MacBook Neo Review

[BSDnostalgia]

To do the same operation on the CPU of the M4 mini [H265 MKV 1080p30 preset]: 42 minutes and counting, 30 fps or so encode rate - call it 1/10th the speed. With CPU at 100% the entire time, fan screaming.

Thank you for pointing out the hardware encoding option! I haven't used HandBrake in a long time. But, I have to ask you, is the M4 Mini fan actually that loud? I haven't used a Mini in the newer, small enclosure. The previous enclosure is silent, even with the CPU at 100% for 10 minutes straight.

 

[foo2]

Thank you for pointing out the hardware encoding option! I haven't used HandBrake in a long time. But, I have to ask you, is the M4 Mini fan actually that loud? I haven't used a Mini in the newer, small enclosure. The previous enclosure is silent, even with the CPU at 100% for 10 minutes straight.

I too thought the mini was silent, but get it going at 100% for minutes at a time and it'll make some noise. I'll check out the M2P mini sometime too.

 

[foo2]

M4 Mac mini
4m10s for h265 AppleToolBox 1080P - 637MB
work: average encoding speed for job is 384.528320 fps
30% CPU used

To do the same operation on the CPU of the M4 mini [H265 MKV 1080p30 preset]: 42 minutes and counting, 30 fps or so encode rate - call it 1/10th the speed. With CPU at 100% the entire time, fan screaming.

6m15s for an M2 Ultra Studio to do the same file using CPU; 3m10s using VTB.

>> 6m10s for Macbook Neo using VTB - call it half the speed of the Studio, 2/3 the speed of the M4 Mini, using VTB. Won't even attempt using CPU. 🙂

 

[turbineseaplane]

The big problem is the physical press of the trackpad. Going back to that is like going back to Windows.

I agree this is one of the more notable regressions.

I don't mind how it feels, but did miss the ability to adjust it.

 

[jzuena]

We picked ours up on the 1st and other than not having a backlit keyboard, Mrs. Z doesn't notice any difference from her 2018 MB Air (did the Air still have a physical trackpad in 2018?) and has already adjusted to the lack of backlight. Since the Air had 8GB of RAM, she is not used to doing memory-hungry things on her laptop. No virtual machines and no local LLMs on the old or new laptop. The Neo runs circles around whatever i3 processor her old Air had, and the keyboard is a big improvement over the butterfly one in the Air as well. After 10 days it is a very big success. We got the 512GB one with fingerprint reader, so twice the storage of her old laptop as well.