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Parallels confirms MacBook Neo can run Windows in a virtual machine

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Re: Parallels confirms MacBook Neo can run Windows in a virtual machine

#381

Post by spacedcowboy »

serf wrote: post #326
coldtea wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have 32GB Macs, and you had them 7 years ago already, you're not even remotely close to the target market for it. Parent said "In the education market, educators, students, aides... nothing close at this price point". That has zero overlap with the "felt the need for 32GB 7 years ago" not-exactly-crowd.

>If you have 32GB Macs, and you had them 7 years ago already, you're not even remotely close to the target market for it. that market is already saturated with a zillion decent-spec chromebook style machines. The only reason the Neo market is even slightly different is to cater to crowds that want the apple offerings for OS and fashion/reputation. The market we're talking about has no real reason to care what kind of…

Not sure why you've been downvoted, but you're absolutely right.

Plus, if the OP has 32GB in 7-year-old machines, they're running intel CPUs, which don't compare in how well they use memory and swap to/from SSD.

Re: Parallels confirms MacBook Neo can run Windows in a virtual machine

#382

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #339
pants2 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might be surprised, with NVMe swap 8GB is surprisingly capable. ~1.6GB/s Read/Write.

Flash has finite write endurance. NVMe swap can burn through it pretty quick. Which is isn't that bad because if it wears out you can replace it... unless the drive is soldered.

I’ve never had an SSD crap out because of read/write cycle exhaustion, and I’ve been using SSD almost exclusively, for over a dozen years. I’ve had plenty of spinning rust ones croak, though. You don’t solder those in, so it’s not really a fair comparison.

I did have one of those dodgy Sandisks, but that was a manufacturing defect.

Re: Parallels confirms MacBook Neo can run Windows in a virtual machine

#383

Post by croes »

roody15 wrote: post #131

MacBook Neo is going to sell like crazy. In the education market, educators, students, aides... nothing close at this price point. With memory and SSD prices so high I don't see how Dell, Asus and others are going to be able to compete. Unless the build quality is significantly worse than a M1 macbook air not sure budget PC makers will be able to compete.

Unless the screen cracks again because of crumbles.

Re: Parallels confirms MacBook Neo can run Windows in a virtual machine

#384

Post by nolist_policy »

mylies43 wrote: post #182
nar001 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RAM has no bearing on repairability? And yes, sure stuff is soldered to the motherboard, but everything is basically modular outside of it, you can replace every big part pretty easily, and no glue, even for the battery

The RAM being soldered is a hit against repair ability, you can't expand it or if the ram has issues you can't replace it, you will just be forced to throw out the entire machine. What else is modular here anyways? Can I swap out the CPU, the screen, the keyboard, ports...anything?

Neo's RAM is Package on Package, it is literally soldered on top of the A18.

In fact, Neo's Mainboard is in the same ballpark as a Desktop RAM DIMM, which means replacing the whole Mainboard is in the same as replacing the RAM on a Desktop from an environmental perspective.

Re: Parallels confirms MacBook Neo can run Windows in a virtual machine

#385

Post by 05 »

y1n0 wrote: post #244
auggierose wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. Both of my macs are over 7 years old, and have at least 32GB of RAM. Certainly would not buy an 8GB one now.

If people want to emulate what it is like to have low memory on your current mac, you can run `memory_pressure` on the cli.

Or disable SIP and sudo nvram boot-args="maxmem=8192"

I tried, DaVinci Resolve still works :)

Re: Parallels confirms MacBook Neo can run Windows in a virtual machine

#386

Post by spacedcowboy »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #339
pants2 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might be surprised, with NVMe swap 8GB is surprisingly capable. ~1.6GB/s Read/Write.

Flash has finite write endurance. NVMe swap can burn through it pretty quick. Which is isn't that bad because if it wears out you can replace it... unless the drive is soldered.

Mac SSDs are expected to last 8-10 years, even with high use. though Apple don't publish these values specifically, it's possible to start to extrapolate from the SMART data when it starts showing errors.

A good SSD ought to be able to cope with ~600TBW. My ~4.5-year-old MBP gives the following:

    smartctl --all /dev/disk0
    ...
    Data Units Read:                    1,134,526,088 [580.8 TB]
    Data Units Written:                 154,244,108 [78.7 TB]
    ...
    Media and Data Integrity Errors:    0
    Error Information Log Entries:      0
    ...
I'm sure an 8GB RAM machine would use more swap than my 16GB one, but probably not much more, given that mine has had heavy use for development and most people don't use their laptops for anything like that. Even so, that would still put it well within the expectation of 8-10 years, and that's for a $600 laptop.

Re: Parallels confirms MacBook Neo can run Windows in a virtual machine

#387

Post by simonh »

zitterbewegung wrote: post #65
Someone1234 wrote: post #44

If Apple continues with the budget Neo brand into a 12 GB iteration, I can see this becoming more realistic (rather than a novelty). That being said, Parallels may need to review its licensing with a budget tier in mind. Few will buy a cheap computer and then pay what Parallels charges for a license (regardless if one-time or subscription). They need to introduce something below the Standard license targeting the Neo…

This isn't a novelty it will crush the low end of the PC market. No one cares if the next iteration will be better with 12GB of ram. The workloads that people say that 8GB can't handle will be ones that the actual users will either wait or tolerate. I've been noticing that people who review the Macbook Neo basically don't get the point [1] and just the headline of this article matters that VMs work and thats a big wi…

I take it's repairability slightly differently. That's because it is highly modular, and I think the reason for that is longevity. They put a lot of engineering effort into this thing, and so at this price point that has to pay back over a lot of devices over a long period. This design isn't going to change for many years, but the internals will iterate independently.

Re: Parallels confirms MacBook Neo can run Windows in a virtual machine

#388

Post by fpaf »

Gigachad wrote: post #224
auggierose wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. Both of my macs are over 7 years old, and have at least 32GB of RAM. Certainly would not buy an 8GB one now.

Going to guess you aren’t a student

I have a teenager at home. Between freaking electron-powered Discord and Chrome, she's basically at the limit of her 12GB RAM (on windows 11)

Re: Parallels confirms MacBook Neo can run Windows in a virtual machine

#389

Post by simonh »

littlecranky67 wrote: post #363
benoau wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In practice I think this is going to be very specific to your data being good for compression and not already compressed - so not gaming, where textures can fill up the Neo's 8GB very fast depending on the game: Cyberpunk, Robocop, Bioshock and Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmarks are showing 9 - 10 GB of RAM used at just 720p. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOe-Ock4pnw

Having completed SotTR on my MacMini M2 8GB, the game plays fluent at 1080p around 40-60fps without any issues. There are youtubers showing Cyberpunk on the Neo on lowest settings running around 50fps. Cyberpunk being somewhat special as it is visually so beautiful, that I would not recommend to complete it on a Neo.

If the options are play it on a Neo or not play it at all? (Well, for several years, I suppose waiting until you have a beefier machine is an option)

Re: Parallels confirms MacBook Neo can run Windows in a virtual machine

#390

Post by wil421 »

nelsonic wrote: post #345

Genuine question: who would buy a MacBook Neo to run Windows on it…? Surely people buying Neo are trying to escape MicroSlop?!

My buddy owns several Firehouse restaurants. There’s a couple windows programs he uses to run his businesses. Not having a way to virtualize windows was a show stopper when the ARM Macs came out.

Same with my father in law who’s a general contractor. He uses some freeware estimate program and an extremely old photoshop he got in the early 2000s.

He also went through 2 crappy Amazon bought chrome books for his wife that could barely function. The Air was too pricey.

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