Agreed. I have a Lenovo work PC, and I don’t remember the spec exactly but it is specced to be higher brightness than my Air. Yet, at my preferred location for home work, which is a pretty bright room, I can easily see what is on screen on the Air running off battery, but struggle on the Lenovo even plugged in. Don’t trust the specs.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Windows PC Industry Reacts to Apple's Most Affordable MacBook Ever
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Don't Apple say similar in terms of more hours for video playback than web browsing?
e.g. MacBook Air:
Up to 18 hours video streaming
Up to 15 hours wireless web
(But yes - there is no way I will believe battery life estimates for Windows/Intel laptops.)
Attachments
Last edited:
Just reminder, soon you cannot fully use your affordable macbook until you verify your age.
steve62388
macrumors 68040
This is sooo true. It's the classic early adopters > mass market thing. They typically have completely different purchasing priorities.
Even all of us here are not Apple's majority customers, they stopped being a niche a long time ago.
Powerbooky
macrumors demi-god
Indeed... but regardless of the usual throwing with "specs" in PC-land, all the "power" will always be obliterated with the pre-installed Windows OS - as it always was in the last +25 years.
I think it's right--Apple often used "iTunes video playback times" most prominently, as that test posted the best battery life. I remember the Haswell Airs that would get 13 hours of battery life--Phil Schiller bombed on stage when he said "You can watch the entire Black Knight trilogy on your flight." He meant to say, Dark Knight.
Have you use File Explorer on Windows 11 lately?
Finder does the job, there are thrid party file managers if you want something different.
i have a third party file manager on Windows.
I dumped Windows as my main Os 3 years ago when I changed to Mac and I am still glad I did.
Haiku_Oezu
macrumors 6502a
Even if you block all ads HTML and benign scripts are surprisingly taxing on the CPU, and general computing is more power hungry than video decoding which is handled by efficient dedicated ASICs
jdawgnoonan
macrumors 65816
Ha. Windows has so many unnecessary background processes OOB that on an X86 machine fans run for no evident reason. Someday I will buy a Qualcomm Windows machine and it will be better. I would never buy a cheap X86 machine.
Last edited:
That's one of the reasons I'm glad Apple released the Neo. Windows laptops/Chromebooks in that price range vary from decent to terrible. They have so many compromises in cheap materials, cheap components, etc. that they are sometimes painful to use (only mildly hyperbolic with that claim). Apple setting a little fire under the other companies making laptops is a good thing.
Dr McKay
macrumors 601
It’s astonishing how many people don’t think like you two. I don’t use a Mac (because I use a computer predominantly to game) but I was very happy when the Neo launched, because I knew a lot of PC manufacturers would respond and it results in better quality midrange laptops for everyone.
Thats is a good Acer laptop but the problem is not hardware but software that runs on it. The most is windows witch is frustrating to use in last days so the experience is bad at the end.
I see lots of problems with your viewpoint. First, comparing Apple to "windows pc's" is completely unfair as there are dozen's of Windows laptop manufacturers and then there is Apple. Your work chose to buy Dell -- first mistake. They have become a complete rip-off lately. It's not hard to find an affordable laptop with a 3K 120Hz OLED panel, unless you're shopping Apple then you can't.
It sounds like you're disappointed in Dell but then blame all Windows PC's for Dell using crappy parts and overcharging for the better stuff.
So if and when Apple ever puts an OLED display on a laptop, is that Apple showing the way or are they copying what has been pretty standard in any other laptop?
The main problem with pc laptops is windows, is Microsoft has been unforgivably lazy at bringing windows into the 21st century.
From a ux pov there are gobs of older ui still hanging around from previous versions of windows.
Copy files in windows explorer and you’ll get a (non dark mode) windows 8 era ui spring up.
Control panel is still hanging around despite there being a settings app since windows 10.
Much of the ui is in a web view - even the start menu - instead of the faster native ui.
Outlook app is a wrapper for the outlook web app. Microsoft can’t even be bothered to make and maintain a native consumer and pro outlook any more.
The list goes on.
It’s the sheer uncaring sloppiness ‘oh this will do’ attitude that Microsoft seems to have that pervades windows 11.
It should not take too much effort for Microsoft to polish windows 11 and make it a product that that can be proud of and users would enjoy using.
Belatedly with their k2 modernisation project they seem to be trying to turn things around. But only because even windows advocates are down on what Microsoft has done - or more has not done - to windows.
We rightly criticise Apple over its misguided changes to macOS - Liquid Glass - but let’s all be thankful that things are not nearly as bad as they are for win 11.
From a ux pov there are gobs of older ui still hanging around from previous versions of windows.
Copy files in windows explorer and you’ll get a (non dark mode) windows 8 era ui spring up.
Control panel is still hanging around despite there being a settings app since windows 10.
Much of the ui is in a web view - even the start menu - instead of the faster native ui.
Outlook app is a wrapper for the outlook web app. Microsoft can’t even be bothered to make and maintain a native consumer and pro outlook any more.
The list goes on.
It’s the sheer uncaring sloppiness ‘oh this will do’ attitude that Microsoft seems to have that pervades windows 11.
It should not take too much effort for Microsoft to polish windows 11 and make it a product that that can be proud of and users would enjoy using.
Belatedly with their k2 modernisation project they seem to be trying to turn things around. But only because even windows advocates are down on what Microsoft has done - or more has not done - to windows.
We rightly criticise Apple over its misguided changes to macOS - Liquid Glass - but let’s all be thankful that things are not nearly as bad as they are for win 11.
bollman
macrumors 6502a
Sorry, but this is just wrong.
It is NOT easy to find enterprise grade laptops with 3K 120Hz OLED. That is a very, very expensive option on very select workstation grade laptops, if you can even get it.
When purchasing for large organisations, there are lots of other stuff on the list of requirements: 3 year on-site warranty, "keep your hard drive", longer model lifecycles, precofigurable BIOS and loads of other stuff.
What is offered on consumer-grade gaming laptops does not in any way or form compare with enterprise-grade laptops.
4K screen is offered on Dell Pro Precision 16". The only 3K screen is on the old Latitude 7350.
HP offers 2.8K on the pricey EliteBook X, Ultra G1 and ZBook Ultra G1.
Lenovo offeres 3K on Thinkpad T1g, P14s and P16
None of these laptops starts below $3K and I don't think any of them have OLED.
oh, sorry...I thought we were talking about your comment regarding the Neo and Windows PC's...is the Neo now an Enterprise MacBook?
You brought up buying Dell at work and I agreed with you that their stuff lately is not a value proposition and everything has huge profit margins on them.
But talking about Windows PC vs the Neo (this article), which is what I believe you were talking about with your comment "windows pc:s are the absolut crap displays", then look around -- tons of deals for people to get a 3K 120Hz OLED on a ASUS, Acer, Lenovo, etc. While there are some "crap displays" there are also lots of top-of-the-line displays (better than MacBook and definitely better than Neo) on many, many Windows laptops.
There’s nothing wrong with the hardware, Finder just sucks, and the search function reminds me of Windows 95 in how bad it is.
noanker
macrumors 6502
ACER has a reputation for unreliable performance and low build quality.
ACER = Avoid Completely Expect Regret
ACER = Avoid Completely Expect Regret
bollman
macrumors 6502a
MacBook Neo is included in ACE, why would it not be a enterprise choise? Never mind the Neo, the Air is way better than the vast majority of enterprise PCs, at a lower price. You'll be hard pressed to find an enterprise PC from any manufacturer with a better screen than a Neo or Air both in resolution and brightness at that price point (not mentioning battery life and performance).
Like I stated quite clearly: an enterprise windows PC is _not_ just any windows PC. The manufacturers that we (15000 employees) consider up to standards are Dell, HP and maybe Lenovo (and Apple!). ASUS and Acer are off the table.
Dr McKay
macrumors 601
Dark mode copy dialogue got rolled out to release preview October last year, and to the general public early this year. Along with the run command window, and folder options etc.