What do you like about it?
What do you not like about it?
Is it a completely bonkers proposition to buy a refurbished M2 Mac only to wipe it and put Asahi on it?
It’s good, a lot of good work going on, what they already have is impressive and the development seems pretty active and progressing well.
But if you’re buying a laptop to run Linux and don’t plan to use macOS, I really think there are a lot of better options out there (depending on what’s important to you). You’re going to pay the Apple premium price for a computer, and though apple computers are good hardware, they’re expensive and largely overpriced for small upgrades. Whatever price you find for a refurbished M2, take that money and go find a laptop known to be well supported on Linux, it’ll just be a better experience and you’ll probably get more for your money.
I haven’t run Asahi in 6+ months but thunderbolt/usb4 wasn’t working when I last used it so I couldn’t use my usb dock. Video was OK but I think Audio was sketchy (don’t remember specifics). It’s stuff that will get fixed at some point but right now it feels like a handful of minor annoyances or inconveniences
Even in 1-2 years when Asahi gets some updates and is in a better spot (I really do expect it to be) I still don’t think I’d lean towards a macbook with Asahi over something else if Linux is the only OS you’re going to run. Of course, if you’re looking to dabble with some iOS development or something else you need a mac for, but don’t want to live in MacOS, then Asahi’s a great option to get you back to Linux.
Whatever price you find for a refurbished M2, take that money and go find a laptop known to be well supported on Linux, it’ll just be a better experience and you’ll probably get more for your money.
not an apple user, but apple is well known for their build quality. what other laptop manufacturer is on par with apple’s build quality?
Apple computers ARE really well put together, maybe no other maker exactly as good. But I’d say the Microsoft Surface line is a similar quality. Razer too though they’re pretty expensive.
Asus zephyrus laptops are pretty great build quality, close to Apple but without the same kind of pricing and markup gouging we get from Apple
Im not an apple hater, they make some great stuff. My point above was just that they don’t have competition in the “I need a Mac” space so their hardware isn’t competitively priced. And their build quality is great, but not every laptop needs to be built like a tank with top of the line components.
If you made the mistake of buying an M-series Mac before migrating to Linux, Asahi is a great way to continue using that machine if you’re fine with no external displays. Since I only ever use my M1 air on the go, it doesn’t bother me.
However, you cannot wipe the existing MacOS install nor stub partitions as they’re needed for firmware updates and booting non-mac operating systems. I think I managed to squeeze my macos partition down to something like 40gb, which is a ton of unusable space on my 128GB laptop.
If you’re in the market for a new machine, there are better options in terms of affordability and usability, even if you’re specifically looking for an ARM device
I mostly see Asahi Linux as a way to keep these M Macs in use once they’re too old to get official updates and once they become really cheap on the used market.
If on top of this Apple is forced to bring back some repairability/upgradeability, it would be great.
Buying an used computer is the only thing environnementaly friendlier than buying something from a brand like Framework.
Didn’t its main maintainer step down recently after the Rust 4 Linux drama? Wonder if it has enough contributors to keep it alive
He didn’t step down from Asahi, just from the Linux kernel maintainers. Another person took over the Linux kernel Maintainer role for Asahi. It gives Hector one thing less to worry about.
EDIT: As of Feb 13th he has resigned from Asahi. No mention of his alter ego Asahi Lina, she’s still listed as a member? As Hector is an incredibly talented and productive individual it’ll be a big blow to the project.
