to be fair, that wouldn’t be my pick at that pricepoint. That single-core performance would still be unmatched, but I would have something with better IO, more RAM, and more life in it.
the issue with this product is that it is not the right product for most people that discuss technology online, but it is still a great product for tons of people
Hard disagree, the more you look at it, the more this can be described as “a product to convince people that discuss technology online that this is a product for tons of people”. Most people need HDMI more than they need record-matching single-thread performance. Most people need more RAM because almost all they do is web-based and not MacOS native. Most people need I/O because they have mice, weird peripherals, and tons of usb drives, mostly USB-A.
That said, it’s a magnificent second or third device for the tech elite that’s already committed to the Apple ecosystem (having nothing on-device, whose peripherals and I/O needs are covered by more general-purpose computers) and who will absolutely brag that the performance of this lets them do lots of coding (using it as a metric for what a good computer is, in their eyes). Strangely both things can be true at the same time!
Something a whole class below an i3, from 2019, just does not scream “winner” to me in any way. The same CPU has been deployed in cheap laptops… I see sub-$200 ones with this in it.
this chip has better single thread performance than the mac pro m2 ultra that apple still sells.
there are in fact very little chips faster in single core than this chip
edit- I went and look for some geekbench and the neo cpu is way better than I expected compared with intel cheap cpus.
the best intel result in single core is the i9-14900ks which is lower than the a18 pro (~3200 vs~3400).
If you go to multithread and look for the closes match you need to check i7s or i9s from 11-13 gen (e.g. i7-11700f, that have 50% less score in single thread).
so I have no idea where you get the idea this chip is underpowered
Unlike the equivalent Windows 11 laptop with 32 GB of RAM and an Intel Celeron, where you’d get to experience that speed… Never. But sure, you can have all your apps frozen at once.
to be fair, that wouldn’t be my pick at that pricepoint. That single-core performance would still be unmatched, but I would have something with better IO, more RAM, and more life in it.
the issue with this product is that it is not the right product for most people that discuss technology online, but it is still a great product for tons of people
Hard disagree, the more you look at it, the more this can be described as “a product to convince people that discuss technology online that this is a product for tons of people”. Most people need HDMI more than they need record-matching single-thread performance. Most people need more RAM because almost all they do is web-based and not MacOS native. Most people need I/O because they have mice, weird peripherals, and tons of usb drives, mostly USB-A.
That said, it’s a magnificent second or third device for the tech elite that’s already committed to the Apple ecosystem (having nothing on-device, whose peripherals and I/O needs are covered by more general-purpose computers) and who will absolutely brag that the performance of this lets them do lots of coding (using it as a metric for what a good computer is, in their eyes). Strangely both things can be true at the same time!
I have so many questions about how they’re selling a laptop with that much RAM, especially right now, and that little CPU.
what do you mean by little cpu? that SoC beats so many budget chromebooks an cheap laptops.
Something a whole class below an i3, from 2019, just does not scream “winner” to me in any way. The same CPU has been deployed in cheap laptops… I see sub-$200 ones with this in it.
this chip has better single thread performance than the mac pro m2 ultra that apple still sells.
there are in fact very little chips faster in single core than this chip
edit- I went and look for some geekbench and the neo cpu is way better than I expected compared with intel cheap cpus.
the best intel result in single core is the i9-14900ks which is lower than the a18 pro (~3200 vs~3400). If you go to multithread and look for the closes match you need to check i7s or i9s from 11-13 gen (e.g. i7-11700f, that have 50% less score in single thread).
so I have no idea where you get the idea this chip is underpowered