For about a year now I’ve owned not one, but two Macs. This is a first for me. Ever. I own a Mac Mini and a MacBook Air. Both have the M4 with 24GB RAM. I’ve already written about both of them. Mac Mini MacBook Air While the whole world and its mother seem to be switching to Linux — the operating system I know best — and which I run on my servers, I do not run it on my private computing devices. Both Macs score particularly high on the list of 'best tech gadgets I’ve ever owned', the MacBook in particular. In terms of price/quality/usage, I think very little comes close. Very little. Especially since Apple presented the iPhone Duo last week. This puts things into perspective. Because: it's a phone that costs about two Macbook Airs? What?! I use the Macbook daily, and every time I do it is a joy. The hardware is solid, and macOS has also been incredibly stable so far. (Although I have now upgraded the Mini to macOS 27, and have a few small remarks. I think they will eventually fix this). I am the first to admit that I could probably get this experience on Linux as well. Of course. Stability and speed. But -- and this is a big but -- where can I find M4 performance hardware for this price? Maybe those new Snapdragons chips come close, but they are still more expensive. Anyway, here are a few things I enjoy about the Macs. Hardware M4: best chip I have ever had. Bar none. Battery life: best performance of all my laptops ever. This is mainly because of the M4. Trackpad: best trackpad ever (three-finger gesture just works) Screen: a delight Fingerprint reader: my work Dell also has a fingerprint reader that is slow and often does not work (so I stopped using it). On the Mac, it works instantly and always. Everything is instant, no waiting, ever. It's the M4. Keyboard: I'm picky about keyboards, and I've also owned several ThinkPads, but this keyboard is probably the best laptop keyboard I've ever used (and it's ANSI, of course). Software macOS: Finder is fine. Spotlight too (no, I don't use Raycast), I try to keep things as vanilla as possible. It doesn't get in the way. I can launch my browser and terminal (Ghostty) with it and manage my files. Shortcuts: I have a couple of Shortcuts, and one I use daily. I use it to create a 'good' (format, size, etc.) WordPress header from any image. Right-click and go. Expose (F3, or 3-finger swipe up): all day long. I rarely, if ever, have to restart the laptop, and just like a smartphone, I flip the lid and go (never waiting for reboots or updates). Preview: this is just so terrible handy. I use this a ridiculous amount. Hit spacebar to quickly check a file/photo/whatever without opening it fully. AirDrop: amazing. No more emailing or texting things to yourself: just AirDrop to your Mac. The integration with Messages and Notes is also just way too handy. Look up a definition: I use this sometimes, and every time I think: I need to use this more often! Homebrew: not by Apple, but it definitely needs a mention here. Everything that is good about working with Linux package manager. Things I like less? Are there also things I like less? A few, maybe, here: MagSafe: everyone always raves about this. I mean, it’s fine, but I’m not married to it. I think I would rather have a USB-C on both sides of the laptop for two charging options than a MagSafe? Window management: I currently use Rectangle, but this should be native (and preferably with controlled with your keyboard) Fn+control+option+command. These are a lot of keys. Sure, I get it, I use it, but all of this can be done with 1 key under Windows/Linux? Admittedly, I actually find the command key under my thumb better than the CTRL under my pinky on Windows/Linux, but it's not just the command key, I also have to deal with control and option keys and sometimes fn. If you type a lot of text, that is annoying. Control+arrows does nothing, option+arrows is word selection/skip, command+arrows is sentence selection/skip. Because I switch between Windows, Linux and a Mac my muscle memory need to switch all the time. Tremes, grave accent, acute accent: these are all sort of hidden. Or: I have to put in a little more effort to place them in text. Middle-click browser tab to close: is that really so difficult to implement? So no real dealbreakers. Just some small quirks. Anyway, I got on board of the Mac-ship at a time when a lot of tech-people actually seem to be departing. I get it. You do you. But everything I say here probably boils down to one thing: it's the M4.