The cloud providers and the AI companies are the same companies, and what they have learned is that they can tie up all the high-end hardware for themselves and make it unaffordable for plebs
The hardware companies in turn will be happy to keep prices high even if raw materials are ever more easily available again and demand is (somewhat) lower
Isn’t it curious how Apple has brought out its cheapest laptop ever at a time when hardware is otherwise at its most expensive in a long time? It’s an underpowered client for cloud services
Welcome to the future of computing. The ‘thin client’ dream of the 90s is here!
And yes, what I am describing between cloud providers and hardware manufacturers is an illegal cartel
Does it look like the current US administration would do anything to stop them? Does it look like the current US administration is going anywhere in the next, oh, ten to fifty years?
I'll kindly disagree here. Their "measly" tablets have more internal bandwidth than some of the powerful desktop or even server systems of their generation.
A "simple" iPhone can make multi-track recording when connected to one of many available, "class compliant" (read: cross-platform) professional audio interface.
The performance may look measly on paper, but the machines are more than capable, esp. under heavy load.
I say this as a seasoned Linux/PC user.
A used / reconditioned MacBook M1 might be better value and certainly no slower than the Neo 🙂🤷♂️
@simonzerafa @dpk Depends on the variant of A14/M1. The M1 in the MacBook Air, early MacBook Pros, Mac mini, and iMac is 4p4e7g or 4p4e8g.
The A18/M4 in the MacBook Neo is 2p4e5g, but with much newer performance cores. It beats the base M1 in single-core, multi-core, and Metal performance. The M1 Pro beats it in everything but single-core performance.
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