Cassandra is only carbon nowMar 15

Everyone has a MacBook Neo take, so here's mine.

Apple has, in my opinion, been a net negative for computing, and to a stunning degree. They've normalized DRM for software so completely that it will possibly take decades to get back the rights that we lost. They've used that power to make life worse for queer folks and to cozy up to the Trump administration.

But. There's something fascinating about the Neo.

Show threadCassandra is only carbon nowMar 15

@glyph made the point that the Neo is an implicit promise from Apple that macOS will run just fine on 8 GB of memory for the next 8 years.

But I think it goes farther than that: Apple made a reference device for application developers. They've never been shy about enforcing requirements on developers, and this is an interesting positive side to that: developers now have a huge incentive to make applications that fit within modest memory limits.

Show threadJoe Brockmeier

@xgranade @glyph my first thought about the Neo was that Apple is using an iPhone chip and amount of RAM/storage it can squeeze into an iPhone for a laptop: there’s no reason other than siphoning money out of its users not to make the iPhone a primary computing device.

Instead of the Neo they could just let the iPhone do double-duty as a desktop. Sell a USB-C Dock to connect to a monitor, keyboard and mouse, let the phone run full applications.

The Neo is just proof that the iPhone is artificially hobbled as a device.

Mar 15 at 7:25pmWeb
Show threadCassandra is only carbon nowMar 15
@jzb @glyph I don't even entirely disagree, but I think it's also worth playing the ball where it lands: regardless of why Apple did this, what are the implications of them having done so?
Show threadJoe BrockmeierMar 15

@xgranade @glyph I hope it does encourage app developers to think about constrained resources, of course. That would be all to the good.

The current RAMpocylpse should be an incentive as well… I’m so glad that I maxed out my main systems more than a year ago.

Show threadCassandra is only carbon nowMar 15
@jzb @glyph The problem with the RAMpocylpse (a wholly manufactured crisis, I hasten to add) is that there's still a bunch of machines out there with a lot more RAM, so developers can keep kicking the can down the road. If Apple moves a whole bunch of Neos, though, that winds up pressing the issue.
Show threadkouhai, of the health issuesMar 15

@jzb @xgranade @glyph the relevant iPhone has just 8GB of RAM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A19

adding more ram would increase cost by adding another sku etc etc

Apple A19 - Wikipedia

Show threadJoe BrockmeierMar 15
@kouhai the Neo also only has 8GB of RAM.
Show threadkouhai, of the health issuesMar 16
@jzb yeah, that's my point. it's a ctrl-x ctrl-v from the A19 iPhone SOC stockpile
Show threadGlyphMar 16
@jzb @xgranade I have mixed feelings about this. You're not *entirely* wrong, but, you kinda can hook up an iPhone to a USB dock, including keyboard, mouse, and external display, and get something sorta working. Making it work smoothly without hard-coded assumptions like "home screen is always in portrait orientation" and "biometric unlock is always FaceID" would require a ton of nontrivial software and hardware engineering to make a different device, which is… just kinda what the Neo is?
Show threadJoe BrockmeierMar 16

@glyph @xgranade it would require nontrivial engineering, but they’re doing some of that for iPadOS already, and let’s face it: Apple is not operating on a shoestring. It can afford to do the work, it just doesn’t want to. It wants its users buying a laptop and phone.

I mean, if you polled Apple users whether they wanted a dockable phone that could run desktop apps or Liquid Glass UI refresh and Apple AI, I bet I can guess which one would win.