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Hello, MacBook Neo: Apple Showcases All-New $599 MacBook in Videos

This seems like a perfect computer for many people in my life who kind of want a laptop but don't want to spend the money to get one that isn't born e-waste. When you cross compare laptops in this price range they usually are absolute junk. Horrible battery runtime, very slow, crummy screen, bad build quality, HORRIBLE trackpad...

robvalentine said:
Stereo speakers are a notable feature now on a laptop?
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Every other MacBook has quad speakers, so its them admitting a cost cutting measure, lol.
 
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Nice video. Reminds me of the older Apple announcement videos. Not the interview ones with the Jony voiceover but the more whimsical ones.

I hope they are going back to this type of style because I really don’t like their current commercial adverts. They feel just off and weird. Especially the ones for iPhone.
 
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Mactech20 said:
People dog on 8GB of ram so much but honestly it's kinda ridiculous. My work laptop is an 8GB m1 Air and I usually have 20+ tabs open with no issues. It's not an absolute speed demon but it gets the job done.
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I have to wonder if you just don't notice it, or if you're just not using resource-intensive websites/apps. Even something like slack will end up eating 1GB+, and that's a basic chat platform for work. At the same time, there's internal websites that are barely more than plain HTML from the 90s.
Corefile said:
MacOS already compresses memory when booted in 8GB mode.
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There's not a special mode, it always happens, ever since 10.9 unless you disable swap. But relying on it isn't really a good thing, in order to use the memory it has to first be decompressed. Just like swapping, this leads to slowdowns, and since we're talking about a laptop here, constantly compressing and decompressing memory will reduce efficiency.
 
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JPack said:
Most schools ain’t paying for an expensive, $100 per year Adobe Creative Cloud license.

Most learning classrooms are not asking students to run iMovie or GarageBand either. They’re asking students to learn about history, learn to evaluate sources, and create presentations.
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Many schools are paying for this, and we receive a significant discount for it because we are educational institutions. They want young people learning their software.

And many schools are using iMovie and GarageBand. Many aren't, but many are. And in my experience in working in education, that is the advantage of computers in the classroom. Offering courses that previously would not have been possible. Taking notes on a laptop instead of pen and paper has been demonstrated repeatedly to negatively effect learning outcomes.
 
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Mactech20 said:
People dog on 8GB of ram so much but honestly it's kinda ridiculous. My work laptop is an 8GB m1 Air and I usually have 20+ tabs open with no issues. It's not an absolute speed demon but it gets the job done.
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I haven my owned a Mac with 8gb in a few years, but my work windows laptop with 8gb does just fine. Browser open with dozens of tabs, a couple 2 gb excel sheets open, an RDC window and patient charting software (Cerner) via Citrix.
 
€599 in Ireland with the education discount this should sell very well to students as the PC options in that price range are flakey and even with 8GB ram I'd imagine this will be capable of managing the vast majority of our students workloads which revolve around using online services, writing reports, presentations and email.

Hot cakes is my hot take.
 
All macBooks should come in Citrus, looks cool even if it doesn't have enough memory to open a paper bag let alone an app
 
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!!! said:
I have to wonder if you just don't notice it, or if you're just not using resource-intensive websites/apps. Even something like slack will end up eating 1GB+, and that's a basic chat platform for work. At the same time, there's internal websites that are barely more than plain HTML from the 90s.

There's not a special mode, it always happens, ever since 10.9 unless you disable swap. But relying on it isn't really a good thing, in order to use the memory it has to first be decompressed. Just like swapping, this leads to slowdowns, and since we're talking about a laptop here, constantly compressing and decompressing memory will reduce efficiency.
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I notice it. It is slower than my personal M1Max with32GB for sure. It really isn't unbearable though. The m1 8gb air is significantly faster in every respect than my wives intel 2020 i5 16gb air.

Most consumers won't care that it has 8gb.
 
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Imagine passing up on the base M4 MBA at $799 for weeks only to turn around and drop $700 on a netbook.
 
Mactech20 said:
People dog on 8GB of ram so much but honestly it's kinda ridiculous. My work laptop is an 8GB m1 Air and I usually have 20+ tabs open with no issues. It's not an absolute speed demon but it gets the job done.
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Exactly! I have an M2 MacBook Air with 8g of RAM...11 applications open, multiple tabs in browsers and driving two additional external 24" monitors. The NEO will be just fine for 90% of the market. And it will likely lead consumers toward additional purchases over time!
 
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I didn't think they were gonna announce anything about the touchscreen MBP, but in hindsight the teaser where the hand is swiping on the Apple logo seems like a total bait-and-switch, lol.

No skin off my nose. Just ordered my M5 Pro MBP. The Neo will be a good machine for those who just need browsing, media, and word processing.
 
AppleSOS said:
Many schools are paying for this, and we receive a significant discount for it because we are educational institutions. They want young people learning their software.

And many schools are using iMovie and GarageBand. Many aren't, but many are. And in my experience in working in education, that is the advantage of computers in the classroom. Offering courses that previously would not have been possible. Taking notes on a laptop instead of pen and paper has been demonstrated repeatedly to negatively effect learning outcomes.
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Even with an education discount, it’s still around $100 a year. That’s not cheap. Most schools would rather spend that on teaching kids a more general skill rather than a very specific application.
 
MacRumors said:


Apple today unveiled the colorful new MacBook Neo, which has a "breakthrough" starting price of just $599 in the United States. MacBook Neo features a 13-inch display, an A18 Pro chip with Apple Intelligence support, 256GB and 512GB storage options, dual speakers on the left and right sides of the laptop, and more.

Apple has shared a "Hello, MacBook Neo" video showing off the laptop:


To learn more about the MacBook Neo, read our coverage of Apple's announcement, and stay tuned for our own hands-on photos and much more.

MacBook Neo can be pre-ordered now on Apple.com, and it launches Wednesday, March 11.

Article Link: Hello, MacBook Neo: Apple Showcases All-New $599 MacBook in Video
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Love this and you can tell what Apple's aim is with this model.

Because they're describing the laptop as though they're talking to people who have never used a Mac before.

It's about time Apple started targeting the budget Laptop market!
 
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