The MacBook Neo

jackhalford

> Given Apple's historically very premium pricing, launching such an affordable product is certainly a shock to the entire market No? Apple has been delivering way cheaper laptops ever since M1, this one is just even cheaper. I thought PC execs were asleep at the wheel but not this bad.

scuff3d

"Of course, it's not that it cannot do all the work, but considering user experience and those hardware limitations, the experience, I think, differs significantly from mainstream products..." I worked in retail for a decade, a lot of that was selling computers. The vast majority of what people buy computers for could be done a toaster. You don't exactly need top end specs to browse the internet, reply to emails, and write the occasional document.

dagmx

I was watching this video and it’s pretty impressive what can be done on this spec machine. https://youtu.be/d-VOt9559Gk?si=tYlDstnaxtQWoJ88 He opens 50+ apps at once while working in Final Cut and Lightroom. Obviously anyone doing those full time would benefit from more resources but I think this is going to be enough for a big chunk of the population, and will be more appealing than the windows alternatives.

rurban

I've used an MacAir with 8GB ram starting at 700€ for years, writing and testing compilers. This was until the macOS and butterfly keyboard desasters, which made me go back to 450€ ThinkPad Ryzen laptops with Fedora, upgraded to 64GB RAM. My wife is using a fancy new air for 2500€, which is way better. But I still think of the good old MacAir times, they'll try to bring up again.

frankacter

I’m a bit confused about who this article is really for. The MacBook Neo starts at $600 so when I read: “MacBook Neo is built on an iPhone chip—the A18 Pro. It’s far less capable of running intensive tasks than any of Apple’s M‑series chips or any moderately powered Intel or AMD processor.” and that: “It’s merely the right kind of performance for anybody who wants to browse the internet or stream video.” ...at this price point there are plenty of alternatives for laptops with better performance and specs. For example, you can get a 15.6" Ryzen 7 5700U laptop with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD for less than the “unbeatable” price of the Neo: https://www.amazon.com/NIAKUN-Computer-Processor-Graphics-Ke... Or a 15.6" Intel Core i7‑1255U/12650H laptop with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD in a similar price range: https://www.amazon.com/HP-Laptop-High-Performance-i7-1255U-4... Both of these offer: * A more traditional laptop CPU * 2–4× the memory * 2-4× the storage (1TB vs 256GB base on the Neo) Standard HDMI/USB‑C video out for external displays So I can definitely see the appeal of the Neo for people who just want an inexpensive way into macOS, but the claim that “no other budget laptop can compete.” doesn't track. Maybe it should have been "The least expensive Macbook yet, but that comes with significant downsides."

GeekyBear

PC Magazine came to the same conclusion: > Apple pulled off what I thought wasn't possible. The MacBook Neo is poised to set the budget-laptop world on fire as a $599 system that's better-built and sharper than anything else at or below its price. https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/apple-macbook-neo Similar to the Verge: > even the cheapest MacBook Neo is good enough to be the go-to Apple laptop for a lot of people. Actually, not just the go-to Apple laptop; the Neo’s hardware simultaneously embarrasses an entire class of affordable (and even far pricier) Windows laptops, as well as just about any Chromebook. And the thing runs on an iPhone chip. https://www.theverge.com/tech/891741/apple-macbook-neo-a18-p...

shrubble

It’s really an iPad running MacOS instead of iOS; the question is whether people want that. I’m not the target market since I require Linux compatibility but I realize that is not a necessity in the market.

pipeline_peak

This feels like the first time Apple’s walled garden approach has paid off in the desktop arena. With a cheaper Windows alternative to the MacBook Neo, your options are inferior battery life with AMD 64, or Windows Arm’s inferior compatibility. I doubt Microsoft is holding developers hands when transitioning to Arm the way that Apple does. Not to mention they’ve been using their own chips.

pjmlp

All these PC can't compete reviews are based on US prices, outside it is ridiculous expensive for a 8 GB laptop.

bob1029

Looks like the PC laptop market is going to have to stop being bad on purpose. I hope this causes significant pain for vendors like Dell, Microsoft and Asus. I don't see any way they can get out of this situation without seriously improving the UX of their products. Windows itself is likely implicated here too.

pupppet

Microsoft will respond to this by furiously adding more garbage to Windows.

NoPicklez

As someone who buys Asus motherboards when he builds PC's, it hasn't been a shock for me as an owner of a Macbook for the last 18 years. I've been of the firm opinion for a very long time that Macbook's are the best productivity laptops and now even more so once Apple moved from Intel to their own M chips. Their entry level Macbook before the Neo you could buy and it would be a laptop that would see you for many many years.

rf15

Except for the bit that immediately killed it for us in the office: only one external display. Even if you close the lid. I dream of the day I can kick windows into the next bin, but this is the one thing that the Neo fails hard on, all other compromises would've made this a great remote dev machine.

KingMachiavelli

IMO the consumer PC industry is near an existential crisis. The big players are just awful at marketing; too many SKUs and models - it takes a paragraph to figure out how 2 Dell laptops from the same release year differ. The exact same specs will be in two different chassis designs. Additionally, you can’t count on the basic being correct. It takes a hour of research to know if the trackpad is not-awful, keyboard doesn’t suck, and display isn’t a 300nits POS unusable even in a bright room. You want the same performance as a MacBook Air without one of these fatal flaws? You’ll hand to spend $1500+ anyway so you save nothing. Then the OS is full of ads and pre-installed garbage “gaming-optimization-tool” or driver tools taking up 99% of a single core while being riddled with security holes.

gamblor956

He wasn't referring to the build quality which is about average, or the ipad level performance. He was referring to the supply chain. The shock is that Apple was able to build something like this with current component costs.

smackeyacky

My daughter just ordered one of these. She’s a student (not stem) and her ancient 8Gb MacBook Air with an intel processor was still serving well but the battery has become unuseable and her keyboard is becoming flaky. The Neo is such a perfect replacement and easier than fixing the Air.

ExoticPearTree

Maybe other manufacturers will actually stop making crappy hardware that feels like its taped together?

VerifiedReports

Windows is such an offensive, defect-ridden pile of shit now that every PC maker should be blaming Microsoft for their inability to compete with the Neo. I bought my parents Asus laptops years ago, and can't wait to replace them with a Neo. Microsoft has spurned and scorned users. Now it's time for computer makers to push back and reject its shit. I'd love to see a consortium of computer makers come together to refine a Linux distro that's consumer-friendly enough to oust Windows and compete with Mac OS.

svilen_dobrev

maybe Apple is "subsidizing" this ? nudge/"help" people to join the party? trying to ride something around the windows-bullshitization , recent memory-prices etc..

bdbdbdb

600 is a bargain for a MacBook, but I can't see the public windows users switching en masse. Most people who buy cheap windows laptops do so because 1) they need to replace a broken laptop and want to pay the lowest amount possible 2) they don't want to learn some new thing 600 might seem budget, but it's out of budget for most people. And my guess is PC manufacturers will retaliate against this by cutting prices just a little to drop under that 600 price point for mid range ryzens, with more ram and space. Any family members I've helped shop for computers only care about how much space it has, how cheap it is, and will it struggle to run things like the last one. As it sits the MacBook is more money for less gigabytes