Comment by commandersaki
7 hours ago
This guy [1] that posted about his series of plastic laptops over the years is a telling indictment of what the PC/chromebook value range is about. Hinges easily damage, bits and pieces falling off, can't go from closed to open with one finger, etc. In my region in Australia schools require parents to buy a laptop and the choice is between PC and Mac (Chromebook not allowed); before the Neo getting a Mac would be a budget constraint, especially for their children, but now it is such an easy sensible choice.
[1]: https://xcancel.com/mweinbach/status/2032235367961694542
Yep. Anyone saying a MacBook of any kind is comparable to the average school Chromebook has clearly never touched a school Chromebook anywhere other than in a Best Buy. $300 plastic computers are different in kind (of materials) to $1000 plastic computers.
Planned obsolescence is real—but rather than being malicious adulteration, it is the simple result of aiming for a BOM where the only viable parts and materials the OEM can get their hands on at that price point, have engineering tolerances far below the use-case they’re applying them to.