Decapitating a MacBook (2025)

A software developer who avoids Apple products but needs to build for macOS/iOS decided to purchase a Mac after trying and rejecting virtualization, VMs, and cloud CI/CD services as impractical alternatives. They settled on an M1 MacBook Air as their solution, prioritizing low cost and minimal power consumption while choosing Apple Silicon for its energy efficiency. The author initially considered the M1 Mac Mini but ultimately rejected it due to its fan noise and other limitations.