Asus co-CEO praises MacBook Neo value, questions its productivity firepower

Source: 9to5Mac

During today’s earnings call, Asus co‑CEO S.Y. Hsu reacted to Apple’s announcement of the “budget‑friendly” MacBook Neo and its effects on the PC market. Here’s what he said.

’There have been a lot of discussions about how to compete with this product’

On the eve of the official launch of the new MacBook Neo, Asus co‑CEO S.Y. Hsu addressed Apple’s upcoming product during his company’s earnings call.

As reported by PCMag, the executive addressed the “shocking” price tag of the MacBook Neo, adding that the device is shaking up the PC market:

“In the past, Apple’s pricing situation has always been high, so for them to release a very budget‑friendly product, this is obviously a shock to the entire industry. (…) In fact, in the entire PC ecosystem, there have been a lot of discussions about how to compete with this product.”

On the other hand, Hsu questioned the MacBook Neo’s ability to handle productivity‑heavy workloads. From PCMag:

Despite the competitive threat, Hsu argued that the MacBook Neo could have limited appeal. He pointed to the laptop’s 8 GB of “unified memory,” or what amounts to its RAM, and how customers can’t upgrade it.
He also described the MacBook Neo as a “content consumption” device, similar to an iPad. “This is different from the use case of a mainstream notebook,” which can handle more compute‑intensive tasks, Hsu said.

9to5Mac’s take

While Hsu’s overall reaction to the new MacBook Neo echoes other reactions we’ve seen from the PC world, his remarks about its firepower and limited productivity capabilities are reminiscent of Steve Ballmer’s infamous early dismissal of the iPhone.

From our own MacBook Neo review, to multiple other reviews published earlier today, it is clear that the device can handle productivity tasks that go beyond simple content consumption. As does the iPad, for that matter.

He is right, however, to point out the device’s non‑upgradable 8 GB of RAM as a notable limitation, perhaps second only to the slow SSD speeds highlighted by The Verge in its review.

That said, framing it as a limited content‑consumption device may say more about how a PC maker might approach building a low‑cost laptop than about what the MacBook Neo will actually deliver.