We’re starting to see some PC makers respond to Apple’s MacBook Neo

我们开始看到一些 PC 制造商对苹果 MacBook Neo 作出回应

It seems fair to say that Apple’s MacBook Neo took the rest of the PC industry by surprise. Companies are used to competing on price and features with $1,000-and-up Apple laptops like the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, but their $600 and $700 models usually come with cut corners and compromises that are more noticeable than the Neo’s. The CEO of Asus admitted to being surprised by the laptop’s price (while simultaneously trying to downplay the Neo’s value); a Microsoft-backed study comparing PCs to the MacBook Neo included several laptops that can’t compete with the Neo’s price unless they’re deeply discounted.

可以说，苹果的 MacBook Neo 让整个 PC 行业感到措手不及。各大厂商习惯于在 1000 美元及以上的价位段与 MacBook Air 和 MacBook Pro 等苹果笔记本竞争价格与功能，但他们 600 到 700 美元的机型通常伴随着明显的缩水和妥协，而这些问题在 Neo 上并不明显。华硕首席执行官承认对这款笔记本的价格感到惊讶（同时试图淡化 Neo 的价值）；一项由微软支持的对比研究中，包含了几款除非大幅降价否则无法在价格上与 Neo 竞争的 PC 产品。

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve started to see a more intentional and targeted response to the MacBook Neo from PC makers. These mostly seem to revolve around Intel’s low-end Core Series 3 processors, codenamed Wildcat Lake; while Intel’s last few generations of low-end chips have mostly been rebrands of older and less power-efficient parts, Wildcat Lake is a new purpose-built budget chip that benefits from Intel’s latest CPU and GPU architectures and its 18A manufacturing process. This should help these chips compete better with the Apple A18 Pro in the MacBook Neo.

在过去几周里，我们开始看到 PC 制造商对 MacBook Neo 作出了更具针对性和目的性的回应。这些回应大多围绕英特尔代号为“Wildcat Lake”的低端酷睿 Series 3 处理器展开；虽然英特尔过去几代的低端芯片大多是旧款且能效较低产品的更名版，但 Wildcat Lake 是一款全新的专用预算型芯片，得益于英特尔最新的 CPU 和 GPU 架构及其 18A 制造工艺。这将有助于这些芯片更好地与 MacBook Neo 中的苹果 A18 Pro 竞争。

Many early Wildcat Lake systems have already been announced, though not all have included a price tag, and several have only been announced for the Chinese market as of this writing. Lenovo is planning to launch some IdeaPad Slim models with the new processors, with some optional spec upgrades including 16GB of RAM and a 120 Hz high-refresh-rate display. Asus and HP have also announced some early products. Most manufacturers that have announced Wildcat Lake laptops are playing coy about pricing and availability—this is somewhat understandable, given ongoing pricing volatility and component supply shortages.

许多早期的 Wildcat Lake 系统已经发布，尽管并非所有产品都公布了价格，且截至本文撰写时，有几款产品仅在中国市场发布。联想计划推出一些搭载该新款处理器的 IdeaPad Slim 机型，并提供包括 16GB 内存和 120Hz 高刷新率显示屏在内的可选规格升级。华硕和惠普也宣布了一些早期产品。大多数宣布推出 Wildcat Lake 笔记本的制造商对定价和供货情况讳莫如深——考虑到目前的价格波动和零部件供应短缺，这在一定程度上是可以理解的。

On paper, these systems have advantages over the MacBook Neo, but plenty of laptops have spec-sheet advantages as well. Whether they’re attractive will depend entirely on their cost; we may hear more about these systems (and other PCs from other manufacturers) during Computex in early June.

从纸面参数来看，这些系统比 MacBook Neo 具有优势，但市面上有很多笔记本在规格表上都具备优势。它们是否具有吸引力完全取决于成本；我们可能会在 6 月初的台北国际电脑展（Computex）上听到更多关于这些系统（以及其他制造商的其他 PC 产品）的消息。

Chuwi’s $449 “Unibook,” a blessedly nondescript laptop that looks good on paper but may or may not work out in real life. 驰为售价 449 美元的“Unibook”，这是一款难得的平庸笔记本，纸面参数不错，但实际表现如何尚不可知。

Chinese electronics manufacturer Chuwi contacted Ars about one aggressively priced Wildcat Lake laptop, a device called the “UniBook” with a Core 3 304 processor, a 14-inch 1200p IPS display, a backlit keyboard, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and more ports than the MacBook Neo, for an advertised price of $449. The spec sheet tells us nothing about how this laptop will feel to use, how it will hold up over time, or its US availability (a handful of Chuwi devices are available through Amazon, and the company sells some through its online store). But something with roughly these specs at around this price is what we’d like to see in true purpose-built MacBook Neo competitors from the PC companies.

中国电子制造商驰为联系了 Ars，介绍了一款定价激进的 Wildcat Lake 笔记本电脑，名为“UniBook”。该设备搭载 Core 3 304 处理器、14 英寸 1200p IPS 显示屏、背光键盘、8GB 内存、256GB 存储空间，且接口比 MacBook Neo 更丰富，标价为 449 美元。规格表无法告诉我们这款笔记本的使用手感、耐用性或在美国的供货情况（少数驰为设备通过亚马逊销售，该公司也通过其在线商店销售部分产品）。但我们希望看到 PC 厂商推出真正针对 MacBook Neo 的竞争产品，其规格和价格大致应处于这一水平。

A little help from Intel?

英特尔的助力？

Along with several of these Wildcat Lake systems, Intel’s Chinese arm recently announced something called “Project Firefly.” Firefly appears to be an Intel initiative to reduce costs and manufacturing complexity by providing PC makers with more reference designs. These wouldn’t take all the design decisions out of the manufacturers’ hands, but by standardizing on things like motherboard layout and thermal specifications they could potentially save companies money on development that could then be passed down to customers; the first laptop to take advantage of Project Firefly will be Lenovo’s Lecoo Air 14, but it’s unclear whether or when we’ll see these laptops in the US.

除了这些 Wildcat Lake 系统外，英特尔中国分公司最近宣布了一项名为“萤火虫计划”（Project Firefly）的项目。Firefly 似乎是英特尔的一项倡议，旨在通过为 PC 制造商提供更多的参考设计来降低成本和制造复杂性。这并不会剥夺制造商的设计决策权，但通过标准化主板布局和散热规格等内容，可以潜在地为公司节省开发成本，进而让利给消费者；首款采用“萤火虫计划”的笔记本电脑将是联想的 Lecoo Air 14，但目前尚不清楚我们是否或何时会在美国看到这些笔记本。

Intel has put its thumb on the scale of the PC industry before, occasionally offering savings or subsidies to companies that use its specs. Intel incentivized the development of MacBook Air-style thin-and-lights in the early 2010s with its Ultrabook program, and before that, it incentivized the adoption of Wi-Fi in consumer laptops with its Centrino branding. One key difference here is that $500-and-below PC laptops have existed for decades; the issue is that these systems are usually saddled with undesirable compromises, or only dip into that price range when they’re on sale, or are just generally low-quality and unpleasant to use. And when these companies do make a good low-end or midrange laptop, it’s not a guarantee that that laptop’s successor will also be good in the same ways. Intel might be able to help with the pricing, but it remains to be seen if they can help with availability or consistency.

英特尔此前曾干预过 PC 行业，偶尔会为使用其规格的公司提供优惠或补贴。英特尔曾在 2010 年代初通过“超极本”（Ultrabook）计划推动了 MacBook Air 式轻薄本的发展，在此之前，它还通过“迅驰”（Centrino）品牌推动了 Wi-Fi 在消费级笔记本中的普及。这里的一个关键区别在于，500 美元及以下的 PC 笔记本已经存在了几十年；问题在于这些系统通常伴随着令人不悦的妥协，或者只有在促销时才会降到这个价位，又或者通常质量低劣、使用体验不佳。而且，当这些公司确实制造出一款优秀的低端或中端笔记本时，并不能保证其后续机型也能保持同样的品质。英特尔或许能在定价上提供帮助，但能否在供货或产品一致性上提供帮助还有待观察。