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Big data on the cheapest MacBook

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Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#81

Post by Robdel12 »

rob wrote: post #62
Robdel12 wrote: post #37

I’ve been tempted to buy one and do “real dev work” on it just to show people it’s not this handicapped little machine. I built multiple iOS apps and went through two start up acquisitions with my M1 MBA as my primary computer, as a developer. And the neo is better than the M1 MBA. I edited my 30-45 min long 4k race videos in FCP on that air just fine.

It's starting to show its age, but I've been using a 2019 MacBook Pro with the Intel chip and 16GB of memory. Still handles multiple terminal sessions with Claude Code and Codex simultaneously, building in Xcode, running Docker in the background, etc. (Maybe the fans sometimes sound like they're a jet engine taking off…) Finally just put an order in for a new 16" MBP M5 Max with 48GB memory only because it looks like…

Oh my. All I have to say is cherish the first week of your M* experience. :D When I got rid of my intel MBP (it was an i7) for my MBA it was astonishing how fast and smooth it was.

So, the m5 with 48gb of ram will be amazing.

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#82

Post by ajross »

Robdel12 wrote: post #37

I’ve been tempted to buy one and do “real dev work” on it just to show people it’s not this handicapped little machine. I built multiple iOS apps and went through two start up acquisitions with my M1 MBA as my primary computer, as a developer. And the neo is better than the M1 MBA. I edited my 30-45 min long 4k race videos in FCP on that air just fine.

> I’ve been tempted to buy one and do “real dev work” on it just to show people it’s not this handicapped little machine.

But... you can do the same exercise with a $350 windows thing. Everyone knows you can do "real dev work" on it, because "real dev work" isn't a performance case anymore, hasn't been for like a decade now, and anyone who says otherwise is just a snob wanting an excuse to expense a $4k designer fashion accessory.

IMHO the important questions to answer are business side: will this displace sales of $350 windows machines or not, and (critically) will it displace sales of $1.3k Airs?

HN always wants to talk about the technical stuff, but the technical stuff here isn't really interesting. The MacBook Neo is indeed the best laptop you can get for $6-700.

But that's a weird price point in the market right now, as it underperforms the $1k "business laptops" (to avoid cannibalizing Air sales) and sits well above the "value laptop" price range.

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#84

Post by skybrian »

tjoff wrote: post #64
Robdel12 wrote: post #37

I’ve been tempted to buy one and do “real dev work” on it just to show people it’s not this handicapped little machine. I built multiple iOS apps and went through two start up acquisitions with my M1 MBA as my primary computer, as a developer. And the neo is better than the M1 MBA. I edited my 30-45 min long 4k race videos in FCP on that air just fine.

It will do real work fine. But slack and a browser will bring it to its knees.

Maybe if you have 100 browser tabs or something silly like that?

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#85

Post by aaronharnly »

That c8g.metal-48xl instance costs $7.63008 on demand[1], so for the price of the laptop, you could run queries on it for about ~90 hours.

:shrug: as to whether that makes the laptop or the giant instance the better place to do one's work…

[1] https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#87

Post by cluckindan »

pbronez wrote: post #86
clamlady wrote: post #48

as a broke ecologist, this little computer can do everything I need in R and word and is a phenomenal build for the price. I'm really enjoying it thus far.

How did you get one already? I thought they were just up for pre-order

Shipping started yesterday, meaning preorders would already have arrived then

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#88

Post by clouedoc »

Robdel12 wrote: post #37

I’ve been tempted to buy one and do “real dev work” on it just to show people it’s not this handicapped little machine. I built multiple iOS apps and went through two start up acquisitions with my M1 MBA as my primary computer, as a developer. And the neo is better than the M1 MBA. I edited my 30-45 min long 4k race videos in FCP on that air just fine.

I know it's not really related, but how did you manage to build two startups worth getting acquired in such a short period of time?

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#89

Post by alex_creates »

Funny just yesterday I almost bought one but got cold feet and opted for a low range MacBook with M5 chip. The Apple sales rep was not convinced it would be enough when i described using it for vibecoding and deploying so kind of talked me out of getting the Neo. I normally use a mix of LLMs, then connect to Github and do a one-click deploy on CreateOS. Do you think I over-reacted? The price of the Neo is SO attractive, a clean half price compared to what I got.
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