Discussion
i bought the macbook neo and it sucks
awakeasleep: https://web.archive.org/web/20260325183607/https://alexandma...(archive because the site is down for me)Summary: It's not as good as my old Thinkpad running Arch
thekevan: HN says your comment is 3 minutes old and the site is loading just fine for me. (But that was very thoughtful of you.)
MeetingsBrowser: > the keyboard actually feels pretty nice. apple did okay there.I typed on a neo keyboard in store and coming from an M2 Air, the keyboard does not feel nice IMO.Enough so that I would skip buying one for that reason alone. the keys feel more "squishy" than "clicky".
everdrive: Thanks for the summary. Tech enthusiasts already know to how to get good performance out of older computers, how to reuse older computers, and how to do their own maintenance and repairs. The macbook neo is obviously not really for those tech enthusiasts, but is for regular people who might like a macbook, don't know tons about technology, and don't want to spend $1k.
bogwog: It really must suck if it doesn't even come with a shift key.
marricks: > i paid $599 for this disappointment. the thinkpad cost me $180 on ebay like seven years ago and i think it’s mocking me now.The guy is comparing a $200 ebay thinkpad with linux compared to a macbook with a modern operating system.They're not the target demographic, I can tell you right now schools and (non-tech) parent's aren't going to buy their kids ebay laptops with linux on them.You might as well say the neo sucks because a 6 year old m1 ebay macbok is a better deal. It's apples to oranges.
aksss: I wonder if the target market for this thing is like my aged parents who basically use their phones for everything, even when it's obviously a painful experience, but they don't want a full-blown computer.Kind of like a more intentional version of an ipad w/keyboard? I'm not sure I fully understand what the diff is between ipad w/keyboard and the Neo.. price, I suppose.
jmkni: I saw a post on a subreddit earlier where someone was considering getting rid of their 2019 Macbook Pro with an i9 and 32GB of ram, and so many of the comments were egging the poster on and saying it was an upgrade.Terrible idea. It's cool that Apple are entering the budget space, but the hype around the Neo is nuts.edit: found it https://old.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/comments/1s2tdrm/is_the_...
cortesoft: I don't understand why installing 47 distros and it surviving two operating systems they didn't mean to install has anything to do with the hardware.It seems like the main complaint is that it is slow. I am not sure what all the other bits are about.
megamike: is it not basically just an iPhone? (I have not had a mac since the classic mac)
thinkingtoilet: I think this is a play to get more into schools and businesses.
Retr0id: Used hardware is always going to be a better deal than something brand new. You can get a used M1 MacBook Pro for a similar price to a new Neo, and that will blow it out of the water on all axes except bursted single-core CPU perf. And it'll have a much better screen and trackpad than a similarly priced thinkpad.The main place the Neo makes sense is for buying a whole classroom full of machines, or for someone who really wants to unbox something new and shiny. It's a chromebook killer.
fragmede: When framed that way, it makes a lot more sense. Apple got its start in education with the Apple II going to schools and hooking students for life. Looking at market penetration of Chromebooks in education, it makes a lot of sense for Apple to introduce a laptop for that arena to compete there.
adamq_q: this isn’t a real story. check the OP’s account history. day old account, slop blog. OP posting slop replies
opengrass: The point is to get to "Macbooks with detatchable keyboards" after a bit of OS unification then discontinue the iPad.
