MacBook Neo • Hacker News Board

Re: MacBook Neo

#541

Post by lateforwork » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 5:38 PM UTC

ElijahLynn wrote: post #494

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…

Doesn't the surface have a touch screen? I don't really see how it's a competitor if it doesn't have a touch screen.

I have a Windows laptop with a touch screen. The only time I touch the screen is when I take a screenshot using the Snipping Tool and want to circle something.

Re: MacBook Neo

#542

Post by brtkwr » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 5:39 PM UTC

Bit of a strange choice of name if I may say so!

Re: MacBook Neo

#543

Post by carlosjobim » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 5:41 PM UTC

zeptonix wrote: post #348

Anyone think you'll actually be able to do anything on a Mac with only 8gb of RAM? I had a Macbook Pro before with 16gb of RAM and it was constantly running out of RAM and showing me the Force Quit Applications dialog. Constantly...

People run million dollar businesses out of 8GB MacBooks.

Re: MacBook Neo

#544

Post by MarcelOlsz » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 5:42 PM UTC

GeekyBear wrote: post #512

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…

Microsoft's build quality is largely equivalent, but the press has already noticed that the value proposition at Microsoft is now lacking. > Apple's newest MacBook is an impressive play for affordability, right as the Surface line is looking expensive and out of touch. https://www.pcworld.com/article/3077961

[flagged]

Re: MacBook Neo

#545

Post by dartharva » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC

heraldgeezer wrote: post #427

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…

>Other than Microsoft nobody even makes decent laptops in the Windows world Thinkpads. Or in general any business laptop, like HP Elitebook or Dell Presicion. But they are not cheap at all haha If you want performace get a desktop!

The experience I have had with Thinkpads, both current-gen and old during my childhood, did not warm me up to the line. They are not particularly better in feel, thermals and screen quality against its cheaper alternatives including those from Lenovo themselves. The only good thing was its keyboard, but then most Lenovo laptops in general have good keyboards. Its popular acclaim is weird to me.

Re: MacBook Neo

#546

Post by wvenable » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC

avarun wrote: post #66

No idea why anybody still thinks of this company as making premium devices or catering to the premium market. Tim Cook's Apple makes cheap shit for the mass market, and has for years. It's not surprising when something like this comes out for cheap, because in general Apple has been price competitive for the past decade. And in that vein of making cheap shit for the mass market, their software quality has suffered in…

I have no idea why anyone ever thought that Apple only made premium devices for a premium market. Apple has always been (or wanted to be) a mass market computer and device company and I have an iPod Shuffle to prove it.

Re: MacBook Neo

#547

Post by wiseowise » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 5:44 PM UTC

mattfrommars wrote: post #166

More affordable Mac, there is nothing wrong with it. But the only issue in school is the rick kid's parent will get them Macbook Pro or even Macbook Air, and the poor kids will get Macbook Neo... I'm sure the kid will not feel great about having Neo while her friend have Pro version.

Poor kid would definitely feel superior rocking shitty, plastic Windows tombstone that won’t survive for 2 hours without power supply.

Re: MacBook Neo

#548

Post by BurningFrog » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 5:44 PM UTC

compounding_it wrote: post #275

reacharavindh wrote: post #250

If this makes people develop stuff under the assumption that the user only has 8 GB of memory, I am happy for where we are going :-)

Forget people, id like to see Apple themselves optimise the macOS experience for 8gb Ram. The M1 Air base should ideally be useful until the MacBook Neo loses macOS updates. So 6+6 years at least. But we all know M1 Air will lose updates in a couple of years maybe because Apple doesn't want us to keep using old hardware even if it's similar to new hardware.

Apple is people, my friend!

Re: MacBook Neo

#549

Post by xtracto » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

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 was recently in the lookout for a new laptop. I wanted something BEEFFY! Specs wise but 13 inch at most.

I literally couldn't find anything on the PC side. I wanted an x86 because I prefer Linux Mint as my OS (didn't care about windows) , but it was impossible to find a good laptop with good GPU , more than 64gb ram and decent build materials (ive got a thinpad and the platic build is just terrible. The screen bends when pulling it to open the laptop).

So, if settled for a 128gb ram M4 max Macbookpro. It has been pretty solid so far. I'm a power user, so the RAM is used quite a lot (one of the reasons I wanted x86/Linux was to avoid virtualization overhead in docker/podman).

Macs are way more expensive than other laptops, but their level of tech sophistication is miles ahead of anyone.

Now, if only Asahi was more complete.

Re: MacBook Neo

#550

Post by karmakaze » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 5:46 PM UTC

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…

That Surface has 16GB RAM though.

> Your new MacBook Neo. Just the way you want it[sic]. 13-inch MacBook Neo in Indigo A18 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine Apple Intelligence Footnote ※

    8GB unified memory
    256GB SSD storage
    U.S. English Magic Keyboard with Lock Key
    20W USB‑C Power Adapter

    Two USB-C ports, 3.5 mm headphone jack
    Support for one external display

8 GB unified memory is brand-new e-waste today. macOS 26 makes it even worse.