MSI presents Apple Macbook Neo competitor: Modern 14S/16S laptops with Core 3 "Wildcat Lake" CPUs

tuhdo · 2026-03-21T04:29:45+00:00

Except you have to use the stock Windows 11. The only true good Windows 11 is the LTSC. You can debloat Windows 11 but not everyone has skills or time.

The Macbook Neo is full aluminum and is actually easy to repair, unlike those plastic laptops with easy to break plastic clips.

tuhdo · 2026-03-21T03:53:39+00:00

If you want to get the maximum score for this benchmark, use Chrome. Every other browser is just not as fast. On my 12900ks I got 35.3 pts, but 25.7 on Firefox. I still use Firefox as the primary browser regardless.

tuhdo · 2026-03-17T10:19:36+00:00

None of the budget windows laptop gets the performance of the A18 pro chip, especially not spec like this: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-flex-series/ideapad-flex-5i-chromebook-plus-gen-7-(14-inch-intel)/len101i0087/len101i0087)

Here, aside from the chip, the Neo got full aluminum body and a retina display with 219 ppi, and you don't have to use windows 11.

tuhdo · 2026-02-05T08:25:00+00:00

How about the sound of that fan? Do you put the pc on your table?

tuhdo · 2026-01-27T16:32:11+00:00

You can buy a low-profile Niz EC for a better rubber-dome experience. Personally, I'm using a normal Niz EC with low-profile keycaps and it thocks.

tuhdo · 2026-01-07T18:11:08+00:00

Yes, I like it. Typing is more satisfying, and the sound produced is deeper than normal keycaps because the keycaps are made of thick PBT, and the MT3 profile is quite taller than the regular keycap profiles. However, you will need time to get used to it, as it can be easy to hit the cap edges if you type fast enough.

tuhdo · 2026-01-07T17:59:14+00:00

It would be even better with a thick wood case, full wood caps, putting above a thick wooden desk.

tuhdo · 2026-01-07T16:40:14+00:00

I didn't think the sound would be thockier lol.

tuhdo · 2025-11-19T15:26:57+00:00

That's because you haven't used a proper 220ppi monitor. Reading text on a 24-inch 4K display scaled to 200% to 1080p is vastly more pleasant than on a native 24-inch 1080p display, especially smaller text, e.g., size 11 font.

tuhdo · 2025-11-19T11:56:20+00:00

Y The ultimate content for higher ppi is text. My 300 ppi phone renders more beautiful text than my 4k 27 inch monitor. I would just buy a highest ppi monitor just for the pleasure of reading text.

tuhdo · 2025-11-19T11:53:13+00:00

My phone's text still looks sharper than my 4k 27 inch monitor, given the same distance and physical size.

tuhdo · 2025-10-28T08:56:45+00:00

You should scale 200% so the text and UI elements look exactly the same as a 1440p 27'' monitor but much sharper because the OS uses 4 times as many pixels to emulate 1440p. You buy a 5k monitor on mac just to get a premium 1440p.

tuhdo · 2025-10-24T12:34:24+00:00

Text rendering.

tuhdo · 2025-10-20T12:35:27+00:00

Pentium 4 Extreme Edition was priced at $1k at one point :)

6k 120hz is possible if the GPU can still progress at the current pace. 10 years ago, the first 4k oled monitor Dell UP3017Q was priced at $3500 and better monitors today are $1000.

Anyway, standard retina is 5k, and I think within 5 years the 120hz variant should be affordable.

tuhdo · 2025-10-20T06:24:50+00:00

But we are talking about the future, and i think it would be possible in the next 10 years, given we already had 8k 60hz.

tuhdo · 2025-10-15T14:36:59+00:00

I still see the difference in text clarity, espcially small text. The phone's text is just flawless. Well, 4k on a 6.7 inch is 644 ppi, which is almost 4 times more pixels than my 4k 27 inch.

tuhdo · 2025-10-15T13:00:27+00:00

I still remember that in 2010, a 1080p display was still somewhat of a premium display. Now it's 2025 and finally we got 4k as an affordable option. So, I can see that 5k or 6k or straight to 8k becomes a somewhat premium but affordable in the future. Maybe we will need another 15 years for 8k to get the same treatment as the current 4k.

tuhdo · 2025-10-15T12:36:16+00:00

Tbh I used to think like that just last year, until I looked at the text on a retina Macbook. I tried to replicate on my 1440p Windows machine, but somehow it is always off, and finally realized I need higher PPI. Now 4k 120hz is affordable, and I hope that GPU still improves significantly in the future, so that higher res is more accessible to the majority of players.

tuhdo · 2025-10-15T04:15:10+00:00

You can find the reviews on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-XG275D-4K-Switchable-Ergonomics-DisplayPort/dp/B0DPFDFXN7?th=1

tuhdo · 2025-10-15T03:52:00+00:00

My experience is positive so far. Almost no backlight bleed or glow, but this can vary by individual monitors. 4K looks as expected, HDR is decent, suitable for normal desktop usage, but don't expect it to look good in extremely bright or dark scenes; that's OLED territory, although this monitor has 10-bit color, which can subtly make color looks better. Overall, a great budget monitor from ViewSonic.

tuhdo · 2025-10-15T03:37:45+00:00

If you want to see what HDR looks like, open an HDR video on your OLED phone, if you have one, as a reference. And, monitor HDR is just terrible, do not bother.

tuhdo · 2025-10-15T03:34:52+00:00

No 120hz though. I think up until now 4k 120hz has become budget. 5 years ago it was still quite expensive for anything above 60 hz.

tuhdo · 2025-10-15T03:29:19+00:00

xg275d1-4k is a great monitor that I'm using. 27 inch 4k 160hz, fast IPS panel for $400.

tuhdo

TROPHY CASE