MacBook Neo Disrupts a PC Market in Decline, IDC Says

[Petite messe solennelle]

Still doesn’t excuse Apple putting only 8 gb of Ram in the Neo, Apple should give the option to add more

Ever heard of Unified Memory? It will use SSD swap to extend the memory. And because the bandwidth between CPU/GPU and the SSD is an impressive 60 GB/s, you'll always have a well running system and you won't notice the use of swap.

In contrast to PCs, where the manufacturers have to catch on on this for similarly priced laptops (you'll be lucky if you get 16 GB/s).

 

[Corefile]

Whoda thunk a $599 well-built computer could do that?

I always think of Intel like a zombie wandering about aimlessly as there are no victims nearby. But as soon as the zombie smells blood then it attacks the victim until it is dead. (*) if you are zombie reading this and are offended then I apologize for comparing you to Intel.

 

[iMac The Knife]

I'm all about having the most RAM that I can get for my needs, but 8GB is plenty right now for the Neo and the folks who are in the market for this type of Mac.

 

[mrhick01]

Still doesn’t excuse Apple putting only 8 gb of Ram in the Neo, Apple should give the option to add more

This also presents an opportunity for smart developers to make better Swift apps that will run well in the 8 GB envelope.

It's absolutely possible. Apps could run on laptops well 15 years ago when 8 GB would be an upper-limit SKU.

 

[Dirk Pieters]

Still doesn’t excuse Apple putting only 8 gb of Ram in the Neo, Apple should give the option to add more

The chip used comes with memory on the chip. That's 8gb. The A19 also comes with 8gb, the A19 Pro with 12gb.

There's a bill of materials that comes with every device made. The sum of those materials is what it costs for Apple to build. The difference between that and sales price is Apple's margin.

You can't make a cheap, quality machine by being a big spender. The price on that BOM has to be low if you want a decent margin. Apple kept it low by using that A18 Pro. The downside is 8gb of ram.

Considering that Neo is a sales success, it sounds like Apple's idea was better than yours.

 

[citysnaps]

Whether it was strategic bungling, product conservatism, wise planning, or some crazy combination of all three, Apple has a model of sane AI compute that can be secure and run from a desktop/laptop. They can potentially turn this wicked desire of massive AI power centers that hoard resources and make utilities more expensive for humans worldwide on its head.

Apple is still manufacturing its own custom AI servers (using custom in-house silicon) at its Houston plant which are then being deployed at its data servers across the US.

 

[TinyMito]

With 8gb of ram, Apple shouldn’t allow it to run macOS 27 beta… every kid will install it and brick their mac

Real world scenario. Been running heavy CAD and 3D works on my M1 Pro with 16GB. MacOS memory management is really good, never had a slow down even the ram pressure gone yellow. Hardly see red yet. Why more ram for myself when I can’t see how my application even reach in red. Just added cost for something I can’t utilize.

Neo is not a power user computer, perfect gift for my partner. She uses it for taxes purposes, signing documents, scheduling, email, and watch movies on Infuse Plex. 8GB is plenty and I don’t see the reason to add cost just to have 16GB…

 

[jlc1978]

interesting, I hadn't thought that the memory shortage might result in developers prioritizing efficiency again, since we can no longer just throw more RAM at any memory leaks/etc.

Reminds me of my early programing days where saving one line of code was a big deal.

 

[Icelus]

Maybe they can bring arm64_32 to macOS to optimize memory 😉

The arm64_32 architecture was a modified version of the standard 64-bit ARM architecture with 32-bit pointers, specifically optimized for the constrained memory environments of wearable devices. This hybrid architecture allowed Apple to implement the benefits of 64-bit instruction sets while maintaining a tighter memory footprint than full 64-bit systems.

watchOS 26 Moves Latest Apple Watch Models to New Architecture

watchOS 26 brings a significant upgrade to the Apple Watch's architecture, transitioning the latest models to full arm64. The change was revealed in Apple's "What's new in watchOS 26" video for developers. The Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 are set to move from arm64_32...

www.macrumors.com

 

[Corefile]

How much extra RAM will Apple save Neo users by abandoning Intel. The OS will be much smaller now.

 

[jlc1978]

Neo is not a power user computer, perfect gift for my partner. She uses it for taxes purposes, signing documents, scheduling, email, and watch movies on Infuse Plex. 8GB is plenty and I don’t see the reason to add cost just to have 16GB…

This.

I've recommended a number of 8GB machines to people looking for a good computer to handle meet a small business needs such as email, web browsing, etc. No need to spend money on power you do not need; to use a car analogy a faster car does not make you a better driver and reduce your lap times.

 

[HVDynamo]

Still doesn’t excuse Apple putting only 8 gb of Ram in the Neo, Apple should give the option to add more

I do lament the 8GB as much as others do, but Apple couldn't realistically add more to the Neo given they were using binned A18 Pro's that were destined to be unused otherwise and they are 8GB only at this point. I would agree that 12GB is much much more reasonable, even for a low end machine like the Neo today, but they would have either had to postpone the release a year to get the A19 Pro instead of the A18 Pro, or create an A18 Pro with more RAM, but that would have made the price target impossible to hit. Part of the reason they price the Neo so low is that the binned A18 Pro was effectively free as it was waste otherwise. I think in the end it was better that they made it vs not, but I am a bit worried how the 8GB will hold up over time too.

-Sent from my MacBook Neo

 

[Icelus]

How much extra RAM will Apple save Neo users by abandoning Intel. The OS will be much smaller now.

None, memory will remain the same, but you will gain some storage (5 - 10 GB).

 

[Agent007]

The end goal is dumb terminals

Like the MacBook Neo!

 

[Mousse]

I hope the RAM crisis does two things: 1) forces Apple and MS to make MacOS and Windows more efficient and 2) inspire the younger generation give Linux a chance. Kids learning CLI and programming/scripting will counter the dumbing down of society due to AI.

MacOS and Windows are too bloated. And a lot of Windows bloat is the desire to data mine.😡 MacOS bloat is the hundreds of add on apps that isn't necessary for the core OS to function. I would love a barebones MacOS that could comfortably run in 2G RAM without the SSD thrashing.