On my Om
With Neo, Apple Goes After Windows 11 – On my Om
It has been a long time since I used the words "cute" and "want" about a computer. Last time, I probably did when...
Om Malik opines on the MacBook Neo, Apple's new budget laptop with a mobile phone chip inside, and all of the premium Apple vibe on the outside. But, what is the logic for releasing such a product, as Apple generally hasn't been interested in competing in the lower end of the market? Malik takes a defensible position: its a Trojan Horse.
Apple needs to convince millions of people to buy this low-end laptop, and steal users away from Chromebook and Windows ecosystems. And hope that these switchers could eventually buy more things from Apple, especially those high-margin services.
But, will that strategy be effective? A $599 laptop is certainly "cheap" for a Mac, its not all that competitive with even cheaper Chromebooks, which dominate in education. I am sure that Apple will pursue that market, and high-volume purchasers like schools will get an even lower price point, but I have a hard time being convinced that they'll unseat Chromebooks as the dominant computer by volume in education, but I wouldn't be surprised if they earn a significant revenue share.
That said, there is some market context that Malik explores:
The timing for the launch of the new Neo computer is fortuitous. Microsoft’s ham-fisted approach to grafting Artificial Intelligence (AI) into Windows 11 has been an unmitigated disaster. Whether it was privacy-invading Recall, barely good Copilot or invasive advertising, Windows 11 has left many long-time Windows users searching for alternatives including Linux.
This is where it gets interesting to me. Spendy MacBook Pros are a common choice for businesses, in spite of their high price point. Personal computers are a different story, and the mid-market is flooded with popular laptops with similar pricing to the Neo. I'd wager that a home computer buyer is much more likely to choose a MacBook Neo, which is a premium product compared to the cheap plastic alternatives running an increasingly crap Windows experience. Malik's Trojan Horse thesis makes more sense to me in this specific market, where iPhones hold a very strong market share, and the services drag is sky high. I'll be interested to see how it unfolds!
I am sure reasonable people can disagree with me, but I’m happy that at least one of the AI giants is willing to stand its ground in the face of authoritarian pressure.
Ben Werdmuller
Can we build the dog?
What resource-constrained teams need to ask before writing a line of code
Excellent post from Ben Werdmuller about the dramatic shift that has impacted the calculus for startups and founders.
Enter AI. Almost without warning, AI-enabled tools dramatically expanded what a resource-strapped team can create. It’s a genuine sea change. The more founders and senior engineers I speak to who are actively using these tools, the more stories I hear about accelerated development. People are building smaller tools that would have taken many sprints in less than a day; founders are building entire startups that might have taken six months in less than one.
Ben does point out that there is more to consider than the up-front investment of time and energy required to make an idea a sustainable and successful product. There’s a critical human factor: giving a shit about what you create.
In a world where AI and modern tooling make it dangerously easy to spin up new software, our ultimate constraint is no longer our ability to type code. It’s our capacity to care for the things we bring into the world. Saying "no" to a project with a massive, hidden maintenance burden isn't a failure of imagination; it is how you protect your team’s time so they can focus on the journalism, the community, or the core mission that actually makes your organization special.
You don’t just need to build the dog, you also need to walk it, feed it, and give it the attention it deserves.
I flushed the internals out with lacquer thinner and blew everything out with the air compressor the following day. I replaced the rubber body bushings and replaced two missing washers on the feet. Then I put everything back together making the appropriate adjustments as I went.
Remaining servicing
Sometime in the near future I still need to replace the feet (they're reasonably passable), the platen (rock hard), and the felt/foam. I'll polish up the keys, chrome, and brights. I still need to polish up the keylevers and typebars which I decided not to remove and put through an ultrasonic cleaner. It still needs a replacement set screw for the tab clear lever on the right hand side. I'll also eventually need to replace the underlying metal connection on the right hand side card guide—it's missing the connecting pin and part of the left metal arm. I've remediated most of the minimal rust, but there are a few remaining internal blemishes that could be polished up (low priority). I'll also need to weld back on the curved, flat "spring" on the left end of the bottom of the paper table that shore itself off at some point. The tabulator can also use a bit of additional love and attention. For historical purposes, I left the tiniest hint of "brown nicotine stain" on the right side of the carriage where a smoker apparently kept their ash tray. That side of the machine almost appeared to be a chimney based on the discoloration which was otherwise remediated.
Beyond this, it's ready to be in the regular rotation, but will be my primary desk machine for the near future.
One of my favorite features of my new site is invisible to visitors — an integrated feed reader with support for first-class IndieWeb interactions — likes, replies, bookmarks, and reposts. Still iterating on it, but it’s already lovely to use.