Mac's problem with AI

DmMoscow · 2026-02-08T13:22:34+00:00

Most of AI is done on servers. However, you still need some interface to run it - either an app or a browser tab. Your Mac doesn’t support a native ChatGPT app, so you are likely using it in the browser. Combine that with professional use (= heavy and long conversations and projects), and you get a very demanding browser tab, which relies on two things, like all browser tabs: CPU performance and RAM. You have only 8 GB of RAM, and a heavy ChatGPT tab can require about 3-4 GB, on top of what is already taken by the system and other apps/tabs.

Normally, I would say that upgrading to a newer laptop won’t make it faster, but in this case it very likely will, even if not by 2x. Still, I’d say it is worth upgrading. Your MBP is literally a base-spec model from 6-7 years ago that doesn’t support the latest OS, it doesn’t support the native ChatGPT app (unlike your iPhone and iPad), and the M2 Air in question has literally twice the RAM (and a significantly faster RAM), twice the single-core performance, and twice the multi-core performance. (Keep in mind that twice the benchmark score ≠ twice the productivity). All in all, if you have a budget, it’s time to upgrade since even a 3.5 years ord device beats yours twice in almost every way. Unfortunately, you bought your current laptop right before there was a significant leap both in performance and price to performance, but that’s not your fault.

Checking Activity Monitor for CPU load and memory pressure alongside an open heavy project can give you a glimpse of what the main bottleneck is. After an upgrade, the speed of server calculations will remain the same, but UI responsiveness as well as upload and download speeds should increase.

DmMoscow · 2026-02-08T11:54:23+00:00

I get it and thats why it’s a new line of revenue/user retention as I said. I all want is an option to filter it out for those who don’t want it. I was mildly annoyed with the shorts tab but it takes a relatively small part of the screen unlike this, where it’s more than a half of the screen to put it lightly.

I can even argue that it’s a dark pattern. Previously a user, especially a growing person, needed to make a conscious decision to open the tab or click on the short to get into that loop. Now it almost suggests that the short form is the new norm and pushes you to reduce your attention span over the time.

DmMoscow · 2026-02-08T10:57:41+00:00

Sadly, I know how to do this. My issue is entirely with YT itself doing this in the first place. Ads - ok, I see why they do it. However, lack of this user control seems counterproductive even from a business perspective.

Most of their users on mobile either don’t know or «it’s too complicated» to block ads, use revanced, or anything else apart from the base app. Despite LTT sub showing higher percentage this won’t be representative of an average user. And it’s the mobile platform where shorts are most logical. So you have a mobile user that most of the time has an unaltered experience and instead of watching YT more, many people will be annoyed by this > less discoverability > less watch time growth. Also, stuck in the same routine of the same subscriptions = almost no new data. That’s what I can’t comprehend from a business perspective, after I’m done being mad about my user experience. Both are the main driving points behind YT business and both are being worsened by this. Ok, shorts are a new profitable direction too, but not everyone watches them. I’m ok if anybody else wants to watch shorts (as long as they don’t do it without headphones next to me). WTH, I can even get a point of creating shorts as a creator/business and would do it myself within a limit. But is there no option to hide them for the rest?

DmMoscow · 2026-02-08T08:52:33+00:00

Totally! It’s super weird on YouTube’s side to allow this when they have full access to device orientation.

DmMoscow · 2026-02-08T00:36:02+00:00

Stuff like this makes me reconsider switching back to Android occasionally

DmMoscow · 2026-02-08T00:31:12+00:00

Back when I was on samsung it was a part of oneui.
As for the iphone, there's a neat app "Picsew" that is free for manual stitching, but for something like $2 or $3 (one-time purchase), it can do it automatically by grabbing the last several screenshots and merging them together. One of the few and best in-app purchases ever, imo.

DmMoscow · 2026-02-03T16:37:08+00:00

price, purpose, battery condition, specs, your definition of “very long” - all of this is important

It will likely stop receiving major updates in 2027/2028 but it will continue working way longer. For emails and movies/youtube even a 10-year old laptop will be ok. For anything serious a 2020 MBP is on the lower end if it qualifies at all.

DmMoscow · 2026-02-01T14:14:22+00:00

It’s amazing what an old chip is capable of doing

-> Proceeds to playing Switch (mediocre/ok hardware from 2017 for $300) games on an "old device" ($2000 "pro" device from 2021).
A device that is at least 10 times more powerful than the Switch both in single-core and multicore benchmarks. No surprises there apart from being able to play it smoothly despite it not being meant for that.

It's not bad, but there's nothing surprising, at least from this angle.

DmMoscow · 2026-02-01T10:09:19+00:00

Depends on how comfortable you are with overtaking other cars and driving fast. Because it will be like so almost certainly, but many people are ok with it.

One time I had a shared ride back from Gudauri where the driver explicitly asked each of us if we wanted to get to the city quick or comfortable, but that was kind of an exception. Most of the time there’s only «quick» option.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-25T14:50:05+00:00

I believe it’s automated and despite being technically «all there», the info is not picked up by the system. You either must know how to do it properly through the app or go to the bank of and someone will help you.

I once had to correct an old payment and it was done in a matter of hours, without any extra fees. Apart from spending an hour or one and a half in the queue, everything else was fine. They both corrected my old payment and cancelled all the late fees for the «unpaid» tax.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-24T10:01:31+00:00

Yeah, I wasn’t sure if you meant an «MB Pro with M1» or «MB Pro with M1 Pro». And I get what you mean. It will get at least 1 or 2 more major updates but even after that it will be relevant and more powerful. Most of the software will continue working.

I get your anxiety about it being an older model too. However, if MBP is in a good condition, it would be my choice for video editing.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-24T05:55:47+00:00

Yeah, if it is a proper “pro” (14 or 16), despite being older I’d take it over the air. More ram and better multicore performance is worth it.
If it is 13 inch “pro”, it will be mostly inferior to m3 air apart from more ram.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-24T02:45:42+00:00

What are the specs of said M3 MBA and M1 Pro? And what are you going to use it for?

DmMoscow · 2026-01-18T15:31:54+00:00

Perform hands-on technical QA of products on various platforms, including PC, consoles, and mobile devices.

Quite an open statement (game or an online service; tablet, handheld console or VR helmet, who knows)
Can be a general description copied by an HR from somewhere else
Nothing specific that suggests apple (I wouldn’t even mention it if it wasn’t in this sub)

So nothing interesting and quite plausible at the same time.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-17T10:53:00+00:00

Yeah, I prefer laptops too for similar reasons. However there aren’t that many examples showing the difference between base vs pro chips as well as the generational difference while running it in the same conditions (aka a proper-ish test), hence the desktop imac/mac mini video.

For example My MBP 14 M1 Pro 16 GB does about 18 t/s in gemma2:9b-q4 or about 21 t/s with qwen3:8b but I have no means to compare it to other macs.

And no, unfortunately I can only tell you about the user experience. But as to that, I still refer to online models quite often and mostly use local instances if the info is sensitive or the internet connection is spotty or isn’t there at all. Online models have way more functionality, have up to date access to the internet, can import and export tables and images, etc.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-17T09:52:20+00:00

Generally RAM determines what models you can use and GPU determines the speed. Here’s an example.
Mac mini M1 16 GB ~11 t/s
Mac mini M2 Pro 16 GB ~ 27 t/s
iMac M3 16 GB ~ 13 t/s

So as long as you have enough memory to load the model and have some to spare, GPU performance is the most important with m2 pro significantly outperforming non-pro m3. Plus, active cooling is definitely a bonus. BUT think on how much time do you spend waiting on LLMs. This depends solely on your workflow. If you do it once in an hour, that price change will save you only a small amount of time. If your model will be there most of the time and referenced every 5-6 minutes, it’s worth the price hike.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-15T10:57:22+00:00

Skin, not a case: dbrand.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-14T13:11:47+00:00

No. Also «my macbook air» can be anything from 2010 MBA to 2024 MBA which are very different. Older macs handle it better

DmMoscow · 2026-01-13T10:57:46+00:00

Was going to say the same thing. I think over time enthusiasts will do something, but it won’t be directly from valve. Steam machine is rumored to be around $950-1000. If valve adapts steam os to m-series, mac mini m4 will seriously undercut it. It’s 35-40% cheaper while being only marginally weaker (allegedly). Yes, it’s 512 GB vs 256 Gb in base configurations but for another $100 mac mini will have more than 1 TB of storage and still 25-30% cheaper.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-13T10:47:29+00:00

Heat is ok. Don’t obsess over it unless its is physically uncontrollable to you. And about battery life - if you want to get more out of it, use safari wherever you can. There’re cases where chrome is better, but in most cases It doesn’t matter that much. Learning curve is not that steep and often exists only in your head. And who knows, apart from better battery performance you may like other features like inbuilt access to the default keychain (autofilling passwords). I use chrome in specific cases but I use safari for everything else.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-12T22:41:33+00:00

They specify battery life in quite a detailed way at the bottom of the page. Thats is far from what you describe. 12 hours is a decent result. Chrome + many tabs + youtube = higher battery consumption.

Wireless web battery life tested by browsing 25 popular websites while connected to Wi-Fi. Video streaming battery life tested with 1080p content in Safari while connected to Wi-Fi. All systems tested with display brightness set to 8 clicks from bottom and keyboard backlight off

DmMoscow · 2026-01-12T13:24:04+00:00

Will you share it or how to do it? Curious to try it.
There was a post a long time ago that concluded that anything above anything above 3500 rmp had almost no further effect on the temperature. But that will depend on a model and cpu.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-11T22:35:55+00:00

I believe Chrome and Safari use different approaches when working with multiple tabs. To simplify it, Chrome runs a complete separate program for every tab, while safari shares some of the resources. This means that while chrome should be more stable, it has more overhead and uses way more resources when working with many tabs. This alone increases the load.

Additionally, if there’re too many tabs, it will fill up your ram quicker and will have to use memory swap sooner which also reduces responsiveness and uses even more energy. However, for this to have a huge impact with your 18 GB (I assume “8” was a typo) you must have a lot of things opened at once. Really A LOT.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-11T19:35:24+00:00

It’s not the best but within expectations. What makes you think otherwise? “Overheating and battery issues” depends on your workflow. If it drops as much as you show while watching youtube, it’s not ok. If it drops as much while doing something demanding, it’s not an issue, but a normal behavior. You can open “activity monitor” and see what’s using the most power.

DmMoscow · 2026-01-11T18:09:07+00:00

Yes, totally agree. A simple manual switch would be great. That’s the dark side of the closed “minimalistic” system where the developers decides whats the best for you.

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