I can get a better PC than that for $400.
Are you sure? Because at this moment with $400 you only get the RAM.
Comment on Apple Accidentally Leaks 'MacBook Neo'
artyom@piefed.social 16 hours ago
I suspect it’ll come with 8GB RAM to ensure the price can’t justify it’s usefulness…
Xirup@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 hours ago
artyom@piefed.social 15 hours ago
I’m positive, thanks. 2x8GB CL16 DDR5 RAM currently sells for ~$250.
blitzen@lemmy.ca 8 hours ago
here’s a whole ass laptop for $360
You’re absolutely right, that is an ass laptop.
artyom@piefed.social 5 hours ago
Almost as ass as a an irreparable, unupgradeable $700 Macbook with a phone processor and 8GB of RAM.
rabidhamster@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 hours ago
Intel celeron N150?
I mean, yeah, technically it’s got more ram, but that’s literally the only thing going for it. I’ve got a mini-pc server with that exact CPU. It’s good enough for what I need it for, by my wife’s 5 generation old M1 Air from 2020 trounces it several times over in terms of speed, even with 8GB.
artyom@piefed.social 12 hours ago
An N150 w/16GB RAM is gonna be way more useful than a A16 or whatever with 8GB. Most people will never touch the potential power of their processor but they certainly will be doing a bunch of shit simultaneously.
Cort@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
It’s a celery with a 128GB emmc. Even with 16GB of ram it’ll be so slow.
Railcar8095@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
This is already less powerful than an old iPad. My SO is looking for a cheap laptop and this one is one I would tell her to avoid like the plague.
Lfrith@lemmy.ca 7 hours ago
Better to get a used Thinkpad with how well those hold up being over thousand dollars, but get discounted steeply to hundreds with companies offloading them once warranty is up. Can get actual nice Ryzen CPUs and have a proper storage.
artyom@piefed.social 5 hours ago
True, but now you’re talking about used PCs.
arcine@jlai.lu 1 hour ago
One of the chief things that make macbooks commendable over PCs is the build quality. While I don’t doubt there are very many PCs with better hardware at that price point, often macs are superior by robustness, display resolution, and the quality of their keyboards and trackpads.
I hope this cheaper model doesn’t cheap out on that front. And if it also gets good Asahi Linux support, then it would get me to recommend it above anything else.
We will see soon enough.
Romkslrqusz@lemmy.zip 14 hours ago
There’s more to a computer than RAM (or even ither specs), comparing what’s shown in the article to the low-cost option you linked the two systems are leagues apart in terms of build quality.
Wouldn’t be surprised if the battery life was miles apart too.
That cheap plastic HP laptop is destined to have its hinge mounts snap away from the upper palmrest through normal day-to-day use.
Ulrich@feddit.org 14 hours ago
There’s more to a computer than RAM
Sure, but having insufficient RAM sufficiently kneecaps it to the extent that the other specs don’t matter.
That cheap plastic HP laptop is destined to have its hinge mounts snap
LOL at least if it’s hinge mounts snapped you could repair them. Can’t say the same for the $700 Macbook.
Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Uh, good luck with that repair.
I’m no fan of apple’s business practices, or the general non-upgradability of their machines, but i’d take apple hardware over cheap plastic any day. It’s overpriced and it’s locked down, but it’s also well engineered.
You’re free to hate Apple, that’s fine, I’m right there with you. But if you think their build quality is poor, you’re simply misinformed.
Romkslrqusz@lemmy.zip 13 hours ago
Memory utilization is relative to the user though. For someone who wants to do nothing more than check their email and manage online banking, no specs matter
Just because such a system would not be suitable for your use-case does not mean that it is not suitable for any use case.
Repairing broken hinges on such a cheap laptop practically has to be a DIY repair. I get this exact repair inquiry every now and then, the owner often balks when the repair cost is more than 50% what they paid for the device. For these low-end laptops, I also find that parts are usually less available than those for most Apple devices. Apple tends to use certain part designs / assemblies for multiple generations. Apple stuff is consistent enough that there are plenty of used parts available aftermarket.
Far as your repair scenario is concerned, I can only think of 2-3 times where a Mac came in with hinge related failure and those cases all stemmed from abuse like opening the lid too far / egregious mishandling. Meanwhile, I’ve bread lots of butter with HP laptops whose hinges break through regular operation.
If something costs more to fix but only breaks 1% as often, are you really saving money by purchasing the cheaper solution with the higher fail rate?
Ulrich@feddit.org 13 hours ago
For someone who wants to do nothing more than check their email and manage online banking, no specs matter
Almost no one uses their PCs that way. They will, at bare minimum, have a couple of applications, and several webpages open, and that’s enough to cause problems on a modern system with 8GB RAM. I have lived this experience too many times with friends and family members who complain that their computer is too slow, and the only solution I can offer them is to buy a new one, because their current one was intentionally crippled to create a price ladder, and intentionally designed so that they couldn’t fix it.
Repairing broken hinges on such a cheap laptop practically has to be a DIY repair.
It does. But it ain’t hard. Anyone with a screwdriver can do it.
Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 hours ago
I got a 16GB RAM M4 MacBook Air for 600USD so it better be cheaper than that if it comes with 8GB…
the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 12 hours ago
Then don’t buy one. Idk why people get so offended when a company releases a product they’re not personally interested in.
artyom@piefed.social 12 hours ago
I have no intention of buying one.
People get offended when customers are swindled. And Apple are expert swindlers.
Aside from that, the choices other people make affect your choices available on the market. No better example than the headphone jack. Apple removes it and people scream DONT BUY IT IF YOU DONT LIKE IT, ignorant of the fact that not only this an option that’s no longer available, but that the market as a whole would follow Apple’s greedy lead until the only thing left is a handful of budget devices, for inexplicable reasons.
the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 11 hours ago
People get offended when customers are swindled. And Apple are expert swindlers.
So it’s a case of “everyone’s stupid except for me”?
No better example than the headphone jack.
Incredibly vocal minority on reddit/Lemmy aside, your average consumer doesn’t give a shit about having a 3.5 jack in their phone. The market prefers thinner, lighter, and better waterproofing. Know how I know? Because if there was a big market for a phone with a 3.5 jack, someone would be making it, and lots of people would be buying it. It’s not saving these companies a ton on manufacturing to not include one. They cost pennies each when purchased in bulk.
hanrahan@slrpnk.net 11 hours ago
Know how I know? Because if there was a big market for a phone with a 3.5 jack, someone would be making it, and lots of people would be buying it.
that’s not how it works, so I’d argue you don’t know… as Jobs said, he’ll tell you what you want.
artyom@piefed.social 11 hours ago
So it’s a case of “everyone’s stupid except for me”?
No, lots of other people also understand that they’re swindlers.
your average consumer doesn’t give a shit about having a 3.5 jack in their phone
*Whoosh*. It wasn’t about “the average consumer”, it’s about why people are upset about trends in a market, even if it’s not something they would ever buy.
It’s not saving these companies a ton on manufacturing to not include one. They cost pennies each when purchased in bulk.
LOL you actually thought this ever had anything to do with saving money? Did you not notice that they also released another product simultaneously that now makes enough money on its own to be a Fortune 500 company? They created a problem and then immediately turned around and sold people a solution. Absolute masterclass in swindling.
deliciEsteva@piefed.world 12 hours ago
but is it pretty pink with an iconic apple on it? I think not.
sturmblast@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Spray paint
PabloSexcrowbar@piefed.social 8 hours ago
Way back in 2007, my one college buddy had an elderly Thinkpad that he’d spraypainted red and stuck an Apple sticker on. People constantly came up to him and asked him where he got the red Macbook, since they didn’t think Apple made them.
forwhomthecattolls@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
some computer shops have scrap computers with 8GB of RAM 💀
djdarren@piefed.social 57 minutes ago
I have an M1 mini with 8Gb of RAM that I use as my Home Assistant server. I’ve given 4Gb to HAOS running in UTM, and let Ollama use the rest to run a modest LLM for speech to text. It’s flawless.
I’m not suggesting that 8Gb is the gold standard or anything, but for some applications it’s still perfectly usable.
I have an M2 Air with 16Gb, and for what I need it to do, I couldn’t have any less, but the target market for a bargain basement entry level MacBook almost certainly won’t ever notice. It’ll literally just be a portal to access iCloud and whatever browser they use to get on their socials. And if they do find they need more, then Apple will happily sell them a new laptop.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Apple’s approach to RAM pricing has been criminal for years, and as a company they’re really figuring out how to plumb the depths of scumminess, but on this I don’t really see the issue.
With that said, the cost of an extra 8Gb to them is literally pennies, so withholding it is shitty. But it won’t really make that much difference to the average performance of the computer.