During today’s earnings call, Asus CEO S.Y. Hsu reacted to Apple’s announcement of the "budget-friendly" MacBook Neo and its implications for the PC market. Here’s what he said:

‘There has been much discussion about how to compete with this product’

One day before the official launch of the new MacBook Neo, Asus CEO S.Y. Hsu addressed Apple’s upcoming product during the company’s earnings call.

As reported by PCMag, the executive highlighted the "shocking" price tag of the MacBook Neo, stating that this device has upended the PC market:

“In the past, Apple’s pricing has always been high, so for them to release a very budget-friendly product is clearly a shock for the entire industry. (…) In fact, there has been much discussion about how to compete with this product across the entire PC ecosystem.”

On the other hand, Hsu questioned the MacBook Neo’s ability to handle heavy workloads in terms of efficiency. From PCMag:

Despite competitive threats, Hsu argued that the MacBook Neo may have limited appeal. He pointed out the laptop’s 8GB of what is called "unified memory" or RAM, noting that customers cannot 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 laptop that can perform more compute-intensive tasks,” Hsu said.

9to5Mac’s Opinion

Hsu’s overall reaction to the new MacBook Neo reflects other responses we’ve seen from the PC world, but his comments about its firepower and limited efficiency capabilities remind us of Steve Ballmer’s initial dismissal of the iPhone.

From our own review of the MacBook Neo to many other reviews published earlier today, it is clear that the device can perform productivity tasks beyond simple content consumption. This is also true for the iPad.

However, he is right to point out the non-upgradable 8GB RAM as a significant limitation, perhaps coming in second after the slow SSD speeds highlighted in The Verge’s review.

Nonetheless, framing it as a limited content consumption device may reflect more on a PC manufacturer’s approach to building a low-cost laptop and say less about what the MacBook Neo can truly offer.

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