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MacBook Neo

apple.com

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Re: MacBook Neo

#461

Post by danaris »

noname120 wrote: post #401

Will it be true macOS or will they use this excuse of using an “iPhone chip” to lock down everything like they do on iPads/iPhones?

They don't have a "macOS Lite", and if these were running anything less than full macOS, you can be sure Apple would be positioning them as a new product (or part of the iPad line) rather than as a Mac.

And maybe, just maybe, that fact, once it becomes clear, will make at least a few of the people who assume that Apple desperately wants to lock down macOS realise that that's bullshit and always has been...

Re: MacBook Neo

#462

Post by nkotov »

Outside of college students, I think this also unlocks the Mac to rest of the world. Now $599 allows most of the world to buy/lock into the Apple ecosystem. 8 GB is the only issue I have but everything else is such a good compromise for the price.

Re: MacBook Neo

#466

Post by carlosjobim »

NearAP wrote: post #453
lateforwork wrote: post #306

This is a major challenge to Microsoft. A 13-inch Surface Laptop costs $899 [1], that's 50% more than an equivalent MacBook! And even at that higher price the Surface Laptop doesn't have a good screen: it uses 150% scaling (as opposed to the ideal 200%) which means you have subtle display artifacts. Other than Microsoft nobody even makes decent laptops in the Windows world. I am typing this on an Lenovo Yoga, it has…

I think the 2 laptops you mentioned are targeting different markets. The Surface Laptop you linked to is - 16GB of RAM and 512GB of Storage (no 8GB of RAM option) The $599 Mac Neo is 8GB of RAM and 256GB of Storage. It doesn't have a 16GB RAM option but a 512GB storage option is $699. 8GB RAM seems to me to be targeting folks who don't run a lot of local apps or multiple big apps

Nobody except people on HN cares about RAM. People care about what you can actually do with the machine. The spec numbers are nothing more than numbers when a computer never works as it is supposed to. It's like having a 500HP car, but it can actually not drive.

Re: MacBook Neo

#467

Post by sodality2 »

jeroenhd wrote: post #441

8GiB of RAM, combined with "Built for Apple Intelligence.", makes me question the user experience on this thing. macOS with a browser open pretty quickly hits 13 GiB of RAM usage for me. That poor SSD is going to be swapping its whole usable life. I suppose it's enough if all you're doing is light office work, but you can get a laptop half the price to do that. The USB 2.0 USB-C port seems like something that's going…

Yeah, the optimization is going to make or break it. I've heard people say that 8GB on their Air's with M chips are sufficient, but I do wonder if it will still be true now with MacOS - maybe we'll get a cleanup/performance release cycle?... With regards to AI I hope it's not a Gemini/Pixel situation where there's a lot of ram but 3.5GB are permanently reserved for the on-device model to be always-available.

Re: MacBook Neo

#468

Post by pm90 »

geerlingguy wrote: post #281

Apparently the two USB-C ports are different specs [1] - USB 3.0 10 Gbps with DisplayPort support - USB 2.0 480 Mbps Both support charging but only one supports higher speeds and DisplayPort (A18 Pro limitation, as Apple probably doesn't dedicate much silicon to USB I/O). [1] https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/04/macbook-neo-features-tw...

Im surprised that they’re doing DP and not thunderbolt?

Re: MacBook Neo

#469

Post by kube-system »

markstos wrote: post #362

Press release touts "built with the environment mind", but is silent on repairability. Also this week: Lenovo's new ThinkPads score 10/10 for repairability showing that even popular modules of mainstream manufacturers can build with repairability in mind. https://www.ifixit.com/News/115827/new-thinkpads-score-perfe... Apple I imagine is still soldering their storage and memory to the motherboard.

Non-Socketed memory and storage is more of an upgrade friendly feature rather than a repairability feature. They don’t often fail. And most people do not attempt to upgrade their devices anyway, especially the type of people who are not power users, and are buying low end devices. For most people, upgrades are no longer a purchasing consideration, and they will buy the laptop that’s five dollars cheaper and has more attractive packaging.

And no, Apple is not soldering memory to the main board on most of their computers these days. All of the M series computers have the memory on package with the CPU, because there are latency issues with putting it any further away. The A18 Pro that this laptop uses is package-on-package, the DRAM is directly on top of the SoC.

There are no socketed standards for LPDDR anyway.

Re: MacBook Neo

#470

Post by zhyder »

Looks like the best display you can get in laptops at this price: 2408x1506 resolution, 500 nits, antireflective coating (!). And bonus points for no silly notch.
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