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Macbook Neo is amazing, so impressed what Apple can deliver for so little. That said, my sister this morning asked if she should buy a Macbook Neo. I pointed h

by habosa 5mo ago

Macbook Neo is amazing, so impressed what Apple can deliver for so little. That said, my sister this morning asked if she should buy a Macbook Neo. I pointed her to a refurb M2 Macbook Air with 16GB of RAM for the same price. I feel like that's the right call? Slower single-core performance but better multi-core and I think for 90% of normal people use cases the RAM is the limit before the CPU. Are others making the same calculation?

bombcar 5mo ago
If the used ones are out there the more RAM is probably the way to go - but colors! The reality is nobody is noticing differences between the M1 and anything afterwards, really - those that do will know enough to pick their laptop.
havaloc 5mo ago
I think I would cut the line at M3 or above. I think M2 uses an older architecture and it doesn't have WiFi 6E in it, and of course single core is a bit lower. Also M2 batteries are about maybe halfway done already unless the refurb replaced the battery.
- omgwtfbyobbq 5mo ago
  It depends on the benchmark/workload. There isn't much of a difference per core between the M1 (3.7k) and A18 pro (4k) based on passmark, but I'm sure the A18 does much better in AI/similar stuff.
- Scrounger 5mo ago
  > Also M2 batteries are about maybe halfway done already unless the refurb replaced the battery. My mom still uses a 2019 Macbook Air with 8GB of RAM. The battery requires servicing, but she's unaware and still using it just fine. I asked her to go to the Apple Store and get the battery replaced along with her iPhone 12 Pro Max battery, and she'll easily get 10 years out of each device.
alirezaxdehghan 5mo ago
M2 Air with 16GB is the logical choice, especially if she doesn't have a habit of breaking/dropping laptops because probably she won't get apple care with a user air.
- a96 5mo ago
  Magsafe is a also massive help in avoiding fragility. I think older ones lacked that for some reason.

by habosa 5mo ago

bombcar 5mo ago

If the used ones are out there the more RAM is probably the way to go - but colors! The reality is nobody is noticing differences between the M1 and anything afterwards, really - those that do will know enough to pick their laptop.

havaloc 5mo ago

I think I would cut the line at M3 or above. I think M2 uses an older architecture and it doesn't have WiFi 6E in it, and of course single core is a bit lower. Also M2 batteries are about maybe halfway done already unless the refurb replaced the battery.

omgwtfbyobbq 5mo ago
It depends on the benchmark/workload. There isn't much of a difference per core between the M1 (3.7k) and A18 pro (4k) based on passmark, but I'm sure the A18 does much better in AI/similar stuff.
Scrounger 5mo ago
> Also M2 batteries are about maybe halfway done already unless the refurb replaced the battery. My mom still uses a 2019 Macbook Air with 8GB of RAM. The battery requires servicing, but she's unaware and still using it just fine. I asked her to go to the Apple Store and get the battery replaced along with her iPhone 12 Pro Max battery, and she'll easily get 10 years out of each device.

alirezaxdehghan 5mo ago

M2 Air with 16GB is the logical choice, especially if she doesn't have a habit of breaking/dropping laptops because probably she won't get apple care with a user air.

a96 5mo ago
Magsafe is a also massive help in avoiding fragility. I think older ones lacked that for some reason.