So at this price point, there’s basically no reason to ever buy a Windows PC at all.
this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2026
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Reasonably priced Mac. What a crazy timeline.
Reasonably priced Mac.
Phone CPU. Similar priced iPads come with a much better CPU.
Counterpoint: Phone CPUs can rival yesterday’s desktops.
I’ve been running an M1 for years now. So tired of the argument that Mac is underpowered. No, it’s not a video editing/compiling/gaming powerhouse, but it more than makes up for it with an 8+ hour battery life, best-in-class display, and silent running, going on 5 years now.
It still handles everything I throw at it just fine. If I need to bust out the compute power, Mac just isn’t the right rig for it. But that doesn’t make them useless.
But only run iPadOS, so they're a glorified paperweight.
Regardless, I'm never buying another mac unless I can run asahi linux on it. Apple has progressively destroyed MacOS for the last 15 years, and will continue to do so. Most of Apples software design decisions are anti-consumer and monopolistic, and should be straight up illegal. Apple owns your device; not you.
Similar iPads also come with a lot less ports, no physical keyboard, no aluminum clamshell protection, and a shittier OS.
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ICYMI, the Neo is an even better deal at $499 with education pricing.
This right here. Everyone in this thread is looking for MBP use cases or a Linux PC or a second daily driver from a device that is CLEARLY designed to take foothold in the classroom. The $499 price point goes even lower for volume EDU sales. The company is not going to explicitly position this as a classroom device - it’s inherent through its spec limitations and even its packaging.
Now it’s a matter of how delicately they promote it with third party learning management tools, Google Classroom, Canvas, etc, or MDMs.
This is the “let’s get the budget computer crowd using iCloud services” solution.
They can afford to sell at a loss if needed, because the onboard storage is just low enough to make NOT subscribing to cloud services painful after 6-8 months.
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Does it run Linux?
/s or not
Probably not, at least not yet. The Asahi Linux project for Linux on Macs seems to only support the first few M chips to varying degrees. It'd be amazing if they got it working though!
I think it would be good for the industry. Windows had a stronghold in this price bracket and a competition is never bad especially considering how MS is pushing AI into W11.
If it had more memory I'd be on board. 8GB is fucking rough.
Honestly if it forces software to be leaner going down the line, I'm ok with memory crunches (it won't, but I'm just thinking out loud).
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A renewed interest in competing with Chromebooks?
Can’t complain. My kids need to use something beyond my 8 year old Surface.
Looks interesting. I’d love to get one for my parents that insist on having a laptop for the keyboard, but they’re so afraid of learning anything new that it isn’t worth the hassle.