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Hands-On With the New MacBook Neo

DEMinSoCAL said:
So is the laptop underpriced or is the iPhone overpriced? Hmmmm...my guess is Apple isn't losing money on the Neo so what does that say about charging $1000 for a phone?
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I imagine the profit margin is higher on an iPhone, but I also imagine both component costs and obviously R&D costs are much higher on iPhones (apart from the “e”). There’s zero R&D cost on the Neo’s chip, and very little product cost, as they are binned chips. The iPhone’s display, cameras, battery and speakers are probably more expensive than the neo’s. The trackpad design is new to the Mac, but I’ve heard it’s essentially the same design as on the ipad Magic Keyboard, so not a lot of R&D cost there, if true. A lot of the aluminium in the Neo is recycled. They wouldn’t have needed to have spent too much on thermal management, given it’s an A chip in a MacBook and the whole case will act as a heatsink. Lower R&D and component costs means less money to be recouped, so the retail price can be lower while maintaining a healthy profit margin.
 
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willzyx said:
Apple just showed everyone that perhaps you don't need to buy a ****** plastic Asus or Lenovo and compromise. You can apparently still get a high quality laptop made of metal.
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If a metal laptop is your priority then that logic works. If your priorities are modern, high speed ports, OLED display, >8GB RAM with a 512GB or more replaceable SSD and not running a phone chip, then maybe a ***** plastic Windows laptop fits the bill. FWIW, there aren't as many plastic laptops as you think.

Here's a metal HP laptop for $499 with OLED, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD:
 
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Happy_John said:
I imagine the profit margin is higher on an iPhone, but I also imagine both component costs and obviously R&D costs are much higher on iPhones (apart from the “e”), and have to be recouped.
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R&D cost? Apple: "For the next iPhone lets put in a new chip and change a little something on the camera and be done with it". That's the R&D. I'd appreciate if they spent more on R&D of Apple Intelligence!
 
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WarmWinterHat said:
It's wild. Computers, including the Neo, are infinitely more useful and interesting than any phone available, I think...but that opinion seems to be in the minority.
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I am with you. I see so many people every day just scrolling and staring at their phones, and that's pretty much all a phone is allowed to do. Consume content, send messages and make calls. I know you can do stuff like iMovie these days and GarageBand on a phone and that's cool, but that would be more to "play around" to me. If you want to do full projects a laptop (any computer) is the better way. With that said, there are many people who primarily just use their phone for everything. Banking, work, etc.
 
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Walked by the Apple store today and took a look. Heck of a machine for $500/600. Not for me as i'd pay a bit more for a better proc but its a really nice notebook. The citrus is really striking. No way the the Neo is not a good buy for just web and basic stuff.
 
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I bought an Indigo 512 today. I am very impressed. I travel a lot and this is exactly what I need. Hooked it up to a 32inch TV that was in the garage, so working on 2 screens.

Excel working fast, Photoshop opens fast, similar to my M1 iMac. I never needed a backlit keyboard, but it would have been nice.

Keyboard and trackpad work very well. Not cheap feeling at all.

2 thumbs up so far......We'll see how the battery life is. But for $699 this machine is a beast, and so far is comparable in speed to other Macs that I spent far more money on.
 
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DEMinSoCAL said:
If a metal laptop is your priority then that logic works. If your priorities are modern, high speed ports, OLED display, >8GB RAM with a 512GB or more replaceable SSD and not running a phone chip, then maybe a ***** plastic Windows laptop fits the bill. FWIW, there aren't as many plastic laptops as you think.

Here's a metal HP laptop for $499 with OLED, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD:
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Yes, but it's an HP. I'm surprised HP is even able to exist... Cheap toys and a tarnished brand.
 
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"I know we say we want these colors and then we look at silver and say it's the best-looking one"

That has literally never happened to me.
 
WarmWinterHat said:
It's wild. Computers, including the Neo, are infinitely more useful and interesting than any phone available, I think...but that opinion seems to be in the minority.
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Two words, Port-Ability. Makes all the diff.

Jayht said:
This will be perfect for my parents to replace their aging intel MBA.
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Actually don’t pull the trigger. No backlit keyboard makes it a no go. I highly rec. an air or wait for this to get backlit next yr?

boswald said:
I think they knocked it out of the park. Yeah, there's limitations, but for the people this is targeting it's a solid option in a sea of cheap Chromebooks or Windows machines. Works with your iPhone, no viruses or ads, just a smooth machine.
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If only it were a lil cheaper it would def grab that much more of the market from chromebooks and such.

As is, This release still gets Smart, well-abled ppl into the walled in garden.



orl2222 said:
I'm looking to buy a Neo. Old 65 year old eyes. Which color has the keyboard that has good contrast. Where the Key lettering on the keys is more visible. I don't want where the keys and lettering on them are too light, if that makes sense.
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Don’t get it !

get either a used MacBook Air (Apple website even does refurbished) or wait for Maxbook Neo to get backlit keyboard maybe next yr?
 
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DEMinSoCAL said:
If a metal laptop is your priority then that logic works. If your priorities are modern, high speed ports, OLED display, >8GB RAM with a 512GB or more replaceable SSD and not running a phone chip, then maybe a ***** plastic Windows laptop fits the bill. FWIW, there aren't as many plastic laptops as you think.

Here's a metal HP laptop for $499 with OLED, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD:
Click to expand...

That HP laptop has a Snapdragon processor (i.e., a glorified phone chip), so it can't even run real Windows. I'd rather have an ARM chip that runs full macOS than one that can only run ARM Windows.

Besides that, OLED isn't everything. That HP's OLED display is only 300 nits vs. the Neo's 500, and it has a resolution of 1920x1200 (162 ppi) vs. the Neo's 2408x1506 (219 ppi) - a huge downgrade in both brightness and resolution.

Also, not all metal laptops are created equal in terms of build quality and power. This review of your HP notes that it "isn't quite as well-built as a similarly priced MacBook Air, and its graphics silicon won't get you through much more than casual photo edits." This is in contrast to the Neo, which has been shown in early reviews to have build quality on par with the rest of the MacBook lineup despite its other hardware compromises, and has shown itself to be capable of running Photoshop and FCP without breaking much of a sweat.

So, just because a laptop looks better on paper doesn't mean it's better in real-world use.
 
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HazeAndHahmahneez said:
Two words, Port-Ability. Makes all the diff.



Actually don’t pull the trigger. No backlit keyboard makes it a no go. I highly rec. an air or wait for this to get backlit next yr?



If only it were a lil cheaper it would def grab that much more of the market from chromebooks and such.

As is, This release still gets Smart, well-abled ppl into the walled in garden.





Don’t get it !

get either a used MacBook Air (Apple website even does refurbished) or wait for Maxbook Neo to get backlit keyboard maybe next yr?
Click to expand...
Although I appreciate that a backlit keyboard may be important to you, I just don’t get all the fuss people are making about the Neo missing this feature.

The Magic Keyboard I use with my Mac Mini doesn’t have backlighting and I never miss it. Do I think for $200 dollars it probably should have had it included? Yeah, I mean that’s crazy that I paid that much for a keyboard in the first place, but it’s not the main reason I got it.

Maybe I just never work in low light situations so I can’t relate.
 
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Olde Dave said:
Although I appreciate that a backlit keyboard may be important to you, I just don’t get all the fuss people are making about the Neo missing this feature.

The Magic Keyboard I use with my Mac Mini doesn’t have backlighting and I never miss it. Do I think for $200 dollars it probably should have had it included? Yeah, I mean that’s crazy that I paid that much for a keyboard in the first place, but it’s not the main reason I got it.

Maybe I just never work in low light situations so I can’t relate.
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I think a lot of people complaining are MBP users who can't find it in themselves to use anything that isn't fully loaded, even though most don't really need it all.

Not having a lit keyboard is so niche, it shouldn't even be an issue but, we are on MR where everything and I mean everything in the known universe is a problem.
 
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