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Comment on Asus Co-CEO: MacBook Neo Is a 'Shock' to the PC Industry

Faceman2K23@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

I honestly dont care about the 8gb of ram, that is plenty for the target audience given MacOS’s pretty good memory management, and optimisation of the first party apps the majority of users will use. I would have liked to see the base price be $499, but that would probably have needed something to be cut down to outside of apples standards, like the display or chassis quality.

I’m a little disappointed by the limited USB, its just one usb 3.0 (not 3.1 as far as I know) and one 2.0, I know that’s a limitation of the platform, there arent really any spare PCIE lanes on a phone SOC. They could have put in a USB Hub chip to get two USB 3.0 ports with shared bandwidth, but I suspect that was difficult to do with reliable video and power throughput and someone decided saving a dollar was more important. That’s plenty for your average user, but a pair of usb 3.1 would have been preferred of course.

However… how many average PC users even use USB now? maybe just a thumb drive very rarely or to use an external display. I’m surprised it even has a headphone jack and an SD reader honestly.

I’d suspect the next gen model to use the newer iPhone chip that should bump the memory up to 12gb and I think has a usb 3.1 controller, so they could break that out better.

I dont hate it. it’s filling in what used to be the mid range of laptops that has kinda died in the last 10 years and is full of spec bumped versions of bottom tier plastic garbage with awful screens and short battery life, and a couple of underspecced cut down versions of nicer metal case laptops that are just not very good either.

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RIotingPacifist@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I have to use MacBook for work, I guess it depends on the load but I doubt 8GB is enough unless you are just browsing, in which case far cheaper devices can fill that nieche.

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- vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Cheaper, but breaking in your hands. In case of laptops mechanical wear is important. This thing might be weak, but last a decade (well, I don’t know).
  
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  - GamingChairModel@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Macbook build construction (ever since they’ve moved off the plastic entry level Macbook to all aluminum for all their models) is really solid but not necessarily rugged. The hinges and ports seem to hold up better than a lot of other devices from HP and Dell or whoever, but some models are more susceptible to drops, dust/sand, moisture, etc., than the solid construction would lead you to believe.
    
    So it depends on use case. I think they hold up very well to normal indoor use, for many years, but might not be the ideal device for clumsier people or those who might be routinely using it outdoors or in more rugged environments.
    
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    vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I know. The hinges are what naturally wears in all kinds of hands with active use. So that’s what matters IMHO. You open and close them, regularly. You don’t regularly strain that plastic while cleaning it, and you don’t regularly drop the thing or press against it. But opening and closing the lid is normal.
    
    Also, yes, ports, which is why MagSafe is actually a cool technology, both less wear and more certain electrical contact. Anyway, I don’t own anything with MagSafe.
    
    Really rugged is about ThinkPads and really-really rugged special laptops the size of a few bricks.
    
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SaraTonin@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Yeah, I think the RAM argument is besides the point. Apps can be optimised for macs in a way that they can’t for PC, and the target audience for this is people at school/college who need to do their homework, and people sitting in offices

Is it going to run super-powerful software? No. Is it going to replace a leet coder’s desktop PC? No

But it’s not supposed to

And if you’ve got the CEO of one of the largest computer firms on the planet saying “this is a serious threat to our business” then that’s worth taking seriously

Especially if you look beyond this. Apple won’t be looking at this in isolation. They’ll be looking at getting in to schools. Chances are that the OS you use in school will be the one you’ll stick with as you get older - especially if it’s also the one that workplaces are starting to use. And if you’re using Apple computers, well, then it makes more sense to have an iPhone than an Android, doesn’t it? Fitness tracker? Well, the Apple Watch is right there

And so on

This is a smart move by Apple. Probably the smartest they’ve made in years

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- Faceman2K23@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  the recent gen mac mini and the iphone “e” range was probably a bit of a warning that they were going to push their entry level equipment a bit harder… I think it’s good for the industry to have some actual competition and disruption in what used to be the mid-range price brackets.
  
  bring back the decently made, adequately specced mid range, we’ve lost it somewhere along the line.
  
  I know their plan is just to get more people into their ecosystem, people will buy this laptop, or have it given to them buy a school or even a business, then they’re stuck in the apple ecosystem and will be more likely to upgrade to their higher end models, buy their phones, cloud services etc.
  
  wicked smart.
  
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RandallFlagg@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
On my desktop I have more USB shit plugged into my system than I can count. Literally. Like if I were to guess, maybe 20 different things, roughly?

But yeah, maybe I’m not really an “average” PC user lol

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- pseudonaut@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  The person this is targeted at is my 18 year old niece who just left for college. 2 USB ports is PLENTY for her.
  
  My sister got her an iPad when she left but had this been out I guarantee she’d have gotten her this instead.
  
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  - vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    One thing I don’t appreciate about Apple is that you have to use a dong(le) concentrator always.
    
    But yes, iPad laptop version is what this is and a thing in demand.
    
    They were preparing for an offensive and it’s starting! The order is given, we are starting to bomb Wintel.
    
    It’ll be a better world. MacOS devices are pretty normal in the sense of being locked down, as compared to iOS. And there will be some competition. Apple winning is good, they’ll raise quality standards. And they won’t kill MS completely, just eat out a piece of the market, perhaps more than half.
    
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    djdarren@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Thing is, from Apple’s perspective they don’t really need users to plug anything in to a MacBook - particularly where this one is concerned.
    
    MacBook Neo exists as an entry-level device to hook new computer users into their services. You don’t need an external hard drive, because for just £5 a month you can access iCloud Storage. You don’t need to connect a music player, because for just £15 a month you can have Apple Music. You don’t need to sync a Kobo, because you can read Apple Books on your iPad or iPhone. And so on.
    
    They made the same argument with the 2015 MacBook. It only had one USB-C as a nod to the fact that it needed to be charged somehow.
    
    Personally I don’t like that view, but I’m not the target for this laptop.
    
    For a teenager whose primary use case is to complete their school work on this, that’s entirely valid. And for the employee who’s issued a low-cost computer so they can work from home.
    
    If the user needs more/better IO, then they can spend more to get more. But why equip an entry-level computer with four Thunderbolt 5 ports that will never be used? And why go to the trouble and expense of retrofitting an A18 SOC to provide those TB ports?
    
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