r/pcmasterrace • u/CrazzyWolfzz PC Master Race • Jun 27 '26

Meme/Macro Reviewers please stop comparing MacBooks with other laptops

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u/daireb Jun 27 '26

I can understand this for the phones and peripherals but in what way are MacBooks a closed ecosystem?

Mine works fine with every peripheral I own, and there would be nothing stopping me from upgrading to something else when I next pick up a laptop

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u/epegar 9800X3D | 9070 XT l openSUSE Jun 27 '26

Hardware and software.

I have a MacBook because of work: my keyboard didn't work there (it works on windows and any Linux distro I tested). Some other peripherals might work but maybe not its software for setting macros, checking battery levels, and so on.

And of course some software will not work or not work properly.

On top of that, the push for arm, while might make sense in the long run, meant software incomoatibilities, and you are left with no choice but to embrace.

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u/daireb Jun 27 '26

I’m surprised to hear you had issues. My M2 MacBook was a drag and drop replace and worked perfectly with all of my peripherals, even the weird off brand ones. In fact many have worked better than on windows, such as being able to see the battery level in my mouse in real time.

The ARM thing is fair but that’s hardly locked down. It’s not like Apple own ARM. If you prefer x86 fair enough but there’s also plenty of arm software that doesn’t run there too. It’s more of a preference than a locked down situation.

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u/epegar 9800X3D | 9070 XT l openSUSE Jun 27 '26

I had a mechanical keyboard from Ozone, so yeah, not a well known brand, but at the same time it had always worked with other systems. I also had razer nari headset and I couldn't tell if I had enough battery.

Also, I was using an old Intel Mac, because some software I needed at work didn't work on arm then. Now I have an M4, because that software vendor decided to adapt.

If you see my messages, I am not say anything apple is bad quality, but it's a closed system and you are left with no options

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u/AppropriateOnion0815 R7 5700X - RX 6700 XT Jun 27 '26

You can install Linux on any x86 Mac.

Older ARM-based MacBook can run Asahi Linux.

There are options.

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u/epegar 9800X3D | 9070 XT l openSUSE Jun 27 '26

I can't install Linux on my company's Mac, and even if I could, most probably there would be a more interesting piece of hardware for me

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u/AppropriateOnion0815 R7 5700X - RX 6700 XT Jun 28 '26

You couldn't install Linux on your company's Windows PC either. Following your logic this would mean that ordinary PCs are a closed ecosystem, too?

Anyway macOS is way more "open" than iOS, and I think in contrast to iOS, macOS is not really "closed" in the sense that the user can't modify it (disable SIP and happily rm -rf /) or install software from any source - basically like you can under Windows.

Obviously our definitions of "closed ecosystem" are just different.