2026-06-17

A few phlog posts ago I lamented that the MacBook Neo was a pretty
cool little laptop except for the fact that it runs MacOS.

And having to run MacOS was one of my last objections to buying
any ARM based Mac laptop.

Well Apple actually solved that one last problem by introducing
their lightweight containerization subsystem.

Specifically for my use case, the container machine functionality.
It is basically like a WSL2 for MacOS. It allows you to run full
blown Debian/Ubuntu container that automatically maps your Home
directory.

This means you get an actual up-to-date linux userland on MacOS
instead of having to fiddle with Homebrew, Fink, or MacPorts.

Of course I still believe buying a FrameWork laptop or old Workstation
Laptops (thinkpads, Zbooks, Toughbooks) is the way to go if you
want to run pure linux.

But if you must have the latest and greatest in a slim package,
then truly now with container machines, the new ARM MacBooks are
a viable option...and a pretty affordable option as well.

I would probably buy a previous generation MacBook Air M3-M4 for
the best performance bang for buck.

just my 2c.