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Considering the Macbook Neo to replace my M4 Mac Mini

ClaraStahlbaum

ClaraStahlbaum

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
This query may not make much sense for others, but for me, I have never owned an actual laptop myself. I have used laptops that belonged to family members, but I have never owned a laptop myself for any lengthy period of time. I am thinking about selling my base model M4 Mac Mini for the Macbook Neo, and using the Macbook Neo in place of a desktop. I don't do many intensive processes on my computer, mostly just internet browsing, and some light photo editing in a paint app. Does anyone have any advice?
 
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I am going to suggest keeping the Mac mini and buying the Neo if you can afford it. But that's just me. Or if budget allows trade the mini in for a MacBook Air.

Even the base M4 mini is overkill for a lot of people's daily use. Only you can make that final decision based on what is best for your daily uses.
 
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What is the resolution of the the display you use with the Mac Mini that you will presumably use with the Neo?

If it’s more than 4k or there are multiple external displays, this would be a downgrade.

Do you use Thunderbolt or more than one fast USB devices?

If yes, this would be a downgrade.

Otherwise, you likely gain more with the portability than you gain from the more powerful Mac Mini.

For example, my Mac Mini has one 6K and one 5K monitor plugged into it so this swap wouldn’t work for me personally. But…I am not most people and I think most people would be well served with the Neo and the extra money from not spending more.
 
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Ignore the haters and the MBP snobs who love to upsell people and get them to spend money they dont need to. The best thing to do is buy the Neo and try it for 12 days. If you find you don’t like it, return it and keep the Mac mini. If you do like the Neo, determine if you can make use of the Mac Mini as a storage server.
 
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Going from the M4 mini to the Neo would be a definite downgrade for me. But I have three monitors along with direct attached storage devices connected to the Mini. It's my daily driver but I also use it for file backups for my other devices.

Again if you don't need the extra ports or the higher performing CPU then the Neo will be just fine.

@Apple_Robert gave good advice about trying the Neo first before getting rid of the Mac mini. And yes the Mini makes a nice file server, backup server and update server for other Apple devices. It also works for a file server for Windows machines with SMB sharing turned on.
 
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I have an m4 mini base also. It's way better. But if you need portable trade it in. It's 300 right now at apple approximately.
 
It's hard to recommend a Neo over a Mac Mini M4, just because it'll be such a degradation in performance. I think (without proof, mind you) there would even be a noticeable difference using Safari. It would be less 'snappy'.
 
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PCMacUser said:
It's hard to recommend a Neo over a Mac Mini M4, just because it'll be such a degradation in performance. I think (without proof, mind you) there would even be a noticeable difference using Safari. It would be less 'snappy'.
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Its not for everyone but I don't think it's that bad. The single core benchmarks are pretty close to the m4 mini. Safari does not deal multicore performance. If it did the NEO would have never been released. For most the NEO is just fine.
 
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ivnj said:
Battery? Mac Mini does not use a battery.
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Right, so when you run a battery runtime test on a Mac Mini, it doesn’t perform too well…. In this, performance metric, the MacBook Neo wins.

Point is performance is more than just a measure of raw compute power under ideal circumstances.
 
Initially I was a PowerBook/MacBook user that went iMac only for 15 years straight. It was better value and as a guitarist that lived in Logic, it made sense as a studio machine. Then I bought an M2 Air, specced it up, and decided to try the portable lifestyle as Silicon changed the game. I ended up giving away my 5K iMac that no longer supported the latest macOS, and I have been portable only ever since, and don’t want to go back. If I had to, the Mac mini would be my choice. I tried iPads during the desktop years, but it was frustrating and clunky. I say give it a go and keep the Mini if you can. You will have the best of both worlds for minimal cost. Your experience will then make your future choices easier. As @Apple_Robert said, you have 14 days to decide if the Neo resonates with you and your needs.

When I bought the Air I bought it instead of a Pro because of the Midnight option in 2022, I also wasn’t sure how well I would take to just a laptop. So I invested in the Air and figured I could just use it for many things. My journey went full circle and I just love this thing, though transitioning from a 27” 5K to 13.6” Air for Logic, plugins, and Guitar Pro sheet music creator took a couple of weeks, there is a focus that I have working on laptops that is stronger than large monitors for reasons I can't explain. Just how my brain works.
 
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ClaraStahlbaum said:
I am thinking about selling my base model M4 Mac Mini for the Macbook Neo
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Are you considering due to hype here and elsewhere, or do you truly need a laptop?

I think going from a M series processor to the A18, will largely be a mistake. The Neo has nearly less of everything when compared to a current day M series Mac.

Ultimately its your decision but when I upgrade, I prefer getting a faster more capable machine, not a slower less capable one
 
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There is a variety of different responses here. This is what I expected. Now I haven't made a decision yet, and it will likely not be for some time until I have the ability to decide fully.

qacjared said:
What is the resolution of the the display you use with the Mac Mini that you will presumably use with the Neo?

If it’s more than 4k or there are multiple external displays, this would be a downgrade.

Do you use Thunderbolt or more than one fast USB devices?

If yes, this would be a downgrade.

Otherwise, you likely gain more with the portability than you gain from the more powerful Mac Mini.

For example, my Mac Mini has one 6K and one 5K monitor plugged into it so this swap wouldn’t work for me personally. But…I am not most people and I think most people would be well served with the Neo and the extra money from not spending more.
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I have a single 4k Philips Monitor with no plan or desire for multiple displays at this time. While maybe eventually having multiple displays would be nice, I've never owned multiple displays, nor does my desk space really allow for it.

Apple_Robert said:
Ignore the haters and the MBP snobs who love to upsell people and get them to spend money they dont need to. The best thing to do is buy the Neo and try it for 12 days. If you find you don’t like it, return it and keep the Mac mini. If you do like the Neo, determine if you can make use of the Mac Mini as a storage server.
Click to expand...
bapegg said:
Going from the M4 mini to the Neo would be a definite downgrade for me. But I have three monitors along with direct attached storage devices connected to the Mini. It's my daily driver but I also use it for file backups for my other devices.

Again if you don't need the extra ports or the higher performing CPU then the Neo will be just fine.

@Apple_Robert gave good advice about trying the Neo first before getting rid of the Mac mini. And yes the Mini makes a nice file server, backup server and update server for other Apple devices. It also works for a file server for Windows machines with SMB sharing turned on.
Click to expand...
I don't have any real purpose for a "Storage Server" at this time. I am barely up to 100GB of storage taken up on my 256GB Mac Mini. If I buy the Neo, I might end up going for the 512GB version of it, which will have more than enough storage for what I need.

maflynn said:
Are you considering due to hype here and elsewhere, or do you truly need a laptop?

I think going from a M series processor to the A18, will largely be a mistake. The Neo has nearly less of everything when compared to a current day M series Mac.

Ultimately its your decision but when I upgrade, I prefer getting a faster more capable machine, not a slower less capable one
Click to expand...
I see a lot of people panicking over 8GB of Ram, but is that really true? I sort of doubt it. Unless you are someone who is doing large editing productions with Final Cut Pro or intensive Gaming, I don't really think it is that much of a loss.
PCMacUser said:
It's hard to recommend a Neo over a Mac Mini M4, just because it'll be such a degradation in performance. I think (without proof, mind you) there would even be a noticeable difference using Safari. It would be less 'snappy'.
Click to expand...
I don't use Safari. I have gotten around to using Brave recently and am fairly happy with it. I have never liked the Safari browser, personally.
 
ClaraStahlbaum said:
I see a lot of people panicking over 8GB of Ram, but is that really true? I sort of doubt it. Unless you are someone who is doing large editing productions with Final Cut Pro or intensive Gaming, I don't really think it is that much of a loss.
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I can't answer because its been far too long since I've had a Mac with 8GB. I can tell you that for windows it absolutely be too little.

Food for thought; I mentioned this before, not sure where - Over the years, there's been so many threads advising people configure their new macs for 32GB, 64GB or more. Now it seems those folks are now saying 8GB is more then enough - kind of odd but not surprising.

As I mentioned, what may be "ok" today may not be tomorrow. That is if you are already close to the limit now, its only going to get worse later.
 
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maflynn said:
I can't answer because its been far too long since I've had a Mac with 8GB. I can tell you that for windows it absolutely be too little.

Food for thought; I mentioned this before, not sure where - Over the years, there's been so many threads advising people configure their new macs for 32GB, 64GB or more. Now it seems those folks are now saying 8GB is more then enough - kind of odd but not surprising.

As I mentioned, what may be "ok" today may not be tomorrow. That is if you are already close to the limit now, its only going to get worse later.
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I have used Windows computers in the past with 8GB of Ram. They are absolutely trash. Even my Tower PC that I added 32GB of Ram to was still trash in comparison to MacOS. MacOS just runs smooth, with little to no issues over the years. I don't miss Windows. When I switched to MacOS I didn't look back.

To your point, that is a concern that I have about the Neo. The Neo might be fine today, but when the Second Generation comes out, issues could arise for the first.
 
I will be able to tell you how the Neo does after UPS delivers mine today. I don't plan on putting much of a load on it with a bunch of stuff running at once.

I can see the Neo possibly having issues in a few years with just 8 GB but time will tell how the A18 Pro chip does. It will depend on future OS upgrades.

If you don't need or want to use the Mac mini as a file server or you feel that you don't have a use for it then trade it in. And if you are worried about the Neo's 8GB of RAM then think about trading the Mini in for a MacBook Air.

I always recommend at least 512GB of storage simply due to future OS upgrades taking up space on the drive. This keeps you from having to delete things or moving them to external storage. It also gives you a bit more room for when the OS needs to use SWAP.

The Neo will be my first MacBook and should allow me to get rid of my Windows laptops. My plans are for using it for a few amateur radio programs that don't use much system resources.

Hopefully we gave you good advice that helps you make an informed decision. Go with what you feel will work best for you.
 
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If you don't need the performance of a Mac mini, then sure!
What I did before getting an M4 MacBook Air was use my Mac mini as the powerhouse, and the M1 MacBook Air as the go.
 
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Mrbobb said:
An immediate problem am seeing is the single port for charging and external monitor, not a deal breaker but annoying.
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Then you would hate the 12" rMB with one port I have been using since 2017.

So sad to see the almost 10 year old Macbook go away....
IMG_4713.JPG
 
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For most people the Neo is more of an iPad replacement than a true primary computer. Think of it as more of a supplemental device that can handle the majority of what you throw at it, especially when you're on the go, but not in the most effective or efficient way; which is when you would want to go back to using your main machine.
 
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