3 ms·

I think the craziest thing is that a macbook for $599 that's more powerful than nearly anything they had offered a decade ago (except probably ram amount), and

I think the craziest thing is that a macbook for $599 that's more powerful than nearly anything they had offered a decade ago (except probably ram amount), and even after adjusting for inflation (which is like 35% from 10 years ago) means the price dropped at least $1500 for a comparable. (People may correct me if I'm wrong)

asdff 4mo ago
The ram is the real sticking point honestly. Yes they are more powerful but consider people's use case. My 2012 dual core mbp is still performant for what most people use their computers for: internet, email, office suite, etc. And I shoved 16gb RAM in that thing 10 years ago. I guess they will just swap on the fast ssd so it will be alright.
- riffraff 4mo ago
  > I guess they will just swap on the fast ssd so it will be alright but that should cause extra wear on the SSD, or is this no longer a concern?
  - asdff 4mo ago
    Certainly but I'd guess the problem won't manifest for years and other showstopping pieces might fail before then. That old frankenstein macbook of mine had the same 850 evo ssd I shoved in it for like 8 years of use and abuse, always high temps with that macbook too. People say you shouldn't use an ssd like that but oh well, it seems to work alright.
  - GeekyBear 4mo ago
    There wouldn't be so many people who see no need to upgrade their M1 series computers if this were a real concern.
- varispeed 4mo ago
  Friend of mine has 32GB laptop with top spec last gen Intel 9 and it barely handles larger Word documents and Teams calls. The fan is just obnoxious on top of that.
  - asdff 4mo ago
    There is just no way it is actually barely handling them. My 2012 with the dual core handles that. Fans turning on doesn't mean it barely handles it. That is just how those intel macs were. They were like that on day 1 in 2012. Spotlight indexing could be enough to spin the fans. Still does the job though even if its hot and noisy.
    - varispeed 4mo ago
      Depends what your criteria for handling are. The documents work, but navigation (like scrolling) is a slideshow, there is visible lag between pressing a key and character appearing on the screen. When you switch between browser and Word etc, there is a lag, you can see screen being redrawn etc. Yes, it "does the job". But experience is abysmal.
  - rationalist 4mo ago
    Top-spec computers will always shit the bed when they aren't taken care of properly (bloatware, blocked airflow, etc)
    - asdff 4mo ago
      Even for the arm series macs the max cpus run way hotter and spin fans sooner than base model in general tasks. Just how those chips are designed. They aren't designed to throttle to keep temps down, they are designed to give you all the horsepower knowing you don't care about noise and heat and care about performance.
    - thenthenthen 4mo ago
      Its so weird, something i noticed (or made up) is that at my workplaces, the topspec workstations are always taking ages to boot (counting the ram?). My 15 year old xeon win box boots in about 10sec. Maybe they dont have fastboot enabled idk…
      - rationalist 4mo ago
        My workplace installs a ton of background software on their PCs. God help you, if it's your first time logging into any PC there and it has to load everything in your account/profile for the first time. They don't last more than a couple of years before they start becoming painfully slow, even after being reimaged. Whereas my 10+ year old laptops and desktops are as fast as the day I bought or assembled them.
- cls59 4mo ago
  If Apple keeps using A Pro-series chips for the Neo, then the RAM will go to at least 12GB when they swap to the A19 Pro, or newer.
lowbloodsugar 4mo ago
>a decade ago It's more powerful than my $4000 M1 Max until it heat soaks.
- regularfry 4mo ago
  Is it? I had it pegged as pretty much neck-and-neck with the 8GB M1 Macbook Pro that work gave me.

asdff 4mo ago

The ram is the real sticking point honestly. Yes they are more powerful but consider people's use case. My 2012 dual core mbp is still performant for what most people use their computers for: internet, email, office suite, etc. And I shoved 16gb RAM in that thing 10 years ago. I guess they will just swap on the fast ssd so it will be alright.

riffraff 4mo ago
> I guess they will just swap on the fast ssd so it will be alright but that should cause extra wear on the SSD, or is this no longer a concern?
- asdff 4mo ago
  Certainly but I'd guess the problem won't manifest for years and other showstopping pieces might fail before then. That old frankenstein macbook of mine had the same 850 evo ssd I shoved in it for like 8 years of use and abuse, always high temps with that macbook too. People say you shouldn't use an ssd like that but oh well, it seems to work alright.
- GeekyBear 4mo ago
  There wouldn't be so many people who see no need to upgrade their M1 series computers if this were a real concern.
varispeed 4mo ago
Friend of mine has 32GB laptop with top spec last gen Intel 9 and it barely handles larger Word documents and Teams calls. The fan is just obnoxious on top of that.
- asdff 4mo ago
  There is just no way it is actually barely handling them. My 2012 with the dual core handles that. Fans turning on doesn't mean it barely handles it. That is just how those intel macs were. They were like that on day 1 in 2012. Spotlight indexing could be enough to spin the fans. Still does the job though even if its hot and noisy.
  - varispeed 4mo ago
    Depends what your criteria for handling are. The documents work, but navigation (like scrolling) is a slideshow, there is visible lag between pressing a key and character appearing on the screen. When you switch between browser and Word etc, there is a lag, you can see screen being redrawn etc. Yes, it "does the job". But experience is abysmal.
- rationalist 4mo ago
  Top-spec computers will always shit the bed when they aren't taken care of properly (bloatware, blocked airflow, etc)
  - asdff 4mo ago
    Even for the arm series macs the max cpus run way hotter and spin fans sooner than base model in general tasks. Just how those chips are designed. They aren't designed to throttle to keep temps down, they are designed to give you all the horsepower knowing you don't care about noise and heat and care about performance.
  - thenthenthen 4mo ago
    Its so weird, something i noticed (or made up) is that at my workplaces, the topspec workstations are always taking ages to boot (counting the ram?). My 15 year old xeon win box boots in about 10sec. Maybe they dont have fastboot enabled idk…
    - rationalist 4mo ago
      My workplace installs a ton of background software on their PCs. God help you, if it's your first time logging into any PC there and it has to load everything in your account/profile for the first time. They don't last more than a couple of years before they start becoming painfully slow, even after being reimaged. Whereas my 10+ year old laptops and desktops are as fast as the day I bought or assembled them.
cls59 4mo ago
If Apple keeps using A Pro-series chips for the Neo, then the RAM will go to at least 12GB when they swap to the A19 Pro, or newer.

lowbloodsugar 4mo ago

>a decade ago It's more powerful than my $4000 M1 Max until it heat soaks.

regularfry 4mo ago
Is it? I had it pegged as pretty much neck-and-neck with the 8GB M1 Macbook Pro that work gave me.