Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The MacBook Neo

daringfireball.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

371–380 of 1001 posts

Re: The MacBook Neo

#371

Post by magic_hamster »

drnick1 wrote: post #174

> You cannot buy an x86 PC laptop in the $600–700 price range that competes with the MacBook Neo on any metric — performance, display quality, audio quality, or build quality. And certainly not software quality. I would argue the opposite: while Apple hardware is generally excellent, it is the software that leaves to be desired. Apple has also been consistently pushing the industry in a dangerous direction (walled ga…

I fully agree. My use case sees a fairly intensive use of MacOS, Linux and Windows, and out of all these, MacOS is the worst experience for me, and that's saying a lot when I prefer to use Windows 11 over MacOS.

Macs have very strong advantages but the software, the OS is absolutely infuriating. There's so many annoyances over regular use. You can remedy some of them with third party software (which should have been just system settings), but not all, and by the way some of these cost money for stupidly basic settings.

Finally and probably most painful, is Apple's constant push to update your software stack and things just stop working, and they expect you to keep chasing their decisions. You can't really build anything for Apple that's meant to last. It's exhausting. Meanwhile Windows can run programs from 30 years ago and Linux has extremely efficient, beautifully implemented software from all eras probably already installed in your Distro.

Re: The MacBook Neo

#372

Post by pjmlp »

ZiiS wrote: post #149
pjmlp wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost no problem seems that there is indeed a problem.

I love Firefox but my 32GB MBP and 64GB desktop have both had it run out of memory.

Learn to use bookmarks instead of leaving tabs open.

Re: The MacBook Neo

#373

Post by madeofpalk »

DauntingPear7 wrote: post #315
MarkusWandel wrote: post #134

"It's a real Mac" - I get that! I remember a whole slew of inexpensive netbooks and the like that were technically Windows XP or Windows 7 machines, but came with a dumbed-down "starter" OS, not enough RAM, only a 32-bit CPU in an era were 64 bits were already becoming standard - the sum of which amounted to a barely usable imitation of a real Windows machine and as a result most of these became garage sale fodder pr…

This is pretty much a repackaged M1 air from 2020, so it’s a competent machine

It's a repackaged iPhone 16. Also a competent machine.

Re: The MacBook Neo

#374

Post by [deleted] »

Aurornis wrote: post #302
poulsbohemian wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If you just need to do your taxes or answer a Zoom call, why would you get a Macbook Neo? Because it's a Mac. Maybe not to you, but to many people Apple signals luxury. It signals trust. You have an iPhone, an iWatch, and AirPods in your ears, why wouldn't you also buy a Mac? And at that price point, mom and dad don't think twice about buying one for the kids anymore where previously they might have gotten by withou…

> Maybe not to you, but to many people Apple signals luxury. It signals trust. In some countries Apple is (or was) a status symbol of luxury, but I haven't observed that much in the United States. Macs and iPhones are both mainstream and affordable. AirPods can be bought for $100 on sale. These are commodity items now, not symbols of luxury. Now, most people go to Apple because they see it as a premium option, not a…

[deleted]

Re: The MacBook Neo

#375

Post by magic_hamster »

carabiner wrote: post #257
drnick1 wrote: post #174

> You cannot buy an x86 PC laptop in the $600–700 price range that competes with the MacBook Neo on any metric — performance, display quality, audio quality, or build quality. And certainly not software quality. I would argue the opposite: while Apple hardware is generally excellent, it is the software that leaves to be desired. Apple has also been consistently pushing the industry in a dangerous direction (walled ga…

Is 2026 the year of the linux desktop? Can I update video drivers in Linux without seeing a console? OS X updates them automatically where it's a non-issue.

In some distros you have rolling updates where it happens for you and you're always on cutting edge.

Re: The MacBook Neo

#376

Post by gib444 »

cannolicannon wrote: post #254
KingMachiavelli wrote: post #31

IMO the consumer PC industry is near an existential crisis. The big players are just awful at marketing; too many SKUs and models - it takes a paragraph to figure out how 2 Dell laptops from the same release year differ. The exact same specs will be in two different chassis designs. Additionally, you can’t count on the basic being correct. It takes a hour of research to know if the trackpad is not-awful, keyboard doe…

The big players are just awful at marketing; too many SKUs and models - it takes a paragraph to figure out how 2 Dell laptops from the same release year differ. Just hired a new colleague who prefers Windows. Dell seemed like a reasonable option for a good laptop. Here is Dell's current lineup: - Dell Laptop (with 14, 15, 16 inch variants) - Dell Plus (with 14, 15, and 16 inch variants) - Dell XPS (with 13, 14, and 1…

> Dell Pro Max Premium

> Dell Pro Essential

At least they have a sense of humour

Pro... Essential?! If the sold hotel rooms they'd offer a Deluxe Economy ??

Re: The MacBook Neo

#377

Post by kstrauser »

bdbdbdb wrote: post #48

600 is a bargain for a MacBook, but I can't see the public windows users switching en masse. Most people who buy cheap windows laptops do so because 1) they need to replace a broken laptop and want to pay the lowest amount possible 2) they don't want to learn some new thing 600 might seem budget, but it's out of budget for most people. And my guess is PC manufacturers will retaliate against this by cutting prices jus…

The last time certain family members asked me for a computer recommendation, I gave them a detailed breakdown of which MacBook they could get to meet their lightweight needs for the next decade. They thanked me, agreed, went to Best Buy, and came back with the laptop that the salesperson convinced them was better "because he knows computers". It was an utter piece of crap and they've had nothing but problems with it.[0]

Had this existed when they were shopping, I would've just asked what color they wanted it in, ordered it for them, and been done with it.

[0] OTOH, that got me out of all future tech support duties. "Hey, why can't I connect our new printer to it?" "I'm not sure. Does that Best Buy expert still work there? He might have some suggestions." (Phrased more politely IRL because I'm not a monster, but the intent was there.)

Re: The MacBook Neo

#378

Post by Apocryphon »

eloisant wrote: post #139
cromka wrote: post #69

Just imagine what Apple would do to the market if they also offered a full Linux support, but not Windows... They'd probably own some 70% of Linux market outright and also double its overall size overnight.

They already cannibalized a lot of Linux users, developers mainly when they released MacOS X around year 2000. Suddenly you could have a Unix, with pretty much the same CLI as Linux but without all the supported hardware/driver issues. Laptop sleep in particular was pretty finicky. If MacOS didn't pick a Unix/BSD base, I'm pretty sure all the tech companies running Mac would be on Linux.

BeOS, anyone?

Re: The MacBook Neo

#379

Post by grvdrm »

KingMachiavelli wrote: post #31

IMO the consumer PC industry is near an existential crisis. The big players are just awful at marketing; too many SKUs and models - it takes a paragraph to figure out how 2 Dell laptops from the same release year differ. The exact same specs will be in two different chassis designs. Additionally, you can’t count on the basic being correct. It takes a hour of research to know if the trackpad is not-awful, keyboard doe…

Not just PC industry!

Feels that way in auto too.

I go to Tesla, Lucid websites. Breath of fresh air. Clear choices.

Porsche website: WTF. (just one example, there are many)

Re: The MacBook Neo

#380

Post by fragmede »

pipeline_peak wrote: post #246
perfmode wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think what you're describing is vertical integration rather than the walled garden specifically. The walled garden is the App Store restrictions, iMessage lock-in, that kind of thing. What made the Neo possible is that Apple controls the silicon, the OS, the firmware, and the industrial design as a single unit. They could put a phone chip in a laptop form factor and have it feel coherent because there's no seam bet…

>The one company that could theoretically pull this off is Google with ChromeOS on their own Tensor chips, and the fact that they haven't is probably the more interesting question than why Asus is shocked. Successful Chromebook’s have always been the throwaway $200 models. Higher end ones like the Pixelbook served more as flagship devices to prove they could do more but were never really marketed. I don’t think Googl…

> no serious software.

What software do you want to be considered serious? With the addition of Linux/Crostini, there's 3D modeling, CAD, and NLE video editing and compilers and everything else.

Post reply on HN