Apple appears to have prematurely revealed the name of its rumored lower-cost MacBook model, which is expected to be announced this Wednesday. A regulatory document for a “MacBook Neo” (Model A3404) has appeared on Apple’s website. Unfortunately, there are no further details or images available yet. While the PDF file does not contain the “MacBook Neo” name, it briefly appeared in a link on Apple’s regulatory website for EU compliance purposes.
I suspect it’ll come with 8GB RAM to ensure the price can’t justify it’s usefulness…
E: looking up the leaks confirms it’s supposed to be 8GB RAM. Imagine selling a PC with 8GB RAM for $700+ in 2026. So insane. I can get a better PC than that for $400.
One of the chief things that make macbooks commendable over PCs is the build quality. While I don’t doubt there are very many PCs with better hardware at that price point, often macs are superior by robustness, display resolution, and the quality of their keyboards and trackpads.
I hope this cheaper model doesn’t cheap out on that front. And if it also gets good Asahi Linux support, then it would get me to recommend it above anything else.
We will see soon enough.
I got a 16GB RAM M4 MacBook Air for 600USD so it better be cheaper than that if it comes with 8GB…
Are you sure? Because at this moment with $400 you only get the RAM.
I’m positive, thanks. 2x8GB CL16 DDR5 RAM currently sells for <$250.
E: here’s a whole ass laptop for $360
https://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-BrightView-N4120-Graphics/dp/B0DC6KMWJS/
And it even has ports and shit
This is already less powerful than an old iPad. My SO is looking for a cheap laptop and this one is one I would tell her to avoid like the plague.
You’re absolutely right, that is an ass laptop.
Almost as ass as a an irreparable, unupgradeable $700 Macbook with a phone processor and 8GB of RAM.
Intel celeron N150?
I mean, yeah, technically it’s got more ram, but that’s literally the only thing going for it. I’ve got a mini-pc server with that exact CPU. It’s good enough for what I need it for, by my wife’s 5 generation old M1 Air from 2020 trounces it several times over in terms of speed, even with 8GB.
An N150 w/16GB RAM is gonna be way more useful than a A16 or whatever with 8GB. Most people will never touch the potential power of their processor but they certainly will be doing a bunch of shit simultaneously.
As an owner of both an n150 minipc with 16gb of ram and an m1 8g air I can assure you this statement is false. The first is a toy compared to the latter. You can use it as inexpensive home server, but not as a work machine.
I also own both and disagree. But this isn’t an M1, regardless.
I mean, if that fits your use-case, I’m not gonna tell you not to get it. Plenty of folks just need a machine for scrolling a social media feed, documents, and Youtube.
But anyone who wants more than what amounts to a Chromebook can get it pretty affordably with the low-end macbooks. Effectively tripling your speed for another $200 is definitely worth it for lots of folks, and memory paging is a lot faster than it used to be.
Benchmarks can be hit or miss, but aren’t totally useless:
N150: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+N150
Low-end M1 from 2020: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Apple+M1+8+Core+3200+MHz
And finally, the A19 they’re talking about using: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Apple+A19+Pro
These are CPU benchmarks, they don’t account for available RAM.
It’s a celery with a 128GB emmc. Even with 16GB of ram it’ll be so slow.
So pull it out and replace it. A 128GB (like Macs come with) NVMe stick is $50.
Emmc is not nvme. They’re not compatible or interchangeable. You’ll be limited by the max emmc speeds for storage. It’s probably why it comes with an external drive, because they know just how slow the drive is.
It has an NVMe slot.
I just checked out the specs, that model does not support NVMe. So yeah, there’s that.
Nope, still wrong. It has an e key m.2 for Wi-Fi.
Put up, or shut up.
…no, it has NVMe. Why are you making this up?
…what am I supposed to “put up”, exactly?
NVME is not a port. M.2 is a port, and there’s lots of versions of it. You can’t put an NVME SSD into all of them.
Which is exactly why I specified “NVMe port” and not M.2
Better to get a used Thinkpad with how well those hold up being over thousand dollars, but get discounted steeply to hundreds with companies offloading them once warranty is up. Can get actual nice Ryzen CPUs and have a proper storage.
True, but now you’re talking about used PCs.
Yep, and used in this case is much better than the new cheap laptops with crappy specs.
There’s more to a computer than RAM (or even ither specs), comparing what’s shown in the article to the low-cost option you linked the two systems are leagues apart in terms of build quality.
Wouldn’t be surprised if the battery life was miles apart too.
That cheap plastic HP laptop is destined to have its hinge mounts snap away from the upper palmrest through normal day-to-day use.
Sure, but having insufficient RAM sufficiently kneecaps it to the extent that the other specs don’t matter.
LOL at least if it’s hinge mounts snapped you could repair them. Can’t say the same for the $700 Macbook.
Uh, good luck with that repair.
I’m no fan of apple’s business practices, or the general non-upgradability of their machines, but i’d take apple hardware over cheap plastic any day. It’s overpriced and it’s locked down, but it’s also well engineered.
You’re free to hate Apple, that’s fine, I’m right there with you. But if you think their build quality is poor, you’re simply misinformed.
Memory utilization is relative to the user though. For someone who wants to do nothing more than check their email and manage online banking, no specs matter (well, within reason, but people do use Chromebooks with 4GB RAM)
Just because such a system would not be suitable for your use-case does not mean that it is not suitable for any use case.
The iPhone 16 Pro is a very capable device, yet it “only” has 8GB of RAM. We don’t have the full picture for these new devices, but it’s possible that Apple will be handling memory in a similar manner to iOS, making it possible to do more with less.
Repairing broken hinges on such a cheap laptop practically has to be a DIY repair. I get this exact repair inquiry every now and then, the owner often balks when the repair cost is more than 50% what they paid for the device. For these low-end laptops, I also find that parts are usually less available than those for most Apple devices. Apple tends to use certain part designs / assemblies for multiple generations. Apple stuff is consistent enough that there are plenty of used parts available aftermarket.
Far as your repair scenario is concerned, I can only think of 2-3 times where a Mac came in with hinge related failure and those cases all stemmed from abuse like opening the lid too far / egregious mishandling. Meanwhile, I’ve bread lots of butter with HP laptops whose hinges break through regular operation.
If something costs more to fix but only breaks 1% as often, are you really saving money by purchasing the cheaper solution with the higher fail rate?
Almost no one uses their PCs that way. They will, at bare minimum, have a couple of applications, and several webpages open, and that’s enough to cause problems on a modern system with 8GB RAM. I have lived this experience too many times with friends and family members who complain that their computer is too slow, and the only solution I can offer them is to buy a new one, because their current one was intentionally crippled to create a price ladder, and intentionally designed so that they couldn’t fix it.
It does. But it ain’t hard. Anyone with a screwdriver can do it.
While I’m not a fan of 8 GB RAM for a new laptop, I’ve used a Fedora Gnome system for a year or two, with just 4 GB RAM. I used it for simple tasks in a workshop, and it was a usable computer. It struggled only when I opened too many browser (Firefox) tabs. If I kept the browser tabs count low, it wasn’t that bad. Also, I used the same system with 8 GB RAM, and it was much much better. To the point you won’t really notice it’s something limiting. So, technically, 8 GB is plenty for an average light use.
but is it pretty pink with an iconic apple on it? I think not.
Spray paint
Way back in 2007, my one college buddy had an elderly Thinkpad that he’d spraypainted red and stuck an Apple sticker on. People constantly came up to him and asked him where he got the red Macbook, since they didn’t think Apple made them.
some computer shops have scrap computers with 8GB of RAM 💀
Then don’t buy one. Idk why people get so offended when a company releases a product they’re not personally interested in.
I have no intention of buying one.
People get offended when customers are swindled. And Apple are expert swindlers.
Aside from that, the choices other people make affect your choices available on the market. No better example than the headphone jack. Apple removes it and people scream DONT BUY IT IF YOU DONT LIKE IT, ignorant of the fact that not only this an option that’s no longer available, but that the market as a whole would follow Apple’s greedy lead until the only thing left is a handful of budget devices, for inexplicable reasons.
So it’s a case of “everyone’s stupid except for me”?
Incredibly vocal minority on reddit/Lemmy aside, your average consumer doesn’t give a shit about having a 3.5 jack in their phone. The market prefers thinner, lighter, and better waterproofing. Know how I know? Because if there was a big market for a phone with a 3.5 jack, someone would be making it, and lots of people would be buying it. It’s not saving these companies a ton on manufacturing to not include one. They cost pennies each when purchased in bulk.
that’s not how it works, so I’d argue you don’t know… as Jobs said, he’ll tell you what you want.
Jobs is dead, had been dead for 5 years when apple removed the 3.5 jack, and was never in charge of the myriad other phone manufacturers who also removed their 3.5 jacks. I’m not sure he’s as relevant here as you’re implying.
Anyway, as an adult, “company made a product that isn’t catered to my specific preferences” is well below my threshold for outrage. I actually can’t imagine living like that. It must be horrible.
No, lots of other people also understand that they’re swindlers.
Whoosh. It wasn’t about “the average consumer”, it’s about why people are upset about trends in a market, even if it’s not something they would ever buy.
LOL you actually thought this ever had anything to do with saving money? Did you not notice that they also released another product simultaneously that now makes enough money on its own to be a Fortune 500 company? They created a problem and then immediately turned around and sold people a solution. Absolute masterclass in swindling.
And lots of other people like their stuff and might want to buy this. I’m not one of them, but I’m happy they can get something they like. Why isn’t that good enough?
It’s absolutely about the average consumer. Do you honestly believe Samsung removed the 3.5 jack simply because apple did and they’re conditioned to follow apple? They follow money. The money is in thinner, lighter, and better water resistance. The money is there because that’s what the average consumer actually wants.
And how does that help the competing manufacturers who also removed their 3.5 jack?