. That could bring concerns of its own, but might also help avoid Android's problem (where malware usually comes from third-party stores and sites).
 
However Apple tackles it, I'd say this is a net positive move. It'll hurt Apple's rep for security, but it'll also remove one of the obstacles enthusiasts often cite for rejecting iPhones. These are pocketable computers, and benefit from being treated as such. Not that Android diehards won't find some other justification...

I already can side-load apps, and the process isn't hard. Look up AltStore. And Dolphin iOS. If they keep that around, and don't officially support side-loading, I'm fine with it. I bought an iPhone because I wanted it to "just work", Not because I wanted a device to incessantly tinker with. That's why I sold my soul to Apple. So really, I don't want this if it means less attention on the bugs that are already in the platform, which are starting to grow in number and severity.

It is probably good that it is an option but, honestly, I am not really going to use this.
 
As an iPhone and former Android user, as someone who has jailbroken their iPhone in the past... these days I just need it to do what it does out of the box. I think a lot of Apple users see their "walled garden" approach as a feature, not a bug. Users prone to tinkering with their devices probably buy something else and put a custom ROM on it.
 
Honestly, the only reason I had ever jailbroken my phone was to install pirated apps... And while there were some other cool custom things I could do with the jailbroken iOS, that was really the main reason. Just as all those people who claim they need emulation and custom firmware on their Playstation, Xbox and Nintendo consoles for "preservation purposes" and to "play ROMS that they dumped themselves, because they definitely own the cartridges": let's be honest, 95% of people use these tools for piracy.
 
I guess the good thing about 3rd party app stores is potentially opening up the possibility of a kind of "Epic games store" on iOS that charges developers less than 30% of their revenue... that would be a positive development.

Was going to suggest clean the fan intake. But I believe this model doesn't even have a fan.
The Air is not for "productivity", unless you enjoy getting burned.

Even with this in mind, I would not consider a 1TB internal drive for a MacBook Air. At most I would get 512GB and utilize external storage and cloud services. Most colleges will give students either Google Drive or OneDrive to store all their school work in a safe and accessible location. It's really nice. 
 
I'd got with 16GB of memory if you are going to do any upgrades. This will increase the machines usable life more than a bigger internal drive. Apple Silicon is really good at memory management, but having more memory will make it that much better.
 
The best thing about that MacBook Air is that it will last literally all day while they take notes and sitting through lectures. 

A fan. So the Pro is better for sustained loads. I think the screen may be slightly nicer as well, and the battery is a tad larger. 
The M2 Air has an M2 chip (slightly faster, slightly more efficient than the M1), an updated design with an even larger trackpad and slightly larger screen, that's about it. I see no point in getting an M2 Air over the M1 unless the aesthetic matters that much, or you need 24GB RAM (as the max for the M1 is only 16GB). But macOS is very good at memory management so you'd need an actual workload that will use that much RAM as just "a lot of multitasking" won't, and at that point you wouldn't be using an Air anyways. 
^^^ we use mostly Macs at work, 256GB is fine for everything but video editing... where we just use an external drive or NAS because we didn't want those files on the internal storage anyways (every current Mac comes with Thunderbolt/USB 4 so wickedly fast external SSDs is no biggie, and cheaper than internal storage). 

Reminds me of how someone in my old apartment put up flyers for an Android TV box whose marketing screamed "buy this to pirate shows!" It was virtually guaranteed to be a poorly cobbled-together machine that would be as much a threat to your home network as anything else.

Even with this in mind, I would not consider a 1TB internal drive for a MacBook Air. At most I would get 512GB and utilize external storage and cloud services. Most colleges will give students either Google Drive or OneDrive to store all their school work in a safe and accessible location. It's really nice. 
 
I'd got with 16GB of memory if you are going to do any upgrades. This will increase the machines usable life more than a bigger internal drive. Apple Silicon is really good at memory management, but having more memory will make it that much better.
 
The best thing about that MacBook Air is that it will last literally all day while they take notes and sitting through lectures. 

i agree that the base is a well priced computer. The upgrades tho... 
Don't think any tech savvy person agrees with those

*whoosh*
Incomplete drivers! Even on Linux! Not just Windows!
 
No the Steamdeck is not a PC, it's not marketed as a PC, and you can't just run any off-the-shelf OS on it. You need a proprietary driver bundle that clearly isn't in the WHQL to run Windows, and non-existing in the stock Linux kernel.
 
Running Linux on "anything" is not the same as "Anything can run Linux, and be productive"
 
Using the Steamdeck as a desktop PC, is as stupid as using a laptop as a desktop PC, throw in the insane demand of "Can it run Linux" and you'll often find the answer is "No, only a proprietary kernel". Just like mobile phones and smartTV's. That may be a Linux kernel, but it is not a Linux OS.
 
Are you going to wait around for your investment in computer hardware to depreciate to nothing before it gets proper working Linux drivers, or even Windows drivers? No. You're not. 
 
People are only going to buy a device and use the OS it comes with, come hell or high water.  If the manufacturer decides to stop supporting it because they're a bunch of greedy shmucks, *cough*google*nvidia*nintendo*cough* nobody has the technical knowhow to make an old device run a new OS. And we already know the Steamdeck is never running Windows 11. So effectively the Steamdeck was already old hardware when it was released.
 
Apple, has a far longer commitment to hardware than most of the PC ecosystem, and as a consequence, people can, and do hang on to hardware longer. The last Intel mac was released in March 2022. That's only 1 year ago. Apple releasing a new M-series chip every year isn't going to work out for them until all the Intel hardware is out of the retail channel AND out of support. So Apple can't make those Intel mac's unsupported until 2029. All 2017 models of mac can run 2022 (Ventura)'s version of MacOS. 2012-2022 Intel macs can all run Windows 10. Zero can run Windows 11.
 
Or you know... Virtualize it...
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/options-for-using-windows-11-with-mac-computers-with-apple-m1-and-m2-chips-cd15fd62-9b34-4b78-b0bc-121baa3c568c
 
As far as I know, or even care, Apple likely didn't take into account the replacement cycle when they started on the ARM M series. Seeing as the same chip is used in the iPad Pro's, Macbook Air, and Macbook Pro, what would have made the most sense is only refreshing the iPad's and Macbooks on alternating years. There isn't going to be a breakthrough in performance. You only gain significant performance on years there is a die shrink. No die shrink, no point. M1 for iPad Pro and Macbook Air, M2 for Macbook Pro and MacMini, M3 for iPad Pro, and Macbook Air, M4 for Macbook Pro and MacMini, etc.
 
Like that is a liability of making your own chips that you don't have with an off-the-shelf part. Apple has always been critized for putting lame Intel iGPU chips in things like the Macbook Air and MacMini, because those iGPU's suck. A Lot. A 12" Intel laptop is extremely pathetic even under a fair comparison to a 12" ARM laptop, yet Apple not only knocks it out of the park on performance, but it runs 10 more home runs before the Intel laptop realizes anything has happened.
 
Apple is ahead, in the market segments that it has a reasonable offering in (Eg Macbook Air, MacMini) despite proprietary parts.
 

Shhhhh, you can't say that! everything is always the user's fault!
 
Unless the issue is on windows, then it's microsoft's fault
or the issue is on iOS or MacOS, then it's Apple's fault

There isn't anyone else beside Apple who has a competing operating system. It can't be any variant of Linux because its premise is being free and open source. Linux also has nearly infinite barriers to entry because doing something as simple as mounting a volume on Linux can require a google search. Chrome OS is not a real desktop OS so that is out of the picture. 
 
The fact that you can install Windows on "you own hardware" does not really appeal to the majority of consumers, it applies to even less people when you consider laptops. 
 
Apple is the only company with the financials and the technological ability to challenge Windows in any way, but since they won't beat Windows machines on price, we are unlikely to see the Mac grow outside of 1/3 of the market. With the buying power of the average American going down over the period of the last few decades, we are unlikely to see that growth ever happen. Microsoft will remain the monopolistic OS and people will deal with it forever. 

There isn't anyone else beside Apple who has a competing operating system. It can't be any variant of Linux because its premise is being free and open source. Linux also has nearly infinite barriers to entry because doing something as simple as mounting a volume on Linux can require a google search. Chrome OS is not a real desktop OS so that is out of the picture. 
 
The fact that you can install Windows on "you own hardware" does not really appeal to the majority of consumers, it applies to even less people when you consider laptops. 
 
Apple is the only company with the financials and the technological ability to challenge Windows in any way, but since they won't beat Windows machines on price, we are unlikely to see the Mac grow outside of 1/3 of the market. With the buying power of the average American going down over the period of the last few decades, we are unlikely to see that growth ever happen. Microsoft will remain the monopolistic OS and people will deal with it forever. 

There isn't anyone else beside Apple who has a competing operating system. It can't be any variant of Linux because its premise is being free and open source. Linux also has nearly infinite barriers to entry because doing something as simple as mounting a volume on Linux can require a google search. Chrome OS is not a real desktop OS so that is out of the picture. 
 
The fact that you can install Windows on "you own hardware" does not really appeal to the majority of consumers, it applies to even less people when you consider laptops. 
 
Apple is the only company with the financials and the technological ability to challenge Windows in any way, but since they won't beat Windows machines on price, we are unlikely to see the Mac grow outside of 1/3 of the market. With the buying power of the average American going down over the period of the last few decades, we are unlikely to see that growth ever happen. Microsoft will remain the monopolistic OS and people will deal with it forever. 

What you should actually do is run a benchmark on and off battery to see which actually performs better. Do not trust Task Manager to give you an accurate idea of how your machine is performing. Lenovo set a custom performance curve, the default of which is worse performance on battery and better on the wall, it would never be the inverse. They are only identical on Macs and a few thin and lights. 
 
If the machine does perform worse when plugged into power, reset the power plans to their default settings. 

But this is the year of Linux, I super swear this time.

Davinci Resolve.
 
Honestly... it's really easy to use for basic stuff despite it being a robust SW for pros and studios.

Does the monitor have a DP port? If so it will work.

Does the monitor have a DP port? If so it will work.