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by elxr 103 days ago
Very tempting, but considering a macbook air m4 is often just $300-350 more, the 8GB or RAM feels like it's just enough of an asterisk to make this less of the value champion.

I still really like it, but I'll probably wait for a discount.

12 GB would've been amazing to have though, oh well.
2 comments
4fterd4rk 103 days ago
This is a 600 buck machine. "Just $300-350 more" is a 50% price hike!
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elxr 103 days ago
That's true, but I just know a bunch of people looking at this will have that lingering thought at the back of their minds on how that extra 50% gets you just enough little improvements across the board to make them second guess.

Apple's product/marketing teams did an amazing job with the segmentation of this and the air.

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Applejinx 103 days ago
There is no sense getting anything but these sorts of Macs, or the maxed-out top of the line ones even considering the hilarious prices. Either get the entry level or go hard.

I've done both with success: am still riding a maxed out M1 Ultra Mac Studio which hasn't lost a step, no matter what I ask it to do. For a daily driver that doesn't try to do the most extreme things (think: able to edit your 6K videos but not scrub them, and media storage space can't live on the actual machine but only on some outboard storage) the base models of these will be a breath of fresh air. This is of course assuming the liquid-glassification of the OS doesn't ramp up, rendering the system unusable to actual Mac users.

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basch 103 days ago
300*500 kids is 150k and the difference between a school choosing chromebooks again. This is priced against the $450 Chromebook.
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elxr 103 days ago
Agreed.

This is really nice for schools.

I really want this to work for me too, just because of those colors, but the RAM is really the only issue. Oh well, at least this forces every other budget laptop to compete harder.

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asadotzler 102 days ago
From someone in this thread with actual experience:

>Chromebooks in EDU cost approximately $290 (+- $10) per unit. >For the cost of 10 Neos, I can buy 17 Chromebooks.

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basch 101 days ago
and an aluminum case may last 30% longer than plastic.
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