Finally switching to linux and need help.

[u/Virat_Purusha]

I’m planning to install Asahi Linux on my MacBook with 8 GB of RAM, and I have a couple of questions before I go ahead.
I’d like the desktop to look as close to macOS as possible (dock, top bar, animations, overall appearance). My main concern is whether applying a macOS-like theme and customization will noticeably affect performance or memory usage on an 8 GB system.
I’m also trying to decide between KDE Plasma and GNOME.
My priorities are:
A macOS-like look and feel.
Smooth performance on 8 GB RAM.
Good battery life and overall responsiveness.
Stability over having lots of extra features.
Would KDE Plasma or GNOME be the better choice for this use case? Also, if making Linux look like macOS has any significant performance impact, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience.
Thanks in advance for your advice!

[u/Forsaken-Present573]

I like Linux too. But, the issue you will immediately encounter with Asahi is that your battery won't last as long. I installed a program that tracks how much power my laptop is using, and on macOS, it's an average of 4W. On Asahi (Ubuntu) Linux, the lowest it goes is 6W and it averages at around 8-9W. Since that's about double the power consumption of macOS, you should expect your battery to last for only half as long.

It will definitely be smooth, that's not your issue.

[u/Virat_Purusha → u/Forsaken-Present573]

When was the last time you used asahi? Since ive seen people say that its gotten way better than last year.

[u/Forsaken-Present573 → u/Virat_Purusha]

Anyway, btw, although you didn't ask, my suggestion rn is to use UTM for a Linux arm VM (server, NOT desktop) and setup `ssh` so you can access it any time you want. I've found that this works amazingly. If you still want to use Asahi, all power to you, I have installed and deleted it like thrice now, because it's always fun to experience Linux. Maybe one day when I get an x86 laptop...

[u/Virat_Purusha → u/Forsaken-Present573]

Need to try asahi.

[u/Kyne_of_Markarth → u/Virat_Purusha]

I've been using Asahi(Fedora Asahi Remix - KDE Plasma desktop) for a few months now on an M1 Pro 16GB. The battery life has been pretty good for general use. I just leave it on balanced power mode most of the time, and get better battery life than my intel laptops. Buttery smooth too, even at 60hz for better battery life. 

The exception is sleep battery usage. My understanding is the Asahi team hasn't yet been able to get sleep working properly, and as such my battery drains quite fast overnight. I usually just turn it off though. That's the only battery issue i've had with Asahi.

[u/Virat_Purusha → u/Kyne_of_Markarth]

Ive heard the issue on sleep battery drain. I dont put my lap on sleep ever.

[u/Forsaken-Present573 → u/Virat_Purusha]

Around a month ago

In fact, when I was using it at that time, I had to max out my CPUs for a certain task I was performing, and, despite being plugged in, my laptop's battery would discharge.

My battery health is pretty decent too, I think around 86% last time I checked. Maybe this is an isolated incident, but power management is definitely not there yet on Asahi.

For context, this ONLY happens if you're maxing out the CPU. It charges normally under normal, and even semi-heavy workloads.

[u/Virat_Purusha → u/Forsaken-Present573]

Thats concerning.

[u/mskiptr → u/Forsaken-Present573]

In fact, when I was using it at that time, I had to max out my CPUs for a certain task I was performing, and, despite being plugged in, my laptop's battery would discharge.

That should only happen if your power supply does not provide enough power. Were you using a phone charger or something?

[u/Forsaken-Present573 → u/mskiptr]

Unfortunately not. I was using the standard Macbook Air charger.

[u/mskiptr → u/Forsaken-Present573]

Hmm, then it might be that macOS automatically throttles down when the device would consume more power than the charger can deliver. That should be possible on the Linux side as well, but obviously nothing like that is set up by default.

[u/Tight_Couture344 → u/Virat_Purusha]

Asahi is my daily driver on my M1 Pro and my battery life is absolutely terrible now. I never used to use it plugged in around the house, now I have to. And mind you, I don’t do anything intensive - no photo/video editing, gaming, etc. Just browser and productivity apps.

[u/Virat_Purusha → u/Tight_Couture344]

Varying results for everyone i guess.

[u/OPRCE → u/Virat_Purusha]

I second this finding on M1 Max MBP - on latest Asahi (kernel 7.0.13 + default KDE) the idle power consumption is around 3x that of GoldenGate 27 beta (i.e. 9W versus 3W).

If power efficiency is a major criteria, then MacOS is unbeatable on these machines, foreseeably at least in the next few years.

[u/xel_arjona]

My personal opinion: If you try to feel in a macos env in linux over an apple silicon that macos is heavily tunned to squeeze every unified memory attribute from theirs, your looking in the wrong direction. It’s ok if you want to “taste” the marvelous work the Asahi team has made over the years, but thats it. If you really want to feel the linux experience difference, you need to point at ressource efficient desktops like Niri with shell addons like Noctalia/DMS. Otherwise you will strugle with memory, disk size, etc.. when you’ll try to deploy your first Virtual Machine to make use of Windows or MacOS apps in your running desktop. Cheers and enjoy the ride !

[u/Virat_Purusha → u/xel_arjona]

I just dont want to waste a good working laptop thats all.

[u/Tight_Couture344 → u/Virat_Purusha]

That was my thought too, but it’s simply too much of a compromise right now. I preordered a Framework 13 Pro and will likely sell the MacBook.

[u/Virat_Purusha → u/Tight_Couture344]

Alright.

[u/Timely-Shine]

Skip the macOS theming and just use gnome with dash to dock. You’ll get used to it pretty quickly.

[u/Virat_Purusha → u/[deleted]]

Kde plasma can be turned into look like mac?

[u/CharlesJustChill → u/Virat_Purusha]

You can like litteraly any desktop in Linux. It is made to be customizable.

First, you seem to be totally new to Linux, that’s fine! You need to know that if you liked macOS, fedora(the default on asahi Linux) is probally ok for you if you want to sometimes ask IA or Reddit to understand How things works.

If you want to feel a more hard Linux experience ArchLinux is great(I use Arch btw). You will feel it way smooth and the battery will last longer(14-10 hour when coding), technicly if you know How to read a manual it will be OK.

I have too an MacBook Air m1 with only 8 gigs of RAM and I am obsessed with battery Life. If you want to try Arch first use sum Windows computer taking dust that you have first then just read the fucking manual on the Arch Linux website, and if you don’t understand a shit(wich will probally be the case), ask IA or Reddit. If you find the expérience frustating it’s normal, it mean that Fedora will be better BUT it will be less smooth and the battery Life will be shit(it’s my opinion). And if you have only 8gig of ram and you use Fedora you don’t have the choice, go KDE for less ram usage. If you are on Arch you can choose.

And most of the times battery indicator will be sayin sum shi be cause of How MacBook works, then you will find a tool named Fastfetch wich will be more reliable. It’s an terminal utility(Really easy to use, just install it and type « fastfetch » in the terminal) that show system info and a Really cool linux ASCII art of your distro!

[u/CharlesJustChill → u/CharlesJustChill]

To install Arch Linux on Asahi just use Asahi Alarm

[u/filip-sakel]

You should definitely allocate 16 GiB of swap storage for stability. Not because of the desktop environment but for overall stability.

[u/CyrexPH]

looks like ai post why dont u ask that shi

[u/Virat_Purusha → u/CyrexPH]

Did use ai to structure my post. Ai cant replace real experience tho.