The Column
Admin note:
If you’re subscribed and saw the weird “Excalidraw” link in your email last week, my bad.
Also sorry for back-to-back weeks with content.
https://datajournal.guide is live!
It’s a very in-depth “what is” and “how to” of my best life hack. I’m going to continue to build, improve, and iterate on the site, but it’s UP!
Okay. onto the rest of the Column.
This is mostly a review. You can skip to the Top 5 Topics My Brain Sucks At if you’re not interested.
Brief Context
To set the stage for the review.
MacBook Neo Mini Review
I’m writing this review from a MacBook Neo, sitting at a park watching my sons play on the playground.
I couldn’t do that from my Mac Mini.
I could do it from my iPad - but the typing experience is finicky and the display never quite at an angle that works well.
My observations after using the MacBook Neo for a week:
Good
- The build quality and general “feel” of the laptop
- Browsing the internet works at least well enough.
- Obsidian works great. That is my primary use case for this machine.
- VS Code works at least well enough. I haven’t tried running any machine learning models on the device yet, but I did publish my previous post from VS Code on this machine.1
- Google Sheets works great.2
- FaceTime works great. Surprisingly good, actually.
That means this machine ticks off every box I wanted to use it for. Big success.
Less Good
- Using it in a dark room
- No backlit keyboard
- The screen’s contrast at sufficiently low brightnesses becomes unusable
- The speakers aren’t good for music
That’s a pretty inconsequential list.
Bad
- This section intentionally blank
If you’re reading this thinking “this might suit my needs” - chances are it probably does. If you’re like me and you just need a mobile option with a good keyboard and the ability to run basic apps on the go… this machine is an excellent choice.
Apple’s Entry-Tier Offers are Good
I use computers for my job.
I use computers for my hobbies.
I do video, coding, 3D CAD work, and even run local LLMs from time to time.
My demands of my technology are higher than most people I know.
And yet I have my needs more than satisfied by the cheapest Mac you can buy, the cheapest Apple Watch you can buy, a 3+ year old iPhone, a 6 year old iPad, and the cheapest MacBook. If I were buying an iPhone I’d buy the baseline model. Same goes with the iPad.
Cheap doesn't mean bad
Apple’s cheap offerings do not feel nor perform like cheap offerings.
What Andy Giveth, Bill Taketh Away
There’s a wikipedia article called “Andy and Bill’s law”. It’s otherwise known as “The Great Moore’s Law Compensator”. It’s essentially a flavor of Parkinson’s Law:
Work expands so as to fill the time available - Parkinson's Law
Andy and Bill’s law essentially say software demands will expand to utilize the compute power available.
As hardware improves, the demands we have of it will also improve. Developers machines get faster, so they write software that works just well enough on faster machines. Unless you freeze time, you’ll always be consuming most of what the hardware can do.
Apple has been slightly less guilty of this than Windows, historically.
Top 5: Topics My Brain Sucks At
All of these topics I understand academically - but in practice I always struggle.
5. Year Math
The Avengers came out May 2012. It’s currently March 2026. Is that 14 years ago? Or 13? Or am I crazy and somehow it’s 15 years ago? I know it matters when the event happened in the year and what today is within this year… but I never feel confident in my subtraction.
4. Swimming
How can a dude built not terribly different from the world most elite swimmers be so terrible at swimming?
3. Mirrors
I understand why mirrors show everything backwards, but why is it not also upside down? Okay, that’s just not how they work. But if you tip a mirror over and lay it on the table, now things are upside down. If I trace out the path the light is taking, it’s obviously correct… but my brain cannot work out conceptually why it is the way it is.
2. Time Zones
When I fly to Mountain Time, am I gaining an hour or losing an hour? This is similar to #5 above. I do this frequently. No matter what I will inevitably confuse myself.
1. Rhythm
I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this on this blog, but Melissa is a musician. Like a very good, widely capable one. She’s a full-stack hobbyst, but in her own entirely different way than me. It’s a very attractive skill set. She’s awesome.
Oh and I suck at rhythm. Melissa will talk about rhythms and beats and I swear I cannot understand what she’s doing. She’ll start counting and I will try to figure out what she’s hearing in the music that makes her count it out like that - and I routinely come up with nothing. Anything short of BUM BUM BUM BUM makes me feel DUM DUM DUM DUM.
…Although weirdly I can beat most Beat Saber levels on Expert? I have no idea, man.
Quote:
That was the most Squidward Taps I’ve ever heard. - Melissa
Those poor, syphilitic teddy bears. - Mitch, about Koalas