Hands-On With the New MacBook Neo

[bradman83]

Give me a Core i5 Ultra device over this any day. Far better multi-thread performance for sustained workloads, TB4 and PCIe support. And what does 50% better at everyday tasks mean? Like opening email? That has been instantaneous on laptops for 10 years, if not longer.

Yeah, just get an Air.

Multicore score between the A18 Pro and Core Ultra 5 226V are largely the same. As for Thunderbolt, I highly doubt the target demographic for this ultra entry-level laptop is in the market for comparatively expensive Thunderbolt peripherals versus significantly cheaper USB hubs, docks, drives, etc. I don't think either you nor I are who this laptop is targeting.

 

[DPL145$]

I’d rather pay more and have something that’ll be more capable, faster, and last longer than something cheap that’ll be slow in a few years.

It wont be slow in a couple of years- not for its intended audience and users.

 

[ikir]

They've essentially made a netbook, a category that died out years ago and Apple said they would never enter.

This is a full macOS experience, with performance that most cheap computers can't reach, with a great battery life a display which is great. I don't see where you see a netbook.

 

[DPL145$]

Multicore score between the A18 Pro and Core Ultra 5 226V are largely the same. As for Thunderbolt, I highly doubt the target demographic for this ultra entry-level laptop is in the market for comparatively expensive Thunderbolt peripherals versus significantly cheaper USB hubs, docks, drives, etc. I don't think either you nor I are who this laptop is targeting.

Bingo!!! You nailed it-like your average school kid is going to be out buying Thunderbolt peripherals…..

 

[WarmWinterHat]

They've essentially made a netbook, a category that died out years ago and Apple said they would never enter.

This is NOTHING like a netbook, did you ever have one? I had a couple, and the largest of the two had a 9in screen, two hours of battery, and was slow as a dog.

 

[dwaltwhit]

As someone that works with high school aged students, this will definitely be enticing.

 

[EugW]

As for Thunderbolt, I highly doubt the target demographic for this ultra entry-level laptop is in the market for comparatively expensive Thunderbolt peripherals versus significantly cheaper USB hubs, docks, drives, etc. I don't think either you nor I are who this laptop is targeting.

To be fair, USB 4 is essentially Thunderbolt, and USB 4 peripherals have dropped substantially in price now that it is mainstream. In fact, Thunderbolt 4 hubs are now actually in the 2-digit US$ price range in 2026.

Nonetheless, I'm not surprised, considering it's an A series chip, and that's OK for this type of product. My main issue at this point is the 8 GB RAM which is non-upgradable even at the time of ordering. That won't be fixed until it gets updated to A19 Pro or better.

This is NOTHING like a netbook, did you ever have one? I had a couple, and the largest of the two had a 9in screen, two hours of battery, and was slow as a dog.

More like a Chromebook competitor, but same idea.

As someone that works with high school aged students, this will definitely be enticing.

My kid will be attending high school soon, but the 8 GB along with the bazillion other cuts makes it a non-starter for me. I'll wait until the Back-To-School promotion to see if it makes sense to just get the MB Air instead, but would also consider waiting a year for the 12 GB Neo.

The other issue is I was going to pair it with my hand-me-down 4K+ 3840x2560 monitor, but it seems the Neo may not be able to support that resolution. At least on paper it is limited to 4K 3840x2160.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

To be fair, USB 4 is essentially Thunderbolt, and USB 4 peripherals have dropped substantially in price now that it is mainstream. In fact, Thunderbolt 4 docks are now actually in the 2-digit US$ price range in 2026.

Nonetheless, I'm not surprised, considering it's an A series chip, and that's OK for this type of product. My main issue at this point is the 8 GB RAM, which is non-upgradable. That won't be fixed until it gets updated to A19 Pro or better.


More like a Chromebook competitor, but same idea.

I've never personally seen a thunderbolt perhapiral other than a dock. I have one, and also have a usb-c portable dock/dongle thing, and realistically, it does the same the thing for me as my full thunderbolt 4 dock.

 

[N47H]

This seems like a good idea on paper, it’s going to find its audience quite well (I am not that audience). However, the specs scream planned obsolescence, and a bit scummy. Going with the older iPhone chip rather than the latest one purely so they already have an upgrade spec ready to roll out.

 

[contacos]

No keyboard backlight is unfortunately a deal breaker for me as I use my laptop a lot in the dark but I guess my MacBook Pro M1 Pro is still better anyway?

 

[Howard2k]

Ouch - windows trackpad.

 

[neuropsychguy]

This looks to be a quality computer for the price. The display appears to be better than pretty much anything else in the price range and machine class (thin and light laptop). This is going to shake up the laptop market.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

More like a Chromebook competitor, but same idea.


My kid will be attending high school soon, but the 8 GB along with the bazillion other cuts makes it a non-starter for me. I'll wait until the Back-To-School promotion to see if it makes sense to just get the MB Air instead, but would also consider waiting a year for the 12 GB Neo.

Yea, more along the lines of Chromebooks. Difference is, though, the Chromebooks have full Google education backend that is lightyears of ahead of anything Apple offers.

My kids both have school-issued chromebooks, so no sense in buying them a machine they won't be using.

 

[TEG]

They've essentially made a netbook, a category that died out years ago and Apple said they would never enter.

I mean, they didn't.

Netbooks used far lower power processors than than mainstream PCs. This uses a chip that is just a powerful as the M4, with very few compromises, and most of those are in video and I/O. This is like getting an M4 Air, with 8GB of RAM/VRAM, without the price tag.

This is actually quite compelling for someone like me. I have a Mini Pro at home, but still rock a 2012 MBPr for most of my work. At this price point it is quite compelling for me to get something like this to have for work, meetings, etc; and still come home to my primary machine at home. I don't have a use case where my primary machine HAS to be portable. Would it be nice to play a few games on it, yes. Will I be able to, yes, but maybe not as well as on my Mini at home.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Yea, more along the lines of Chromebooks. Difference is, though, the Chromebooks have full Google education backend that is lightyears of ahead of anything Apple offers.

My kids both have school-issed chromebooks, so no sense in buying them a machine they won't be using.

Perhaps people will just install chrome on the Neo and watch it slow down to a crawl?

 

[zub3qin]

Anyone have any idea how well this neo 8GB will perform on lengthy AI chatbot threads (web based Gemini, ChatGPT, etc) -- I noticed this is where even a 16GB old i5 Air lags like molasses. Yet an M1 2020 MB Pro with 8GB is pretty fine (but is memory swapping (yellow in Activity monitor)

Would you get a 8GB neo if you could get it down to $379 (after an i5 trade in) or pay $750 for a refurb MR Air 16GB? Use is Teams, moderate Safari surfing, AI chatbots long threads, Outlook, powerpoint, word, Messages, Notes, occasional very very very light iMovie editing.

 

[Howard2k]

Just waiting for the cry baby poser wankers to appear moaning how this can’t process 8k video files in an instant….damn, Apple produces a cheap notebook aimed at kids or those just wanting to write simple school papers, take notes, watch a youtube video and the poser crowd goes nuts with complaints. No this isn’t intended for major coding projects, photo and video editing and if you were a real heavy user you already know that fact and do not hang around chat rooms pretending you are……

Stupid thing won’t even run my 200GB LLM.

 

[JPack]

Basically, nobody here is the target audience. So don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t fit your needs.

It’s for the huge chunk of switchers from Windows and people who never bought a MacBook before, or at least have a very old pre-2018 model.

If you already have a MacBook Air or Pro, this probably isn’t for you. You’ve already moved beyond this.

 

[kagharaht]

Hmm not lighter than the MacBook Air...

 

[EugW]

Yea, more along the lines of Chromebooks. Difference is, though, the Chromebooks have full Google education backend that is lightyears of ahead of anything Apple offers.

My kids both have school-issued chromebooks, so no sense in buying them a machine they won't be using.

My kids use Chromebooks at school, but pretty much all the kids there hate them. When asked what they want to use at home, they all say either Windows machines or Macs.

Basically, nobody here is the target audience. So don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t fit your needs.

It’s for the huge chunk of switchers from Windows and people who never bought a MacBook before, or at least have a very old pre-2018 model.

If you already have a MacBook Air or Pro, this probably isn’t for you. You’ve already moved beyond this.

My kids are in the target audience, but I am the gatekeeper. 🙂

 

[needsomecoffee]

PSA: Display color gamut is limited to sRGB. I guess Dan never watches HDR content. From Wikipedia: "sRGB is the standard 8-bit color space for most web and SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) content, offering limited, consistent colors. HDR (High Dynamic Range) uses 10/12-bit color, delivering a much wider color gamut (DCI-P3/Rec.2020) and significantly higher contrast/brightness for more vivid, realistic, and lifelike, immersive imagery."

 

[turbineseaplane]

Basically, nobody here is the target audience. So don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t fit your needs.

Yet somehow everyone here seems to know who the target is and what their desires and needs are.

It's very interesting indeed.

 

[bookcase]

No keyboard backlight is unfortunately a deal breaker for me as I use my laptop a lot in the dark but I guess my MacBook Pro M1 Pro is still better anyway?

Yeah, the lack of a backlit keyboard (and the weight) is a bummer. But the product itself is not bad for an entry-level MacBook. I have a MBP for work and bought a MBA a few months ago for personal use. The Neo would've served me well if I didn't have an Air.

 

[EugW]

PSA: Display color gamut is limited to sRGB. I guess Dan never watches HDR content. From Wikipedia: "sRGB is the standard 8-bit color space for most web and SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) content, offering limited, consistent colors. HDR (High Dynamic Range) uses 10/12-bit color, delivering a much wider color gamut (DCI-P3/Rec.2020) and significantly higher contrast/brightness for more vivid, realistic, and lifelike, immersive imagery."

Yes, this is also an issue, but truthfully for most people it's probably not. However, all of our iPhones are wide colour Display P3, so the images from our phones won't look the same on a Neo. They would look better on a MacBook Air.

Yeah, the lack of a backlit keyboard (and the weight) is a bummer.

For the target demographic, I don't think that's a big deal at all.

 

[Tim Jobs the 2nd]

Basically, nobody here is the target audience. So don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t fit your needs.

Exactly but some people are incapable of grasping that.