MacBook Neo Deep Dive: Benchmarks, Wafer Economics, and the 8GB Gamble

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Update, May 14th, 2026 with additional benchmarks and GPU benchmarks link New CPU benchmarks added covering: compression, crypto, integer kernels, matrix math, video transcode, and sustained thermal behavior. The short version is unchanged: at $599, the Neo is VERY fast for bursty everyday use and limited for sustained, memory-heavy, or pro workloads. GPU performance is not great. Updated: May 8th, 2026 with pricing and availability update.  Preface: I’m not really a Mac guy. But I have deep respect for what

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Best Computer for Claude Code in 2026

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Updated May 11th, 2026. Originally published February 6, 2026. TL;DR: If you are looking for the best computer for Claude Code in 2026, my short answer is the MacBook Air M5 (currently $150 off on Amazon). Most people do not need a monster workstation. The AI heavy lifting runs in the cloud. Your machine handles file I/O, builds, test suites, and your dev environment. Cheapest Mac that works: the $599 MacBook Neo. Windows: a ThinkPad with 32GB of RAM. Desktop

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Setting Up Claude Code Over SSH on Windows or Mac

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Summary: Claude Code’s Windows desktop app can SSH into a remote machine and run sessions there against your repo, MCP servers, and ~/.claude config. Setup is a four-field dialog, assuming ssh user@host (whereas that is your username and host) already works from your terminal. The non-obvious caveat: session history is siloed. The desktop app, the CLI on the remote, and the VS Code extension (if you use it) on the remote each keep separate session lists, even though they all

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Is the BCBS Settlement Payment Email Legit? (May 2026)

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Q. I just got an email from distribution@bcbssettlement.com telling me I have a virtual Visa prepaid card waiting from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Subscribers Settlement. Is this real, or is it a phishing scam? A. If is is from that email and matches the info below it is real. These have been going out recently (May 20, 2026) and redemption can be very quick, no issues. Here’s how: to check before clicking, what the redemption flow looks like, and what

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How to Fix the VMware Workstation “mksSandbox” Crash (ISBRendererComm Error)

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Have you ever been working in a VM, everything’s fine, then dialog pops up like this: VMware Workstation unrecoverable error: (mks) ISBRendererComm: Lost connection to mksSandbox (3796) After that your VM is crashed and is powered off. Whatever you were in the middle of, gone with it. You start it back up, it runs for a bit, then it might crash again. 😢 Very not cool! This happened to me on a Framework Desktop system with AMD CPU, Ubuntu 24.04

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Codex CLI feature protip /statusline

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TL;DR: There are a few ways to check your ChatGPT Codex usage, including: the web analytics page (covered in yesterday’s post) and the Codex CLI’s own status line, which can put live 5-hour and weekly percentages right at the bottom of your terminal session. The CLI method is easy to miss if you don’t have it enabled, thankfully it is super easy and configurable with the slash command /statusline. Codex CLI’s /statusline menu. Toggle the items you want, then press

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How to Check Your Codex Usage on ChatGPT (Plus and Pro)

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TL;DR: ChatGPT’s Codex has its own usage analytics page at https://chatgpt.com/codex/cloud/settings/analytics, separate from the main ChatGPT settings. You need to be logged into your ChatGPT account first. The page splits your Codex usage into three meters: a 5-hour rolling limit, a weekly limit, and pay-as-you-go credits. Here is an example screenshot: Where EXACTLY Do I Find My Codex Usage on ChatGPT? You have to be logged into your ChatGPT account first. Then paste this URL into your browser: https://chatgpt.com/codex/cloud/settings/analytics Two

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MacBook Neo GPU Compared: A18 Pro vs Snapdragon X2, Radeon, Arc, and RTX 5060

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The MacBook Neo is Apple’s $599 fanless entry Mac, built around the binned 5-core-GPU variant of the A18 Pro. I covered its CPU, thermal behavior, silicon economics, and 8 GB RAM tradeoff in the main MacBook Neo benchmarks article. This post is the GPU companion to that piece, and it exists for a specific reason. Why this post exists This post puts the MacBook Neo’s A18 Pro 5-core GPU against Snapdragon X1 and X2, AMD Radeon iGPUs, Intel Arc, and

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The History of ThinkPad: From IBM’s Bento Box to Lenovo’s Portable Workstations

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A hand reaching across the keyboard of a ThinkPad X220, with the index finger near the T and 5 keys and the red TrackPoint pointing-stick nub visible just below between the G, H, and B keys. Lenovo logo on the left of the palm rest, ThinkPad logo on the right, X220 model name on the bezel.

Note: this post is published but still in progress. Spot something missing or amiss? Comment at the end 👍. This is a long article. If you just want three paragraphs, this is it: Few laptop families display their lineage as visibly as the ThinkPad. Since IBM introduced the ThinkPad notebook lineup in 1992, the brand has survived more than three decades, a change of corporate ownership, and repeated shifts in what a portable computer is expected to do. Put a

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Codex /goal feature (TESTED)

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Summary: Codex’s new /goal mode lets you hand it a long-running task and walk away. From there it loops plan → act → test → review until your stop condition is met, or your weekly quota taps out. Currently it takes a two-line config edit to enable, then prefix your prompt with /goal. This is very much in line with what the reddit crowd does with a lot of their homebrew scripts and it opens some fun possibilities! Worth turning

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