Apple MacBook Pro 2018 Intel

Does M5 series have better video encoding chip/chiplet/whatever it is called than M4 series? Because while I’m happy with my M4 Pro overall, H.264 encoding performance with videotoolbox_h264 is disappointingly basically exactly the same as a previous 2018 model Intel Mac mini, and blown out of water by nvenc on any mid to high end Nvidia GPU released in the last half-decade, maybe even full decade. And video encoding is a pretty important part of video editing workflow.

My MacBook M1 Pro w/ 441 cycles started doing a fun thing where if the battery gets under about 50% and you put it to sleep, the ONLY way to power on the device is to use the exact charger it came with. Higher powered Apple Studio Display PD, or even good 3rd party chargers, do not bring it back to life. This occurs even when the battery has 40-60% remaining if the laptop goes to sleep. Had a similar issue with my 2018 MBP Intel - the 86/87 Watt Apple charger was the only thing it would come to life with as the battery aged if the device got too low.

Repairability sounds good in theory but in practice outside of two year warranty period I'm fine if I have to replace the device because of failure, but I got 4-5 out of most of my devices. Like my 2018 Intel MBP was the worst laptop in terms of thermals/battery etc. It's still going with a family member I handed it over to. I don't think I've had a laptop die on me in last 12 years of using laptops, I usually keep them around after upgrade or pass them off to family. And the upgradable internals sound like more of a hassle than a benefit - especially since buying a different device will be cheaper and probably a better experience since they don't have to engineer for replaceability. Theoretically you'd get the option to plug in stuff not available in other laptops like strix halo - but then they still don't offer that in laptops. So meh.

The Linux version, in a container no less, handles the entire gigabit bandwidth. And let's be clear, it wasn't the app that had problems, the Apple Remote Desktop connection to the machine failed when the speeds got above 40MB/s and the network interface stopped working around 80MB/s. I think Transmission works perfectly fine. I've been using it for 10+ years with no issues at all on Linux. I forgot to mention this is a Mac mini/Intel (2018).

The last few generations of intel macs weren't great indeed. The 2018 model I had had the flaky keyboard that ultimately destroyed the laptop when a loose key inserted itself in between the screen and the keyboard. Still angry about that. But I must say the M1 mac book pro (14", 16GB) is one of the nicest laptops I've ever had. The second best would be a 2011 era mac book pr 15" that I used for several years (pre-retina). I'd be interested in a decent linux laptop but so far everything I look at has compromises on quality, screen/resolution, trackpads, etc. These framework laptop come close. Especially now that they finally have decent screens that aren't the industry standard 1080p garbage. Not quite upto Apple's standards (colors, contrast, dynamic range, etc.). But it's nice enough. It does seems a bit bulky for my taste. But I could probably live with it. I'd use it for gaming and Steam mainly. I have a shitty old laptop I use for that currently but I hate the screen, keyboard, trackpad, and the anemic performance.