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Almost bought a refurb neo then realized it is $100 more

edubfromktown

edubfromktown

macrumors 65816
Original poster
My wife's M1 Air 8 GB / 128 GB is still doing fine for her light (primarily web browsing and e-mail) use case.

I saw Neo's appeared on the Apple refurb site at $120 discount and was ready to grab a 512 GB w/fingerprint reader until I realized that they are more expensive now.

Not holding my breath for Apple to roll back to the old pricing when RAM and storage costs come down from the stratosphere.

Going to wait a while and maybe deal her my ProM3 14" down the road if the Air no longer cuts it running Monterrey.

I already offloaded her iPhone backup to an external backup drive (so that half the 128 GB of storage is not consumed by it!)
 
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If I had no system, the Neo would likely be what I'd get for my wife as refurb Air's are overkill in terms of price and functionality for what is needed.

During inflationary times in general, I'd rather not purchase a new system and keep what's working fine for now. In this case, particularly since the refurb units were manufactured long before the RAM and SSD cost increases.
 
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As you note, that refurbished Neo was built using stock produced prior to Apple's price spike announcement. Maybe as far back as a few months prior to increase. To spike that refurb's price to better reflect what they say they need to charge now for a new one is worse that mere chutzpah.

This doesn't even cover the argument that if - when they first came out - Apple already knew what the memory costs were and chose to initially do a loss leader on the Neo - attracting new customers before they applied the 'real' price, and making the lower-cost model near impossible to find in their stores. Borderline 'bait and switch'.

Good on you for holding out. I still pull out my 2017 Air (8/256) running Monterey for work, travel and cafe visits and it runs 95% of the apps (web, emails, office suite, photo / video / audio editing and playback, etc) I have on my M2 Mini (running Tahoe). In my mind - given the price spikes - both are now of far higher value than they were because they still do the work and haven't cost me anything additional.
 
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Whoa, I had not noticed the price jump.
When was this ?

Sure glad I picked both Indigo and Blush at the old EDU pricing!
 
There is absolutely no scenario which will result in RAM prices dropping within the next 5 years. That’s why I have been purchasing all my new tech on release as I was anticipating price rises on existing tech given what has happened in the PC/console space.
 
Andeddu said:
There is absolutely no scenario which will result in RAM prices dropping within the next 5 years. That’s why I have been purchasing all my new tech on release as I was anticipating price rises on existing tech given what has happened in the PC/console space.
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Yup, I seen it coming for awhile, did almost all my upgrades last year, snagged the m5 air on release when I seen the kept the same price. All my tech from phones to laptops is updated except my 14 pro max. I would love to upgrade this year but if the prices get raised too high for the 18 then I'll just keep it longer, nothing wrong with it.

I know so many people that decided to hold out and are kicking themselves in the ass now as the prices keep going. I managed to convince one friend last year to do a few upgrades to their aging pc.3 months later, the cost of those parts was triple what they paid and they thanked me lol
 
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@1BadManVan
Funny, I just turned in my iPhone 14PM back to my employer when I retired last month.

I am sure glad that I got 2 Neos before the price hikes and at EDU pricing.

Such a nice machine - travelled thru Europe with it and not worry about theft of loss as I used to when I travelled with my $1300 12" Retina MB which I am now selling.
 
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Andeddu said:
There is absolutely no scenario which will result in RAM prices dropping within the next 5 years. That’s why I have been purchasing all my new tech on release as I was anticipating price rises on existing tech given what has happened in the PC/console space.
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Yeah, even if feel you might have a need to upgrade soon, you're better off buying now then waiting.

I'm using that mentality, in that I'm leaning towards buying some components to upgrade my gaming PC. Doing this now, will probably save me money. I don't "need" to upgrade in 2026, though I can see myself upgrading either in 2027 or 2028 but i fear the pricing will be so prohibitive at that point I'll not be upgrading. That is its a now or never situation.
 
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maflynn said:
Yeah, even if feel you might have a need to upgrade soon, you're better off buying now then waiting.

I'm using that mentality, in that I'm leaning towards buying some components to upgrade my gaming PC. Doing this now, will probably save me money. I don't "need" to upgrade in 2026, though I can see myself upgrading either in 2027 or 2028 but i fear the pricing will be so prohibitive at that point I'll not be upgrading. That is its a now or never situation.
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Yah, similar situation - M1 Studio has gotten long in the tooth...

Looking at a new M4 Studio but it's pricey compared to what I paid 4 years ago.

Looked into upgrading storage but the NAND blades are expensive too.

Don't know if waiting for the upcoming M5 Studio will drop the price on the M4 ?
 
4sallypat said:
@1BadManVan
Funny, I just turned in my iPhone 14PM back to my employer when I retired last month.

I am sure glad that I got 2 Neos before the price hikes and at EDU pricing.

Such a nice machine - travelled thru Europe with it and not worry about theft of loss as I used to when I travelled with my $1300 12" Retina MB which I am now selling.
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The 14 pro max is the longest ive ever kept a phone before lol. I was doing yearly upgrades for awhile and realized I was chasing minor upgrades and decided to hold off longer when I got my 14 pro max, and here we are almost 4 years later still waiting for something to come along to justify upgrading.
 
CloudChief said:
Isn’t the Neo a bit of a downgrade compared to the M1 Air anyway?
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Not really. The MBN is intended to compete against Windows and Chromebook laptops that are in the same price range. People that view it as a "downgrade" compared to other Apple products are missing the point. The target audience of the Neo is different.
 
I
ElPaso said:
Not really. The MBN is intended to compete against Windows and Chromebook laptops that are in the same price range. People that view it as a "downgrade" compared to other Apple products are missing the point. The target audience of the Neo is different.
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I agree but I meant going from an M1 air to a Neo if you already have it is a downgrade and probably won’t net you much of a performance uplift.
 
CloudChief said:
I agree but I meant going from an M1 air to a Neo if you already have it is a downgrade and probably won’t net you much of a performance uplift.
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Tech radar has a write up where I pulled this chart from

The Neo only beats out the M1 (a 6 year old processor) on the single core benchmark, overall however the M1 produces superior results in every other category. Looking at current hardware, the M5 MBA offers more upsides and longevity and I think overall is a better use of money, but that's just my opinion.

1786201472518.png

1786201908997.png
 
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maflynn said:
Tech radar has a write up where I pulled this chart from

The Neo only beats out the M1 (a 6 year old processor) on the single core benchmark, overall however the M1 produces superior results in every other category. Looking at current hardware, the M5 MBA offers more upsides and longevity and I think overall is a better use of money, but that's just my opinion.

View attachment 2651078
View attachment 2651079
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Depends on your use case, the M5 is an absolute monster and well above the requirements of your average causal user. It’s like my girlfriend using a 17 Pro for social media, music, web-browsing, WhatsApp and banking; she’s literally using only a fraction of the available performance rendering such a powerful device moot.

At least I play AAA games on my 17 Pro with a PS4 controller. I have to justify the hardware somehow.

My point is that you wouldn’t pay 86% more for an M5 MBA over a Neo unless you had a use case for doing so.
 
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