I'll agree MacBooks are nice hardware. I still use a 2014 MBA running MX Linux for light tasks. It's on its 3rd battery replacement and it's running great. Intel variants are well supported by Linux. Install mbpfan daemon and you're good to go.
Discussion
I think the whole command vs control thing would mess with me but not too badly. I wish I could justify getting one just to try it out. But I don't really need another laptop 😬
Maybe a smol one 🤔
That's why I like the air. Small, fairly rugged with the all aluminum chassis. Good for throwing in a backpack if I need something on site for quick browsing or terminal access 👍
Would you recommend a newer air or maybe a refurbished air from a few years ago? I'm completely unfamiliar with apple's lineup.
Any Intel based Air should work fine. You can even get ssd adapters to use regular nvme drives. I did that and got a 4x read, 2x write io boost.
Thanks 🙏
Thats wild. Like you replace the SSD inside with nvme?
Yes, exactly.
Something like these. It's just a mechanical adapter that makes the pinouts compatible. Apple had their own special drive connector because they are a garbage company, and wanted to overcharge for storage. China to the rescue.
https://www.amazon.com/macbook-ssd-adapter/s?k=macbook+ssd+adapter
Newer models are all arm based and Linux options are not as good on those AFAIK
I am not a technical expert but I would never buy a refurnished device of any kind for privacy issues just to safe a few bucks. Any pre-used device is linked to a hardware ID.