Big data on the cheapest MacBook • Hacker News Board

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#111

Post by eru » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 2:18 PM UTC

wincy wrote: post #106

ramgine wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just retired my m1 air to being a server this month. They’re very capable laptops. If the neo is even comparable in spec it’s excellent for the price

My m1 air with 1TB ssd and 16GB of ram is a little champion, I use it during travel to play indie games like Hades II or Slay the Spire, and it works really well, better than my Steam Deck which broke. The only issue it really has is when I try to plug it into my docking station it struggles mightily with 2 2K screens and a 4K screen, so I just use my desktop in that case. I am jealous of my wife’s 13” M5 iPad Pro th…

> [...] and it works really well, better than my Steam Deck which broke.

Well, the MacBook Air was also a lot more expensive than the Steam Deck?

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#112

Post by eru » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 2:19 PM UTC

anthonySs wrote: post #95

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.

most dev workflows from pre 2021 can probably run just fine on a NEO - i think once you get into conductor / 8 terminals with claude code territory that’s where things start to slow down i just got an m5 max with 128gb of ram specifically to run local llms

Does Claude Code take up that many local resources? I thought the heavy lifting was in the cloud?

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#113

Post by hermanzegerman » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 2:19 PM UTC

butILoveLife wrote: post #105

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Where do I get a Laptop with a Nvidia GPU for 600$ ?

I'm right now in the Market for a new Laptop, because I need way more GPU Power than my T470 provides, and to be honest the MacBookPros are quite competitively priced compared to the P-ThinkPads with Nvidia Cards. (Both around 3000€) They also finally offer a matte screen option

The only thing holding me back right now is the soldered SSD, RAM (and shitty Linux support).

It was quite nice being able to upgrade RAM, SSD and replace the Battery on it. Otherwise it wouldn't have lasted for 9 years

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#114

Post by eru » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 2:20 PM UTC

butILoveLife wrote: post #105

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People care about how long you can run in between charging. Low power consumption helps with that, even if you don't care about it directly.

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#115

Post by butILoveLife » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 2:20 PM UTC

tasuki wrote: post #66

That's not Big Data. If you "need to process Big Data on the move" - what you need is a network.

[flagged]

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#116

Post by butILoveLife » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 2:21 PM UTC

varispeed wrote: post #51

If you can fit it on a thumb drive, it's not Big Data.

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Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#117

Post by nicbou » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 2:21 PM UTC

butILoveLife wrote: post #105

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You get a long-lasting device that's usually pleasant to use. User experience is harder to measure than specs, but at least for me, Macbooks are consistently better laptops than everything else I've used.

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#118

Post by alpaca128 » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 2:23 PM UTC

alex_creates wrote: post #89

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 attracti…

Imho 8GB RAM for productivity can quickly be restrictive. I used an M1 with 8GB and my current Macbook is M2 with 16GB, and to me the difference feels bigger than 2x. It seems not everyone here feels that way, but I'd say there's a reason Apple bumped the base models to 16 and makes that exclusive to non-Neo models.

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#119

Post by butILoveLife » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 2:23 PM UTC

BoredPositron wrote: post #15

Queue the endless blog posts about running tech on the potato macbook and being stunned it’s functional with massive trade-offs. Groundbreaking stuff.

[flagged]

Re: Big data on the cheapest MacBook

#120

Post by cosmic_cheese » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 2:23 PM UTC

butILoveLife wrote: post #105

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> And I have a hard time believing people who tell me stories about low power consumption, because no one had cared about that until Apple pretended people cared about it.

That’s because battery life was pretty mediocre across the board, with Apple occasionally squeaking out a bit of an upper hand on the Air. Most laptops were in the same boat, aside from gaming and workstation laptops but battery life has never been the point of those.

That changed dramatically with the M-series Macs. People didn’t start caring because Apple did, but because it meant no longer being tethered to a wall, being able to do a lot of outings without a brick or charger cable at all, and on extended trips being able to get by with a little phone charger instead of a the usual huge ungainly brick.

One of the primary objectives of a laptop is portability, and long battery life is an objective upgrade in that category. Not everybody needs it but for those who do it’s difficult to give up once you’ve had it.

EDIT: Another advantage of that higher efficiency is that MacBooks can run at full performance without being plugged in without it obliterating battery life. x86 laptops universally throttle when untethered and while this can be disabled, they burn through their batteries much more quickly.