MacBook Neo (2027)

[DrAlban]

Folks I got one as a 'throw in the work bag to cart around and get simple shyte done' laptop as my MacBook 12" 16Gb/256Gb was getting old and the Neo has smaller footprint than the M1/M2 etc Air

(yes I know NEO is same weight as M2/M3/M4/M5 air but size in briefcase and desk matters to me for portability - the 12" MacBook was unsurpassed in portability at proper 12" and 900g super thin and light)

(and tried the whole 11" iPad Pro with keyboard - total waste of money for normal users watching YouTube not editing 8k video in planes; iPadOS is a deliberately crippled joke soz not soz ; even iPadOS 26 with updated UI and files.app etc - its still a bloody iPad not a proper desktop workflow OS)

ANYWAYS.. NEO does everything with ease: word docs, Spotify, excel small files, web browsing, email, content watching vids/YouTube.

BUT BUT dont sugar coat it - even running a few non-pro rudimentary tasks I routinely hit yellow memory pressure and swap (1 YouTube vid open, Outlook, Word, Messages, Whatsapp, and 2 browser tabs open = hello yellow)

SO if the next NEO goes to 12Gb ram would be a welcome upgrade I will get as that 4gb extra WILL speed things up by allowing some headroom before swap starts to swap!

Otherwise NEO really is a fab lil workhorse SO happy with it : nice keyboard and screen, decent build quality, speakers do the job for the price = happy man

* in my utopia an apple silicon 12" MacBook revival with an updated keyboard (which is backlit) is the dream portable . - idiots like me are happy to pay Apple Tax for < 1kg portability and a proper OS but NEO is the future doesn't look likely a true 12" MacBook will return.

 

[snipr125]

After seeing the MBN and 13” MBA side by side, I liked the size of the MBN more, but wish it had the same power as the base MBA.

But then it would essentially be exactly that, the base MBA 13.

 

[1rottenapple]

But then it would essentially be exactly that, the base MBA 13.

Agreed lol some of these post are funny. Literally MB Neo is a cheat code using excess iphone chips to help circumvent the AI chip apocolyse for an affordable price, coupled with the MacOS optimization where it can function as a great laptop for casual users and students; where as windows does NOT have the chip and os integreation and facing 40-50% price increase.

But sure let's have the same expectation as an m4 or M5 mb air. That's realistic.

Let me get a 4x4 with solid axels, truck chasis, oh I want it with 50mpg and with powerful hybrid battery but I want it for 30k brand new. Yah sure.

Oh hey I want a house on beach in california but I want it for 300k. And I want it close to amenities and attactions and jobs. And an international airport.

 

[geta]

But then it would essentially be exactly that, the base MBA 13.

If you saw them side by side you would know that the Neo has a smaller footprint...

 

[snipr125]

If you saw them side by side you would know that the Neo has a smaller footprint...

Ok yes i understand but the price would surely be close. Its a trade off though, smaller (but thicker) Neo with smaller display and battery, but the 13 MBA has a slightly larger screen, thinner but a larger battery. Both weigh the same.

 

[geta]

Ok yes i understand but the price would surely be close. Its a trade off though, smaller (but thicker) Neo with smaller display and battery, but the 13 MBA has a slightly larger screen, thinner but a larger battery. Both weigh the same.

Even with the same weight, a smaller laptop for travel is an advantage (for me).

And the rumored Neo 2 with A19 Pro/12GB RAM will upgrade the performance which will be closer to the M3 MBA...

 

[alongdingdong]

After a month of usage of my Neo a few observations that i wish to be resolved with the NEO 2.

1: I use 2 user profiles, switching between them sometimes cause lag or even freezing for a second or 10

2: logging into a profile and resuming safari requires me to refresh the page each time, functions on the website do not work (Spotify for example, the play button does nothing till i refresh the browser)

3: weight, its a small laptop but a bit weighty for it`s size, they surely can make it a bit lighter in the future.

4: a bit thinner, using it standalone its a bit thick and resting your wrists on the laptop is a bit high, slight uncomfortable for longer typing sessions.

I hope the neo will look like a 12 inch macbook air from 2018~ in the future that is peak laptop to me.

No other complaints so far, it works very well for my use cases, 8 GB feels plentiful for me, but then again i do not have social media, play games, do coding, video editing and such. I just use it to perform my language study

(PDF files, Spotify, and some you tube/International TV streaming)

I still intend to upgrade yearly so i can provide my 3 sons and GF with a neo by handing down last years Neo to them each year.

The neo is the most exciting budget device i had in a long time and want to experience the developments over the years with it.

 

[snipr125]

After a month of usage of my Neo a few observations that i wish to be resolved with the NEO 2.

1: I use 2 user profiles, switching between them sometimes cause lag or even freezing for a second or 10

2: logging into a profile and resuming safari requires me to refresh the page each time, functions on the website do not work (Spotify for example, the play button does nothing till i refresh the browser)

3: weight, its a small laptop but a bit weighty for it`s size, they surely can make it a bit lighter in the future.

4: a bit thinner, using it standalone its a bit thick and resting your wrists on the laptop is a bit high, slight uncomfortable for longer typing sessions.

I hope the neo will look like a 12 inch macbook air from 2018~ in the future that is peak laptop to me.

No other complaints so far, it works very well for my use cases, 8 GB feels plentiful for me, but then again i do not have social media, play games, do coding, video editing and such. I just use it to perform my language study

(PDF files, Spotify, and some you tube/International TV streaming)

I still intend to upgrade yearly so i can provide my 3 sons and GF with a neo by handing down last years Neo to them each year.

The neo is the most exciting budget device i had in a long time and want to experience the developments over the years with it.

The first 2 are more Mac OS based issues that can be resolved with software updates probably.

 

[Laggy]

the problem with current neo is that it will be obsolete much faster than other macs, 8gb of ram will kill it in the course if 2-3 years and this piece of technology will be worth nothing, 8gb of ram now it is on the edge, what will be 2-3 years later?

 

[4sallypat]

the problem with current neo is that it will be obsolete much faster than other macs, 8gb of ram will kill it in the course if 2-3 years and this piece of technology will be worth nothing, 8gb of ram now it is on the edge, what will be 2-3 years later?

Then my 4GB 2015 MBA is obsolete ?
I beg to differ - still runs well enough for light tasks like browsing....

 

[Apple_Robert]

the problem with current neo is that it will be obsolete much faster than other macs, 8gb of ram will kill it in the course if 2-3 years and this piece of technology will be worth nothing, 8gb of ram now it is on the edge, what will be 2-3 years later?

People have been saying that for 10+ years and 8GB still works fine.

 

[4sallypat]

People have been saying that for 10+ years and 8GB still works fine.

100% correct.
Not only are my 11 year old 4GB Intel Macs working, but my 6 year old 8GB M1 Macs are still running very strong.

 

[geta]

People have been saying that for 10+ years and 8GB still works fine.

The requirement of an up-to-date OS, latest apps or even websites are not the same as they were 10 years ago! And just because 8GB RAM somehow still usable for some light tasks, it doesn’t mean it will be enough in couple of years.

If you are one of those who upgrade your computer every year, then you can slide the 8GB RAM, but most normal people (outside this forum) keep their computers for many years and if they buy in 2026 a computer with 8GB RAM, they will be disappointed within a few years of use.

 

[Laggy]

People have been saying that for 10+ years and 8GB still works fine.

I opened my 2015 MacBook Pro with 8gb of ram and oh boy this machine is total garbage

 

[Laggy]

100% correct.
Not only are my 11 year old 4GB Intel Macs working, but my 6 year old 8GB M1 Macs are still running very strong.

You are wrong, try to open on that machine 10 chrome tabs and run other tasks in the background, good luck with that. 8GB is on the verge of enough maybe in 2026 but in 2-3 years this might be not enough at all to do anything comfortably. Memory swap is not good either since nvme ssd don’t like too much write/read. I just want to remind you that memory is soldered on the motherboard

 

[snipr125]

You are wrong, try to open on that machine 10 chrome tabs and run other tasks in the background, good luck with that. 8GB is on the verge of enough maybe in 2026 but in 2-3 years this might be not enough at all to do anything comfortably. Memory swap is not good either since nvme ssd don’t like too much write/read. I just want to remind you that memory is soldered on the motherboard

You are absolutely right Laggy. For students/businesses doing office tasks, writing essays, creating simple spreadsheets etc, 8GB is ok for this i reckon. Its cheap and cheerful and the best way to look at the Neo is as a base iPad with a keyboard and Mac OS installed.

 

[weckart]

You are wrong, try to open on that machine 10 chrome tabs and run other tasks in the background, good luck with that. 8GB is on the verge of enough maybe in 2026 but in 2-3 years this might be not enough at all to do anything comfortably. Memory swap is not good either since nvme ssd don’t like too much write/read. I just want to remind you that memory is soldered on the motherboard

What is going to happen in 2-3 years to require a LOT more RAM than currently? In 2-3 years either the RAM situation will be coming back to where it was pre-AI or we will all be dreaming of 8GB on our devices as fewer and fewer consumer IT companies remain in business. I mean, if you are one of the very few who genuinely need to run LLMs on their notebook then this thread is not for you.

In the meantime, I can see more attention being paid to more efficient coding, as less effort is expended on Intel code and better blocking of the enormous overhead crud infesting the interwebs because not everyone is going to drop $3k+ on a phone or a notebook that cost a third of that last year.

 

[snipr125]

What is going to happen in 2-3 years to require a LOT more RAM than currently? In 2-3 years either the RAM situation will be coming back to where it was pre-AI or we will all be dreaming of 8GB on our devices as fewer and fewer consumer IT companies remain in business. I mean, if you are one of the very few who genuinely need to run LLMs on their notebook then this thread is not for you.

In the meantime, I can see more attention being paid to more efficient coding, as less effort is expended on Intel code and better blocking of the enormous overhead crud infesting the interwebs because not everyone is going to drop $3k+ on a phone or a notebook that cost a third of that last year.

You have to ask yourself why the iPhone 17 Pro’s, iPad Air M4 and iPP M5 have been bumped to 12 GB ram with iOS/iPad OS being more efficient than Mac OS. Going forward this is the minimum requirement for mobile devices especially with so many AI powered services (including web browsers).

 

[Laggy]

What is going to happen in 2-3 years to require a LOT more RAM than currently? In 2-3 years either the RAM situation will be coming back to where it was pre-AI or we will all be dreaming of 8GB on our devices as fewer and fewer consumer IT companies remain in business. I mean, if you are one of the very few who genuinely need to run LLMs on their notebook then this thread is not for you.

In the meantime, I can see more attention being paid to more efficient coding, as less effort is expended on Intel code and better blocking of the enormous overhead crud infesting the interwebs because not everyone is going to drop $3k+ on a phone or a notebook that cost a third of that last year.

What is going to happen in 2-3 years to require a LOT more RAM than currently? In 2-3 years either the RAM situation will be coming back to where it was pre-AI or we will all be dreaming of 8GB on our devices as fewer and fewer consumer IT companies remain in business. I mean, if you are one of the very few who genuinely need to run LLMs on their notebook then this thread is not for you.

In the meantime, I can see more attention being paid to more efficient coding, as less effort is expended on Intel code and better blocking of the enormous overhead crud infesting the interwebs because not everyone is going to drop $3k+ on a phone or a notebook that cost a third of that last year.

Nope dude, new OS versions, app updates etc will eat ram fast. Developers don’t optimize their code in any way. 8GB of ram is not enough to future proof a device and work flow. It is good now but in the course of 2-3 years it won’t.

 

[weckart]

You have to ask yourself why the iPhone 17 Pro’s, iPad Air M4 and iPP M5 have been bumped to 12 GB ram with iOS/iPad OS being more efficient than Mac OS. Going forward this is the minimum requirement for mobile devices especially with so many AI powered services (including web browsers).

Likely because silicon was relatively cheap, which isn't the case any more and probably won't be for the next few years. Apple has made a thing about hardware efficiency as a selling point. That needs to be matched with software efficiency otherwise people are just going to look more closely at Linux which is making some effort in that direction.

 

[geta]

What is going to happen in 2-3 years to require a LOT more RAM than currently? In 2-3 years either the RAM situation will be coming back to where it was pre-AI or we will all be dreaming of 8GB on our devices as fewer and fewer consumer IT companies remain in business. I mean, if you are one of the very few who genuinely need to run LLMs on their notebook then this thread is not for you.

In the meantime, I can see more attention being paid to more efficient coding, as less effort is expended on Intel code and better blocking of the enormous overhead crud infesting the interwebs because not everyone is going to drop $3k+ on a phone or a notebook that cost a third of that last year.

FYI - Not everything revolves around AI and LLM. There are other tasks that require more than 8GB RAM.

 

[snipr125]

Likely because silicon was relatively cheap, which isn't the case any more and probably won't be for the next few years. Apple has made a thing about hardware efficiency as a selling point. That needs to be matched with software efficiency otherwise people are just going to look more closely at Linux which is making some effort in that direction.

Yes absolutely on ios/ipad os where they have full control of hardware/software optimisation via App store restrictions.

Mac OS has none of these restrictions as its completely open, so software developers will likely write code based on their own priorities and not to the lowest common denominator which requires more time and effort. Now if Mac OS was locked to the Mac app store then it’s a completely different story.

 

[Bazza1]

Then my 4GB 2015 MBA is obsolete ?
I beg to differ - still runs well enough for light tasks like browsing....
View attachment 2632634

Ditto my 2017 Air with 8GB. On Monterey. Runs 95% of the apps found on my M2 Mini (also with 8GB) - and that includes photo, video and sound editing. I pull it out for travel, work and the occasional cafe visit.

People fixate on the amount of RAM, and while, yes, more is good, it's how the OS and the apps use what it has that's important. I might even say that my Air runs more stable than my M2 Tahoe.

Oh, and my Air has a whack of ports built-in that not even the most recent Air has. And they still come in handy during travel.

If that's obsolete, I'm good with that.

 

[throAU]

You are wrong, try to open on that machine 10 chrome tabs and run other tasks in the background, good luck with that. 8GB is on the verge of enough maybe in 2026 but in 2-3 years this might be not enough at all to do anything comfortably. Memory swap is not good either since nvme ssd don’t like too much write/read. I just want to remind you that memory is soldered on the motherboard

Given chrome is shipping a 4GB LLM running in the background by default with recent updates, you don't even need a bunch of tabs. If you haven't already turn off the local LLM in chrome:

Manage on-device Generative AI models in Chrome - Google Chrome Help

To provide an enhanced browser experience, Chrome uses on-device AI models to help power web and browser features. Chrome may download on-device Generative AI models in the background, so features tha

support.google.com