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Initial NEO thoughts
- Thread starter mk313
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4sallypat
macrumors 603
Yup, co-worker ordered Indigo 512GB yesterday and was given first week of April delivery.
EDU discount price.
jaysabol
macrumors member
Sound on the Neo
I had a really shockingly good experience playing music on my Neo. I hadn’t really tested out the sound until yesterday. I took note of the fact that many spoke of the Neo having surprisingly good sound.
After getting all of my settings the way I wanted them, I finally tested the sound out last night. I turned the volume all the way up and listened to a Joni Mitchell album without my hearing aids. I was really surprised by how good it sounded. Today I put my hearing aids in and played a Diana Krall album. I had to turn down the volume on the Neo some as it was causing feedback with my hearing aids. But after that - wow! The combination of the two provided an amazing sound. Diana’s voice was not only crystal clear but very intimate. I’m saying this because I have an Apple Home Pod and Bose headphones (it took many monthly payment to pay those off!).
They say the target audience are college students and, in my case, older people who don’t require heavy loads. They really worked on the sound I guess especially for the students. I’m 74 and I’m amazed.
I had a really shockingly good experience playing music on my Neo. I hadn’t really tested out the sound until yesterday. I took note of the fact that many spoke of the Neo having surprisingly good sound.
After getting all of my settings the way I wanted them, I finally tested the sound out last night. I turned the volume all the way up and listened to a Joni Mitchell album without my hearing aids. I was really surprised by how good it sounded. Today I put my hearing aids in and played a Diana Krall album. I had to turn down the volume on the Neo some as it was causing feedback with my hearing aids. But after that - wow! The combination of the two provided an amazing sound. Diana’s voice was not only crystal clear but very intimate. I’m saying this because I have an Apple Home Pod and Bose headphones (it took many monthly payment to pay those off!).
They say the target audience are college students and, in my case, older people who don’t require heavy loads. They really worked on the sound I guess especially for the students. I’m 74 and I’m amazed.
jaysabol
macrumors member
I tested again with my Bose headphones. The sound is fantastic!
So after a full day of use I'll say this....for the price it's the absolute best laptop you can buy. It's snappy, the display looks great for anything it is intended to be used for, keyboard feels great and the battery is more than sufficient.
It's basically everything I want the 13" iPad Pro to be. The iPad has benefits (at a much higher price), but most of the time I use my iPad (now an M3 Air) as a note taking device, occasional photo editing and emails but the screen is just a bit too small with the keyboard case and the Neo is the perfect size.
PBG4 Dude
macrumors 603
I agree, the sound is better than I expected and better than I think a lot of reviews said.
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
I think everyone is in agreement with that even well known Apple/Mac haters like Linus from LTT
Basic75
macrumors 68030
PBG4 Dude
macrumors 603
It’s pretty incredible how Apple controls machine performance by their cooling systems (or lack thereof). The thermal pad trick allows the Neo’s CPU to use 2W more juice on a sustained basis, based on YouTube videos showing power usage measurements.
Sh3ldon
macrumors regular
If it had a backlit keyboard I would also buy it as my primary computer
Macbookey
macrumors 6502
Had my first hands on with the Neo and I absolutely love it. So well made and such a banger of a product for to enter this segment of the market with. The Neo is not for me, but my appreciation for it is off the charts. I look at what it can do as opposed to what is not there, and still see such great value for something with such build quality. Nothing cheap about it IMHO. 16” MacBook Pro is in my future, and down the road I could see one of these be its mobile assistant. Really well done . I liked the Citrus in Best Buy lighting even more, and the Blush was really nice too for those that like that. Yet to see Indigo or Silver. Next store visit.
and still behind M5, soon M5 Macbook Air...so whats the point...
You dont need that for neo kind of work
Could one paint over the black letters on the Indigo with white to make them more contrast and visible in absence of backlight for the keyboard
raythompsontn
macrumors 65816
jaysabol
macrumors member
jaysabol
macrumors member
Have you heard the sound on the Neo? If not, you would really be surprised.
Professional sound guy here.
Your Bose headphones connect via Bluetooth or cable.
The sound quality is the same whether you connect them to a Neo or an 2013 Air. Provided you're playing the same audio file and have the same audio settings in macOS / EQ settings in iTunes/Spotify.
And regarding the speakers: They are better than other $500 Win laptops, but they lack a lot of bass compared to the M1 Air. And they also do some weird spatial / out-of-phase stuff, which feels like surround sound, but it really isn't.
Placing the speakers on the sides (Neo) instead of pointing them toward the user (Air/Pro) does not improve sound quality.
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raythompsontn
macrumors 65816
You stated you tested with your Bose headphones. Totally different products and the NEO, while good, will never match Bose headphones, nor will any laptop.
jaysabol
macrumors member
Finally got to see it at an Apple Store today.
The mechanical trackpad that seems controversial here felt absolutely fine. It feels better than the old hinged trackpad that's in 2008-2015 MacBooks. I kinda prefer the Neo's trackpad to my MacBook Pro 14's trackpad.
The mechanical trackpad that seems controversial here felt absolutely fine. It feels better than the old hinged trackpad that's in 2008-2015 MacBooks. I kinda prefer the Neo's trackpad to my MacBook Pro 14's trackpad.
The Neo's keyboard and track pad makes my Dell's keyboard and trackpad feel like total garbage.
I use the small Magic Keyboard with Touch ID on my Mac mini and I don't notice much of a difference between it and the Neo's keyboard.
JohnnyQuest
macrumors 68000
That’s the only thing that’s taken some getting used to. If I haven’t used my Neo in a couple days, I find myself double clicking by mistake at first, over compensating for the feel of my MBP 😂 but once you get used to it, nbd at all
Apple_Robert
Contributor
If you turn on the 'tap to click' option, there is no sound at all with the trackpad. People who say the Neo trackpad is inferior are people who are biased, and don't want to use anything besides the haptic trackpad.