This is an interesting way of thinking about this, and I’m interested in the subject, generally. However, as a non-specialist, I have trouble thinking about what tasks correspond to single threaded or multi thread performance in a way that corresponds to how I actually use the computer. I have a 2024 MacBook Air with 16 GB of RAM which I use to browse the Internet, play StarCraft, run Spotify, etc. I Code, but only in a really lightweight IDE (Rstudio) and use Claude Code. My intuition is that for those tasks, the amount of RAM matters a lot more than single core performance, but I don’t know. Is that the right way to think about what performance means to a casual user?
I'm also a non specialist--my understanding is that in your case RAM matters if you want all those open at once, but the Neo is just fine with lower RAM if you're doing things one by one.
I was digging a little bit based on your comment, especially around Starcraft, and found out there is a quirk in RTS games where the core game basically has to be run single threaded to keep the game consistent across multiple computers in multiplayer. So I guess that's one area where single thread matters a lot!
Apparently single thread speed matters more for general system snappiness and multi threaded matters for running multiple tasks, hardcore rendering or video exports etc.
Based on my understanding of the Neo, even it's multi threaded performance is okay, so it's really just being held back by its ram. If it were available in 16 or 24 GB configurations it really would be a no brainer for most people.
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Side note do you play Starcraft 1 or 2, if it's 1 we should play sometime.
This is an interesting way of thinking about this, and I’m interested in the subject, generally. However, as a non-specialist, I have trouble thinking about what tasks correspond to single threaded or multi thread performance in a way that corresponds to how I actually use the computer. I have a 2024 MacBook Air with 16 GB of RAM which I use to browse the Internet, play StarCraft, run Spotify, etc. I Code, but only in a really lightweight IDE (Rstudio) and use Claude Code. My intuition is that for those tasks, the amount of RAM matters a lot more than single core performance, but I don’t know. Is that the right way to think about what performance means to a casual user?
Hey thanks so much for your comment Seth!
I'm also a non specialist--my understanding is that in your case RAM matters if you want all those open at once, but the Neo is just fine with lower RAM if you're doing things one by one.
I was digging a little bit based on your comment, especially around Starcraft, and found out there is a quirk in RTS games where the core game basically has to be run single threaded to keep the game consistent across multiple computers in multiplayer. So I guess that's one area where single thread matters a lot!
Apparently single thread speed matters more for general system snappiness and multi threaded matters for running multiple tasks, hardcore rendering or video exports etc.
Based on my understanding of the Neo, even it's multi threaded performance is okay, so it's really just being held back by its ram. If it were available in 16 or 24 GB configurations it really would be a no brainer for most people.
----
Side note do you play Starcraft 1 or 2, if it's 1 we should play sometime.