I have an used, beat up MacBook Air 2015 - and I can’t afford a new laptop for a long while. My situation is a bit messy and sad at the moment.

I can’t use MacOS on it, because the battery was replaced by a third party and MacOS freaks out about it and locks the CPU to 400 MHz.

I can’t use Windows on it, because the Intel HD Graphics drivers are no longer maintained and all versions compatible with Windows 10 and Windows 11 have a regression that disables the internal display - there’s nothing you can do about it, they only run on external monitors.

And there’s an unknown bug on the Linux open source MESA drivers that, on the HD Graphics 6000, also causes a black screen unless you use nomodeset, which is terrible for battery life and performance. I tried the latest Ubuntu, Ubuntu LTS, Linux Mint, Fedora, Bazzite, Arch, Endeavour and Opensuse Tumbleweed - every single distro was affected.

Except Pop!_OS. Maybe someone with more Linux knowledge could isolate what they’re doing different than everybody else, but man am I’m glad I decided to test this last .iso as a last ditch effort.

Also, thank fuck for open source operating systems, otherwise this device would literally be shiny electronic waste thanks to Apple’s proprietary battery bullshit.

EDIT: guys please explain “nomodeset” to me I can’t believe I’ve spent 12 hours testing Linux distros for no good reason please send help

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
      102·
      8 months ago

      He’s saying that they would be a good value if it weren’t for the price.

      Which applies to most things. If a HP printer used $2 ink refills it would also be a good value.

      • helenslunch@feddit.nl
        41·
        8 months ago

        He’s saying that they would be a good value if it weren’t for the price.

        😐😐😐😐😐

        • pythonoob@programming.dev
          32·
          8 months ago

          It’s not that hard of a concept to grasp tbh.

          If something is worth comparatively little money for it’s implicit value, the it has good value.

          • InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world
            2·
            8 months ago

            Exactly, if it was repairable that adds to the utility. And there are benchmark that show their arm chips are worthwhile. But not being serviceable and expensive makes them not the best market offer.

          • helenslunch@feddit.nl
            21·
            8 months ago

            It’s really not, which is exactly why I’m not sure why people seem to be unable to see the contradiction

            • pythonoob@programming.dev
              21·
              8 months ago

              If you saw some grapes on sale that looked delicious and not even close to spoiled for .99 cents a pound, where they’re usually 3.99 a pound, would you not say, yeah that’s a good value?

              • helenslunch@feddit.nl
                23·
                8 months ago

                Not if they’re rotten

                In this hypothetical scenario, the MacBook is the $4 one though, which is both worse and more expensive, so I’m not sure where the “good value” comes from.

                • pythonoob@programming.dev
                  21·
                  8 months ago

                  I specifically said they are not rotten. My point isn’t to say that the grapes are on sale. My point is that it’s not odd to say something is a great value.

                  I think you’re being quite dense.

                  • helenslunch@feddit.nl
                    12·
                    8 months ago

                    My dude, I can’t shove my palm any harder through my face. My only advice is to scroll up and read the comments again because you’re either missing something or just trolling.

      • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
        2·
        8 months ago

        I wouldn’t go that far. My wife got one without consulting me. It’s garbage. 2/3 of the features are so badly implemented that it’s not worth the trouble. And then there’s the ink issue.