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“This is not the computer for you”

samhenri.gold

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Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#41

Post by MBCook »

GianFabien wrote: post #23
lelandbatey wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't downvote, it certainly did for me. My first computer was a MBP 13inch from 2009, as I was apple obsessed like the person in the parent article. Time passes and I realized I really didn't like either Windows or Mac, and for the past 10 years Ive been linux only. It really does happen, even if rarely.

Good on you for rising up to the ranks of Linux/BSD. You just need to recognize that not everybody aspires to be competent with lower-levels of hardware and software that Apple makes that much more difficult. Most Apple users are content to use apps written by others and that is as far as their interest goes. An analogy is the car market. Most people don't care how the car works, etc. They just want to get to places.…

Yep everyone has their preference. A lot of us have done both. I’ve run multiple distros. I’ve played with low level software. I have used and continue to use open source tools in places.

And I prefer my Mac to this day as my main machine.

Consumer user or Linux hacker is a false dichotomy people sometimes like to try to slot people into (not accusing you GianFabien).

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#42

Post by chongli »

pocksuppet wrote: post #36
bitmasher9 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not enough memory is sometimes just a slowdown these days, with ssd and swap.

Swap has existed since Win95 btw

Yes, though SSDs that can sustain 1.5G/s and an OS that transparently compresses memory before swapping yield a lot better experience than Win95 swapping.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#43

Post by TheDong »

GavinMcG wrote: post #27
TheDong wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have an open source kernel. You can't recompile the kernel or build your own device drivers. I'm not sure what you mean by "learning about computers", but I personally find being able to peek into the kernel source code to be more educational than anything in the mac ecosystem. The hardware here is incredible, but it's crippled by not adequately supporting Linux, BSD, or any other properly open source kern…

I’d bet 99% of professional developers have never peeked at kernel source code or built their own device drivers.

The parent commenter said "learning about computers". Most "professional developers" don't learn about computers, they learn enough react to get a paycheck, but don't have an insatiable curiosity about how the whole computer works (i.e. the "hacker spirit").

Professional developers are not what this thread is about. It's about curious kids, about hackers, and that group does peek at kernel source code (as well as everything else).

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#44

Post by Forgeties79 »

MBCook wrote: post #34
GameOfKnowing wrote: post #4

This is true but also not at all the point of a review. Some tools are better suited for some tasks— reviews help those with the privilege of choice find the best ones for them. Otherwise you’d have a review of a hammer saying “this is a great tool for driving screws if you’re not afraid to get cREaTive with it!” Folks who need to make do with what they have already know about their constraints.

I took the article as talking about the difference between reviews that say “this computer is not going to be great at X” and the reviews that say “this machine is only good for office tasks or Y“. The gatekeeping tone. It can do most anything. It may not be amazing, but people get buy. And they may be ok with it. I saw tons of comments in the original post about the Neo from people who talked about how they used ext…

I’d bet a solid 25% of the people nitpicking the Neo would’ve called it a breath of fresh air if it wasn’t made by Apple.

I don’t want one, it doesn’t do what I need. But I can definitely see the use cases especially at that price point.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#45

Post by pocksuppet »

chongli wrote: post #42
pocksuppet wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Swap has existed since Win95 btw

Yes, though SSDs that can sustain 1.5G/s and an OS that transparently compresses memory before swapping yield a lot better experience than Win95 swapping.

Yes, but if your bar is "still works but slower" you don't need that.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#46

Post by sagarm »

t-writescode wrote: post #20
TheDong wrote: post #19

> The kid who tries to run Blender on a Chromebook doesn’t learn that his machine can’t handle it. He learns that Google decided he’s not allowed to. Or they learn to enable developer mode, unlock the bootloader, and install Linux, or use the officially supported Crostini, or so on. There's like 3 different ways to run Linux desktop apps on a modern Chromebook. The Macbooks don't let have an officially supported path…

Switching to developer mode is very likely something he won’t be doing nor allowed to do on the Chromebook his parents bought him or the school assigned him.

Will a managed MacBook allow the installation of random native apps, either?

Though let's be realistic, here: $600 is much more than the typical school-assigned Chromebook.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#47

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

I had no personal computer for years except what only served as my Plex Server until I took it down.

I bought a 16GB M2 MacBook Air after I was Amazoned to work on a side contract when I was between jobs. I used it for four weeks and the only thing I ran on it was VSCode, Safari and Zoom. I would have been fine with the MacBook Neo. Right now with a job, it’s about the same - we use GSuite in a browser.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#48

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

sagarm wrote: post #46
t-writescode wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switching to developer mode is very likely something he won’t be doing nor allowed to do on the Chromebook his parents bought him or the school assigned him.

Will a managed MacBook allow the installation of random native apps, either? Though let's be realistic, here: $600 is much more than the typical school-assigned Chromebook.

Yes

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#49

Post by artimaeis »

dangus wrote: post #11

I like the sentiment expressed here, but on this note, I think there are other dangers to consider listening to early reviewers: - Reviewers do get early access and often are receiving units AND doing their tests, writing their script, recording, and editing their videos before regular users can even possibly get a system shipped in. At best this rushes them where they miss details (e.g., few reviewers noticed that t…

You make some great points here. Here’s one of the places I’m coming from that seems to be aligned with the author of this.

I find macOS to be a superior OS for doing computer work to all the alternatives. It still sucks for a lot of reasons, but to my taste it generally sucks less. I’m a web dev, so I host a lot of crap in Linux, and I’m pretty confident in using it as a desktop. But the general day to day experience I find macOS superior.

There’s plenty of people in similar boats, and this is the most affordable machine (new, not used) that lets someone get to use macOS.

For a lot of people with budget limits I’d point them to used MacBook Air models rather than the Neo, but having this as a new model is a really nice option for some people.

Also you can call the Neo CPU slow but its benchmarks run circles around anything you find at its price range. Those machines have more RAM and storage, but the Neo will likely provide a more responsive experience than anything in its price range.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#50

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

wolvoleo wrote: post #21
TheDong wrote: post #19

> The kid who tries to run Blender on a Chromebook doesn’t learn that his machine can’t handle it. He learns that Google decided he’s not allowed to. Or they learn to enable developer mode, unlock the bootloader, and install Linux, or use the officially supported Crostini, or so on. There's like 3 different ways to run Linux desktop apps on a modern Chromebook. The Macbooks don't let have an officially supported path…

You can't install a different OS on these? Are they different from the M series? Because those have Asahi Linux.

Surprisingly enough you don’t need Linux to learn about computers. You know that Macs have terminal?
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