Desktop systems have become a niche consumer product. With the mini you need a monitor, keyboard and mouse.
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Apple Was Caught Off Guard by MacBook Neo's 'Off the Charts' Demand
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krspkbl
macrumors 68030
load of rubbish.
apple products have always been expensive. everything is getting more expensive. apple is a huge brand and people want their products.
doesn't take a genius to release a low price/budget product. macbook entry point has been $999 for years. now its $599. no **** these are gonna be popular.
apple products have always been expensive. everything is getting more expensive. apple is a huge brand and people want their products.
doesn't take a genius to release a low price/budget product. macbook entry point has been $999 for years. now its $599. no **** these are gonna be popular.
ArrayDecay
macrumors 6502
Cook added that the MacBook Neo is currently "supply constrained."
That doesn't reflect well on "logistics genius" Tim Cook.
That doesn't reflect well on "logistics genius" Tim Cook.
Well, it's currently "stock constrained" just like the MB Neo 🙂
But your kind of right in that the original G4 Mac Mini was introduced mainly to combat the "Macs are expensive" perception - with a lot of talk about "sticker shock" and "Bring your own display, keyboard and mouse".
Hmm. Now they have to support MacOS on the A-series, Apple could probably make one on the back of the next Apple TV, with minimal extra R&D.
Not sure what the market would be - beyond a few impulse buys from, well, the sort of people on MR asking for a Mac Neo. Demand for desktop Macs is a lot lower than laptops, leaving less headroom for Apple to have overlapping products without "cannibalising" sales of the more expensive models. If they want to attract new people to the Mac ecosystem, a cheap laptop is the better bet.
Thing is, "sticker shock" on the Mac Mini is already about the same as the Macbook Neo - you can buy a $600 Mini and "Bring your own display, keyboard and mouse". Many people have a TV with HDMI that they could use, any USB keyboard and mouse will do and/or can be had for ~$30. So I'm not sure that there's a gaping "Mac Neo" sized hole in the market.
jz0309
macrumors P6
Apple expected the NEO to be a hit, they just underestimated demand. I'm not 100% surprised by this. When you're entering a brand new section of the market, you make your guesses based on the data you have. I'm sure they looked at how well the M1's were selling at Walmart, how well the MAc Mini sells relative to the higher priced desktops, and a bunch of other data about PC's in the $5-600 range sales vs the $1K plus range, and made a guess. Turns out demand was even higher than that.
I forget the exact numbers, but Macrumors posted an article a while ago about how much Apple thought the NEO would expand laptop sales. It was a pretty significant jump.
Not a bad place to be in. I'd rather deal with this type of issue than the iPhone Air type demand issue any day.
I forget the exact numbers, but Macrumors posted an article a while ago about how much Apple thought the NEO would expand laptop sales. It was a pretty significant jump.
Not a bad place to be in. I'd rather deal with this type of issue than the iPhone Air type demand issue any day.
Headline and the article say different things. But no way they were caught off guard since the Macbook M1 at Walmart which I'm typing on now was selling for 599-699 for 2 years and doing great.
I think this speaks more to how out of touch Tim Cook is with the average customer’s willingness or ability to spend money on a laptop.
But I suppose when you live inside Apple’s bubble, it’s normal for someone to pay over $3000 for a VR headset.
But I suppose when you live inside Apple’s bubble, it’s normal for someone to pay over $3000 for a VR headset.
tennisproha
macrumors 68020
Yeah it's clear that people bought Windows PC simply because of the price.
I hope that Microsoft and the vast majority of Windows PC makers are scared now. They have been making money off selling shoddy 'good enough' products for decades. Now in Apple, they have a formidable challenger.
'You know how you love your iPhone? And you need a new PC? The MBN is the price of that new PC that you were getting and all your iPhone stuff & apps is on it too. I think that you'll like it...'
The MBN obviously has a bright future & I very much hope that Apple continues to compete at the middle end of the market across several segments, where it can:
- iPhone Neo? The iPhone 'e' series in less boring colours? Although I imagine that Apple absolutely want to keep upselling people to their more expensive iPhones, as it's THE 'must have' tech product for most people.
More likely:
- Watch Neo - A version of the Watch SE that looks cooler than the current SE and comes in fun colours. Maybe under JT we might see a bold move to using the - gasp - Series 7-9 chassis? Or like the Neo, maybe even a new chassis?
- AirPods Neo - again, fun colours please. We've had 20+ years of Apple's in-ear headphones being in white. Enough!
- iPad Neo? The regular iPad is basically the 'Neo' version anyway. Might as well just rename it as that? And it already comes in fun colours!
- Apple TV 'Neo' - A cheaper Apple TV that does just the basics and doesn't try and be a gaming machine (although I can't imagine that they'd call this Neo).
QCassidy352
macrumors G5
I'm surprised by how much better the response has been to the Neo than to the 17e. I suppose the answer is that the price gap between the 17e and 17 is a lot smaller than between the Neo and the MacBook Air, but still.
I think that you make a serious point.
With all that money sloshing around the exec suites of the Valley, I think that often, people at that level forget what 'regular' people want.
For example, I contend that even though everyone here gets excited about new iOS features (hey, I do too), that the iPhone / iOS is too complex now for regular people, with way too many features and options and very poor onboarding to each years's iOS.
How many regular people know about the new features of iOS 26 (except for Liquid Glass)?
Not many I would bet.
sw1tcher
macrumors 604
Apple could have been cautious with demand since lower priced iPhones (e.g. iPhone SE, iPhone 16e and iPhone 17e) didn't translate into big sales numbers. People still opt for the iPhone Pro and Pro Max over lower priced options... though all the carrier upgrade deals and the monthly installment plans could be a big factor in peoples decisions.
If I needed a new laptop this would be a no brainer for me. Would do everything I need from a home computer at a great price.
iPhone Air isn't cheap...it starts at $1000. The iPhone 17e is more like a "Neo iPhone", with regards to being the most affordable.
TwoBytes
macrumors 68040
What will catch pepole by suprise is comments in the next year or so from users saying 'my neo is so slow after the update, 8GB of RAM isn't enough! I beachball when i load up 3 tabs'.
They didn't think a £600 Mac would sell out? Really? It hits the perfect price point for people.
EugW
macrumors P6
At this price point, not at all.
That’s an exaggeration but it does occasionally lag a bit already right out of the box.
It’s all relative though. If you’re coming by from an old Intel MacBook Air, that occasional momentary lag probably won’t matter at all. However, if you’re used to a 16 GB Apple Silicon MacBook Air, you may notice it.