MacBook Neo Could Get New Colors to Cushion Potential Price Hike

[Jarman74]

If people are willing to swallow a price bump for a color swap, they’re basically asking to be taken for fools. I really hope we’re not at that stage yet.

 

[MNGR]

It was always the wrong pricing to begin with. It should have been a $699 machine. And special edition only for bulk purchase education without Touch ID at $499.

Why was it the wrong price?

For who—you or Apple?

 

[IIGS User]

It was always the wrong pricing to begin with. It should have been a $699 machine. And special edition only for bulk purchase education without Touch ID at $499.

IDK, but offering a special "bulk" purchase option for education is a genius way to undercut Chromebooks in schools. Eventually schools have to replace them, and post pandemic distance learning isn't going anywhere. Even when it snows around here they don't cancel school anymore, they just go "virtual" so every kid has to have a computer.

I think not having snow days is a travesty, BTW. It was one of those treats of childhood that I'll always remember. Off form school, dress up in layers until you look like an engorged tick, go sledding/tubing. Great memories.

But won't anyone think of the shareholders??

The shareholders! Corporations are PEOPLE. Solent Apple is made of people!. It's all about PEOPLE. They're people persons. I take the specs from the customers and make it so the engineers can understand it. I have PEOPLE SKILLS! What the HELL is WRONG with you PEOPLE!

 

[turbineseaplane]

Better be careful here.

The price is the entire value proposition here.

Colors are fun, but people are considering the Neo because of the price and the value.

 

[ceddy]

Yes please for orange!

 

[Populus]

Couldn't they use binned A19 chips? If the chips are binned and otherwise useless, seems like a win-win.

Hopefully they won’t, and will keep on the schedule of using A19 Pro chips. Even if binned, the A19 Pro offer 50% more RAM, and that would mean a huge performance improvement.

 

[Edgecrusherr]

If they need some ideas for colors 😆

I think a more ped and purple should be their next options, or maybe a tree orange or green. It wouldn't likely be like true iMac colors, but close to resent iPhones and iPads (particularly the iPad Air and Mini). So, maybe like the purple iPad mini I used to have, that was a great color (the photo doesn't capture the true color / metallic finish).

 

[ifxf]

Couldn't they use binned A19 chips? If the chips are binned and otherwise useless, seems like a win-win.

Requires a new design for the circuit board.

 

[Populus]

Better be careful here.

The price is the entire value proposition here.

Colors are fun, but people are considering the Neo because of the price and the value.

Well, the sad news are, all the electronics will inevitably experience a big price jump and/or cost cutting measures (cheaper components). So… while the Neo will probably have a slightly higher price, it will come with the rest of macs having much higher prices, and the SSD and RAM upgrades will be even more expensive than they have been all this time.

The RAMpocalipse is inevitable, even though Apple is still holding their prices because of the immense stock they have had available, sooner or later they will also be impacted by the RAM/NAND scarcity and crazy prices.

That’s why I’ve just bought an iPhone 17e (not sure I’ll keep it tho) and if Apple hasn’t released the M5 Mac mini by WWDC or when back to school promo hits western countries, I’ll probably grab an M5 MacBook Air with maxed out RAM.

I really want an M5 Mac with substantial amount of memory, but without breaking the bank, and I think this strategy will be optimal. Prices in 2027 are going to be insane if nothing changes, and quality will likely drop in one or another way.

 

[CWallace]

Anyone remember the 2006 polycarbonate MacBook?

If you wanted it in Black instead of White, you had to pay an extra $100 or so for that color, though it did come with an 80GB HDD instead of a 60GB. Or the 24" iMac, which cost $1299 in certain colors and $1499 in others (with additional cores and USB-C ports).

Apple could very well adopt this strategy for the MacBook neo, releasing new colors at a higher price with newly-fabbed A18 Pros with 6 GPU cores, 512GB SSDs and TouchID. Or depending on how expensive it is to tweak the systemboard, they could release it with binned A19 Pros since Apple may have a decent stock of those due to how poor the iPhone Air is said to be selling.

As for releasing a new, improved model too soon after the original, Apple has done that before, as well. There was a year where Apple launched an upgraded Intel MacBook Pro some six months after the previous model had released.

 

[HVDynamo]

“That means a new production run will result in top-tier chips rather than defective ones, which means a higher per-unit cost that Apple will have to pay”

What? They are paying per wafer not per chip.

If they manage to restart the production, they should just use the non-binned new production in the upgraded one and try to keep the binned ones for the lower tier model. That’s one more thing to justify the extra $100, and still helps the cost out somewhat. But I think a lot of the price is due to the chips being effectively free because they were garbage until placed in these laptops so the cost jump to apple is quite large if they do have to restart production. That said, with the popularity I’d bet they would still be profitable, just not the margins they want.

 

[abowlby]

Not that it's about being right, but as I said multiple times, the Neo was a response to a two pronged problem. One, parts in a warehouse collecting dust instead of cash. Two, the M4 MBA being perpetually on sale for $799. They needed room to jack up the price on the MBA and couldn't just come out and say "we are doing this so resellers can't lower the price on the MB anymore."

Every "salesforce-influencer" creamed over this netbook from the word go. Everyone had the same talking points. Everyone simultaneously ignored the MBA value proposition, the cheaper iPad option for schools and the fact that the computer didn't start at $499, that that price required an educational subsidy.

Now you will get the slow burn back up to $799 for a netbook with overstocked tech. Slurp city.

 

[fzJNotIBOxgnbqejSeVCvJScL]

Rose Gold. Remember that? It's perfect for an aluminium finish. Warmer and more luxurious than Blush Neo.

Also a good color option if you persist with the aluminium finish for the iPhone Pro.

 

[abowlby]

If people are willing to swallow a price bump for a color swap, they’re basically asking to be taken for fools. I really hope we’re not at that stage yet.

Introducing iPhone Pocket: a beautiful way to wear and carry iPhone

ISSEY MIYAKE and Apple today unveiled iPhone Pocket, designed to fit any iPhone as well as all pocketable items.

www.apple.com

 

[TVreporter]

Oh boy new colours!!! I get these vibes...

 

[Apple_Robert]

I don’t believe the new color rumor.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Rose Gold. Remember that? It's perfect for an aluminium finish. Warmer and more luxurious than Blush Neo.

Also a good color option if you persist with the aluminium finish for the iPhone Pro.

What I fondly remember there is a camera that was a reasonable size.

 

[gummybear2026]

Adding colors doesn't make the Neo any better. It's like putting lipstick on a pig!

 

[turbineseaplane]

How about adding some great colors to all the other Macbooks?

...you know, to "cushion" the prices

 

[nader0903]

I switched to Mac way back in 2001 with a lime green iBook G3. I would seriously consider a lime green Macbook...but an Air. I need a bit more ram and processing power than the Neo.

 

[Bazza1]

The Art of Distraction, or PT Barnum School of Retail Humbug.
"Look, look! New pretty colors! Isn't that cool? (pay no attention to the lack of options and price hike)"

 

[jimbobb24]

It's not a price hike when they eliminate a model. The model prices are not changing they just got rid of a trim. Such clickbait articles. Its tiresome.