The all-new MacBook Neo has been such a hit that Apple is facing a "massive dilemma," according to Taiwan-based tech columnist and former Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan. In the iPhone 16 Pro models, the A18 Pro chip has a 6-core GPU. During the chip manufacturing process, however, sometimes a CPU or GPU core can turn out to be faulty.

In the iPhone 16 Pro models, the A18 Pro chip has a 6-core GPU. During the chip manufacturing process, however, sometimes a CPU or GPU core can turn out to be faulty. Rather than discarding the leftover A18 Pro chips with only a 5-core GPU, Apple opted to use them in the MacBook Neo, as a way of optimizing its supply chain and costs.

These so-called “binned” chips with a 5-core GPU are effectively “free” to Apple, given that they otherwise would have been discarded.

Herein lies the dilemma.

In the latest edition of his Culpium newsletter today, Culpan said the MacBook Neo is selling so well that Apple’s supply of the binned A18 Pro chips with a 5-core GPU will “run out” before the company is able to fully satisfy demand for the laptop.

  • Arcane2077@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    20 days ago

    It’s called suffering from success, and Apple, more than most companies, has a lot of experience with it.

    The usual path (something every chipmaker does) is to just disable the ‘extra’ cores.

    They could also sell higher spec’d Neos, but that would never happen before the midrange macbooks are refreshed because it would mess up Apple’s very carefully formulated pricing strategy

  • fourish@lemmy.world
    1·
    19 days ago

    Played with a Neo at the Apple Store. It was far better than I was expecting. Loaded the 150mb sample image in affinity photo and it chewed through it no problem. Very snappy.

    I was about to say it’s not powerful enough to be my daily laptop but it probably is. I like my MBP more but not sure if $2000 more.

    I have a mini on my desk at work and it’s awesome. Driving 3 displays without missing a beat.

  • circuitfarmer@lemmy.world
    0·
    20 days ago

    Binning has been a thing forever. Apple isn’t new in selling processors that are technically nerfed versions of better ones. It’s not shady either – the chips were binned exactly because they were tested.

    What I find more interesting is that Apple is also dealing with what happened on the PC side a while ago: processors get so fast that the differences between mid-range and high-end don’t really show up in typical day-to-day workflows. Apple is right to think that this gives them a chance to gain market share by selling a Mac which is significantly cheaper, but to what effect? Apple hardware has been the expensive option for a long time, and one could argue that a lot of brand identity is tied up in high prices, because people perceive “most expensive” as “the best”. I can’t think of a brand on the PC side which has been happy to stay at the top of the price range for so long.

    So a cheap Mac is decidedly off-brand for Apple. Will people spend thousands extra for a machine that feels mostly the same for everyday workloads?

    • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      19 days ago

      The Neo is the gateway drug into the ecosystem. For people who have only ever known Windows, MacOS will probably blow a lot of minds with how superior it is. Then Apple has a new customer who will want everything Apple from now on. Maybe not every time, but I would wager the majority of times, they’ll have new converts.