Want Touch ID on the MacBook Neo? It'll Cost You $100 Extra

[MacRumors]

Apple today debuted the MacBook Neo, a $599 notebook with an A18 Pro chip, 16-hour battery life, and selection of bright colors. The MacBook Neo has the same magic keyboard as other MacBooks, but getting Touch ID is an extra charge.

The base $599 MacBook Neo model has a standard keyboard without Touch ID and 256GB of storage, but if you pay $100 more, you can get 512GB of storage and a Touch ID button on the keyboard.

There is no option to get Touch ID with the 256GB storage tier. There are just two pricing tiers for storage, with no other upgrade options available for the MacBook Neo. There is a $100 EDU discount, so teachers and students can get the standard Neo for $499, and the upgraded version with Touch ID for $599.

The MacBook Neo comes in four colors, including Silver, Citrus, Blush, and Indigo. It is available for pre-order today, with a launch to follow on March 11.

Article Link: Want Touch ID on the MacBook Neo? It'll Cost You $100 Extra

 

[101phd]

It's a no brainer since double the storage used to cost 200...

 

[abatabia]

Now that the initial excitement has worn off, I’ll hang onto my m1 air. Maybe next year when this is on the base model.

 

[MacUserFella]

Hopefully we’ll also be able to pay for Touch ID on iPhone soon

 

[Docsta80]

Looks like adding the Command key will be an extra 50

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

No brainer.

Another TC masterclass at play!

 

[pbau]

A joke it is

 

[iMac The Knife]

I'll just leave this right here...

 

[el-John-o]

It's an absolute no brainer.

A million years ago I went to buy a brand new car because this particular model was advertised at a 'starting price' I could afford. Turns out there wasn't a single one in the country; and in fact, a base model wasn't even built. It was special order only. Entice people, get them in the door with a super low price! Except that base model with a manual transmission and no fancy features was what I wanted; so I ordered one! To the chagrin of the dealer who tried really hard to convince me to buy one off his lot with features I didn't need.

This definitely feels like an attempt to say "We sell a $599 laptop" but most folks will probably buy the $699 model.

And in this current climate of insane component prices, $699 for a laptop with an ARM chip, 16 hour battery life, and 512GB of storage may be one of the best, if not the best, deals in brand-new computers right now. (Which is sad; but, also, a reality.)

I assume it only has 8GB of RAM (like the iPhone the chip came from), and that definitely seems limiting. But nobody is going to buy one of these to do heavy work anyway.

 

[Stella]

I couldn't imagine using an Apple device without Touch ID.. it's a PITA. There's a reason why the low model is cheap..

Surprised Apple didn't go with 4GB with 128GB RAM, making the more expensive model almost mandatory.

 

[Billy_Bob]

Schools that deploy Macs en masse won't want TouchID, so this is a sensible way to economize. Students making individual purchases can spend the extra $100 for the security and convenience of TouchID along with the extra storage.

 

[erikkfi]

There are those nickels and dimes! Apple, I knew you hadn’t really changed!

 

[M4irmidnight]

Apple today debuted the MacBook Neo, a $599 notebook with an A18 Pro chip, 16-hour battery life, and selection of bright colors. The MacBook Neo has the same magic keyboard as other MacBooks, but getting Touch ID is an extra charge.

The base $599 MacBook Neo model has a standard keyboard without Touch ID and 256GB of storage, but if you pay $100 more, you can get 512GB of storage and a Touch ID button on the keyboard.

There is no option to get Touch ID with the 256GB storage tier. There are just two pricing tiers for storage, with no other upgrade options available for the MacBook Neo. There is a $100 EDU discount, so teachers and students can get the standard Neo for $499, and the upgraded version with Touch ID for $599.

The MacBook Neo comes in four colors, including Silver, Citrus, Blush, and Indigo. It is available for pre-order today, with a launch to follow on March 11.

Article Link: Want Touch ID on the MacBook Neo? It'll Cost You $100 Extra

I’m really envious of that no notch aspect. Wish the M5 air had done the same.

Reminds me of when the base iPad got the new camera placement before the air or pros.

Looks way better.

 

[meepdarby]

Other than the 8gb of ram this is pretty good for a student/starter MacBook. It is supposed to be a entry model. They should have started with at least 12gb of ram tbh. But realistically are any m1 MacBook Air users finding Mac OS slow? I still had an m1 MacBook air until last year and it was pretty good for most tasks even video editing. There are still a lot of people who want a MacBook but don't want to spend $1000+. So for them to make a $599 MacBook is actually great.

 

[NateNateNateNate]

$100 for touch ID and double the storage? Doesn't sound like an issue to me, personally.
Just happy to have a $499 (EDU) MacBook option. That's incredible.

 

[Neil J. Squillante]

TouchID doesn’t work anyway so no big loss. My iPad mini works reliably for a few weeks before requiring a reset. My MacBook Pro keyboard and Magic Keyboard work reliably for a day at most so it’s completely worthless. Mac displays desperately need FaceID.

 

[el-John-o]

Now that the initial excitement has worn off, I’ll hang onto my m1 air. Maybe next year when this is on the base model.

An A18 Pro is not a meaningful upgrade over an M1 anyway. They're actually really, really close in performance. And if you have more than 8GB of RAM on yours, then you're already ahead. They're nearly identical in both single and multi-core performance. GPU performance too, nearly exactly the same.

In some ways this is effectively a re-release of the base model M1 Mac (at least in terms of performance) but at a low price.

As an aside, it's going to be infuriating if Apple drops OS support for the M1 machines but keeps it going for these Neo machines, a few years down the road. Since they are, effectively, identical in performance and features.

If you feel like you need to upgrade; an A18 Pro powered machine is not an upgrade. But used M4 machines may be hitting the market soon!

 

[What_Is_George]

I think most tech people who browse a forum won't like the no Touch ID, but schools and mass deployments for company laptops would probably prefer no Touch ID. People can get really weird and think their company they work for is stealing their fingerprint or something. Lots of people I know who have company laptops have fingerprint readers turned off by default.

 

[beautyहमempty]

I don’t need it, but I want it and I will get it. I don’t need Touch ID, but it would have been nice to have

 

[Mactech20]

Schools that deploy Macs en masse won't want TouchID, so this is a sensible way to economize. Students making individual purchases can spend the extra $100 for the security and convenience of TouchID along with the extra storage.

Exactly. This is actually perfect for schools. Same idea with using USB C for charging.

 

[Paddle1]

Kind of funny considering it's included on the much cheaper base iPad.

 

[Ursadorable]

After reading these specs, me calling this an Apple Chromebook stands firm.

Good for students and maybe for grandparents paying their bills online.

 

[Macalway]

Should have named this MacBook Throttle.

 

[ibook se]

My biggest question as there are only two models... Is there a speed difference on the drives between the 256gb and 512gb?

 

[page3]

Can we have an option for it to be on the left, for us sinister users.