Linux

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.

You've heard it several times, now, but once again: Asahi works really well for what it is, but it's definitely a compromised experience. For example, on my M1 Macbook Air I cannot plug in a USB-C dongle and then plug in an external monitor. The driver support just isn't there. I think if I had an Macbook Pro with a built-in HDMI port I would be able to use that... but alas, I do not.

If you want to use macOS and then use Linux on the side now and again in a dual boot setup, sure. If you want to use 100% Linux on your computer... there are better supported options.

Here is a table of supported features but it isn't really the full picture, because it doesn't give you a clear view of things like putting the computer on standby consumes more idle power than it does with macOS, or drivers for hardware video decoding don't exist, so all video is software decoded. The processors can do it really well, actually, but obviously it's more power-efficient when it's done by dedicated hardware.

I've got an m1 Mac mini running Asahi and its great. Just make note, not all of the hardware features are 100% supported. I'm fine with what's missing on my m1, but before you pull the trigger on an m2 Mac check the Asahi page and know exactly what machine you plan to install on. Do not buy it if you want or have to have hardware features that Asahi doesn't support on the machine you're planning to buy.

I actually switched back to Asahi on my M1 Macbook Air this weekend, and while it works well enough for me to stick to it for now, I would definitely not buy Apple Silicon hardware for Linux next time. I'm running Fedora Asahi Remix on Gnome with Wayland for reference. Fingerprint sensor isn't working, microphone is "WIP" according to the feature table, etc. Battery life is significantly worse, especially standby, so if you use it for traveling a lot it's not that great. I might boot back into MacOS if I bring it with me on vacation honestly. It is also not nearly as "smooth". Scrolling stutters etc. Nothing that actually impacts the speed of what you do though. This is probably not an issue for most I would think, but for the Norwegian keyboard I had to manually edit the config to get access to the apostrophe: '. In general, it is a bit annoying that it has a different keyboard layout than every other computer I use.

There can be some compatibility issues, Discord isn't or at least wasn't running on Linux Arm, but there are 3rd party clients that do. Games are probably also not great, although I can't say I have tested after the Vulkan update. Last time I went back to MacOS so I could play Balatro on vacation. Other than that I don't really use that many apps on my laptop, and haven't missed any.

Then there is a Gnome specific quirk: touchpad scrolling is way too fast, and it isn't configurable in the settings. There are some "hacky" workarounds around, but they seem to be outdated and failed on me. For now I have just adjusted the scroll speed in my browser to like 20% of the default and it seems to work okay. You do kinda get used to it I guess. You can adjust scroll speed in KDE just fine, so if you prefer KDE that isn't an issue.

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

Asahi doesn't wipe macos by default (you can do it but it is an extra step) ; the Asahi install splits your system in two, and you can choose how much space to allocate to each.

As an everyday distro, it's pretty much stock fedora with possibly a few missing niche software - think Bitwig if you're into that, you will have Ardour / Pipewire etc but not (yet) Bitwig, which is proprietary and would need them to compile for aarm64. But the amount of stuff available is astounding, and getting better by the day.

Then it depends on your use case. For "general computing" it absolutely works, for more specialised stuff you should check beforehand. I use it as a DAW mostly, with the occasional Kdenlive bout of editing now and then. Oh, and Steam ! We have gaming now it works great. The install process is so smooth, trying it out is a 30 minute affair, tops.

I'd ask the question of why a mac tho : I can't do without because of one macos soft I need IRL (QLab), and the very existence of Asahi allowed me to overcome my repulsion for apple products and buy the thing, heavily discounted. I'm 90% on the Asahi side, only rebooting on macos for live performances.

They are competitively priced for what they are, but I don't trust them to be particularly solid nowadays. I hate the keyboard and the coldness/finish of the case, and find mine weighty. Also real-life use make them feel like a snappy i7, not some crazy fast supercomputer.

So if you don't need a mac, it is not a straightforward proposition unless the price is right in regard to other available stuff. I complement mine with a Thinkpad BTW. I buy them secondhand super cheap, they last 3 or 4 years then I buy another.

Best value ATM is a good specced Air model I believe (Weight, silence, battery life / but quite no outputs, especially no external screen through USB). People in the know says to avoid 8gb ram models, go for 16.

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.

Plenty of great build quality brands out there aside from Apple. I'd even say theirs is pretty low.

Didn't its main maintainer step down recently after the Rust 4 Linux drama? Wonder if it has enough contributors to keep it alive

You'd get no benefit from it just running Asahi. If you want it for the features, you'd run MacOS.

I used it for a while with an m2 macbook perhaps half a year ago, but ended up getting a PC so I wouldn't have to deal with so much jank.

I like it, but the microphone doesn't work. They were supposed to make it work last summer, but the work hasn't began for it yet. Without it, I can't do calls to my mom, so I don't use it anymore.

You're gonna pay an absurd amount of money for a disposable laptop, only to remove the best thing about it...?

Linus Torvalds does. He seems to be a fan