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

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Update, May 14th, 2026 with additional benchmarks 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.  Updated: May 8th, 2026 with pricing and availability update Preface: I’m not really a Mac guy. But I have deep respect for what Apple has done with their silicon, and I’ve been

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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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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 AI Workstations

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IBM ThinkPad 720C (1993) in the IBM-Beige color variant, open clamshell view, with the red TrackPoint visible between the keys.

Note: this post is published but still in progress. Spot something missing or amiss? Comment at the end 👍. TL;DR: ThinkPad has shipped continuously since October 1992 under two corporate owners (IBM 1992 to 2005, Lenovo 2005 to present), making it among the longest-running commercial laptop families on the market and unusually visually continuous from the 1992 700C to the 2026 P14s Gen 6. The 2005 IBM-to-Lenovo handoff did not rupture the brand the way skeptics expected: IBM’s ThinkPad engineering

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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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The BeBox: Inside One of the Most Beautifully Overbuilt Computer of the 1990s

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Late 2000. There is a grey and blue tower PC on my dorm-room desk like nothing anybody who walks into the room has ever seen. The Be logo on the front, a 3.5″ floppy peeking out the bottom of the drive bays, and the vertical grille that hides two columns of green LEDs (blinkenlights) dancing with the CPU load.  I paid $400 for it in two installments of $200 to a guy named Danan, about $745 inflation-adjusted to 2026. That

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“Unable to Load Usage Limits” on claude.ai? Use /usage in Claude Code

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TL;DR: I went to claude.ai/settings/usage this morning to check my Claude Max (5x) plan limits and got a red error box: “Unable to load usage limits. Please try again later.” Anthropic’s status page banner read All Systems Operational, but Settings > Usage was still erroring for me at 7:44 AM Central. The workaround that did work: run /usage inside Claude Code. The session and weekly meters loaded immediately. claude.ai/settings/usage on the morning of April 30, 2026. The Plan usage limits

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The Mother-In-Law Method for Claude or ChatGPT

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Screenshot of the original Mother-In-Law Method post on r/ClaudeAI by u/Ancient_Perception_6

A Reddit post called “The Mother-In-Law Method” is making the rounds in r/ClaudeAI right now. The pitch from u/Ancient_Perception_6: prompt Claude to review your code as if it were written by your mother-in-law, the one who insulted your cooking and your “weird-looking feet.” Find revenge in the diff. Claude obliged, spawned four parallel “hostile reviewers” with distinct beats (money math, tenancy, API contracts, tests), and 31 minutes later returned 27 issues plus nits. Funny post. Funnier thread. It’s tagged as

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Best Laptop for Claude Code

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Claude 3D Printed Logo on MacBook Air M5

Originally drafted April 28, 2026. Still have to add photos. Feel free to comment (at the bottom) if you have any questions! Summary:: If you came here looking for the best laptop value for Claude Code in 2026, you can’t beat the MacBook Air M5 when it’s ~$949 at Amazon for the 16GB / 512GB model, $150 below MSRP. Jump to: Editor’s Choice | What Claude Code Needs| Mac Picks | Windows + Linux Picks | Laptops to Be Careful

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Best Way to Cook Corn on the Cob

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My favorite simple way to cook corn on the cob: simmer shucked ears in water, a cup of milk, and half a stick of butter for 7 to 8 minutes. The kernels come out sweet, rich, and tender. Most people will not need extra butter at the table. Quick recipe facts Serves: 4 to 6 Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 8 minutes Total: 13 minutes What you need 6 ears of corn, husked and silks removed (cut in half

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