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MacBook Neo Reviews: Is Just 8GB of RAM Enough?

code-m said:
We don’t know yet if the Neo is an annual upgrade product or like the iMac a 18-24 month product cycle update.
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Or even longer.

The low cost iPhone models tend to be on a 2-4 year cycle. The Neo very well may be more like that. A longer product refresh cycle lowers R&D costs per-unit-sold and could be part of the strategy with the price point.
 
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abowlby said:
Why will no one acknowledge that "just browsing the web" is better on iPad and you can get one of those for $200. Need keys? $50 ESR keyboard off of Amazon.

"Netbooks aren't better at anything." Yuck! 🤢

https://share.google/xZm8TVLaxwqMa3eba
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Because everyone is out there pining for macOS, but they've been too poor to get it thus far!


At least I keep hearing some version of this fantasy
 
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code-m said:
8GB is a price point stopgap until prices for 12+GB of RAM make profit margins acceptable for Tim Cook. I suspect the Neo won’t be macOS compatible after 3-4 years tops. By that time the AI craze would be more stable and not in a rapid growth stage on the bell curve.
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There is no way that it will be >4 years (college student from beginning to end), and think it'll likely match the upgrade cycles of the a19.
 
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rosegoldoli said:
feel like im in the twilight zone trying to explain to people that yes 8 GB is small for 2026 but is more than enough for what people will be using this for. i would say even enough to pursue passions early (video, music, graphic deisgn)
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I also feel that locale, but because people are trying to justify 8GB as enough for basic tasks on a $600 Netbook whenever a $200 iPad is better at and more familiar for those kinds of tasks for those types of users.

The path out of the Twilight Zone is "Apple makes $400 more dollars per unit."
 
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turbineseaplane said:
Yep. I still maintain that a preowned or refurb M1-M4 13" MBA is a way way better use of nearly the same money.

That aggressive throttling behavior in single-core CPU benchmark bodes poorly for tasks where the A18 Pro is being asked to sustain performance over time—both for multi-core-heavy CPU-based workloads, and things like games that put demands on the CPU and GPU at the same time.
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But when is that not the case though?

There are very, very few examples where a used machine or a last-gen machine is not better performance-per-dollar than a brand new machine. I mean if you want to build a gaming PC and want to get the most for your money; your best bet isn't mid-level hardware, it's last generation top-tier hardware for the price of mid-level hardware. (Or, well, it used to be before component shortages and AI made absolutely everything expensive).

Whenever any new product gets released, ESPECIALLY a budget-friendly option, there is invariably a "But this used thing is a better value" reply and I'm never really sure what the point is. Of course used is a better value. But there's a certain market that doesn't want used hardware (especially education and business customers who want to buy hundreds at a time). So it makes sense to position this as it has been and to identify it as a very good value amongst it's comparable. (Other new, current-gen hardware).
 
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segfaultdotorg said:
8 GB is inadequate for a modern machine and it will soon lose functionality for Apple Intelligence Powered by Google Gemini(TM).
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This is not really a modern machine though. The display, SSD, trackpad, 8GB RAM etc are all from 10 years ago. Only the A18 Pro is modern and even that is a last gen iPhone chip.

The MBA M1 which is 6 years old now has more modern tech than the Neo, they should have just kept producing and selling this at the £600 price point in all honesty.
 
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XboxEvolved said:
This computer is more or less as powerful as my current driver. Also, super annoying video thumbnails.

Here is my question; if Apple generally goes 7 OS updates per machine, and the M1 and Neo are roughly the same power wise, does that mean that the M1 goes beyond 7 years, or the Neo has less updates? Or does it mean that the Neo will somehow get 7 years worth of updates (imagine using a M1 MacBook Pro in 2032 that came out in 2020) and I will complain when they stop making updates for M1?

Anyways great little machine that I'll be checking out here in a few days on my Apple Store visit and plan on buying one for my daughter, I want to definitely upgrade to something far more substantial in the future. Perhaps this time next year with a 16' M6Pro 64GB ram? 🤔
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I think the neo, though it launched 5 years later, will get around 3 more years of support than the m1, as the actual chip is 3 generations ahead. The OS support thing has as much to do with Apple only wanting to be liable for compatibility with a small range of hardware, as it is for an actual raw power requirement.

I expect the neo to still support mac os 31 or whatever. Whether it will be a good experience 5 years later is a different story.
 
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snipr125 said:
This is not really a modern machine though. The display, SSD, trackpad, 8GB RAM etc are all from 10 years ago. Only the A18 Pro is modern and even that is a last gen iPhone chip.

The MBA M1 which is 6 years old now has more modern tech than the Neo, they should have just kept producing and selling this at the £600 price point in all honesty.
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Honestly the most surprising thing here was that they didn't just pop these chips into the M1 MBA frame.

That frame must have cost too much to hit the margin goals here.

It was time to switch to a cheaper process and "Incredible Aluminum"
 
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el-John-o said:
Or even longer.

The low cost iPhone models tend to be on a 2-4 year cycle. The Neo very well may be more like that. A longer product refresh cycle lowers R&D costs per-unit-sold and could be part of the strategy with the price point.
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I suspect the next update will be spring/summer 2028.
 
I mean, it's not a device for me and my workflow, but that's ok. It looks like a great, inexpensive little computer for most people.

And if it smashes the "what's a computer" nonsense B.S. conceit of the iPad, then I'm all for it. At least Apple is putting its money where its mouth is when it says it wants to keep the two device lines separate and distinct—then there should be "pro" iPads and there should be "bargain" Macs. Everyone wins.
 
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cateye said:
I mean, it's not a device for me and my workflow, but that's ok. It looks like a great, inexpensive little computer for most people.

And if it smashes the "what's a computer" nonsense B.S. conceit of the iPad, then I'm all for it. At least Apple is putting its money where its mouth is when it says it wants to keep the two device lines separate and distinct—then there should be "pro" iPads and there should be "bargain" Macs. Everyone wins.
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Once the Neo gets on the refurb store expect a 8-15% price reduction and let’s not forget loss leader sales to get store traffic from other retailers will probably pull the price down to $449 USD. At this point the two things an iPad has is touchscreen and slightly more portable while everything else says it’s just a glorified entertainment consumption toy.

If one had a choice between an iPad or Neo the choice is clear. Wake me up when an iPad can backup an iPhone.
 
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code-m said:
Once the Neo gets on the refurb store expect a 8-15% price reduction and let’s not forget loss leader sales to get store traffic from other retailers will probably pull the price down to $449 USD. At this point the two things an iPad has is touchscreen and slightly more portable while everything else says it’s just a glorified entertainment consumption toy.

If one had a choice between an iPad or Neo the choice is clear. Wake me up when an iPad can backup an iPhone.
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With institutions buying these, and needed to swap often, it might never make it into the refurb store.
 
but the machine does feel a little slower at the fringes if you know where to look — like how clicking the Applications folder on the dock sometimes takes a second for the icons to populate
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Heck, my M1 Max Studio with 32GB RAM still struggles with that sometimes
 
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Shocking how everyone in the comments was flipping tables over 8GB OF RAM and especially the second USB-C port only being USB 2.0, but when the reviews come out it’s universally praised as a very solid computer for millions with standard computer needs with totally reasonable compromises for that market, especially at its price point. More people will notice the non-backlit keyboard than will ever have any idea how much RAM this thing has/what specs the ports are, but to the macrumors readership those things were unforgivable sacrifices that may well have harkened the return of the almighty 🙄
 
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WarmWinterHat said:
With institutions buying these, and needed to swap often, it might never make it into the refurb store.
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This isn’t an eMac situation where it was institutional only until Apple briefly permitted sales to non-edu and finally discontinued it. This is a straight up budget MacBook with an incentive for edu.
 
code-m said:
This isn’t an eMac situation where it was institutional only until Apple briefly permitted sales to non-edu and finally discontinued it. This is a straight up budget MacBook with an incentive for edu.
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That's true, but if a school has 1500 of these, they are going to be swapping a lot, for various reasons. Students are rough on equipment.
 
stocklen said:
When did 8gb become to be seen as 'not enough'?

I know that recently they have upped the RAM in newer laptops...

But I have a MacBook Air M3 15" model with 8GB and never notice any issues whatsoever.
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same here
Mba 15' M3 8gb ram no issues
 
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