from Hacker News

Ask HN: Should I Get a Mac

by KennyFromIT on 3/14/23, 12:42 PM with 3 comments

I've been a long-time Linux user and generally locked in to the Google ecosystem. My flavors are usually Fedora and stock Pixel devices whenever available. However, lately I've become interested in this AI revolution, specifically LLMs. I'm interested in the prospect of running these inference models locally at some point.

Do you think it's necessary/worth it to make the switch to a modem MacBook/Air or should someone in my situation stick with cloud services and Dell XPS or Lenovo line of PCs?

  • by rvz on 3/14/23, 1:03 PM

    Yes. Just get (a Apple Silicon Mac) one in general. It just works.

    > However, lately I've become interested in this AI revolution, specifically LLMs. I'm interested in the prospect of running these inference models locally at some point.

    It runs even better on a Apple Silicon MacBook Pro. There is no question about it.

  • by PaulHoule on 3/14/23, 12:59 PM

    The new ARM-based Macbooks are great.

    On the other hand, the ideal system for local development of ML software is a desktop computer with a NVIDIA graphics card, although a laptop with discrete graphics will work too. You can do that kind of work with either Linux or Windows.

  • by DubDouble on 3/14/23, 12:52 PM

    Chromebook -- not Mac. If you are developing its more cost beneficial to use a Chromebook. I disliked Mac as a developer. Which made me pretty sad.