MacBook Neo: Here's Which Models Are Selling Out

[Corefile]

"Lie to get edu pricing, there's nothing dishonest about it."

👁️👃👁️
(_______)

Everybody should maximize the utility of their dollar. If you want to be a doormat for a corporation making dollars hand over fist from your pretending to be "honest", then that's entirely on you.

 

[averagenerd81]

Called this. A lot of narrative around the value here at $499 was so blatantly dishonest for two reasons. One, that is not the starting price. No one says a gallon of milk starts at "free" because WIC exists. Second, everyone was going to buy the top end at $700.

Again, last week you could get an M4 MBA for $799. Apple bottomed out the floor so hard that it has left folks with amnesia.

You weren't buying it from Apple, and that is all Apple cares about when it comes to setting the price. Another retailer discounting Apple products has never (that I have seen) set the pricing standard for Apple.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Costco & Walmart both have them all.

Go with Costco if you can, as they have better support/return policies than Apple themselves.

 

[joshwithachance]

What are peeps opinion on it only having 8GB of unified memory? I'm thinking of getting this for a kid.

The way to think about the Neo is this…

If you even question whether the specs are enough, they’re not. So for a child, or the elderly, it’s more than adequate.

 

[Tagbert]

Hmm looks like girls love blush and are buying it… Uh also why people buy 512gb? Aren’t they students?

I would not be seen as someone who leans toward pink, but I find myself oddly drawn to that blush Neo. If I were in the market right now, I might pick that one.

 

[abowlby]

Everybody should maximize the utility of their dollar. If you want to be a doormat for a corporation making dollars hand over fist from your pretending to be "honest", then that's entirely on you.

"Stand up against the corporation and buy their $700 netbook," said the Strawman.

 

[mk313]

What are peeps opinion on it only having 8GB of unified memory? I'm thinking of getting this for a kid.

Apple does offer a 14 day (IIRC) return policy, so you could get one & try it out. Or else, if you don't need it immediately, I'd suggest holding off until you read some reviews. People on these threads have some strong opinions on this, but no one really knows. I SUSPECT that Apple has done their homework and this computer will be just fine for 'average' users. The specs are very similar to my current M2 Air, so I'm basing it on that (and on the fact that Apple is pretty good at figuring out how to get repeat buyers) but I also don't know for sure, so we'll see on Wednesday.

 

[Tagbert]

the profit margins on the Neon are likely to be much higher than in the MacBook Air.

probably not, yet. They had to redesign and reengineer everything. This is not like the iPhone SE where they were using off the shelf and in the supply chain parts. This was a truly new product. This is also a new low price point and they likely had to sacrifice margin in this first year's run. It will probably take a couple of years to pay off the investment and then the margins will probably rise to where Apple normally likes to operate.

 

[Tagbert]

Here's an objective question:

I wonder if a very successful $4Trillion company did its homework and realised that sales lost (and hence profit margin) in one product line is worth it vs sales gained (and hence that product's profit margin) from its own competing product?

I also wonder, given the various component differences, how similar the profit margin of the Neo is compared to that of the Air? Could the Neo offer Apple a similar profit per machine sold despite the lower price?

Don't you think that there is a spreadsheet in Tim's inbox laying out exactly those scenarios? A new product does not get green lighted without a full product lifecycle analysis including impact on the rest of Apple's line.

 

[Tagbert]

Exactly. When I've suggested Apple refurbs to people, their response is usually that they'd rather spend a little extra to get a brand new product than something "used"/"secondhand". Most people I know would sooner spend a little more on a new device with lower specs than spend a little less on a refurb device with better specs. It's just the idea that they're getting something "used". Nevermind the fact that a lot of Apple refurbs are devices that people bought, barely touched, and returned in the 14 day period.

From what I've seen, the refurbs sell out very quickly. Look in the refurb store for a Mac mini. Nada

 

[code-m]

Blush is gonna crush it…like it has ever since the iPod mini.

I don’t understand Apple, their claim attention to details and when you look at the MacBook Neo the included USB-C cable is not the colour of the device like the USB-C cable that comes with the iMac M4. Seems either like an oversight or just plain lazy.

Most knew that blush/pink will be a popular choice.

 

[Tagbert]

I don’t understand Apple, their claim attention to details and when you look at the MacBook Neo the included USB-C cable is not the colour of the device like the USB-C cable that comes with the iMac M4. Seems either like an oversight or just plain lazy.

Most knew that blush/pink will be a popular choice.

or, it might be that supplying and stocking color coded power cables costs more money on a "cheap as they can make it" device? I'm impressed that they actually color matched the keyboards.

 

[jouster]

or, it might be that supplying and stocking color coded power cables costs more money on a "cheap as they can make it" device? I'm impressed that they actually color matched the keyboards.

This is clearly the reason.

 

[conmee]

You think Apple would build into Tahoe a 500 nits white border around the screen or down below the dock to illuminate the keyboard from the panel. Might be a good app for a developer to create.🤔💡
Remember someone created Christmas lights around your screen, same thing but just a bright white border.
Or the future panels could have directional beam forming polarized LED shining only on the keyboard.

My IBM ThinkPad T42p had a little light that illuminated the keyboard in 2004.

 

[Billy_Bob]

or, it might be that supplying and stocking color coded power cables costs more money on a "cheap as they can make it" device? I'm impressed that they actually color matched the keyboards.

I'm sure that before too long Apple will sell color-matched power/USB-C cables to anyone who wants to buy one. But for a $499 (to students) entry-level laptop, sold to customers who probably already have several usable USB-C cables, adding one in the box would just cut into Tim's desired profit margin.

 

[Slo Pesci]

I've had one since the G4 Powerbooks included them. Never used them. It's not a selling point to me and not everyone is glued to their Macbook when the sun goes down.

Nice, you're one person out of a billion. I'm assuming there's a reason why almost every single laptop on the market has a backlit keyboard since 2015.

 

[Tagbert]

Nice, you're one person out of a billion. I'm assuming there's a reason why almost every single laptop on the market has a backlit keyboard since 2015.

Still a lot of laptops with non-backlit keyboard. Found this one in 5 minutes. Backlight is a nice to have feature but not a required feature for everyone. That’s OK.

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[Apple_Robert]

Speaking of Costco, it looks like they are out of the Citrus (512) and Blush for preorder.

 

[macos9rules]

Hmm looks like girls love blush and are buying it… Uh also why people buy 512gb? Aren’t they students?

Buying a computer with a 256 GB SSD is a very bad idea for most people, including students.

 

[Astuces iOS]

Buying a computer with a 256 GB SSD is a very bad idea for most people, including students.

Can you explain why? This computer is not made for any kind of heavy stuff so students should be fine with 256gb in my guess… There Chromebooks out there with 128 or even 64gb of storage.

 

[svish]

From this information, it looks like 512GB is in more demand. Not surprising. For $100 extra, one can get TouchID and double the storage. If I were to buy one, the 512 will be my choice and I will go with Citrus.

 

[ProMotionPotato]

The Neo is not a worse MacBook Air. It’s a dramatically better version of the computers people actually buy at $599.

 

[Padaung]

Don't you think that there is a spreadsheet in Tim's inbox laying out exactly those scenarios? A new product does not get green lighted without a full product lifecycle analysis including impact on the rest of Apple's line.

Yes, I totally expect there to be a lot of analysis by Apple of projected sales, revenue and profit margins amongst other metrics.


I appreciate the intended nuance of my post was subtle, I guess it was missed. I was replying to this post:

'I wonder if Apple has thought through the number of MacBook Air sales they will now lose because there's a pink MacBook. Screw the specs, people will just buy the one that is pink.'
With this:
'I wonder if a very successful $4Trillion company did its homework and realised that sales lost (and hence profit margin) in one product line is worth it vs sales gained (and hence that product's profit margin) from its own competing product?'

The subtle bit (imo) being this bit: 'I wonder if a very successful $4Trillion company did its homework...'
A company doesn't become as successful as Apple without doing its homework 🙂

 

[snipr125]

When the 512GB version is £100 off on Amazon UK, might get one of these for my dad he will love it.

 

[hans1972]

Anyone paying $700 for the upgrade if they can get the M4 Air for $50 more refurbished from Apple with the same warranty….should not be trusted with money decisions.

It's $850 for 512 Gb SSD.

Most people don't know about the refurbished store.