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When the cheap one is the cool one

arun.is

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Re: When the cheap one is the cool one

#61

Post by digikata »

KaiserPro wrote: post #35

The thing that keeps me questioning is the "its using binned parts" dialogue. I'm sure _some_ parts might be discards from the iphone 16, but the volume they had at launch to me suggests that not the story. I've read somewhere that they made/budgeted for 5 million laptops shipped this quarter/half. but if they are made from binned CPUs, that suggests at least 4-7% yeild loss for the original iphone CPU. Bear in mind…

I had thoughts along similar lines, but there are other possibilities - it could be the older CPU models are built either on older lines and/or with more mature, higher yield processes, and this offering could in part take demand pressure off of top-of-the-line process M5/M4 parts.

Re: When the cheap one is the cool one

#62

Post by shrubby »

gradstudent wrote: post #30

Weighing up a Neo vs Framework 12 for my kids. The Neo is nicer, but I'll probably get the Framework even though it's more expensive. Apple products seem to have a fixed shelf life; a certain number of years of support and then the machine is slowly incompatible with apps that have since moved on to newer versions of macOS. Meanwhile Framework supports Linux and is still providing hardware/software upgrade paths for…

Linux on Mac Pro 5.1 from 2009 and 2017 MacBook Air, both working perfectly.

I prefer actually both to my corporate issue M4 one with MacOS.

I'm not a fan of the Mac UX, but the hardware seems pretty damn good and the lifespan extends with it.

If I'd have no limitations though I'd prefer the Framework, but not very clearly.

Re: When the cheap one is the cool one

#63

Post by sandos »

voidUpdate wrote: post #51

I'm surprised "mobile phone specs with laptop form factor" isn't a larger product base. Modern smartphones seem capable enough to run a lot of "normal" software, obviously not super heavy ones like after effects or something, but for lighter tasks (web browsing etc), it seems like a good market

Isnt chromebooks to a large extent just this?

Re: When the cheap one is the cool one

#64

Post by kergonath »

FerretFred wrote: post #32
Gigachad wrote: post #10

Apple has been doing this for ages. The base tier one always gets the fun colors while the pro models get silver, grey, and maybe some muted blue. Not sure why they make the cheaper models cooler than the top tier ones. Maybe it's just too expensive to stock multiple colors of every product. The Neo has minimal customization options for specs so making it colorful is cheaper.

I got the citrus version because it made such a change from the usual. However, I'd love it if Apple could make some truly vibrant non-pastel colours like tangerine and lime devices they did in the early days.

Blue Dalmatian!

Re: When the cheap one is the cool one

#65

Post by Gigachad »

red_admiral wrote: post #47
Gigachad wrote: post #10

Apple has been doing this for ages. The base tier one always gets the fun colors while the pro models get silver, grey, and maybe some muted blue. Not sure why they make the cheaper models cooler than the top tier ones. Maybe it's just too expensive to stock multiple colors of every product. The Neo has minimal customization options for specs so making it colorful is cheaper.

Market segmentation? High-end ones have to look "professional", I presume the thinking is you wouldn't give a serious boardroom presentation on a lime-colored laptop. On the other hand, for students and schoolkids once you've solved "cheap", it's a plus to also tweak for "fun". Speaking of market segmentation - this may vary by country but on https://www.apple.com/macbook-neo/ (US site accessed from EU VPN) if I scro…

I agree businesses would probably want dull laptops. But plenty of non corporate users would like color.

I’d still pick the MacBook Pro because it has an SD card slot which any photographer is going to want. I don’t need something that blends in at a board room.

Re: When the cheap one is the cool one

#66

Post by embedding-shape »

vermilingua wrote: post #59
izacus wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question is not as much shelf life, as whether you want your kids to be builders or consumers.

You can put Linux on Macbooks, you can build on macOS.

Environments foster certain behaviors, even restrictions foster certain behaviors, sometimes the opposite of what you try to restrict. There are no right answers :)

Re: When the cheap one is the cool one

#67

Post by voidUpdate »

sandos wrote: post #63
voidUpdate wrote: post #51

I'm surprised "mobile phone specs with laptop form factor" isn't a larger product base. Modern smartphones seem capable enough to run a lot of "normal" software, obviously not super heavy ones like after effects or something, but for lighter tasks (web browsing etc), it seems like a good market

Isnt chromebooks to a large extent just this?

Wikipedia suggests chromebooks generally use normal x86 hardware, they just run chromeOS

Re: When the cheap one is the cool one

#68

Post by hypercube33 »

brailsafe wrote: post #11
Gigachad wrote: post #10

Apple has been doing this for ages. The base tier one always gets the fun colors while the pro models get silver, grey, and maybe some muted blue. Not sure why they make the cheaper models cooler than the top tier ones. Maybe it's just too expensive to stock multiple colors of every product. The Neo has minimal customization options for specs so making it colorful is cheaper.

I'm definitely getting sick of the dull colours in the higher end laptops. Give me a yellow, give me a red, forest green, whatever, anything but silver and darker silver

It's cars too - you'll get muted blue, 5 greys a black, white and better enjoy being boring.

Near 2000 everything came in wild colors. I fondly miss bright red motherboards even, or orange ones.

Re: When the cheap one is the cool one

#70

Post by torginus »

userbinator wrote: post #12
prngl wrote: post #2

Resonates. Reminds me of old Thinkpads. Cheap sometimes means accessible, simple, minimal, functional.

Thinkpads were definitely never cheap.

I just had a company Thinkpad break because its fan started rattiling. It was just out of warranty, like 3.5 years old.

Within a span of a year, out of my dozen coworkers who have the exact same laptop, half of them went down with similar issues.

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