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Hands-On With the New MacBook Neo

Got my Neo 512 silver yesterday. I need it to project the display with a DLP projector. I have an old and trusted ViewSonic PA503W, WXGA 1280x800. I bought an Ugreen USB-C to HDMI cable on Amazon and connected the projector. A symbol appears in the Finder menu, and I can select: synchronize, extend or present single window.
No choice of resolution or color.
I need two synchronized displays, and this works nicely...
Now my old and trusted Macbook Air 13" (2015) can retire !

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Apple's newest magic keyboard for the iPad Air dropped backlit keys, so them not including it in the Neo isn't surprising. I don't have backlit keys on my Apple keyboard I use for work, so it's not a huge deal, but it's nice to have on my MB Air.

That magic keyboard is priced at $269. For just over $200 more (edu discount), you get a complete MacBook. The price and features of the Neo continue to impress me.
 
This looks like a great entry-level laptop for most people. I'm afraid thought, the 8GB of RAM will decrease it's overall lifespan. Apple should have used an A19 with 12GB RAM to future proof it a little bit.
 
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HazeAndHahmahneez said:
It’s a huge mistake not including it. Not even opinion it’s fact. Think abt it it’s geared for college students who are stereotypically known to be up late (burning the midnight oil I think is the phrase?). So why have em fumbling with lights/table lamps when they could just have backlit keys to see everything nice at night (when some roommates sharing a single room might want to sleep soundly etc).

I don’t know how to make it anymore obvious. I def think backlight is absolutely required for this sort of package/prospective buyer.
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Again, I appreciate your opinion on it, but I disagree. You say it’s “fact”, but then say “I def think”…So it’s not really a fact.

I went back to school for my Bachelor degree as a working adult with a wife and two kids. I’ve always been a night owl, so I always did my schoolwork after they went to bed. Backlit keys would have made no difference whatsoever towards illuminating the other reference material/textbooks that I used next to my computer. Even in cases where I used an electronic textbook, I still had other materials at hand I needed to be able to see.

I also asked our oldest daughter, who went straight from high school to college (exactly the age range you reference above) for her Bachelor’s degree and then on to her Master’s degree, if she ever needed to work in a room devoid of any other light besides just her computer and if no backlit keys would have made a difference. She looked at me like I had lost my mind and said there is no way a desk lamp would cause that much problem with a dorm mate.
 
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Olde Dave said:
Again, I appreciate your opinion on it, but I disagree. You say it’s “fact”, but then say “I def think”…So it’s not really a fact.

I went back to school for my Bachelor degree as a working adult with a wife and two kids. I’ve always been a night owl, so I always did my schoolwork after they went to bed. Backlit keys would have made no difference whatsoever towards illuminating the other reference material/textbooks that I used next to my computer. Even in cases where I used an electronic textbook, I still had other materials at hand I needed to be able to see.

I also asked our oldest daughter, who went straight from high school to college (exactly the age range you reference above) for her Bachelor’s degree and then on to her Master’s degree, if she ever needed to work in a room devoid of any other light besides just her computer and if no backlit keys would have made a difference. She looked at me like I had lost my mind and said there is no way a desk lamp would cause that much problem with a dorm mate.
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She doesn’t speak for everyone.

And in my case it’s necessary to have even if you don’t use it. Add on top this price point fits perfect with another segment (seniors), therefore, having as much light as possible is crucial for them at times.

My point still stands as well. Students working at night is a thing and not every time is a book necessary if you’ve got online resources. In this case, and more, having night shift screen yellow on is imperative on top of backlit keys.

I’ve only had on MacBook (past sev years) so my experience is minimal but having backlit is a must. There’s been so many times at night and needing to type without it would be so miserable especially considering how flat the keys are and “unison” and “one” in that way…turning the screen brighter is not the move to highlight the keys. Something abt MacBook keyboard (that I absolutely love) is off compared to growing up with the big high keys that press down with true authority (I think the off is in how flat and homogenous Mac keys are).

The backlit just adds a perfect sense of placement and place that’s simply not needed during daytime use (unlike night shift mode on max being best anytime!)
 
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Olde Dave said:
You are absolutely correct. But then, neither do you, or I.

In your case, the lack of backlighting is a hard no go. That’s fair.

For many others, it’s a non-issue.
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I see what you’re saying but I’m still right overall. Given the two main buyers for this (college students and hard of seeing elderly) backlight is the only way to go here. Their non issue does not mean that the device is not without a serious and very central identity issue here. Glaring, in fact, that it amazes me that this compromise was made here…I believe I read somewhere the Neo keyboard is easily replaceable so maybe Apple made it so folks could get backlight if they really want? IDK abt that one!

…Seems to be the only downfall for an otherwise amazing new MacBook entry.
 
El Cabong said:
Your original post stated:
  • Macbook Neo is running a phone chip, therefore it's bad.
  • That HP laptop is made of metal and has an OLED screen, therefore it's better than a Neo.
I pointed out:
  • That HP laptop actually uses a Snapdragon chip, and while it's a step up from the ones used in phones, it's still an ARM chip (i.e., a mobile chip) with limitations. Blaming devs for not adopting it is beside the point, though it does highlight another limitation of the platform.
  • The difference in the display specs of that HP are a huge downgrade compared to the Neo. I don't think that "higher resolution" and "brighter screen" are nitpicks; rather, they're arguably more important specs to the average consumer than RAM would be. Sure, most people couldn't quote ppi at you, but they can easily tell when a screen is pixelated or too dim. Inferior displays are a typical cost-cutting measure of Windows laptops, and it's the same for that HP.
  • The build quality of that HP is worse than the Neo. But now you say people "don't care about build quality". I beg to differ.
In addition:
  • That HP's MSRP is $1,149. As others have pointed out, $500 is not a standard price. Other vendors that sell it for more than that.
  • I found a review of the HP that points out its cheaply-made touchpad and shows the flex in the chassis when lightly pressing down by the spacebar. The build quality is definitely much worse than it looks in a still image:
  • Thank you for coming clean and stating that you don't own the HP laptop. As you say, it's personal preference. My argument is that most people would prefer the Neo if they were able to compare the real-world usage of the two side-by-side.
Click to expand...
You made a lot of assumptions on what I wrote. It was to point out what are your priorities and depending on those, make the right choice.

The Snapdragon X series in Windows laptops are a step up from the one in phones just as the M-series is a step up from the A-series used in phones. They are both ARM chips, so that is a moot point. Last I checked Snapdragon X was not in any phone and the Apple M-series was not in any phone. The Apple A-series IS a phone chip and is now in a laptop. That makes it a laptop with a phone chip -- literally.

You pick your priorities and make a choice. If build quality is more important than included hardware features, then buy the Neo. If you want real ports, 16RB RAM, fast and upgradable SSD, and OLED screens at 120Hz, maybe take the money and get a Windows laptop. That's all I was saying.
 
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DEMinSoCAL said:
You made a lot of assumptions on what I wrote. It was to point out what are your priorities and depending on those, make the right choice.

The Snapdragon X series in Windows laptops are a step up from the one in phones just as the M-series is a step up from the A-series used in phones. They are both ARM chips, so that is a moot point. Last I checked Snapdragon X was not in any phone and the Apple M-series was not in any phone. The Apple A-series IS a phone chip and is now in a laptop. That makes it a laptop with a phone chip -- literally.

You pick your priorities and make a choice. If build quality is more important than included hardware features, then buy the Neo. If you want real ports, 16RB RAM, fast and upgradable SSD, and OLED screens at 120Hz, maybe take the money and get a Windows laptop. That's all I was saying.
Click to expand...

What you originally wrote was a response to a comment suggesting that someone in the market for a laptop in the $500-600 price range wouldn't need to settle for a Windows laptop. You characterized the choice as being between between a laptop made of metal and one with better specs, and then suggested a metal HP laptop to show that Windows laptops can both be made of metal and have better specs.

The problem is, you suggested a poor example of a Windows laptop to compete with the Neo.
  • The HP has a relatively underpowered chip, both in terms of pure power and in terms of full Windows software compatibility. While the A18 chip is obviously less powerful than an M-series chip, it can still run full macOS, while the Snapdragon still only runs ARM Windows. Whether it appeared in a phone first is immaterial; it is still powerful enough to run the operating system without software compromises, unlike the Snapdragon.
  • As I previously stated, the OLED screen on the HP is not automatically better just because it's OLED, as you imply. The Neo has a much brighter screen with significantly higher resolution. Having a OLED screen that's pixelated and too dim isn't much of an upgrade. Also, the refresh rate on that HP is 60 Hz, not 120.
  • Hardware features are not limited to system specs. Build quality is an often-overlooked hardware feature, and in this department, the Neo blows the HP out of the water. A spongy diving board-style trackpad makes a laptop unpleasant to use, and a keyboard deck that caves in raises durability concerns. Also, specs are easy to market, but they don't always translate to real-world performance. As I already pointed out, the Neo has been shown to outperform that HP in early tests, both in benchmarks and in users' software experience. Not bad for a phone chip.
In the end, all I'm saying is that the Neo isn't nearly as much of a compromise as you were originally suggesting, and especially not when compared to that HP.
 
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bluecoast said:
I guess they were hedging their bets
Click to expand...
I think it might be to prevent cannibalization.

– Ohh, look at these fun colors!!
– But the specs, RAM, SSD, pretty bad
– Yeah right, hmm, such a pitty... you know what, I don't care, I will just not open too many programs. I WANT PINK!!!

Can't happen now if you can only choose between boring and boring.
 
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123 said:
I think it might be to prevent cannibalization.

– Ohh, look at these fun colors!!
– But the specs, RAM, SSD, pretty bad
– Yeah right, hmm, such a pitty... you know what, I don't care, I will just not open too many programs. I WANT PINK!!!

Can't happen now if you can only choose between boring and boring.
Click to expand...
Seems though you can open loads of apps - just not do tasks that require a lot of multi core grunt or any game with modern graphics setting above 720p
 
I've now had my Neo 512/TouchID for almost 2 whole days, and I'm not in any way disappointed. It does every thing I want with ease and have not seen any 'memory pressure' issues, such as the red in Activity Monitor's MEMORY PRESSURE graph. Saw the odd swap number of a few MBs which stayed steady without incrementing madly in any way.

I had my 18 yr old grandson give my Neo a 'go' for 2 hrs, and he said.... "Grandad, you've made a good choice...".

Counter to early reports, this Neo can connect to my older Apple Studio Display at the 4K resolution without any issues, and this same connect provide battery charging at the same time. 👍 👍

The lack of KB backlighting isn't a huge problem for me as the Neo's screen sheds enough light onto the KB to make the white-ish keys visible.

The Neo's battery can be charged with either of the USB 3/2 ports.

I connected my 1TB Samsung T7 SSD and using AmorphousDiskMark observed some 750 MB/s - good enough for me.

I used AmorphousDiskMark to measure my 512 GB SSD I/O speeds and found it provided 1700 MB/s for BOTH reads and writes going from 16 MB all the way up to 64 GB data chunks, and there was no evidence this SSD had a write cache.

I'm totally satisfied with this Neo and give it 9.9 out of 10, and Kudos to Apple for deciding to market this low cost laptop.
 
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CheesePuff said:
The single core performance of the A18 Pro is on par with a M4, not a M1....
Click to expand...

That has been my results when I ran Geekbench 6.

Screenshot 2026-03-13 at 20.00.12.png


I've had my Neo for a couple of days and I've been pleased with it.
 
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DEMinSoCAL said:
FYI, Windows for ARM is "real Windows". Not sure why you think it isn't. Any compatibility issues is on the software developers or device makers who are too lazy to rewrite drivers. Not the fault of Windows. Same with macOS -- not every device works with macOS does it? Does that make macOS inferior?
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I dunno. Claiming that the lack of app compatibility is not the fault of Microsoft is scant consolation when the reality is that those missing apps still won’t work on an ARM laptop anyways. This finger pointing doesn’t solve my problem at the end of the day.

I think that’s where Apple has the unique advantage here. They design the processor, they can optimise the OS to work with those otherwise limited specs, developers are still by and large willing to support the ecosystem, it does help that macOS comes with a lot of functionality out of the box, and Apple also possesses the network to both serve and support their users at scale.

I think time will tell just how little these vaunted “hardware specs” that you all so love to tout, just end up mattering in the grander scheme of things.
 
With some help from Adobe Support, I have now installed Photoshop 26, Lightroom & Lightroom Classic and worked on some images. Adobe claims 8GB of memory in Apple world works, but 16GB would be even better. So would 128GB on my 16" M4 Max MacBook Pro with 8TB SSD work even better.

So this is real world working software doing real work on the Neo 512.

The doom sayers are shaking in their boots!
 
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