MacBook Neo Teardown: Modular Ports, Glue-Less Battery, Zero Tape

[frankly]

I would perhaps temper this a little bit.
It's cheap and feels that way the more you use it, particularly the screen, trackpad & keyboard, which are key to the experience (obviously).

Also, the colors are really "bleh" in person.
The green is the only one that feels like an actual "color". The website photos are very misleading on this.

I'm fascinated to see how well it sticks in the market past the initial interest here.

I'm going to bookmark this as one of those historically bad takes. This computer is very likely to sell in higher quantities than any Mac in Apple's history. I think it will also have a halo effect, leading to Apple selling more of their other Macs once they bring new families into the Mac family.

Macs have already been selling well for years now, with the MacBook Air being the best-selling laptop, period. I can't even begin to understand how you would look at Apple adding a new machine that is half the price of their current lowest-priced laptop and not think they are going to have sustained incredible sales for this product line.

You do know that you not liking a product does not mean your take will be universal. Some people will hate this machine or hate the specs. That is ok. There are plenty of other options for them.

 

[Canyoncliffs]

Apple is going to sell a metric-ton of these things. Great internet computers for $499 that are repairable and simple with MacOS? I honestly expect these things to finally move Apple's market share needle beyond 15% to 20%+

and as a shareholder, I really don't care about the hardware profit margin because at 256GB, these all be ripe for iCloud attach rates where people are paying apple $5 - $10 a month for storage. $100-$200 a year in services revenue for every single device is where it's at. Buy one of these, pay apple for Apple Music + iCloud and install Chrome + ChatGPT and iWork and you're rocking. Only pros will need more power.

In a year, this things gets the A19 and 12GB of RAM then we're cooking!!!

Just the simplicity of swappable components in a rugged housing screams they are going to target the education markets.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Quite the opposite. If I'm going to invest in an expensive product, I expect it to last longer, therefore I will prefer a more repairable product. The whole reason products were not repairable was to save costs. The most expensive "pro" computers like the original Mac Pro were the most repairable, while lower cost consumer products like the butterfly keyboard "MacBook" were the least repairable with its glued-in terraced battery. Investment = expectation of longevity.

The Neo was the computer where people would have forgiven a lack of repairability, since it's cheap to just buy a new one and beggars don't expect to be choosers. And yet it's setting a very positive trend regardless.

The fancier computers are less repairable because... why exactly? They also have a battery, a trackpad, a keyboard, speakers, and a motherboard. It's not like a luxury car where you have a gazillion extra pipes and sensors connected all over the place. An M4 MacBook Pro has pretty much the same number and size of components, and the only difference is that they're glued in.

There's absolutely no reason Apple can't just use this design philosophy in their future laptops.

The Neo, even though it is smaller than the MBA and has much less battery than the MBA, still weighs the same. I’m wondering if the internal structure which has frames to screw everything into weighs that much more than glue.


I guess I’m wondering how much heavier an MBA or MBP would be if they were built the same modular way the Neo was built.

 

[Veinticinco]

Look at all that empty space. Extra storage takes on a completely different meaning.

I’m honestly surprised Apple don’t make some grandiose thermodynamic claim.

 

[The_Gream]

Sure, but wouldn’t it be better if it was built into the OS? It only benefits Apple the way it is now

Send Tim Apple and the Google CEO an email expressing your feelings then.

They have been working on things together over the last few years which have a lot of interoperability

 

[Paul1964]

I hope this is a rhetorical question 🙂

In case it's not: In the past, Apple was the only one who could the repairs. So they profited from every repair they did.
Now they HAVE to allow other shops to do the repairs and now they HAVE to provide the parts and toolkits and manuals. So now the only profit comes from making this process (providing the parts) as efficient as possible. (most basic parts, at the highest prices the R2R law allows them - which is not very high.)

Yes it's rhetorical.

But ... By being repairable, they'll enhance their reputation and sell more, especially to 'fleet' buyers who buy by the thousand. This should offset any perceived loss of revenue from in-house repair, and they can lean into doing their bit to reduce e-waste.

Being the good guy doesn't hurt. Being the bad guy will only help you in the short term and longer term causes reputational damage.

 

[Paul1964]

Look at all that empty space. Extra storage takes on a completely different meaning.

I’m honestly surprised Apple don’t make some grandiose thermodynamic claim.

As has already been pointed out multiple times, watch the video and you'll see that the "empty space" is where the speakers go.

 

[jarman92]

Apple’s head of hardware engineering explains why iPhones are so hard to repair

In an interview with YouTuber MKBHD, Apple’s Head of Hardware Engineering, John Ternus, provided insights into why iPhones are difficult to repair. The discussion, which was posted on X, provides a deeper understanding of Apple's approach to balancing durability and repairability in its phones.

www.indiatoday.in

Nowhere in that article (or the original interview) did Ternus say or even imply that it's impossible to make devices repairable. He said that Apple prioritizes durability over repairability, but still provides parts and repair services.

There’s no way Apple would have done this otherwise

Pure, unsupported speculation.

Also, the EU directive merely requires that manufacturers repair devices, which Apple has done better than anyone else for literally decades. There's simply no argument whatsoever that this is connected in any way to the repairability of the Neo, no matter how convenient that narrative is for you.

 

[jarman92]

In case it's not: In the past, Apple was the only one who could the repairs. So they profited from every repair they did.
Now they HAVE to allow other shops to do the repairs and now they HAVE to provide the parts and toolkits and manuals. So now the only profit comes from making this process (providing the parts) as efficient as possible. (most basic parts, at the highest prices the R2R law allows them - which is not very high.)

Insofar as this is accurate, it isn't even logical—Apple has to provide parts/manuals/tools, but there's no cost savings in them providing, e.g., screws over adhesive strips.

 

[Veinticinco]

Where’s all this hidden weight coming from? The thing tips over the MBA limit.

 

[Jamie0003]

Send Tim Apple and the Google CEO an email expressing your feelings then.

They have been working on things together over the last few years which have a lot of interoperability

Yeah, nah. That’s not my job, it’s for someone like the EU to argue that it should be a thing. Megacorps don’t give a crap about you no matter how much you think so

 

[Veinticinco]

As has already been pointed out multiple times, watch the video and you'll see that the "empty space" is where the speakers go.

Ah those weird laterally placed speakers. Like building a house from the outside in and ending up with random interior spaces without any obvious utility so you just shove something there.

 

[Jamie0003]

Nowhere in that article (or the original interview) did Ternus say or even imply that it's impossible to make devices repairable. He said that Apple prioritizes durability over repairability, but still provides parts and repair services.



Pure, unsupported speculation.

Also, the EU directive merely requires that manufacturers repair devices, which Apple has done better than anyone else for literally decades. There's simply no argument whatsoever that this is connected in any way to the repairability of the Neo, no matter how convenient that narrative is for you.

Clearly you’re not well versed in corporate speak, it’s clearly them saying they could do it if they wanted, but they won’t because devices breaking means more money for them.

Also no they don’t provide parts, not for every device. At the moment it’s only in certain countries, and a vast number of products are not included

Have you got any factual evidence to prove otherwise on the EU? Why have these changes come about in the past few years, other than say a decade ago?

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Where’s all this hidden weight coming from? The thing tips over the MBA limit.

I’m guessing it’s due to screws and required framing for the screws to bite into vs glue on the MBA but it’s only conjecture.

Either that or they went the soap box derby route and added some lead weights in there somewhere.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Where’s all this hidden weight coming from? The thing tips over the MBA limit.

By 0.01kg.

It's in the case, I think. It's not machined, so more material.

 

[chars1ub0w]

So, when the Neo 2 comes out using the same chassis, you can buy the spare part by itself and replace the strip that is the motherboard with the 12GB RAM A19 Pro?

 

[hans1972]

Schools aren't going to bite. They want easy to administer; in other words, locked down. Chromebooks are locked down like the Pope's chastity belt. A couple of trained chimps can administer a few hundred Chromebooks.
This is why some offer iPads since iPadOS is easy to lockdown too.

That might be true, but Apple targeting schools is why I believe Apple chose repairability.

 

[Paul1964]

So, when the Neo 2 comes out using the same chassis, you can buy the spare part by itself and replace the strip that is the motherboard with the 12GB RAM A19 Pro?

It would be great if that was the case but I'm expecting that Apple will bork it in some way to stop you from doing that. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Schools aren't going to bite. They want easy to administer; in other words, locked down. Chromebooks are locked down like the Pope's chastity belt. A couple of trained chimps can administer a few hundred Chromebooks.
This is why some offer iPads since iPadOS is easy to lockdown too.

Probably not for schools already using ChromeBooks, but some schools do use MacBooks.. The one my sis-in-law teaches at gives all the students MacBook Airs.

I asked her about it already, but she is on maternity leave so isn't up to date on decisions.

 

[atonaldenim]

Looks like "keep it simple" with the assembly was part of how they kept the price down. Not engineered within an inch of its life like a lot of their more premium products.

 

[contraband]

Bravo!

 

[mlayer]

Especially with the EU stuff. Hot take: They’ve done more for Apple products in the last few years than any innovation that Tim has managed, aside from the hardware stuff, despite the lack of right to repair

The EU should design their own MacBooks and iPhones, I'm sure they'd be great at that. /s

No, it's better that regulations are putting Apple in its place. You can put all this on Tim, that's easy to do since he's on the throne. How easily we forget that Jony Ive's slavish devotion to thinness and aesthetics largely instigated the use of adhesives and glue for over a decade. With Ternus, we may be turning the page. The Neo is example #1.

 

[chars1ub0w]

It would be great if that was the case but I'm expecting that Apple will bork it in some way to stop you from doing that. I hope I'm wrong.

I don't see how. Parts such as the keyboard, trackpad and screen are swappable. That's all you're saving from the first Neo to upgrade it to the Neo 2 on the cheap (i.e. without selling it and buying the new one).

 

[ignatius345]

they'd rather make preachy videos now.

Well, I for one appreciate them beating the drum for right-to-repair. Laws have gotten better about it, and Apple has gotten a lot better about it, and you can get lots of official parts, tools and documentation if you're so inclined. That all has happened because of pressure put on regulators from (among others) people making "preachy videos". DGAF about the tone, care about the results.

And on a personal level, I used a parts/tools kit and an excellent repair guide from iFixit to rip open my old iMac 5K when its Fusion Drive died. It was already like 6 years old so I wasn't gonna pay anyone to replace the SATA HDD with an SSD, but did it myself for like $250 all-in. I'm sure I could have cobbled together all the stuff I needed, but not gonna lie, I'm lazy and getting everything from one source was ****ing great and got me to do the drive replacment I might not have otherwise dived into.

 

[Jamie0003]

The EU should design their own MacBooks and iPhones, I'm sure they'd be great at that. /s

No, it's better that regulations are putting Apple in its place. You can put all this on Tim, that's easy to do since he's on the throne. How easily we forget that Jony Ive's slavish devotion to thinness and aesthetics largely instigated the use of adhesives and glue for over a decade. With Ternus, we may be turning the page. The Neo is example #1.

Wait, I agree with you. The EU should be putting Apple in its place, why is this written like you don’t agree?