They messed up MacOS.

[namename11]

After waiting months for macOS Tahoe to be usable, I finally upgraded today and god is it a complete fucking dumpster fire. It takes longer to boot, longer to open a fucking Finder window, longer to open Safari, and everything generally feels like shit. It's almost like they did not test it whatsoever before release.

And since Apple does not seem to give even an iota of a fuck about this (or macOS stability in general, which has been going downhill since Big Sur), I'm going back to macOS 11. Who needs security anyway?

 

[namename11]

Who needs security anyway?

Jokes aside, does anyone know of a Linux distro that consumes <4W during general usage (hw accelerated media playback, web surfing, emails)?

 

[Flame]

What kind of thread title was that?

 

[Superboom12s]

Jokes aside, does anyone know of a Linux distro that consumes <4W during general usage (hw accelerated media playback, web surfing, emails)?

I don't know what Mac you exactly have, but if it's too old it makes sense to try using Linux.

You have AntiX if you need an extremely light system, but it may be a bit different compared to most distros (if you have worked with any before) as it doesn't use SystemD, but it is based on Debian, so you still have plenty of compatibility.

For a more common Linux environment you could use Linux Lite, Puppy Linux or Lubuntu, all based in Ubuntu (Debian based too), each offering slightly different things. I never tried Puppy or Lite, so I can't talk about them, but I used Lubuntu back then and I liked it, but you could look them up and try them.

 

[Magsor]

Let's be real. MacOS has not improved since Snow leopard just became bloated. Apple is anti-consumer and it's the 8GB of ram THAT YOU WERE FORCED INTO BUYING that is not cutting it.

 

[lightwo]

Jokes aside, does anyone know of a Linux distro that consumes <4W during general usage (hw accelerated media playback, web surfing, emails)?

I'm not a macOS user myself, but what Mac(book) model do you have, or what era? Intel? M1/2/3/4/...? PPC?

I remember hearing about some distros for Macs, but I'm not familiar. Still, it would help to know for others to give you more answers.

 

[Marc_LFD]

After seeing what they've done to the UI on iPhones that shouldn't be a surprise.

The liquid ass look iPhones have now is awful, at least make it optional, but no, Apple's way or none at all. Regardless, people who like Apple are still gonna buy it.

 

[namename11]

I don't know what Mac you exactly have, but if it's too old it makes sense to try using Linux.

You have AntiX if you need an extremely light system, but it may be a bit different compared to most distros (if you have worked with any before) as it doesn't use SystemD, but it is based on Debian, so you still have plenty of compatibility.

For a more common Linux environment you could use Linux Lite, Puppy Linux or Lubuntu, all based in Ubuntu (Debian based too), each offering slightly different things. I never tried Puppy or Lite, so I can't talk about them, but I used Lubuntu back then and I liked it, but you could look them up and try them.

I'm not a macOS user myself, but what Mac(book) model do you have, or what era? Intel? M1/2/3/4/...? PPC?

I remember hearing about some distros for Macs, but I'm not familiar. Still, it would help to know for others to give you more answers.

It's not too old, just the base SoC M2 MacBook Air with a 16GB RAM upgrade. I have tried asahi but it's not easy on the battery and hw acceleration also kinda sucks? Honestly I don't expect Video Toolbox levels of perfromance but the battery is crucial to my work as I am usually away from an outlet so as long as I have that I can move to Linux any day even if I have to buy non-Apple hardware.

Let's be real. MacOS has not improved since Snow leopard just became bloated. Apple is anti-consumer and it's the 8GB of ram THAT YOU WERE FORCED INTO BUYING that is not cutting it.

I'd have to disagree. There are tons of small things in newer (post Big Sur) macOS versions that may not be obvious at first but are actually pretty nice like full disk encryption, more gestures, cleaner UI (other than 26). 8GB is still enough for most people I feel, as my older MacBook Pro works perfectly for basic usage. Alas, I don't like x86.

26 being dogshit is just Apple being lazy with QA I feel.

After seeing what they've done to the UI on iPhones that shouldn't be a surprise.

The liquid ass look iPhones have now is awful, at least make it optional, but no, Apple's way or none at all. Regardless, people who like Apple are still gonna buy it.

I honestly didn't notice much of a difference on iOS lol. Not that I use my phone for anything...

 

[Superboom12s]

It's not too old, just the base SoC M2 MacBook Air with a 16GB RAM upgrade. I have tried asahi but it's not easy on the battery and hw acceleration also kinda sucks? Honestly I don't expect Video Toolbox levels of perfromance but the battery is crucial to my work as I am usually away from an outlet so as long as I have that I can move to Linux any day even if I have to buy non-Apple hardware.

Then, you should be able to use pretty much any distro out there, just depends on your needs. For general purposes I would recommend using Debian or Kubuntu Focus (Ubuntu). If it drains your battery too much you could use, for example, auto-cpufreq or similar tools to configure the performance of the device, GNOME does include a similar tool but it's not much configurable and I don't find it too useful...
You may also want to check your battery status, it may be in a very bad condition.

I'd have to disagree. There are tons of small things in newer (post Big Sur) macOS versions that may not be obvious at first but are actually pretty nice like full disk encryption, more gestures, cleaner UI (other than 26). 8GB is still enough for most people I feel, as my older MacBook Pro works perfectly for basic usage. Alas, I don't like x86.

Not that I would want to reply this, as it is mostly subjective, but if you allow me, my opinion is that Apple is just being greedy about it, the new features of both MacOS and iOS are mostly things that already existed many years ago in any other OS and those that are 'new' are actually to interact with Apple's own ecosystem. Their hardware is also horrible, they might have a really thin laptop that you don't need or doing well with CPUs, but nothing of the things they offer is worth 2000-3000€, 8GB of RAM was already the standard in 2014 and they are forcing it into the luxury item you are supposed to work with. It might be 'enough' for really basic things like studying or writing a document, but it is just greed in something you expect to be high-end for its price and there is no way to defend it.
Something that I do also not like in recent models but I am unaware if others experience it (at least people I talked with a MacBook do and agree) is just that not only you cant put it in your legs because most overheat and can cause small heat injuries without even having to do anything other than boot it or look at the wallpaper, but you can't also touch parts of the keyboard because if you are actually doing something, it will burn as hell. Worst is that if its plugged in, you can't touch the metal surface cause its bad design causes tickles out of small electrical shocks, something I found that happens in every single modern MacBook that I touched, even at the stores...
At least the overheating problem doesn't happen to every model, they sure overheat in some point but it's just ridiculous how some just burns itself for no reason...

 

[namename11]

Then, you should be able to use pretty much any distro out there, just depends on your needs. For general purposes I would recommend using Debian or Kubuntu Focus (Ubuntu). If it drains your battery too much you could use, for example, auto-cpufreq or similar tools to configure the performance of the device, GNOME does include a similar tool but it's not much configurable and I don't find it too useful...
You may also want to check your battery status, it may be in a very bad condition.

Not that I would want to reply this, as it is mostly subjective, but if you allow me, my opinion is that Apple is just being greedy about it, the new features of both MacOS and iOS are mostly things that already existed many years ago in any other OS and those that are 'new' are actually to interact with Apple's own ecosystem. Their hardware is also horrible, they might have a really thin laptop that you don't need or doing well with CPUs, but nothing of the things they offer is worth 2000-3000€, 8GB of RAM was already the standard in 2014 and they are forcing it into the luxury item you are supposed to work with. It might be 'enough' for really basic things like studying or writing a document, but it is just greed in something you expect to be high-end for its price and there is no way to defend it.
Something that I do also not like in recent models but I am unaware if others experience it (at least people I talked with a MacBook do and agree) is just that not only you cant put it in your legs because most overheat and can cause small heat injuries without even having to do anything other than boot it or look at the wallpaper, but you can't also touch parts of the keyboard because if you are actually doing something, it will burn as hell. Worst is that if its plugged in, you can't touch the metal surface cause its bad design causes tickles out of small electrical shocks, something I found that happens in every single modern MacBook that I touched, even at the stores...
At least the overheating problem doesn't happen to every model, they sure overheat in some point but it's just ridiculous how some just burns itself for no reason...

I dont think Debian and Ubuntu are available for arm64 macs, only asahi supports them. My battery is at 94% health and I get like 8 hours of intense use (lots of hevc transcodes, wine, some gimp) and 13 hours of light (youtube, reading books, browsing) use. Asahi gave me like 5-6 hours just watching videos.

I guess you could argue that they are greedy but it's subjective like you said I don't really feel it as someone who just gets the base model most of the time. Hardware wise though, Apple Silicon Macs are the best devices I have ever used tbf, never had any issues with my cheapo $800 Air whereas on the x86 side it is a shitshow irrespective of the brand and I had a i7 Lenovo before this. And alternate arm64 is still pretty immature not to mention not fanless or thin enough which yes matters a lot to me lol. I have never experienced any heating on my fanless arm64 MacBook even at 100% CPU/GPU utilization for extended periods. Though it was a massive issue on every Intel Mac so that might be what you're thinking about. Also never been shocked, so it might just be some specific models?

I am praying someone figures out arm64 on Linux because Snapdragon ain't it.

Oh and I meant Youtube and reddit when I said light usage lol not writing books.

 

[Superboom12s]

I dont think Debian and Ubuntu are available for arm64 macs, only asahi supports them.

They do, well, I don't know about Debian since I haven't tried it on Mac, it should work as they support ARM, but Ubuntu does work, I installed it for a friend I used to have. It was the WORST ever experience installing an OS, had to follow many guides cause I am not used to Mac and the way (at least the bootloader, recovery etc.) it works was extremely confusing to me, but it does work.

Also I honestly don't know what Asashi is and it only shows sushi when I search it on the internet...

Oh and I meant Youtube and reddit when I said light usage lol not writing books.

That is still really basic usage, YouTube is a bit heavy for some low resource computers, but I talk about free government computers with 1GB or RAM and that kind of computers, honestly, if a 800€ recent laptop cannot handle it or struggles, I wouldn't try anything further and directly sell it and buy a second hand 'normal' laptop. Again, I don't want to hate or anything Apple users but for less 800€ you can get almost the best gaming laptops of the market (however might not be right now cause of the shortages) like my sister's one, and with 300€ you can buy a new light laptop to work like the one I am writing this on, who has been with me for 5 years and is still able to run all the games I want with pretty decent graphics.
If you REALLY wanted to use MacOS in a Macbook, it is fine to pay those 800€ even if its not nearly as good in other aspects as a 'regular' computer could be, but if you are going to use Linux and you can't even do the most basic stuff... There is no reason to use it. My most honest solution is to sell it for around 400-500€ that people is willing to pay and buy a second hand laptop with that money, there you can install any distro without worries about compatibility and get a way better experience using it.

However, I know chances are that you won't even consider it, but the only thing I can suggest is that you actually try what I already said, use one of the distros that I suggested and a light, private browser to enchance the social media usage you say, I would recommend using Helium Browser and proxies like Invidious for Youtube or Redlib for Reddit, or free yourself and use their Fediverse alternatives like PeerTube or Lemmy, that would make you better than the capitalist ones, I at least find them much better.

Good luck.

 

[InsaneNutter]

You can install Ubuntu for ARM based Macs here: https://ubuntuasahi.org/

Realistically though you are only going to get those levels of battery performance with OSX on ARM based Macs in the near future.

It's somewhat a double edge sword buying Apple hardware, Apple will tell you what you are having and you will accept it, along with the planned obsolescence.

Asahi Linux has come a long way though, hopefully by the time Apple EOL's the older ARM Mac's support for Linux will be even better.

 

[namename11]

They do, well, I don't know about Debian since I haven't tried it on Mac, it should work as they support ARM, but Ubuntu does work, I installed it for a friend I used to have. It was the WORST ever experience installing an OS, had to follow many guides cause I am not used to Mac and the way (at least the bootloader, recovery etc.) it works was extremely confusing to me, but it does work.

Also I honestly don't know what Asashi is and it only shows sushi when I search it on the internet...


That is still really basic usage, YouTube is a bit heavy for some low resource computers, but I talk about free government computers with 1GB or RAM and that kind of computers, honestly, if a 800€ recent laptop cannot handle it or struggles, I wouldn't try anything further and directly sell it and buy a second hand 'normal' laptop. Again, I don't want to hate or anything Apple users but for less 800€ you can get almost the best gaming laptops of the market (however might not be right now cause of the shortages) like my sister's one, and with 300€ you can buy a new light laptop to work like the one I am writing this on, who has been with me for 5 years and is still able to run all the games I want with pretty decent graphics.
If you REALLY wanted to use MacOS in a Macbook, it is fine to pay those 800€ even if its not nearly as good in other aspects as a 'regular' computer could be, but if you are going to use Linux and you can't even do the most basic stuff... There is no reason to use it. My most honest solution is to sell it for around 400-500€ that people is willing to pay and buy a second hand laptop with that money, there you can install any distro without worries about compatibility and get a way better experience using it.

However, I know chances are that you won't even consider it, but the only thing I can suggest is that you actually try what I already said, use one of the distros that I suggested and a light, private browser to enchance the social media usage you say, I would recommend using Helium Browser and proxies like Invidious for Youtube or Redlib for Reddit, or free yourself and use their Fediverse alternatives like PeerTube or Lemmy, that would make you better than the capitalist ones, I at least find them much better.

Good luck.

Asahi is (was) the only distro I knew that supported arm64 Macs, but I'll look into Ubuntu for arm64.

As for the gaming laptops you mentioned, I used to have one (i7, 3050 I think?) but it was heavy, noisy, hot, had abysmal battery life, didn't work as well on battery, ass screen and trackpad, etc.

I honestly don't want too much from a computer as long as it has solid "basics". Gaming is not something I feel is a laptop activity so I don't really care about performance in that area.

The only laptop I have found in my research with battery life that I can live with is a x86 Intel that's triple the price of my Mac and also has always on fans according to online reviews... And non-Apple arm64 hardware somehow sucks even more from what I have seen online.

I actually already use piped lol, though I didn't know reddit frontends were still a thing after the api changes.

I can't really change browsers though because performance. Anything other than Safari literally cuts my speedometer score by 65%.

This doesn't make macOS 26 less ass though, so for now I'll just roll back to an older version but if they keep fucking up I will have to look elsewhere, which tbf is scary because everyone else keeps shooting themselves in the foot.

Post automatically merged: Jan 30, 2026

You can install Ubuntu for ARM based Macs here: https://ubuntuasahi.org/

Realistically though you are only going to get those levels of battery performance with OSX on ARM based Macs in the near future.

It's somewhat a double edge sword buying Apple hardware, Apple will tell you what you are having and you will accept it, along with the planned obsolescence.

Asahi Linux has come a long way though, hopefully by the time Apple EOL's the older ARM Mac's support for Linux will be even better.

Thanks for the link!! Saves me a bunch of googleing.

Yeah, it sucks how they got me hooked on this unreasonable battery life, lol.

Can't say macOS 26 is planned obsolecence though,, I tried their latest M5 MacBook Pro at an Apple Store and it's equally ass

 

[InsaneNutter]

Can't say macOS 26 is planned obsolecence though,, I tried their latest M5 MacBook Pro at an Apple Store and it's equally ass

It seemed that way with my Macbook Air 2012, after a couple of years newer OSX updates made it so slow to the point it was painful to even browse the web, despite re installing OSX apps took forever to launch. Yet installing either Windows or Linux on it made it feel like a new machine. I always thought the hardware was great, I was just never a fan of OSX.

I actually still have the Macbook Air 2012 running Fedora Kinoite. All I really need from a laptop these days is to run a web browser and be able to SSH / RDP in to servers, which it does perfectly on the infrequent occasions having a laptop is handy. So I can't fault Apple for hardware durability to be fair!

 

[lark0re]

I personally got disappointed with macOS a few years ago already. It wasn’t one specific update, more like small issues and regressions piling up over time. At this point I just use different systems for different things. I have one machine running Linux and another on Windows, and that setup works better for me overall. Linux gives me more control and a workflow that stays consistent once I set it up. Windows is still hard to beat when it comes to software and hardware compatibility. macOS still has its strong points, especially on Apple Silicon, but for my use cases the tradeoffs stopped making sense.

 

[namename11]

I personally got disappointed with macOS a few years ago already. It wasn’t one specific update, more like small issues and regressions piling up over time. At this point I just use different systems for different things. I have one machine running Linux and another on Windows, and that setup works better for me overall. Linux gives me more control and a workflow that stays consistent once I set it up. Windows is still hard to beat when it comes to software and hardware compatibility. macOS still has its strong points, especially on Apple Silicon, but for my use cases the tradeoffs stopped making sense.

This is what I am considering right now. macOS used to be the prosumer OS but not anymore, Windows has always sucked so I'll just keep a Linux device for real pita workflows.