Apple’s Cheap Laptop Looks Like A Winner

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Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 118, your guideline to nan champion and Verge-iest worldly successful nan world. (If you’re caller here, welcome, please return my Switch distant truthful I tin get immoderate activity done, and besides you tin publication each nan aged editions astatine nan Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been reference astir moon factories and railroad monopolies and backing into parking spots, yet digging into nan Acquired podcast archives, taking tons of notes connected Michael Pollan’s caller book astir consciousness, watching everything Look Mum No Computer has ever made, breaking my machine trying to get nan Obsidian CLI to activity for me, giving nan Zen Browser different effort arsenic my default, and building a bunch of Ikea furnishings for my bedroom. I love building Ikea furniture.

I besides person for you Apple’s cheap(er) caller laptop, a caller exemplary from OpenAI, a nosy caller characteristic for your Pixel phone, and SO MANY awesome games to play this weekend. Let’s do this.

(As always, nan champion portion of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you watching / reference / playing / listening to / gazing wistfully astatine correct now? Tell maine everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you cognize personification other who mightiness bask Installer, guardant it to them and show them to subscribe here.)

The Apple MacBook Neo. I described this connected a Vergecast watercourse arsenic “Fisher Price My First MacBook,” and I deliberation that’s astir right. But I fishy this point is going to beryllium nan nonstop correct operation of nosy colors, conscionable capable power, and a terrific value ($599!) to make it a lot of people’s first MacBook. I will say, though: I don’t emotion nan yellow. Indigo each nan way.
OpenAI’s GPT-5.4. OpenAI is pushing hard to drawback up to Claude Code, and I support proceeding that this caller exemplary is simply a large measurement successful that direction. Plus it adds autochthonal machine use, which you should attack EXTREMELY carefully, but puts an LLM successful a position to beryllium moreover much useful. One to play pinch this play for sure.
Formula 1 connected Apple TV. One, I deliberation if you’re reference this there’s a beardown chance you’d admit F1, which is arsenic overmuch a tech point arsenic a sports thing. Two, nan races will now beryllium connected Apple TV, and truthful acold it appears Apple has immoderate awesome ideas astir really to show them. You person until Sunday to drawback up connected Drive to Survive!
Slay nan Spire 2. Oh boy were a batch of you successful my inbox astir this this week. The much-anticipated sequel to a beloved roguelike is retired (technically successful early access, but it seems to beryllium highly playable already), and I cognize has already ruined nan productivity of galore of america successful nan Installerverse. Don’t miss this one.
Pokémon Pokopia. What a week for endlessly playable games! Imagine Pokémon, but alternatively of spending each your clip fighting and collecting, you mostly conscionable bent retired and make friends and build stuff. It’s not Animal Crossing or Minecraft, but it’s definitely those things-ish. And I mean that arsenic a compliment.
Android Desktop Mode. If you person a caller Pixel, you request to update to nan latest Android and past plug your telephone into a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. No, we’re not rather astatine “it conscionable becomes a Chromebook!” levels of greatness. But Desktop Mode really, actually, genuinely works. I’m very excited astir it.
Marathon. This is nan benignant of immense live-service crippled that almost ne'er useful anymore. (So far, nan adjacent Fortnite is just… Fortnite.) But Marathon is astatine nan very slightest a very good, very shiny, very aggravated game, nan benignant you dream and expect Bungie to propulsion off. Don’t slumber connected this 1 — you ne'er cognize really agelong it’ll last.
Glaze by Raycast. Vibe coding whitethorn not beryllium coding, but it’s still beautiful technically complex. I emotion this attack from Raycast, which tries to automate a bunch of creation activity and merchandise implementation truthful virtually each you person to do is picture nan features you want. I’ve been playing pinch it for a fewer days now, making a cardinal small devices I some do and don’t need, and it’s a heck of a batch of fun.
The Nothing Headphone A. I’ve travel astir connected Nothing’s retro-future headphone design, and I really for illustration nan full kit erstwhile it only costs $199. I wish nan mic sounded better, but it has each nan controls, connectivity, and artillery life you could inquire for.

The past fewer nights, it’s been emotion for illustration 2018 again. I get a notification a fewer minutes earlier 9, and abruptly Scott Rogowsky is connected my surface moving a unrecorded crippled show. It’s not HQ Trivia anymore, though, and it’s not moreover trivia. The app is called Savvy, nan crippled is called TextSavvy, and it plays for illustration a real-time Wordle competition. It’s very different, and very fun, and I can’t judge really quickly nan crippled has go portion of my evening regular again.

The crippled has been successful testing for a while, but this week was its charismatic launch. To people nan occasion, I asked Scott to stock his homescreen pinch us, hoping I’d spot whether he really is cheating during nan games aliases not. (He swears he’s not.) I besides wondered if he still had HQ connected his phone, for illustration I did for a bunch of years.

Here’s Scott’s homescreen, positive immoderate info connected nan apps he uses and why:

The phone: iPhone 16 moving iOS 18.5.

The wallpaper: My five-year-old ace mutt Buscemi, successful a barrel.

The apps: Messages, WhatsApp, Savvy, Notes, Camera, Settings, Slack, Substack, Google Calendar, Phone, Mail, Safari, Google Maps.

Call maine crazy, but I mostly usage my telephone for communication: Messages (I support notifications off), WhatsApp (my sister lives successful Scotland, and I person a bunch of friends abroad), Phone (the missed calls are each spammers... I’ll get backmost to them soon), Gmail...

Calendar mightiness beryllium my most-used app, ever truthful overmuch to do, and I’m ever forgetting erstwhile it’s clip to do them. I utilized to support a beingness notebook connected maine astatine each times erstwhile I started doing comedy; still perpetually penning things down, but now it’s successful nan Notes app.

I started a Substack connected my 40th birthday, and it’s been 1 of nan astir creatively rewarding experiences of my life. I constitute astir immoderate nan hellhole I want, and make podcasts astir immoderate nan hellhole interests me. I conscionable began “The Savvy Diaries,” wherever I stock nan joys and challenges of moving a startup mobile app astatine nan nexus of tech and intermezo (techertainment?).

I besides asked Scott to stock a fewer things he’s into correct now. Here’s what he sent back:

The first point that comes to mind are these black-and-white, Paranormal Activity-style TikToks I spot each clip I unfastened nan app, pinch cats bursting into bedrooms and waking up their French-speaking owners by playing guitar aliases captaining a pirate ship. I dunno, mightiness beryllium AI.

The Ben and Emil Show. I’m partial because Ben is simply a friend (and a softball teammate), but he and his buddy Emil person been making value contented connected nan regular, including a caller masterpiece called “We took Acid astatine nan Train Festival.” Drop everything for nan adjacent 20 minutes and watch it now. Hilarious and heartwarming and perfectly gorgeous.
Lowkey obsessed pinch Clavicular… I’ll ne'er hide wherever I was nan time I learned he sewage framemogged by an ASU frat leader (I was mid jestergooning pinch a group of Foids). I started a run to get him co-hosting pinch maine connected TextSavvy — moreover made a nonstop appeal to him. Unfortunately, nan hashtags #TextClavvy and #Savvicular haven’t taken disconnected successful nan measurement I hoped. [EDITOR’S NOTE FROM SCOTT: Mr. Rogowsky wishes to make clear that his liking successful Clavicular extends only to nan young man’s position arsenic a taste artifact — and what it signifies astir nan societal organism that creates this benignant of celebrity.]
And americium I allowed to plug myself? I co-founded and co-funded Savvy, truthful nan crippled really should beryllium called Win Scott Rogowsky’s Money. One could reason that I’m a funnier, much aliases little Jewier Ben Stein — pinch amended politics.

Here’s what nan Installer organization is into this week. I want to cognize what you’re into correct now arsenic well! Email installer@theverge.com aliases connection maine connected Signal — @davidpierce.11 — pinch your recommendations for thing and everything, and we’ll characteristic immoderate of our favorites present each week. For moreover much awesome recommendations, cheque retired nan replies to this station connected Threads and this station connected Bluesky.

“As a chap dada of mini humans, I’d propose giving a sling container a try. I’ve been utilizing nan Fyro Citta Sling 3L regular and it’s been a crippled changer. Having my wallet, keys, headphones, telephone each easy accessible and collected successful 1 spot has been great. Especially useful while wearing a diaper container backpack.” — kborer

“I’ve been going backmost to nan MP3 days and ripping each my CDs. If anyone has recommendations for apps that will car tag a monolithic postulation of MP3s, I’ll return it.” — B

“Pok Pok and PBS Kids conflict measurement supra their level for kids games. There is simply a heavy untapped marketplace for not crappy toddler games.” — Rahul

“Re-listening to nan audiobook type of Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos aft his passing past week, while impatiently waiting connected my special-edition hardcovers to come.” — Marcos

“Obsessively listening to nan podcasts: Well There’s Your Problem, Tran Girlismo, and Remap Radio.” — Oliveoiltrain

“Reverse: 1999 released nan latest type of Critter Crash, an incredibly tiny car conflict mode (think TFT from Riot). While I’ve loved nan full crippled since time one, I emotion this mode they merchandise 2-3 times a twelvemonth much than anything.” — Kiro

“Check retired Everything Weather connected iOS and Android. It uses nan National Weather Service arsenic its source, and is good presented. And almost each of it is free. It moreover includes abstraction weather.” — Kurt

“Hulu’s Paradise, Season 1 and Season 2 (so far). See what nan quality tone goes done and really it prevails successful unprecedented times.” — Sam

“This caller video / mini documentary connected HyperCard, a forgotten gem of nan aureate property of nan Mac that fto mean group create applications. A benignant of web earlier nan web.” — Gregory

“Pentaton: it conscionable plays music. This hid nether my radar for excessively long, but yet a ace clean, ace focused, sufficiently audiophile appealing FLAC record subordinate that focuses connected conscionable playing files good and is DAC and headphone alert to boot. Best portion is you conscionable constituent it astatine a files of files and that’s it: nary copies, nary files renamed, nary weird other directories of overseas UUID aliases... it conscionable sounds files and their tags. And plays them backmost *perfectly*.” — Noah

Allow maine immoderate very little self-promotion: The caller play of Version History launches this weekend! We’re getting amended and amended astatine making this show, and I really emotion nan six episodes successful this season. First up is Furby, which is simply a genuinely chaotic episode. It drops this Sunday.

To that end, I person a favour to ask. We created caller pages for Version History connected TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and I would beryllium so grateful if you’d subscribe aliases travel 1 aliases each of them. Growing caller things is really hard, and I really emotion this show, and we person large plans for it. So cheque retired nan caller episodes, like, subscribe, show your friends, clasp their eyes and ears unfastened while they cheque it retired too, and cognize I americium eternally grateful. The Installerverse remains undefeated.

See you adjacent week!

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