Overall I am very pleased with my Neo. Seems faster than my old MBA M1. The screen is nice and bright. Setting it up was a breeze - it just copied all my settings from my iPhone. If I had a complaint it would be the keyboard. I have the Indigo and the keyboard is dark and without backlighting I have a hard time seeing the keys (I am 75). But still I am very pleased with this Mac (especially considering the price).
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
My experience so far
- Thread starter wolfpackfan
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
4sallypat
macrumors 603
Senior citizen just about to retire here and agree - the keyboard is bit hard read, but I don't hunt/peck the keys - it's all muscle memory after years of manual typewriter use.
I got 2 for the price of 1 using EDU discount.
We are ditching our current Intel travel laptops and taking the Neos along our travels as we retire from the working world....
I got 2 for the price of 1 using EDU discount.
We are ditching our current Intel travel laptops and taking the Neos along our travels as we retire from the working world....
Bazza1
macrumors 65816
Glad to hear your happiness with it.
Yeah, looking at the demo models, I too noticed the keyboard on the Indigo might be problematic - dark symbols on a less-dark background, which is not the case with the other color versions. Add to that the no backlight and maybe the user isn't a touch typist, and I can see the issue on that particular version.
I have no real need for the Neo at present, but I can see where the product may be very popular. Reviews out there seem to suggest that its significantly more powerful than that which Apple is selling it as.
Last edited:
BrianBaughn
macrumors G4
Thanks for pointing out the indigo keyboard thing. I used to be an Apple consultant and sometimes people ask me for buying advice.
Your post made me search for a USB-C powered flexible LED light. As far as I can tell no one is currently selling one…and I wouldn't advise hanging an adapter out of the port.
Your post made me search for a USB-C powered flexible LED light. As far as I can tell no one is currently selling one…and I wouldn't advise hanging an adapter out of the port.
I'm a little disappointed in the keyboard on the Indigo but it's not enough to make me exchange it for a different color. Otherwise I am enjoying the Neo.
Apple_Robert
Contributor
M4th
Contributor
Apple_Robert
Contributor
That is a great idea for those who need to look at the keyboard in dim or no lighting.
Last edited:
iHorseHead
macrumors 68020
Apple_Robert
Contributor
iHorseHead
macrumors 68020
That's what I'm wondering because I'm still happy with my MacBook M1. I think I can wait and save up for the M5.
Maybe MacBook Neo would be my iPad 9th gen situation as in "Why did I buy this?"
But OP mentioned it's faster, so… how much faster? I can't imagine a laptop faster than M1 Air 😅 It loads even CIV VI fast etc.
Apple_Robert
Contributor
Here you go.
First MacBook Neo Benchmarks Are In: Here's How It Compares to the M1 MacBook Air
Benchmarks for the new MacBook Neo surfaced today, and unsurprisingly, CPU performance is almost identical to the iPhone 16 Pro. The MacBook Neo uses the same 6-core A18 Pro chip that was first introduced in the iPhone 16 Pro, but it has one fewer GPU core. The MacBook Neo earned a...
forums.macrumors.com
I think the impression of being faster than the M1 is due the single core Geekbench score which is up from 2405 (M1) to 3417 (Neo) ...a 42% increase. I certainly noticed a change when I went from M1 to M3. The multicore score is about the same between M1 and Neo.
Bazza1
macrumors 65816
People are fixating on the speed and the RAM. But what do you really need it it to?
Hint: it does more than Apple's own advertising is giving it credit for.
I'd probably not consider it an 'upgrade' to your M1 or M2 (aside from the fact its a new product, and the others are now running on support timelines), but for others with older devices - or none at all - see this -
Hint: it does more than Apple's own advertising is giving it credit for.
I'd probably not consider it an 'upgrade' to your M1 or M2 (aside from the fact its a new product, and the others are now running on support timelines), but for others with older devices - or none at all - see this -
iHorseHead
macrumors 68020
Well, I think it's an upgrade from Intel etc tbh
This forum doesn't get that there are probably many people out there running MacBook Air 2017 etc so it's a perfect upgrade for them too tbh.