Apple MacBook Neo Beats Every Single x86 PC CPU For Single-Core Performance (notebookcheck.net)
- Reference: 0180961796
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/03/12/230230/apple-macbook-neo-beats-every-single-x86-pc-cpu-for-single-core-performance
- Source link: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-toys-with-the-competition-MacBook-Neo-offers-more-single-core-performance-than-any-mobile-processor-from-AMD-Intel-or-Qualcomm.1248134.0.html
> We have performed a couple of benchmarks and were particularly impressed by the single-core performance. Not in the short Geekbench test, but in Cinebench 2024, where a single-core test takes about 10 minutes. The A18 Pro consumes between 3.5-4 Watts in this scenario and scores 147 points. This means it is faster than every other x86 processor in our database, including the two desktop processors Intel Core Ultra 9 285K & AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D. This also means the [2]MacBook Neo beats every modern mobile processor from AMD, Intel and also Qualcomm, even though the upcoming Snapdragon X2 chips should be a bit faster. The A18 Pro is also slightly faster than Apple's own M3 generation in this scenario.
Further reading: [3]ASUS Executive Says MacBook Neo is 'Shock' to PC Industry
[1] https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-toys-with-the-competition-MacBook-Neo-offers-more-single-core-performance-than-any-mobile-processor-from-AMD-Intel-or-Qualcomm.1248134.0.html
[2] https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/03/04/1624211/apple-announces-low-cost-macbook-neo-with-a18-pro-chip
[3] https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/03/11/0615216/asus-executive-says-macbook-neo-is-shock-to-pc-industry
This will be amazing! (Score:2)
For the legions of people who run Cinebench on a single core only.
Re: (Score:1)
Hah! Good one!
Re: (Score:3)
> For the legions of people who run Cinebench on a single core only.
... and on a laptop.
Slashdot never fails to disappoint with the headlines:
slashdot: Apple MacBook Neo Beats Ever Single x86 PC CPU For Single Core Performance
actual article title: MacBook Neo offers more single-core performance than any mobile processor from AMD, Intel or Qualcomm
Guess which one is accurate. Slashdot didn't simple drop the "mobile" out of the sentence; they added "x86 PC CPU", painting it as a comparison to all desktop CPU's. In their defense, that got me to view the comments, lol.
Re: (Score:2)
> For the legions of people who run Cinebench on a single core only.
For the average consumer, single core describes most of their workloads. It would been helpful to show multicore but anyone interested in that is not the target market.
Re: (Score:2)
I always found it weird how most CPU benchmarks target video editing. Doesn't video editing software use the GPU anyway?
Misleading Apple hype (Score:2, Interesting)
When Apple first started making their own chips, one of the big features were accelerators for various tasks. This makes the Apple chips less of a general purpose processor and more of a product with specific market focuses. The fact that Apple has control over iOS and MacOS also allows Apple to really push their accelerators and support for them in a way that Intel and AMD could not. When you see the performance of Photoshop on one of these new Macbooks, you see the results of having an ecosystem som
Re:Misleading Apple hype (Score:5, Interesting)
And what makes this a bad thing? The fact that Apple has control over iOS and macOS makes this laptop a great laptop for the intended market. Because Intel and AMD can't do this (your words) just makes Windows (because that's what we're talking about, right?) an average OS for average hardware. Let's face it: Microsoft has to support a shitload of processors and chipsets and whatnot used in a shitload of computers from a shitload of manufacturers. That alone makes Windows not perform optimally and the same goes for the hardware. It's a choice Microsoft has made and it's a different one than Apple has made. It doesn't mean it's Apple hype.
Re: Seriously (Score:3)
Large numbers of people buy Macs to run photoshop. So Apple selling a machine that is fast at Photoshop is somehow bad?
Re: (Score:2)
The article is about GENERAL performance, but then the contents are only about Photoshop performance. Supporting misleading claims is as bad as people who support the telling of outright lies by politicians.
Re: Seriously (Score:4, Insightful)
Can you point on the doll where Steve Jobs hurt you?
Re: (Score:2)
It's just drinkypoo being drinkypoo.
Re: (Score:2)
Points to the doll's wallet
Re: (Score:2)
> It beat other processors in single thread performance at a task no one does with a single thread,
I hate to break it to you but most workloads by the average consumer is single thread. Here on Slashdot, people are interested in multithread because they might have processes to support it. Anyone interested in multicore performance is not really the target market for a budget consumer oriented Neo. There are other Windows and Mac laptops that fit that category.
Re: (Score:2)
>> They ragebaited us with this bullshit as usual.
> why are you upset about an article? can you not regulate your emotions?
> speak for yourself, child.
HAHAHHAH posting that as AC is rich! And what upset you so about someone venting that you had to get involved? FYI, it reads like you're responding to yourself, child (as if anyone with a login here is still a child, lol).
Also, to clarify, drinkypoo didn't refer to the article as the source of ragebait; they said, "... same thing Slashdot did here with this story. They ragebaited us ..."
It irritates me as well that Slashdot manipulated the title and post the way they did. The article didn't say, "beats ever
Re:Misleading Apple hype (Score:4, Insightful)
> And what makes this a bad thing? The fact that Apple has control over iOS and macOS makes this laptop a great laptop for the intended market. Because Intel and AMD can't do this (your words) just makes Windows (because that's what we're talking about, right?) an average OS for average hardware. Let's face it: Microsoft has to support a shitload of processors and chipsets and whatnot used in a shitload of computers from a shitload of manufacturers. That alone makes Windows not perform optimally and the same goes for the hardware. It's a choice Microsoft has made and it's a different one than Apple has made. It doesn't mean it's Apple hype.
Yeah - his was a strange post. I consider it an anti-flex. Apple's choices result in products I want. If as he seems to claim, Apples M-chips are specifically designed to run Photoshop, then that's a good thing.
But they run everything very nicely. And You might be generous calling Windows an average OS. By the time my last digital communication classes were finished, and we paused it to recover - pervious classes had everyone running after 2 sessions on Windows 10 (W7 before that) We spent the entire time dealing with update breaks, and mysterious onedrive problems - My students want the next session to explore Linux, because they understood that W11 is not a stable OS, and the majority express hatred for it now.
They are not geeks, but intelligent people who need their computers and radios to work when they boot, and after updates. The present protocol with W11 is update, fix what is broken, then pause updates as long as possible, then update in a non-emergency situation, troubleshoot and fix what is broken, then pause updates for as long as possible, rinse and repeat ad infinitum.
I have the same software running on my Mac - 100 percent uptime. Linux? same thing. Really, not much left to defend for Windows, when you just hope and pray it works at all - the slot machine of OS'.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, you're right, I was generous by calling Windows an average OS. Mediocre would have been a better term.
Re: (Score:2)
I get shit done all day, every day. With a MacBook. I manage it myself and It Just Works! And no, I'm not working on my own, I work in a predominantly Windows based environment. So stop whining about Windows. Yes, most of the world uses it. That doesn't mean it's good. And it certainly does not mean it is the only way to get shit done.
Re: (Score:2)
>> My students want the next session to explore Linux, because they understood that W11 is not a stable OS, and the majority express hatred for it now.
> im sure that has nothing to do with your apparent complete unfamiliarity with windows and complete bias against it. why would you teach anything about windows when you dont even use it and apparently hate it. good luck sending those kids to the real world when their employer plops an AD connected dell in front of them because the company actually needs to manage systems and get shit done. rude awakenings all around.
If someone is intelligent enough to explore Linux AND realize the fact that they're also operating in a Windows environment, then I'm going to assume that person is in fact intelligent and capable enough to operate the OG Windows with a UI designed for fucking toddlers.
Stop pretending the average user is going to do FUCK-ALL with AD other than log into it.
Re: (Score:2)
Saying that a CHIP is faster, not as a special purpose chip, but for general use would make "in Photoshop" a misleading indicator of CPU performance. General purpose chips vs. special purpose chips. ARM vs. x86 is a valid comparison, but when you start looking at custom chips and then only being focused on performance in specific applications that take advantage of those custom chips, that eliminates the true, "which is the better overall processor, which has the best single threaded performance or mult
Re: (Score:3)
> When Apple first started making their own chips, one of the big features were accelerators for various tasks. This makes the Apple chips less of a general purpose processor and more of a product with specific market focuses. The fact that Apple has control over iOS and MacOS also allows Apple to really push their accelerators and support for them in a way that Intel and AMD could not.
> When you see the performance of Photoshop on one of these new Macbooks, you see the results of having an ecosystem somewhat dedicated to making it perform better.
Seriously - what is that supposed to mean? I have an M4 mini, and it flies on the Adobe Suite. I have not found one program that it doesn't run faster than my Windows laptop that cost around 2.5 times as much.
Are those grapes not sour? I like my computers to run things quickly. I do not give a rats ass about benchmarks. If my mini runs the Adobe suite and my other programs not only well, but faster - well, that's my benchmark.
Re:Misleading Apple hype (Score:5, Informative)
This is simply wrong.
There are no magic "Apple accelerators" at play here.
Vector instructions are being used, but equivalents are used on Intel/AMD (AVX2) as well.
Apple Silicon has maintained a sizeable lead over all of x86 in general computing since the M1.
It accomplishes this by doing something Intel and AMD aren't very interested in- burning silicon.
Reorder buffers are larger, memory bus is wider, page size is larger.
Re: (Score:2)
If a program wants to take advantage of newer CPU features it either becomes incompatible with any earlier CPU, or requires multiple code paths to handle different processors. Or you can use a Linux distribution like Gentoo and compile everything with the matching -mcpu flag.
Most publishers or binary software don't want to maintain multiple code paths, don't want to cut off potential customers with older hardware (even if the performance sill suck). At most they might do multiple code paths for specific per
Re: (Score:2)
> "without special Apple accelerators"
This is just flat out not true.
But... even if it were the main reason, why would fault Apple for making something that makes it's user's lives better? Your whole argument sounds like "Well, Tommy can only win the race because he runs every day and works out and I don't. If he didn't work out he wouldn't beat me." Your argument is just childish.
Re: (Score:2)
So, you're arguing that it's bad that a computer does a good job of doing the things you want it to do?
Re: (Score:2)
"When Apple first started making their own chips, one of the big features were accelerators for various tasks."
This is true of every processor sold into desktop and laptop products. Heck, most of the die area on a consumer grade processor is giver over to GPUs and a lot of the rest is giver over to other display tasks, like video decoding and DisplayPort/HDMI. (FYI, when playing a video from disk you can power gate *all* the CPU cores. One wakes up every ms or so just to see if there's been any user input.)
Re: (Score:2)
> When Apple first started making their own chips, one of the big features were accelerators for various tasks. This makes the Apple chips less of a general purpose processor and more of a product with specific market focuses. The fact that Apple has control over iOS and MacOS also allows Apple to really push their accelerators and support for them in a way that Intel and AMD could not.
Can you list these accelerators? From what I know Apple incorporated hardware encoding/decoding in the computer of things like h.264, h.265, and now AV1. Apple also incorporated hardware support of their format ProRes. Guess who else put in h.264, h.265, and AV1? Everyone: AMD, Intel, Nvidia, even Qualcomm.
Ever so subtle? (Score:4, Funny)
> Apple MacBook Neo Beats Ever Single x86 PC CPU For Single-Core Performance
Is this how we signal "Not written by AI"? Or just "I slept through high school English class." ;-)
Re: Ever so subtle? (Score:2)
Or more like "I haven't had my coffee yet dammit!"?
Re: (Score:2)
Probably ... YES. Not intentionally, but I've seen quite a few posts over the last months where I said "surely this isn't AI" (and by AI I mean what mostly everyone mean by "AI" nowadays, these LLM autocomplete). We got to the point where the AI stuff is coherently crafted from beginning to end while the "human" posts are what the average human (that's a really low bar) would do, possibly drunk or on drugs.
Speculative execution attacks (Score:3)
How good are mitigations to speculative execution attacks (Spectre, Meltdown) on the new Apple processors?
Do they beat Intel in this respect, too?
Re: (Score:2)
> How good are mitigations to speculative execution attacks (Spectre, Meltdown) on the new Apple processors? Do they beat Intel in this respect, too?
I'm speculating here, but the bad news is they might be vulnerable.
The good news is, at 8GB RAM you're gonna notice after the third browser tab chokes on a pop-up.
Re: (Score:2)
> The good news is, at 8GB RAM you're gonna notice after the third browser tab chokes on a pop-up.
I guess it is bad news that most people won’t notice that on a Neo? People who have tested it say multiple tabs on a browser even Chrome is not the "sky is falling" issue detractors describe. They have been able to edit 4K video with multiple tabs open. Yes 8GB is a limitation overall but the target market is not going to notice.
If memory with dozens of tabs becomes a problem, the easy solution has been to close some tabs. I had a boss with an older Mac and over 50 tabs open. He did not notice issues
Re: (Score:3)
> How good are mitigations to speculative execution attacks (Spectre, Meltdown) on the new Apple processors?
> Do they beat Intel in this respect, too?
Who cares? You're not sharing this laptop in a VM with others. The entire Speculative Execution attacks are completely meaningless to anyone other than datacentre operators concerned that a user may use it to escape the confines of their VM.
The only successful speculative execution attacks have been shown in a lab controlled environment, one that requires up front knowledge of a system that only software with admin privileges is privy too. Otherwise speculative execution attacks would be limited to thrashin
slashvert (Score:1)
i dont genuinely bellieve that /. is being paid to promote these thignsa, but why are they flogging this thing so hard right now?
((plz forgive typos, im typing with gloves on since the temp went from 85F to 27Fin a day)
Re: (Score:2)
Slashdot has had a long running hatred of Microsoft products in general. I'd imagine that anything that helps loosen their grip on the sub $1,000 laptop OS monopoly would be cheered around here.
Re: (Score:2)
Because anything Apple generates engagement/comments on here. Also it's all over the other tech sites right now. Not like there is much else going on in the tech space right now anyway. RAM/SSD/HDD and soon CPU prices are being spiked by AI, no new GPUs until at least next year, probably 2028. Everything is kind of meh in the hardware space right now.
Re: (Score:2)
They are pushing the NEO because it's single core performance will make the Retool Advertisement Banner glisten smoother - it is pegging one of my cores as I type this - wtf is that about?
Retool please make it a static image if we have to endure it on every page, it is wasting MY electricity. Oh wait they are pushing AI so that's par for the course.
performance (Score:2)
If performance test is all you do, but lets get a real world useage. With only 8gb on the machine your going to be pretty limited.
Re: (Score:1)
What is 8gb limiting you to? That's plenty for you average user.
Re: (Score:2)
I often end up with browser tabs taking a gig, sometimes two. MacOS needs its share, so add in some heavy browser tabs and 8 gb might be tight, at least for me.
Re: (Score:2)
Depends on what the "average user" does. If we admit that it's primarily a consumption device then sure. I'll admit that the average user only really uses a PC to consume media, or generate a word document. But the reality is even basic activities in content creation chug with such a limited amount of RAM these days. That includes something like running Adobe Lightroom on a Mac.
Re: (Score:2)
Having only 8 GB of RAM means you can't have a bunch of big Electron-based clients for chat platforms, such as Slack and Discord, running at once. You have to pick one and make yourself uncontactable through others.
Re: (Score:2)
Who is 'you'? Stop talking nonsense. This doesn't limit people. It's like complaining or pointing out a family sedan will be 'limiting' when you need to move 2 pallets of bricks. No shit, brutha.
Relevance? (Score:2)
So? How much single threaded rendering does anyone actually do?
I understand why in some cases single threaded performance is important, but not for the vast majority of use cases.
I don't like Apple products (Score:3)
But they do make the best laptops that tick all the checkboxes. Great high-resolution screens, great keyboards, exceptional touchpads, amazing speakers, rigid chassis, very quiet operation. The only downside is upgradeability. I have been looking for a Linux laptop equivalent but nothing comes close, and if it does, it costs a fortune
"Unified memory" (Score:2)
Performance reason is due to Apple's "Unified Memory" that merges these into a single, high-bandwidth pool. Because the CPU and the 5-core GPU can access the exact same data without copying it back and forth across a motherboard, the system operates incredibly efficiently.
Slot for a RAM disk (Score:2)
It'd still be nice if some MacBook had an SODIMM or CAMM slot to act as a RAM disk for a swap file, so that swap doesn't have to sit on the SSD's SLC intake buffer and wear it out.
Re: (Score:3)
No reason to worry! Back in the 90s, it looked like x86 would be eclipsed by myriad RISC challengers - MIPS and Alpha for Windows (NT), PowerPC for Mac OS and OS/2, Sparc and PA/RISC for Unix and so on. But at least on the Windows front, not running x86 natively turned out to be a major issue, which ended up killing MIPS and Alpha, when it came to running Windows applications.
I do agree that Arm will completely oust x86 in the Chromebook space, where most of the apps are really Android apps. As far as
Re: (Score:2)
In the 90s those RISC processors had a huge performance advantage, but they came at a serious price premium and were typically only available from a single vendor. ARM is widely available, affordable, and covers the whole price/performance range.
A lot of software these days is delivered as webapps which are platform agnostic.
Mobile didn't really exist in the 90s but is huge now, mobile is already dominated by ARM.
Emulation / dynamic recompilation has improved a lot if you need to run legacy binaries.
A lot o
Re:As a repair tech... (Score:5, Informative)
I'm no fan of Apple, but that's what's different about the Neo. I saw a video of a teardown of a Neo, and there is no glue attaching anything. The motherboard is really small: the bulk of the real estate is taken over by the battery. Only thing about this is that the RAM is not upgradable, but I don't think many Apple laptops are , unless one is prepared to de-solder the existing DIMMs and solder in new DIMMs
I do hope there is at some point an Arm equivalent of the Hackintosh movement, so that one can take a Framework system w/ an Arm CPU (should they make one), install macOS on it and configure it however they like
Re: (Score:2)
They are not DIMMs, it's the actual RAM chips.
You can look for dosdude1 videos on YouTube if you want to see how it's done. It takes better fine motor skills than I have.
Re: (Score:2)
Technically I think you can. The RAM is soldered next to the CPU/GPU chip as two chips. Nowhere is this as easy as a SODIMM or CAMM2 replacement though, but it is possible.
Re: (Score:2)
So I take it that you did not watch multiple videos that show that the Neo is assembled mainly with screws and looks easy to repair? The only part where a technician noted adhesive was used to make a cable flush with the surrounding area. Parts were modular and easy to disable.
Re: (Score:2)
You mean from the customer's standpoint? Yeah, if all Apple does is substitute a new one for old and then send the old one back, that's transparent to the customer. If you mean from Apple's standpoint, I guess they have their own recycling programs at their backend and prefer to deal w/ it that way
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is that, they don't recycle, all is thrown away, it is more expensive to recycle or repair than to build a new one. and why is so expensive to recycle/repair? because it was design to be so, glued parts, components that only work in THAT device, all solder-in components in just one board. Framework proves that you can build a modular laptop, easy to repair and where you can reuse older parts without any problem, but elites like apple because of it's status and do not care about the rest
Re: (Score:2)
Dell XPS line is all glued, soldered down, and not upgradable. And?
Re: (Score:2)
still the same problem, everything is fine while it works... when something fails, it is e-waste... with a few minor changed, it CAN be repaired or reused.
We dig mountains, we pollute rivers and the air, we poison people and animals to produce all those components and while many can be reused many times, we are throwing much of then in landfills
Re: (Score:2)
Apple will happily take your crap back and recycle it at their stores, they encourage it. If you want something repaired/replaced, they will happily do so, just give them your credit card. Aint no body using a laptop that is 10+ years old. I don't see any dumb windows laptop offering any of that.
Re: As a repair tech... (Score:2)
Logo is from a dude named dell and not a fruit. Win by default for them.
Re: (Score:2)
> and why is so expensive to recycle/repair? because it was design to be so, glued parts, components that only work in THAT device, all solder-in components in just one board.
Can we assume you're in love with this new MacBook Neo then? There are no glued down parts (aside from some tacky tape on one ribbon cable that easily peels up), and everything is screwed down with standard torx screws. If you haven't, you should check out a tear down video. It's pretty impressive, to be honest.
If their next full sized MacBook is like this, it might be enough to tempt me into getting one. Doubly so if they leave room for an optional component or two (seeing the speakers get removed made me
Re: (Score:2)
Oh look, working as designed, I can't fix my own thing, but I shouldn't have to care as long as I give Apple money to pay for any work.
it is a shame (Score:2)
that is your consumerist mind, you win, everybody loses, but you still don't care!
yes, you get a new device, great for you... your previous device is now e-waste, can't be repaired, can't be reused, it is just trash. Cost a lot (money and environment) to refine all the ingredients, even more to build each components, all throw away to trash, with little or any component recycled because they are too expensive break apart and recycle. Human labor and environment cost are huge, but they are far away, you don
Re: (Score:2)
The number of people that ever repaired their laptop has always been exceedingly small. Why would Apple give a damn about such a niche?
Re: Too bad its crippled (Score:2)
Apparently you do not have much experience with macOS. I have my gripes about it, but I have yet to find the perfect desktop operating system. I still have gripes about the Linux ecosystem, too, they are just different.
The only OS that really fits your description is Windows. What a piece of garbage.
Re: (Score:2)
Are you saying Apple didn't contact to you learn what your needs are when they designed the Neo? You're right, I can see how that means they've made a terrible mistake.
Apple used x86 in 2005-2020 (Score:2)
In 2005, Mac computers used Intel Core Duo x86 processors. From 2006 through 2020, Mac computers used Intel x86-64 processors. starting with Core 2 Duo. macOS on x86-64 could still run x86 applications until macOS 10.15 "Catalina Wine Killer", released in June 2019.
What CPU architecture were you using on the desktop from 2008 through 2020, if not x86 or x86-64?
Re: (Score:2)
ChromeOS is absolutely fantastic for normal, everyday users who only rarely need an installed app. For those people, I'd be very hard-pressed to give up the ease of remote management and the restrained user interface updates. Supporting Chromebooks is a breeze, truly.
But if users need more than just the rare installed app, "low-end" Macs are absolutely the logical move. The Mac Neo moves this an absolute no-brainer decision. Apple makes the best computer hardware in the industry, hands down. The OS is not a
X86 CPUs (Score:2)
"including chips from Intel and AMD. Notebookcheck reports:"
Who else would they be from? Terrible reporting.
Re:X86 CPUs (Score:5, Informative)
If they're being thorough, Snapdragon, Mediatek and Ampere (server) SoCs are also being sold in traditional PC forms.
I might be interested if this thing could run Linux and had Thinkpad-grade input devices, but as it is, it's just a web terminal that's locked to Apple's ecosystem instead of Google's. That's just not very compelling.
Re:X86 CPUs (Score:4, Interesting)
It seems unthinkable that this won't be hacked to run Asahi.
Re: (Score:2)
Not really at this point.
Asahi has been stalled for a long time, now.
It still doesn't run on an M3. I do hope it moves forward- I'd love to upgrade my M1 MBA.
Re: (Score:3)
Linux on a chromebook is a terrible experience.
Re: (Score:2)
> Linux on a chromebook is a terrible experience.
The early Chromebooks didn't do Linux too badly, but that changed.
Re: (Score:2)
Odd, Linux of the not-Plasma versions runs just fine on a 2014 Mac mini which also has 8 GB of RAM.
Chromebooks must be thoroughly messed up.
Re: (Score:2)
Apple never really locked down its Macs and there where always enough of them that people where prepared to put the effort into reverse engineering the hardware. Chromebooks.... weird things. Locked down in strange ways that I dont think anyone could be bothered to figure out.
I'm not sure what the stall has been with the Arm macs. I guess a lot of people are enjoying the Apple flavor of unix?
Re: (Score:2)
> Apple never really locked down its Macs
Depends on what you mean by locked down. Since Intel days, Apple incorporated a security chip into their Macs. With the M series, the chip is built-in as opposed to a separate chip. I think that if you turned on full security, the Mac would be locked down. It would make third repairs difficult.
Re: (Score:2)
Chromebooks that have removable cases can be easily "jailbroken" with a jumper, a soldering iron, or a crumpled-up piece of aluminum foil jammed into the jumper socket.
Re: (Score:1)
Wait, these can brew beer? Maybe I will get one...
Re: (Score:1)
Those are all Arm systems, not x86.
This thing is running macOS, so why do you think it's a web terminal?
Re: (Score:2)
> Those are all Arm systems, not x86.
There are [1]Qualcomm Windows laptops [lenovo.com] being sold right now. They run a variant of Windows11 on ARM. From what I know the performance has been acceptable with x86 emulation usable for many but not all use cases.
[1] https://www.lenovo.com/buy/us/en/qualcomm/qualcomm-integrated-laptops-0acz00a?orgRef=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F&cid=us:sem%7Cse%7Cgoogle%7Cnonbrand_pc%7C%7Ccomputer%20for%20bloggers%7C%7C17921999028%7C179757586294%7Ckwd-2492500401997%7Csearch%7C%7Cconsumer&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17921999028&gbraid=0AAAAADnnO-UU57Imrh6Qw6txeWncxnPE6&gclid=CjwKCAjw687NBhB4EiwAQ645diB2MZgmn3LDCwvlCEhJq0NsRsPFmH9VHGd3ZgZG35Fi5k5BcjoSkxoCCL4QAvD_BwE
A MacBook Neo can run Xcode (Score:2)
A MacBook Neo can run Xcode, as [1]Sam Henri Gold reminds us in "This Is Not the Computer for You" [samhenri.gold]. What can a Chromebook run that's remotely similar?
[1] https://samhenri.gold/blog/20260312-this-is-not-the-computer-for-you/
Re: (Score:2)
> MacOS is a third-rate *nix that can run MS Office, but so is ChromeOS. Should I be excited that I suddenly have the option to run Photoshop on a $600 device with as much RAM as the phone I had in 2018, but still can't control the size of system fonts on the desktop? Or is it just a more expensive way to run a browser and an SSH to something I'd rather be using?
> I'll give you a hint: It's the second one.
is it really fair to down mod this because it's critical of macs?
Re: (Score:2)
and ill take this opportunity to go completely off topic to say the modding system is completely unfair. just my opinion.
Re: (Score:2)
How about it has misinformation? I don’t know how and why the poster thinks he cannot change the font size. Maybe decades ago that was true on the original Macs but I remember changing it on OS X for an older relative that had vision issues.
Re: (Score:2)
ChromeOS doesn't run MS Office. It runs the crippled web version of MS Office called "Microsoft 365" in its web browser.
Re: (Score:3)
> Should I be excited that I suddenly have the option to run Photoshop on a $600 device with as much RAM as the phone I had in 2018
Whether you are excited is your preference. The fact of the matter is if $600 might get Windows laptop that has the same RAM. With Windows laptops, there might be sales for cheaper or better specs, but the world today is that RAM and storage is expensive.
> but still can't control the size of system fonts on the desktop?
That's an oddly specific requirement but I am not sure why you think you cannot do that on a Mac. A simple [1]search [apple.com] shows you how to do that.
> Or is it just a more expensive way to run a browser and an SSH to something I'd rather be using? I'll give you a hint: It's the second one.
What you do with your own hardware is up to you. I think the rest of the world can and will do more with a Neo. Multip
[1] https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/make-text-and-icons-bigger-mchld786f2cd/mac
Re:X86 CPUs (Score:5, Interesting)
I am not sure it is fair to describe this as no better than a Chromebook. This machine is running macOS. You can put Homebrew on it, and install many applications that way (including many open source applications). I use Geany, Octave, Maxima, R, and a whole other host of applications on my Mac, which I use mostly at work. Most of the applications I use on my Debian desktop are available on Homebrew. If you're concerned about Homebrew for security reasons, you can usually install packages directly from the application website.
I totally understand people saying they don't want to run macOS because of various reasons, but the "walled garden" description of macOS is not fair in my opinion (it is completely fair for iPhones and iPads). I'm able to install the software I want on my Mac at work. While the security settings of macOS make you jump through some additional hoops, I don't think it's an overwhelming burden.
I have heard this machine described as being on par with an M1 Macbook Air. My wife uses that machine on a daily basis, and it works well. My daughter is using an M1 Pro machine, and does not want to upgrade for college because she feels it is unnecessary.
I think we need to do a better job of going after Mac for the real issues it has: cost of upgrades, lack of repairability, and inability to install Linux on the machine.
Re: (Score:2)
> but the "walled garden" description of macOS is not fair in my opinion (it is completely fair for iPhones and iPads)
It is very much a walled garden. Apple is in control of every app you are able to install. You can bypass this, but on modern MacOS this process involves:
1. Rebooting into recovery mode.
2. Running a command to completely disable System Integrity Protection - an action that has serious consequences for security in MacOS doing things such as affecting user access permissions to files.
3. Rebooting.
At this point people may be tempted to stop, but it's highly recommend that after you install any software that ha
Re: (Score:2)
None of your three steps are required to run un-signed apps on macOS. I am happily running many unsigned apps with SIP still on. All that is necessary is to approve the app in the security pane of the System Preferences. Not even a reboot needed.
The real steps:
1) try to run unsigned app.. get an error
2) launch system settings, go to security page. Approve the recently denied app (will probably need your login password)
3) launch the app again.
This is well documented.
[1]https://support.apple.com/en-c... [apple.com]
[1] https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/mac-help/mh40616/mac
Re: (Score:2)
Can you turn off all the protections and have it be like a regular old fashioned unix box?
Re: X86 CPUs (Score:2)
Im not sure what you were going on about as on Mac I just see a popup that something brand new is trying to run, then I go to system privacy and there is a simple button that says launch anyway and I click yes and enter my password to bless the binary.
Quit pushing lies.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah install all that on a chromebook with a 16 or 32gb eMMC disk. Been there done that and sleep didn't work and sound only worked after seeing one single reddit post on how to modify the kernel. Sound did work afterward but setting the volume beyond 10% was painfully loud and distorted. That and to even flash the firmware required me to disassemble the chromebook, remove the battery, power it up, run the flash program, and then put it all back together. All that to find out you can't use half the hardware
Re:X86 CPUs (Score:4, Informative)
> I might be interested if this thing could run Linux and had Thinkpad-grade input devices, but as it is, it's just a web terminal that's locked to Apple's ecosystem instead of Google's. That's just not very compelling.
You can run VMs, Wine, compile your own software, etc. The only limiting factor is the 8gb of ram and, as I have said repeatedly, 8gb for most users is not that big a deal.
"No wireless? Less space than a Nomad. Lame."
Re: (Score:2)
> "No wireless? Less space than a Nomad. Lame."
In hindsight that quote has not aged well, but I would argue at the time that wireless was a terrible requirement given the state of WiFi in 2001.
Re: (Score:2)
In what way is it locked? It's a Unix box with a pretty front end, it doesn't restrict software installed and you can swap out anything.
iOS - yes, and I can't really think of a good use of an iPad for me. But the Mac is an open machine.
Re: (Score:3)
Zhaoxin (Chinese market)
Re: (Score:2)
How about embedded 486-based SOCs, which are used to make the old Netbook-type PCs? Also, does Via still make Cyrix/Centaur CPUs that they used to once they bought these companies, if only for the Asian market?
Re: (Score:3)
Zhaoxin continues VIA's cpu business.
DM&P (known for Vortex86 cpus) continues SiS' cpu business (SiS55x cpus). SiS previously bought Rise (known for its mP6 cpu).
Re: (Score:1)
Maybe they also tested some old Cyrix 6x86's that someone had in a drawer since the late 90's?
Re: (Score:2)
> Who else would they be from? Terrible reporting.
Did you read the whole summary: ". . . and also Qualcomm , even though the upcoming Snapdragon X2 chips should be a bit faster."