MacBook Neo makes me reflect on Intel

[awshucks]

The release of a slower budget Mac reminds me of how MacBook Airs could have been if not for Apple Silicon.

I had the 2019 MacBook Air, and even with the i5 and 16GB RAM, it was hot trash. It had a butterfly keyboard, it took f o r e v e r to wake from sleep, with me wondering if the battery was out due to how long it took, it sounded like a jet engine, and it was SLOW. Not to mention was expensive for what it was ($1700 for my BTO configuration).

But, the M1, which I upgraded to, made Intel get their act together and compete with Apple Silicon.

If M1 had never come out, Intel's transistor sizes would not have decreased as fast, and definitely not have been motivated to make much better chips than before. So, we still would have had slow MacBook Airs with loud fans that take a long time to wake up.

Would love to see some elaboration on my thoughts.

 

[4sallypat]

Ever since 2006, when Apple changed from 32 bit PowerPC RISC to 64 bit Intel processors, that's when Apple was at it's worst: heating, fans spinning, beach balls, tons of DRAM needed, etc.

Apple got smart and said no more Intel and started their own AS processor and all in one design and back to their RISC program methods.

This is the result of Apple learning that having control of both hardware and software results in performance and frugal use of power, RAM, battery, etc...

Love the Neo - it represents what Apple is good at doing.

Even though it might be upsetting for some hard core Mac users....