MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production • Hacker News Board

Re: MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

#291

Post by jwagenet » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 10:15 PM UTC

drnick1 wrote: post #135

GeekyBear wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dell has just announced an 8 Gig of RAM version of their XPS laptop and the PR surrounding the launch is pretty funny. > "Apple's MacBook Neo is a capable machine, and its arrival confirms that there's real appetite for premium quality at accessible prices," said Dell. Who could have known that people wanted quality AND affordability?

It is shocking that the XPS14 now starts at $2,000.

If you use wintel, unless you need bleeding edge, buy 3 year old Dell Precision refurb on eBay for a third of that.

Re: MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

#292

Post by taude » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 10:19 PM UTC

robertjpayne wrote: post #269

antaviana wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My greatest concern about Mac hardware is that they are perfectly operational by the time software-driven programmed obsolescence comes its way, even when it is a nice problem to have. I have 3 iMacs 27 (2019) which have a gorgeous display, but the lack of software updates to the OS effectively bricks them via enterprise conditional access rules or with the ongoing drop of legacy OS support by key apps. This programm…

I'd still say getting 7 years of free OS supports for hardware is pretty incredible. All-in-ones like iMacs are always going to be wasteful on the environmental side of things faster because displays will outlive the usefulness of the rest of it by a large large margin. At least Apple does try a bit to be a responsible recycler and you can always take your old hardware to them.

How is the OS Free? It's part of what you pay for.

I have a 11 year old PC -- running Cosmos now, and it's still faster than my hobbled M4 PRO with 48 GB, work mac with all it's corp spyware cruft on it.

We should expect more than 7 years out of all our tech hardware.

EDIT: I say this as a person who spent a couple weekends trying to get various forms of Linux running on a 2017 Macbook Pro, because it was stuck on VEntura.

Re: MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

#293

Post by frollogaston » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 10:20 PM UTC

adgjlsfhk1 wrote: post #85

2001zhaozhao wrote: post #74

I think Apple's cost efficiency advantages are really compounding now and it'll get increasingly hard for competitors to catch up. Everything they put in the product is either in-house or benefit from their scale and negotiating power. In the MacBook Neo's case, everything from the in-house chipset and scale (for stuff like aluminum body) and the more RAM-efficient software is working in its favor. I'd bet that a dif…

I think the clear demonstration of this is how small Apple's motherboard is for the neo (and other M series) compared to everyone else). It really seems like the PC makers don't understand the benefits of low power chips sufficiently. If you cap your chips TDP such that it can be cooled passively, you save money on heatsink, fan, vents, power circuitry (e.g. fewer capacitors), battery size, etc.

They make passively cooled Windows laptops too, but doing that with Intel or AMD means having something very slow.

Re: MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

#294

Post by hypercube33 » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 10:23 PM UTC

adgjlsfhk1 wrote: post #85

2001zhaozhao wrote: post #74

I think Apple's cost efficiency advantages are really compounding now and it'll get increasingly hard for competitors to catch up. Everything they put in the product is either in-house or benefit from their scale and negotiating power. In the MacBook Neo's case, everything from the in-house chipset and scale (for stuff like aluminum body) and the more RAM-efficient software is working in its favor. I'd bet that a dif…

I think the clear demonstration of this is how small Apple's motherboard is for the neo (and other M series) compared to everyone else). It really seems like the PC makers don't understand the benefits of low power chips sufficiently. If you cap your chips TDP such that it can be cooled passively, you save money on heatsink, fan, vents, power circuitry (e.g. fewer capacitors), battery size, etc.

Microsoft was considered the competitor and they lack in house phone dev which the neo is built on, no chip of their own etc. Everyone else is stuck with whatever the market gives them for CPU/GPU and probably less buying power on SSD and Ram. Then we have the operating system that has its own minimum requirements to work smoothly and for windows I don't really think 8gb total system memory is going to cut it.

Re: MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

#295

Post by micromacrofoot » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 10:25 PM UTC

baq wrote: post #285

micromacrofoot wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah exactly, one of my kids has a Windows PC for gaming and just logging in to the thing is arduous sometimes... Microsoft's account auth system is so bad with its random redirects. Don't even me get me started on the parental controls, it's probably one of the laggiest systems I use.

Let’s not pretend Apple screen time is any good. My 13yo daughter figured out multiple ways around it by herself and googled a few more and if it wasn’t leaking like a sieve it isn’t granular enough anyway (e.g. music apps offering videos - I want to block videos but not music - can’t be done)

Yeah none of them are great, but Microsoft's is awful

Re: MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

#296

Post by NetMageSCW » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 10:25 PM UTC

brikym wrote: post #228

everdrive wrote: post #25

It's always surprising when companies don't understand that people what inexpensive, quality goods. The original Ford Maverick retailed for $19,995, Ford absolutely could not keep up with production. Ultimately, they raised prices both because they could and in order to reduce demand because they could not actually product enough units.

It's more like they don't want paradox of choice. Think of how many windows or android products are out there. Frankly I hate thinking about buying them in case I screw up and get it wrong. Apple understands this.

They used to (Steve Jobs did) but the iPad lineup says they’ve forgotten some of it.

Re: MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

#297

Post by miguel-muniz » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 10:25 PM UTC

taude wrote: post #244

I bought one: I was hesitant about the 8 GB of memory at first. But I'm happily running Chrome with like 20 tabs and some other apps, and performance isn't an issue. It's mostly a couch laptop. I run Obsidean, messaging apps, writing tools. I use some CLI toolings... I really wanted a Framework 12, but I got $180 credit on a ipad AIR 4, and sold a 2017 Macbook Pro for $150 (US), so that effectively made this a 280 up…

I think it's a damn shame we finally have the technology to make really good small computers but the consumer demand for small computers is gone.

Re: MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

#298

Post by dylan604 » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 10:30 PM UTC

ksec wrote: post #109

dylan604 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It was also a very low initial production volume to begin with. So doubling isn't because it is doing above everyone's expectations, it is because Apple underestimated the demand. That is also ignoring the summer back to school season. Doesn't that mean precisely that the sales are above Apple's expectations which is everyone in all that matters here.

Well yes. But it is also a mistake that should have avoided and Apple are usually better than this. This suggest they have under estimated for one reason or another. My guess is that they were extra cautious in case of a flop just before new CEO was appointed.

Not really sure how else to unconfuse your logic here. If Apple's expectations were low where you say they underestimated, then it is exceeding their expectations. Whatever logic Apple used to decide that number doesn't matter. They expected sales to be X, but the demand is >X. I seriously doubt Apple planned this just get an extra news cycle like this. That's something a start up would do.

Re: MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

#299

Post by Marsymars » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 10:30 PM UTC

cogman10 wrote: post #290

philistine wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are so right, and I blame some of the thinking on this very website. People are adamant that they need to upgrade the RAM, change the storage, and replace the battery on their laptops. Adamant . All that means that you need a separate memory controller, a separate this and that. It adds up, and PC makers are forced to put in a fan. On its face, it doesn't sound stupid at all. The thinking that you need to be able…

What I'm adamant about being able to upgrade is my software. The big problem with the apple ecosystem is that, while they've been pretty good about it, you are still at their mercy to receive regular software and operating system updates. Once apple is done with your hardware, that's it, you own an insecure brick. It's not the upgradable ram, cpu, or storage which is eat into the power consumption budget. Instead, it…

> What I'm adamant about being able to upgrade is my software. The big problem with the apple ecosystem is that, while they've been pretty good about it, you are still at their mercy to receive regular software and operating system updates. Once apple is done with your hardware, that's it, you own an insecure brick.

The insecure bricks hold their value weirdly well though, so if you care about the software limits, you can just sell at the end of the term to someone who doesn't, and it makes up for you not being able to keep the hardware longer yourself. Like I just sold off a low-spec 2012 macbook and 2013 iPad Air for a combined $140.

Re: MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

#300

Post by epolanski » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 10:32 PM UTC

whateverboat wrote: post #179

juancn wrote: post #24

I ended up getting two (one for each of my daughters). The thing about Apple is that as the "IT" guy for my family, its ecosystem is the one which needs the least attention from me. It really just works. They have used Windows and Linux before (my kids and wife, that is), but something is always not quite right and needs my involvement. These days gone 100% Mac, my interventions are usually initial setup and whenever…

I'm probably one of the few people who prefer Linux+KDE stack over macbook software ecosystem. But hardware wise, macbooks are just blowing other laptops out of water after M3-M4. It's not that mac have become much better but that the rest of the lapto pindustry has just gone to shit: 1. Windows pulling more and more shenanigans 2. Normal laptop hardware becoming as pricey as Mac. I could get much better performance…

I have an M3 ultra and a coworker got a Linux laptop with Omarchy which blows my machine. Don't remember the hardware.

Needless to say my M3 also sucks compared to a very good desktop.