[teekert]

"After spending time on Apple’s M1/M2 Macs (coming from a large x86_64 desktop), going back to x86_64 feels like a regression, both in performance and battery life. Unfortunately, there’s currently no FreeBSD-supported (or even Linux, as far as I can tell) ARM64 laptop that truly rivals Apple Silicon. I really hope Framework or someone else changes that in the coming years."

I thought it was now well established that it's not neccessarily ARM vs x86, but more "All the optimization of MacOS" vs "Bloated Windows" and "Sub-optimal (hardware control wise) Linux"

Am I wrong?

[intothemild]

No you're not wrong, if you're comparing ARM CPUs on Linux to one specific Intel CPU, the Lunar Lake V ones. Then yeah you're not wrong, it's very much a case of optimisation for CPUs like the Snapdragon X Elite CPUs in comparison.

But if you widened the scope a bit more, then I think there's plenty of more energy hungry x86_64 CPUs compared to ARM.

[foldr]

Compare an M1 MacBook to one of its Intel predecessors. It’s not just software.

[teekert]

But you should compare it to a present day Intel system, and you should then also ask Apple to make the same optimizations...

I know, it's a difficult comparison. But OP stating "I just want ARM" will disappoint for any non Apple ARM (at the moment, I'd say due to software).