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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”

#311

Post by teiferer »

jjice wrote: post #264
mauzybwy wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man I got a computer engineering degree in 2015 with a $200 Chromebook chrooted into Debian. And I worked professionally for years on an 8gb MacBook Air. The Neo is definitely something younger me would be interested in.

Did the same for my freshman year of Uni on a $99 Chromebook. Java and C dev on 4GB of ram wasn't an issue. That said, I quickly upgraded to a 4 year used Thinkpad and that was a huge difference.

C dev wasn't an issue back in the 1 GB or 256 MB or 16 MB days either. You just didn't use to have a Chrome tab open that by itself is eating 345 MB just to show a simple tutorial page.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#312

Post by wolvoleo »

realusername wrote: post #202
wolvoleo wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Zsh is now standard, though it still included an old optional version of bash. Apple hates GPLv3 that's why they moved away from bash. The terminal app is not iterm. But Apple's own Terminal.app And no there's no package manager but there's brew and macports.

I didn't know it was an homemade terminal, it's just that it looked old and abandoned compared to your average Linux distribution.

It is made by Apple yes. It's not very bad, it even has big font support from the VT100 series. And a lot of style settings in the menu bar. It's not iterm2 but it's way better than what windows offers (not just the console but the newer windows terminal isn't as good either IMO)

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#313

Post by neogodless »

SoftTalker wrote: post #5

> This computer is for the kid who doesn’t have a margin to optimize. Who can’t wait for the right tool to materialize. Who is going to take what’s available and push it until it breaks and learn something permanent from the breaking. That kid will be much better off with a used laptop and Linux or BSD.

It's both a great post and a very silly one.

Cheap computers with hardware constraints have been around for decades. Now Apple ships one with pretty damn good performance, and they've invented "cheap computers with hardware constraints." HA!

My first computer was a Commodore 64 I found in a pile of trash a few years after they came out. My first PC was a 33Mhz Cyrix Instead I bought off my first college roommate. Now there are some real hardware constraints!

But yeah, necessity is the mother of invention. No doubt about it. Just not seeing how a $600 polished and performant laptop fits that bill ;)

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#314

Post by orbital-decay »

carlosjobim wrote: post #306
orbital-decay wrote: post #197

>Somewhere a kid is saving up for this. He has read every review. Watched the introduction video four or five times. Looked up every spec, every benchmark, every footnote. He has probably walked into an Apple Store and interrogated an employee about it ad nauseam. He knows the consensus. He knows it’s probably not the right tool for everything he wants to do. Anywhere in the world, the kind of kid that does all this…

That's very true, and it's a great tragedy. Kids get skilled in troubleshooting awful computers instead of getting skilled in creative things which actually have future value. As for piracy, it's just as easy on a Mac, and MacOS has more quality software than any other platform - unless you're talking about software used in factories and such. But how many kids actually "save up" for a computer vs being given one by…

I think you're making it sound like they're forced to build Linux from scratch while walking knee deep in the snow, uphill both ways. That's way too detached from reality and certainly it's not a "tragedy". Kids are not doing specialized things that only have future value, they tinker with everything. Usually on what's available, yes.

>and MacOS has more quality software than any other platform

This is simply untrue, and not something a tinkerer cares about on a general-purpose machine anyway (with my niece and son as n=2).

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#315

Post by meatmanek »

hylaride wrote: post #217
butILoveLife wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Macbook Neo is an awesome machine for it's cost/value Uh... if you need to compile for iOS, sure. But outside of that, no its not. You are literally just paying the Apple tax that they deliberately choose.

Look, MacOS has certainly rotted over the past few years, but the primary reason I use it is because it's still a hundred times nicer to use than Windows (which is also regressing for worse reasons - shoving in AI and ads instead of benign neglect). It's still the best desktop UNIX experience, especially since cheap PC laptops (and until very recently expensive ones) almost always have horrible build quality. It's al…

macOS is the best desktop UNIX for one simple reason: the ⌘ key. The fact that 99% of your GUI keybindings use a key that your CLI tooling cannot use eliminates conflicts and means that you don't have to remember things like "Copy is ^C in Chrome but ^⇧C in the terminal".

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#316

Post by palla89 »

I loved every word of this article, I went back in time and felt again with my Pentium III 500 Mhz trying to hack everything out, like changing the splash screen of Windows 98 SE while loading just to feel I did it!

These things were the ones that led me to this passion and that today, with LLMs and almost only business applications to develop for the sake of living, feel like the magic is finally fading.

God I miss the old times! (I'm 36 yo but I feel like 70 in this specific moment!)

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#317

Post by someguynamedq »

exmadscientist wrote: post #57
Stori_Rjomi wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How? I grew up with Windows, learned decent skills on that, probably as much as I would have on a Mac. The current mobile era stuff has put alot or control and grit away, for making things 'more accessible'.

Windows would do just fine. But the state of cheap Windows laptops is abysmal, and Windows as a product is in the doghouse lately because... well, I honestly don't know why Microsoft is doing what they're doing, but from the outside they certainly do appear to want to ruin Windows.

Has windows actually been screwed up or do people just not like changes in their operating system?

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#318

Post by czscout »

teiferer wrote: post #309
delis-thumbs-7e wrote: post #296

> He is going to go through System Settings, panel by panel, and adjust everything he can adjust just to see how he likes it. He is going to make a folder called “Projects” with nothing in it. He is going to download Blender because someone on Reddit said it was free, and then stare at the interface for forty-five minutes. He is going to open GarageBand and make something that is not a song. He is going to take scree…

Autism is a quite strong diagnosis at the end of a spectrum. Not every tech-loving introvert is autistic. That's the kind of arrogant attitude that marginalizes nerds and on a forum like HN people really ought to know better. As somebody who identified a lot with what's in that article I can say that I haven't just made peace with having been "different" but I love it and wouldn't want it any different comparing my l…

Would you give it a rest? It's being used here as a colloquial term that's distinct from an actual medical diagnosis.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#319

Post by someguynamedq »

nindalf wrote: post #234
butILoveLife wrote: post #210

[flagged]

I flag uninteresting comments, such as yours.

I'd say this comment fails the "Be kind. Don't be snarky" test. Wouldn't you? If we're appealing to the rules to justify our actions it puts a bigger burden on ourselves to make sure we're perfectly in line with them too :)

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#320

Post by zymhan »

ghoulishly wrote: post #257
haritha-j wrote: post #149

I don't think this is about the macbook neo. I don't think the comments need to devolve into a mac vs. linux argument. It's simply an ode to that kid pushing hardware to the limits, and learning so much along the way. What I feel a bit sad about is, I was that kid. Growing up in a 3rd world country, running games that i didn't own on hardware that ought not run it, debugging why those games don't work, rooting my pho…

(Author of the post here) The post was inspired by the Neo and provoked by a certain YouTuber’s review of it, but yeah it’s about the Neo in the same way that The Old Man and the Sea is about fishing. I wrote about the Mac in general since that’s what I know, but I imagine if I grew up in the Windows world and liked Windows more, I would have a similar experience with my dad’s old ThinkPad or something.

You perfectly encapsulated how I felt as a kid pushing my computer to its limit just to learn and try new things. I didn't have a Mac, but the experience was identical.
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