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Asus Co-CEO: MacBook Neo Is a 'Shock' to the PC Industry (www.pcmag.com)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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The Apple MacBook Neo's $599 starting price is a "shock" to the Windows PC industry, according to an Asus executive.

Hsu said he believes all the PC players—including Microsoft, Intel, and AMD—take the MacBook Neo threat seriously. "In fact, in the entire PC ecosystem, there have been a lot of discussions about how to compete with this product," he added, given that rumors about the MacBook Neo have been making the rounds for at least a year.

Despite the competitive threat, Hsu argued that the MacBook Neo could have limited appeal. He pointed to the laptop's 8GB of "unified memory," or what amounts to its RAM, and how customers can't upgrade it.

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[–] 14 points 5 months ago (1 child)

The person this is targeted at is my 18 year old niece who just left for college. 2 USB ports is PLENTY for her.

My sister got her an iPad when she left but had this been out I guarantee she’d have gotten her this instead.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    One thing I don't appreciate about Apple is that you have to use a dong(le) concentrator always.

    But yes, iPad laptop version is what this is and a thing in demand.

    They were preparing for an offensive and it's starting! The order is given, we are starting to bomb Wintel.

    It'll be a better world. MacOS devices are pretty normal in the sense of being locked down, as compared to iOS. And there will be some competition. Apple winning is good, they'll raise quality standards. And they won't kill MS completely, just eat out a piece of the market, perhaps more than half.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    Thing is, from Apple's perspective they don't really need users to plug anything in to a MacBook - particularly where this one is concerned.

    MacBook Neo exists as an entry-level device to hook new computer users into their services. You don't need an external hard drive, because for just £5 a month you can access iCloud Storage. You don't need to connect a music player, because for just £15 a month you can have Apple Music. You don't need to sync a Kobo, because you can read Apple Books on your iPad or iPhone. And so on.

    They made the same argument with the 2015 MacBook. It only had one USB-C as a nod to the fact that it needed to be charged somehow.

    Personally I don't like that view, but I'm not the target for this laptop.

    For a teenager whose primary use case is to complete their school work on this, that's entirely valid. And for the employee who's issued a low-cost computer so they can work from home.

    If the user needs more/better IO, then they can spend more to get more. But why equip an entry-level computer with four Thunderbolt 5 ports that will never be used? And why go to the trouble and expense of retrofitting an A18 SOC to provide those TB ports?

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