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> No one buys Apple Silicon laptops to run Linux because they can barely run Linux.

Almost no-one bought Intel Macs for dual-booting Linux either (Unless you are Linus Torvalds and a tiny amount of people who use Linux on Intel Macs).

> But if they could, Apple would sweep the market for Linux laptops.

Not true. They cannot even run Windows on them.

The entire point of Intel Macs was for running Windows on a Mac which that cohort is just as tiny as the Linux on Intel Mac customers.

Dual booting is generally reserved for those who are highly technical, so I would not expect Apple to care about either customer anyway. So that was tested already and Apple still did not care.

So of course they also do not care about Linux users who have Apple Silicon Macs either.

2 comments

> The entire point of Intel Macs was for running Windows on a Mac

That wasn't the point for Apple. After pointing out that PowerPC hadn't hit 3GHz (as he had promised two years prior) and that there was no PowerBook G5, Steve Jobs clearly explained the rationale for intel Macs:

> As we look ahead, we can envision some amazing products we want to build for you, and we don't know how to build them with the future PowerPC road map.

https://allaboutstevejobs.com/videos/keynotes/wwdc_2005

Windows on the Mac requires cooperation from Microsoft and Apple, and benefits Apple’s competition. It was always a strategy to get Windows users to switch sides, not to sell hardware.

Linux on the Mac requires only Apple’s initiative, and does not benefit their competitors.

> Not true. They cannot even run Windows on them.

Why does the Linux laptop market care about running Windows?

> Dual booting

I’m not talking about dual booting at all. Before Apple Silicon, if you wanted to buy a laptop to run Linux, the Intel Macbooks have always been a top-tier recommendation.

The market isn’t large, but it’s a soft power they’re giving up. Walk into a big tech’s office and you’ll no longer see only Macbooks, and it’s not because they have to run Windows.