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The Neo costs $200 more than a comparable Windows laptop, but with half the RAM and storage as said comparable Windows laptop. They're fighting to seize the ve
by longislandguido 7mo ago
The Neo costs $200 more than a comparable Windows laptop, but with half the RAM and storage as said comparable Windows laptop.
They're fighting to seize the very specific market segment of "I don't like Windows and don't want to use Linux or a Chromebook, and I'm also poor, but still want to pay a premium price for an underpowered tablet with keyboard glued to it."
- kstrauser 7mo agoPlease, by all means do post a link to a comparable new Windows laptop for $400, including a fast GPU, reasonable amount of fast storage (and not counting an SD card or such), a high-DPI monitor, and non-embarassing build quality. I'd love to see this.
- chocochunks 7mo agoThe GPU in the Neo isn't particularly fast...nor is the storage. Neo makes loads of compromises to hit $600 with some of it's features. Even for $400 you can get Windows PCs with TWO whole USB 3.0 ports. $400 quickly hits diminishing returns territory. Like here's a $500 PC: https://www.amazon.com/Aspire-Copilot-WUXGA-Display-Processor/dp/B0DWNLN3KP https://www.amazon.com/Aspire-Copilot-WUXGA-Display-Processo... https://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Aspire-14-AI-review-Basic-home-and-office-laptop-done-right.974950.0.html#c12912859 https://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Aspire-14-AI-review-Basic... Twice the storage, twice the RAM, comparable GPU. CPU is a slower in single core, but comparable in multi-core. Faster storage. USB 4, HDMI, multiple USB A ports. Supports more than 1 external monitor. Yep, chassis and screen are worse but it's better in many other ways.
- philistine 7mo agoYou're proving the point. The computer you found wins on the specs page for sure. But the proof is in the pudding; Apple makes money hand over fist because they focus on reasonable specs, and quality. The thing that kills a modern laptop is not a slow CPU or RAM on the chip; it's a cheap chassis that breaks. That's what makes people change their computer.
- chocochunks 7mo agoApple wins on the perception of being a luxury brand. That's it.
- kstrauser 7mo agoThat, and having a machine at this price point that people aren’t horrified to use.
- chocochunks 7mo agoWhat makes it horrifying? Plastic? Is the only thing that's important the material it's made out of? I think there's many use cases where the Acer would be less horrifying to use than the Neo. Which device would be better for running a Linux VM for CS class homework for example?
- kotaKat 7mo agoHypervisor.framework on the Mac, personally.
- chocochunks 7mo agoWith half the RAM?
- ryandrake 7mo agoA vanishingly small number of end users (both PC and Mac) care about how much RAM they have. I'd be willing to bet that at least 75% of PC and Mac laptop owners couldn't even tell you how much RAM they have, or they mistake hard disk storage for RAM or vice versa.
- MrDrMcCoy 7mo agoWhy bother with a VM for Linux on the Acer? Just run it natively. There's almost nothing that actually requires Microsoft anymore, and you'll get better performance.
- kstrauser 7mo agoSo for $100 less, you get a markedly lower-DPI screen that's 40% dimmer, a slower CPU, hotter running, and a worse chassis. Almost no one's going to be slapping multiple external monitors on either of these. If they did, they might run into the problem where the Acer is often limited to 640x480: https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/733442/have-a-new-aspire-14-ai-external-display-resolution-will-not-go-better-than-640-x-480-help?tab=all https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/733442/have-a-new-a... That is not remotely in the same category as the Neo.
- chocochunks 7mo agoYou get twice as much RAM, twice as much storage. 4x faster storage too. You get a full sized HDMI port. You can do multiple monitors if you need to. It has a fan for better sustained performance. You can plug in a flash drive, mouse, monitor or other external peripheral without a dongle. Oh, and it's actually COOLER running than the Neo. The Neo costs a $100 more, needs a $30 dongle to connect to 90% of the stuff people have, has half the RAM, half the storage, slower storage. Has considerably worse I/O. But has a better screen and build quality comparable to a MacBook Pro from 2007. It's different compromises. Personally I'd rather have more RAM, storage and IO than a prettier case and better screen.
- janalsncm 7mo agoYou don’t need to buy Apple adapters. You can buy a $10 usbc to hdmi adapter off Amazon and it’ll work just fine. Same thing with the USB A ports. Not really selling point imo.
- chocochunks 7mo agoApple's official HDMI adapter is $70. I was already talking generic.
- kstrauser 7mo agoOr just use a Thunderbolt cable to send video, power, and USB to a newer monitor with a single cord. That’s my work setup and I’d never go back. And yeah, USB A? I got a cheapo C-to-A hub for my dwindling number of legacy devices. There’s no remaining upside to A.
- yourusername 7mo agoThe screen is also much worse. 60% SRGB coverage 1920x1200 300 nits vs 97% 2408x1506 500 nits. I'd pick the macbook neo for $99 extra.
- thrawa8387336 7mo agoShould be at least 4X the RAM and 4X CPU cores, just to run Windows at a comparable speed.
- goldenarm 7mo agoThe specs may be comparable, but not the end result : my $2000 Windows 11 laptop is slower and laggier than the Neo.
- chocochunks 7mo agoIs it your personal or corporate PC with corporate junk on it?
- kstrauser 7mo agoSo… the contention is that Windows isn’t good for work use? That’s not a compelling argument in its favor.
- chocochunks 7mo agoNo, the contention is that corporate junk has a tendency to slow down PCs and equivalent software would do the same to the Neo or worse.
- kstrauser 7mo agoHuh, guess I’ve never worked at a Mac shop big enough to suffer Mac-ruining software. My biggest shop only had about 15,000 employees, so maybe it’s only the large companies enduring that.
- 7mo ago
- bombcar 7mo agoCan you recommend a Windows laptop in the $400 range? I'm interested in a craptop for various Windows things that still pop up from time to time.
- ahartmetz 7mo agoUsed T model Thinkpad probably? That's the least original advice you're going to get if you ask a bunch of nerds, and these guys know their computers ;)
- zdc1 7mo agoJust go on eBay and find whatever ThinkPad fits your budget
- throawayonthe 7mo agoif you're in the US/Canada, you could do much worse than going on the "windows laptops on sale" page of bestbuy, e.g. this one is 330: https://www.bestbuy.com/product/asus-vivobook-14-14-fhd-laptop-intel-core-5-120u-with-8gb-memory-256gb-ssd-quiet-blue/JJGHGPYRYX https://www.bestbuy.com/product/asus-vivobook-14-14-fhd-lapt... i don't think it makes much sense to recommend specific craptops, every manufacturer seems to have a bazillion SKUs they reset every six months in that price range... buy whatever's on sale :p or buy used of course
- internet101010 7mo agoYou are right about the first part but I think you're overestimating the number of people that see Apple products as status symbols. Maybe that was true a decade ago but I don't think it is anymore. Enough of the products have found their way to every country imaginable over time that an Apple laptop is... just another laptop. A fun, brightly colored, relatively inexpensive, Windows-less laptop that you can use for doing your taxes while watching a movie has appeal. The performance isn't that important, so long as it is as responsive as the owner's phone.
- DauntingPear7 7mo agoPeople do see a high quality build laptop as a status symbol or a piece of luxury. Not having keyboard flex or general creaks really makes a laptop more enjoyable to use.
- throwawaytea 7mo agoI was at Costco and ran browserbench speed test on the Neo vs several of the windows laptops. The neo beat them all, even the $1199 laptop. The $500 windows laptop for sale actually performed worse than my 2011 27" iMac running Linux Mint.
- jwrallie 7mo agoThe internet is full of these comments that go for ages in Mac vs PC discussions, but with the Neo pricing the arguments are breaking apart. Seeing the PC arguers bring up the being poor argument against the Mac buyers is showing how disruptive the Neo actually is.
- moondance 7mo agoThe irony of your last line. The whole thing of the Neo is that it feels distinctly not glued together—- not true of the $400 “comparables” you have in mind. I’m convinced the people who make these sorts of comments have either never experienced a non-terrible trackpad, or simply don’t care to.
- ATMLOTTOBEER 7mo agoI kinda agree with you but consider that the perf on apple silicon is so much better that you’re probably still better off using the gimped tablet thing.