Apple MacBook Neo?

Tulipone

Tulipone

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Morning,

I haven't seen any discussion here regarding the upcoming MacBook Neo - and kind of surprised. Has it passed you all by as an inferior to the MacBook Air or Pro? Are you just not interested? Too underpowered?
 
Tulipone said:
Morning,

I haven't seen any discussion here regarding the upcoming MacBook Neo - and kind of surprised. Has it passed you all by as an inferior to the MacBook Air or Pro? Are you just not interested? Too underpowered?
Click to expand...

It's a cut down machine using a phone chip and a max of 8GB ram, plus lower quality screen. Not really of interest.
 
I watched a couple of youtube vids, seems to have fixed ram and storage with no upgrade available. Too low a spec for me but maybe ok for general light use but in that case there are probably cheaper alternatives. Ok for Apple fans though.
 
ancient_mariner said:
It's a cut down machine using a phone chip and a max of 8GB ram, plus lower quality screen. Not really of interest.
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woof woof said:
I watched a couple of youtube vids, seems to have fixed ram and storage with no upgrade available. Too low a spec for me but maybe ok for general light use but in that case there are probably cheaper alternatives. Ok for Apple fans though.
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I take the point - but also note that the 'iPhone' chip is higher spec than an M1 that was largely applauded and has more unified memory than most iPhones. I get that Apple are now pumping out 5th Gen M chips and it is a difficult sell for us 'power users' to reach the far back tech - but my M4 Pro Mac mini very breaks a sweat and for £499 (with education discount) feels like a pretty good deal. I have one on preorder for tomorrow and looking forward to seeing just how under powered it turns out to be.

I accept that I am also included in the Apple Fan category!
 
I may get the base model for my daughter who is 16 and she can use it for school / college work. She will just watch YouTube and such on it so doesn't need to be powerful. At present she is using an old £250 Chromebook that is well past it's best.

Lightroom mobile runs smoothly on my iPhone 16 pro max, so you may get away with it...you'll have to test it out for us and let's us know.
 
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I wanted my daughter to get one of these. The spec suited perfectly while she is at Uni. However her friends all have full blown Macbook Airs or Macbook Pro's so she insisted on getting the new M5 Macbook Air instead even though she will only use it for internet access and documents. :rolleyes:

Kids eeh what can ya do.
 
I'm sure it's entirely usable for surfing and email etc, if that's what you want a computer for.
 
f/1.2 said:
I wanted my daughter to get one of these. The spec suited perfectly while she is at Uni. However her friends all have full blown Macbook Airs or Macbook Pro's so she insisted on getting the new M5 Macbook Air instead even though she will only use it for internet access and documents. :rolleyes:

Kids eeh what can ya do.
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Sounds like my kids..my daughter wants one cause it's pink and matches her iPhone 15
 
There is nothing really wrong with it as long as you understand target market it is aimed at. This is an affordable, super portable basic laptop capable of typical daily communication, business and productivity tasks will full internet connectivity. Thats what most people ever really use.

However if you expect a high end productivity or ai powerhorse expect to be disappointed. It is self explanatory
 
LongLensPhotography said:
There is nothing really wrong with it as long as you understand target market it is aimed at. This is an affordable, super portable basic laptop capable of typical daily communication, business and productivity tasks will full internet connectivity. Thats what most people ever really use.

However if you expect a high end productivity or ai powerhorse expect to be disappointed. It is self explanatory
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I think that is very fair assessment and what I am hoping for. Last holiday I took my iPad (as I don’t own a laptop and wasn’t really looking to buy one) to check my images to make sure I wasn’t doing something stupid and loose or regret a load whilst something was still recoverable. The iPad wasn’t ideal, doesn’t have much storage and didn’t really work out so if this Neo is capable of Lightroom type tasks and the normal email, browsing and Office apps than that'll be just fine. If it struggles then it'll go back and I'll consider a MacBook Air.
 
So went to collect it from the Apple Store this morning and thought I’d have a quick play before hand. Chatting with an advisor I think we both came to the conclusion that the photo editing should be really aimed at iPhone pictures rather than large raw files - we agreed either an Air or Pro would be a far better purchase. The option remains on the table should I want one - but cancelled this one. The citrus was nice but if there is a next time it’ll be blue.
 
Tulipone said:
So went to collect it from the Apple Store this morning and thought I’d have a quick play before hand. Chatting with an advisor I think we both came to the conclusion that the photo editing should be really aimed at iPhone pictures rather than large raw files - we agreed either an Air or Pro would be a far better purchase. The option remains on the table should I want one - but cancelled this one. The citrus was nice but if there is a next time it’ll be blue.
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I think you've come to a sensible conclusion.
 
When these are actually in use will be interested to see what folk are actually doing with them. Today is day 1.
 
For the money they are pretty good, not much else can compare at the price. They will be excellent for what they are designed for.

Summed up elsewhere, not a MacBook Pro alternative, but the first step in killing the iPad off.

If you want to haul 50 tonnes don't by a scooter.
 
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Tulipone said:
When these are actually in use will be interested to see what folk are actually doing with them. Today is day 1.
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It’s basically a Chromebook but using a Mac O.S interface.

People will use them in the same way. Perfect for someone tha just wants a laptop for internet, email and word processing.

A Chromebook will do the same thing but at half the price.
 
Delphin said:
For the money they are pretty good, not much else can compare at the price. They will be excellent for what they are designed for.

Summed up elsewhere, not a MacBook Pro alternative, but the first step in killing the iPad off.

If you want to haul 50 tonnes don't by a scooter.
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I wonder how many folk buy a truck to move 50 tonnes then only use it to carry a carrier bag of shopping home every week?
 
Delphin said:
Summed up elsewhere, not a MacBook Pro alternative, but the first step in killing the iPad off.
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Which is interesting, because it feels like it wasn't long ago that Apple wanted to move everyone to tablets and away from traditional computers.

Tulipone said:
I wonder how many folk buy a truck to move 50 tonnes then only use it to carry a carrier bag of shopping home every week?
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Over the last 10 years we've seen computers change from being just about able to keep up to generally having way more capability than needed. It takes a while to realise that people don't have to have a top spec machine any more. The M eries chips have turned the need to upgrade Apple computers on its head.
 
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I do find it quite amusing that Apple seem to be able to control my GAS better than I - or my wife can. I did consider buying the latest Apple AirPods Pro 3 moving up from AirPod 4 ANC and despite pre ordering them, they kind of talked me out of it in store - and then today after preordering the Neo again they kind of talked me out of it. Almost without doubt both times the right decision.
 
Tulipone said:
So went to collect it from the Apple Store this morning and thought I’d have a quick play before hand. Chatting with an advisor I think we both came to the conclusion that the photo editing should be really aimed at iPhone pictures rather than large raw files - we agreed either an Air or Pro would be a far better purchase. The option remains on the table should I want one - but cancelled this one. The citrus was nice but if there is a next time it’ll be blue.
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iPhone pictures or large raw file....this "genius" is not so much a genius.

1 - iPhone is capable of shooting RAW, it can shoot really large RAW files too. The latest iPhone 17 Pro produces a 48mp RAW file in around 55-75mb each.
2 - What he should really said or meant was that this machine is perfectly find editing single photos or small batches, even a RAW file, it will do fine but it is going to struggle if you are trying to load a large library into it and then batch process them out.

It will work, but it will chug.

The bottleneck of this machine is the lack of RAM.

Treat this as a REALLY fast Chrome Book, it can even play games like Balatro I bet as well.

I think the Air is the minimum I would go for any photography work. I have an M3 one with 24/512 and it handles everything LR and PS just fine, I even use Illustrator, InDesign, I treat it like my M4 Mac Mini.
 
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ancient_mariner said:
Which is interesting, because it feels like it wasn't long ago that Apple wanted to move everyone to tablets and away from traditional computers.
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I don’t believe for a moment that Apple are trying to kill the iPad; tablets is a growing market segment which they dominate (over 50% of sales globally, even more in North America and Asia)

The Neo is aimed at bringing people into the macOS ecosystem at à lower price point. It may steal a few sales from iPads, but it’s really competing with other laptops.
 
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ancient_mariner said:
Which is interesting, because it feels like it wasn't long ago that Apple wanted to move everyone to tablets and away from traditional computers.



Over the last 10 years we've seen computers change from being just about able to keep up to generally having way more capability than needed. It takes a while to realise that people don't have to have a top spec machine any more. The M eries chips have turned the need to upgrade Apple computers on its head.
Click to expand...

Agree I am still on an M1 MacBook Pro and to be honest itdoes everything i need
Recently needed to edit my wifes Sony 4K video footage on Davinci I had expected to need to use my wifes PC but thought that I would try it out on my laptop it was absolutely fine was able to edit it and process the footage easily
 
Well in typical fashion, my daughter's old chromebook gave up the ghost yesterday (it was mine from years ago and was about £250).

So, she said "I will happily accept any macbook donations dad".

She is 15 (16 this year) and doing her GCSEs and then college.

Now, she wants the Neo as it is pink (like her iphone) but I cant help thinking that an M4 Air (base model) would better for her and perhaps last longer (possibly into University?).

I am in Solihull tomorrow, so will go and have a play.

She said she typically has her various school sites open (uses Chrome), youtube, youtube music, her various socials and bits like that. I know on my M4 base model air it can show 9 gb ram in use (green pressure) with a few chrome tabs and youtube open - so think the 16 gb RAM is the better bet for a little more longevity?

What do others think?

I don't have an issue spending the money if it is for school and such, not a problem...although she isn't having a pro model lol.
 
I think people are forgetting how important this is for education which Apple makes billions from.

Lots of schools and universities have moved away from recommending tablets, ipads etc. Some school's provide Chromebook's or very cheap basic windows laptops, the Neo gives Apple a product that while more expensive can compete with that.
 
Adamcski said:
Well in typical fashion, my daughter's old chromebook gave up the ghost yesterday (it was mine from years ago and was about £250).

So, she said "I will happily accept any macbook donations dad".

She is 15 (16 this year) and doing her GCSEs and then college.

Now, she wants the Neo as it is pink (like her iphone) but I cant help thinking that an M4 Air (base model) would better for her and perhaps last longer (possibly into University?).

I am in Solihull tomorrow, so will go and have a play.

She said she typically has her various school sites open (uses Chrome), youtube, youtube music, her various socials and bits like that. I know on my M4 base model air it can show 9 gb ram in use (green pressure) with a few chrome tabs and youtube open - so think the 16 gb RAM is the better bet for a little more longevity?

What do others think?

I don't have an issue spending the money if it is for school and such, not a problem...although she isn't having a pro model lol.
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Get her the Neo for now education price is only £499.

Then get her a Macbook or whatever if he needs it later on down the line. Expecting even a high end Macbook Pro to still be perfoming at a high level by the time she hits university may well be stretching it a bit. The Neo should see her past her A levels and into Uni comfortably.
 
f/1.2 said:
Get her the Neo for now education price is only £499.

Then get her a Macbook or whatever if he needs it later on down the line. Expecting even a high end Macbook Pro to still be perfoming at a high level by the time she hits university may well be stretching it a bit. The Neo should see her past her A levels and into Uni comfortably.
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Yes, I was thinking base spec if I do. Don't even think I would take out apple care on it.

I would hope a macbook air would last the last year of her GCSEs and 2 years of A level use :-/

I was thinking about the Air as it is more powerful, more RAM and if it is M4, it comes with a charger - I can order from Amazon and have about £165 of Amazon vouchers currenlty.
 
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Adamcski said:
Yes, I was thinking base spec if I do. Don't even think I would take out apple care on it.

I would hope a macbook air would last the last year of her GCSEs and 2 years of A level use :-/
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It will for sure, sorry I misunderstood, I thought you were saying you expected it to still be good for when she hit university.
 
Adamcski said:
Yes, I was thinking base spec if I do. Don't even think I would take out apple care on it.

I would hope a macbook air would last the last year of her GCSEs and 2 years of A level use :-/

I was thinking about the Air as it is more powerful, more RAM and if it is M4, it comes with a charger - I can order from Amazon and have about £165 of Amazon vouchers currenlty.
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Refurb air maybe?

www.apple.com

Refurbished 13.3-inch MacBook Air Apple M1 Chip with 8âCore CPU and 7âCore GPU - Space Grey

Originally released November 2020 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch 8GB unified memory256GB SSD1Touch ID sensor720p FaceTime HD Camera
www.apple.com
 
I looked on Amazon and the neo is about £569 but we will get edu discount.

I've looked at the airs on there also.

I'm in Solihull later, so may find John Lewis have a sale on the M4 stock they have, so will take a look also.
 
I'm heading into Solihull today so will have a good look around.

Worst case, I will give her my base M4 Air and I'll get a different one. My kids typically inherit my laptops.

My son who is anti apple has had a surface Pro something, a HP spectre 360 (that I used for a university course a few years ago) and has used those for his school and a levels.

My daughter has just had a Chromebook over the years, so it will be nice to give her something a bit better, as my son has had the better stuff recently.
 
Doesn't look like there is the ability to attach a monitor, just two USB C ports. That's a shame, it's been years since I have used a "laptop" at home with just the std screen....
 
Jelster said:
Doesn't look like there is the ability to attach a monitor, just two USB C ports. That's a shame, it's been years since I have used a "laptop" at home with just the std screen....
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You can attach a monitor to the USB-c port. but unlike the air and pro, you can only attach one external monitor, and only to the faster port.

Unike the air and pro, only one the ports is a "fast" port. the other is a usb-2 speed.
 
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