4 ms·

600 is a bargain for a MacBook, but I can't see the public windows users switching en masse. Most people who buy cheap windows laptops do so because 1) they ne

by bdbdbdb 7mo ago

600 is a bargain for a MacBook, but I can't see the public windows users switching en masse. Most people who buy cheap windows laptops do so because 1) they need to replace a broken laptop and want to pay the lowest amount possible 2) they don't want to learn some new thing 600 might seem budget, but it's out of budget for most people. And my guess is PC manufacturers will retaliate against this by cutting prices just a little to drop under that 600 price point for mid range ryzens, with more ram and space. Any family members I've helped shop for computers only care about how much space it has, how cheap it is, and will it struggle to run things like the last one. As it sits the MacBook is more money for less gigabytes

lm28469 7mo ago
> 600 might seem budget, but it's out of budget for most people. Out of budget for my parents but I'll pay the difference myself. It's just painful to see them use their pile of shit $300 laptop that can barely open a text editor, sounds like a jet engine and has about 45 minutes of battery life. The only haptic feedback they get if the entire fucking thing creaking as soon as you lightly touch it. They've been through at least 5 of them since I bought my 2015 mbp, which is still working fine in every aspects
- tim333 7mo ago
  That's an important point - the been through 5 of them. The cost or running a $600 mac is probably similar to running $300 pc laptops that pack up.
  - MengerSponge 7mo ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
- kreco 7mo ago
  The funny thing is that it would do the same for double the price. You need to spend a ridiculous amount of time on research because the producer itself is selling very different product (very different quality) from a year to another. I wish a "brand" would be consistant but it's not 99% of the time.
- ndr42 7mo ago
  And it's even more painful for me to do the remote tech support for my (80+ years old) parents so paying the difference is a kind of preservation of my mental health...
  - bdbdbdb 7mo ago
    You need to think about the tech support you do for your parents and decide if it would really be less by moving them to another platform, where "there's no start button" and "where did the top of the window go" and "how do I install this obscure app Ive used for twenty years" Most of the support questions I field from my folks and in-laws are actually phone things these days. 90% of what I have to deal with is "this thing came up on my phone during the week and I clicked on it, am I hacked? No I don't remember what it said"
    - ndr42 7mo ago
      Good point! At least the build-in remote desktop on Macs makes it very easy to provide help. I don't know if Windows has something similar build in. Phones are more of a problem as I can't have a look at their screen remotely.
- LtWorf 7mo ago
  They will just be confused about everything if you give them a mac.
basch 7mo ago
The thing about "switching" is you just need to capture the next generation. Kids who have an iPhone 17e. Then go off to college.
- intrasight 7mo ago
  Also, there are plenty of users such as myself that won't be "switching" but will instead be augmenting my AMD desktop with a laptop. I've not purchased a new Mac since year 2000-ish but I do play to purchase a Neo.
unethical_ban 7mo ago
My dad the other month, in need of a computer with webcam and ideally portable, bought some $400-500 HP 17" laptop. He was so proud of it, proud of buying a piece of hardware without asking me, and rather than tell him the truth, I nodded and said "yeah this is neat". The monitor is awful. Like, the horrible way it changes color and brightness depending on exact viewing angle is sickening; I am shocked California hasn't declared it illegal. It feels cheap, keyboard is cheap, who knows what the battery life is. If the Apple Neo were available then, and he had asked what to buy, I would have instantly told him to get one.
- ezst 7mo ago
  I broke that circle by having a sibling ultimately follow my recommendation of getting a ThinkPad T at a discount (prev-gen during a sale) and then letting them advertise it to the rest of the family. If you ask me, for a comparable price range, the ThinkPad still is a much better pick than the MacBook Neo: that thing has no IO and not even enough RAM for nowadays light web browsing.
  - kstrauser 7mo ago
    You're comparing a $1254-minimum laptop[0] with a $599-minimum laptop[1] and asserting that the one that's twice as expensive is nicer. I'd expect it to be. In fact, I'd demand it. (I'm ignoring the "old model, found cheaply" bit because that's entirely irrelevant. You can find old Macs on sale around, too, but that doesn't mean you can reasonably compare them to the MSRP of a brand new device.) [0]https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/c/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/ https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/c/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/ [1]https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/03/say-hello-to-macbook-neo/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/03/say-hello-to-macbook-...
    - ezst 7mo ago
      > You're comparing a $1254-minimum laptop[0] No, I'm not: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/thinkpad-t14-gen-5-14-inch-intel/21ml0058us https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/th... And I still stand behind the fact that, for that price, you've got a very competent device that is better specced for light use and friendlier for mom and pop (look, it has a HDMI, you can straight up connect it to the telly! Look, it has USB A ports, so that old camera, hard drive with the family pictures, old weird ergo mouse just works out of the box !).
asimovDev 7mo ago
you might be underestimating how much lifting the apple logo on the lid will do for this laptop. If it advertises the whole apple ecosystem thing well, then those people who already have iPhones, AirPods etc they would be very very compelled to go with this versus an Acer or a Lenovo
kstrauser 7mo ago
The last time certain family members asked me for a computer recommendation, I gave them a detailed breakdown of which MacBook they could get to meet their lightweight needs for the next decade. They thanked me, agreed, went to Best Buy, and came back with the laptop that the salesperson convinced them was better "because he knows computers". It was an utter piece of crap and they've had nothing but problems with it.[0] Had this existed when they were shopping, I would've just asked what color they wanted it in, ordered it for them, and been done with it. [0] OTOH, that got me out of all future tech support duties. "Hey, why can't I connect our new printer to it?" "I'm not sure. Does that Best Buy expert still work there? He might have some suggestions." (Phrased more politely IRL because I'm not a monster, but the intent was there.)
- rswail 7mo ago
  I told my (now 88) father that if he bought another desktop PC he was on his own. Tough love works. He loves his 24" iMac, it just works and I can fix things remotely if necessary (it hasn't been).
  - kstrauser 7mo ago
    This is the way.

by bdbdbdb 7mo ago

lm28469 7mo ago

> 600 might seem budget, but it's out of budget for most people. Out of budget for my parents but I'll pay the difference myself. It's just painful to see them use their pile of shit $300 laptop that can barely open a text editor, sounds like a jet engine and has about 45 minutes of battery life. The only haptic feedback they get if the entire fucking thing creaking as soon as you lightly touch it. They've been through at least 5 of them since I bought my 2015 mbp, which is still working fine in every aspects

tim333 7mo ago
That's an important point - the been through 5 of them. The cost or running a $600 mac is probably similar to running $300 pc laptops that pack up.
- MengerSponge 7mo ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
kreco 7mo ago
The funny thing is that it would do the same for double the price. You need to spend a ridiculous amount of time on research because the producer itself is selling very different product (very different quality) from a year to another. I wish a "brand" would be consistant but it's not 99% of the time.
ndr42 7mo ago
And it's even more painful for me to do the remote tech support for my (80+ years old) parents so paying the difference is a kind of preservation of my mental health...
- bdbdbdb 7mo ago
  You need to think about the tech support you do for your parents and decide if it would really be less by moving them to another platform, where "there's no start button" and "where did the top of the window go" and "how do I install this obscure app Ive used for twenty years" Most of the support questions I field from my folks and in-laws are actually phone things these days. 90% of what I have to deal with is "this thing came up on my phone during the week and I clicked on it, am I hacked? No I don't remember what it said"
  - ndr42 7mo ago
    Good point! At least the build-in remote desktop on Macs makes it very easy to provide help. I don't know if Windows has something similar build in. Phones are more of a problem as I can't have a look at their screen remotely.
LtWorf 7mo ago
They will just be confused about everything if you give them a mac.

basch 7mo ago

The thing about "switching" is you just need to capture the next generation. Kids who have an iPhone 17e. Then go off to college.

intrasight 7mo ago
Also, there are plenty of users such as myself that won't be "switching" but will instead be augmenting my AMD desktop with a laptop. I've not purchased a new Mac since year 2000-ish but I do play to purchase a Neo.

unethical_ban 7mo ago

My dad the other month, in need of a computer with webcam and ideally portable, bought some $400-500 HP 17" laptop. He was so proud of it, proud of buying a piece of hardware without asking me, and rather than tell him the truth, I nodded and said "yeah this is neat". The monitor is awful. Like, the horrible way it changes color and brightness depending on exact viewing angle is sickening; I am shocked California hasn't declared it illegal. It feels cheap, keyboard is cheap, who knows what the battery life is. If the Apple Neo were available then, and he had asked what to buy, I would have instantly told him to get one.

ezst 7mo ago
I broke that circle by having a sibling ultimately follow my recommendation of getting a ThinkPad T at a discount (prev-gen during a sale) and then letting them advertise it to the rest of the family. If you ask me, for a comparable price range, the ThinkPad still is a much better pick than the MacBook Neo: that thing has no IO and not even enough RAM for nowadays light web browsing.
- kstrauser 7mo ago
  You're comparing a $1254-minimum laptop[0] with a $599-minimum laptop[1] and asserting that the one that's twice as expensive is nicer. I'd expect it to be. In fact, I'd demand it. (I'm ignoring the "old model, found cheaply" bit because that's entirely irrelevant. You can find old Macs on sale around, too, but that doesn't mean you can reasonably compare them to the MSRP of a brand new device.) [0]https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/c/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/ https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/c/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/ [1]https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/03/say-hello-to-macbook-neo/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/03/say-hello-to-macbook-...
  - ezst 7mo ago
    > You're comparing a $1254-minimum laptop[0] No, I'm not: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/thinkpad-t14-gen-5-14-inch-intel/21ml0058us https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/th... And I still stand behind the fact that, for that price, you've got a very competent device that is better specced for light use and friendlier for mom and pop (look, it has a HDMI, you can straight up connect it to the telly! Look, it has USB A ports, so that old camera, hard drive with the family pictures, old weird ergo mouse just works out of the box !).

asimovDev 7mo ago

you might be underestimating how much lifting the apple logo on the lid will do for this laptop. If it advertises the whole apple ecosystem thing well, then those people who already have iPhones, AirPods etc they would be very very compelled to go with this versus an Acer or a Lenovo

kstrauser 7mo ago

The last time certain family members asked me for a computer recommendation, I gave them a detailed breakdown of which MacBook they could get to meet their lightweight needs for the next decade. They thanked me, agreed, went to Best Buy, and came back with the laptop that the salesperson convinced them was better "because he knows computers". It was an utter piece of crap and they've had nothing but problems with it.[0] Had this existed when they were shopping, I would've just asked what color they wanted it in, ordered it for them, and been done with it. [0] OTOH, that got me out of all future tech support duties. "Hey, why can't I connect our new printer to it?" "I'm not sure. Does that Best Buy expert still work there? He might have some suggestions." (Phrased more politely IRL because I'm not a monster, but the intent was there.)

rswail 7mo ago
I told my (now 88) father that if he bought another desktop PC he was on his own. Tough love works. He loves his 24" iMac, it just works and I can fix things remotely if necessary (it hasn't been).
- kstrauser 7mo ago
  This is the way.