Why I Returned the MacBook Neo

[Queen6]

Lots of Neo buyers are returning their Neos because they know once the neo 2 comes out shortly theirs will be obsolete and worth pennies on the dollar.

Most likely don't know or care as all they want is a basic notebook with good build quality. Either ways is all good as the Neo will be cheaper again the refurb stores... Display is a non-issue and proved to be good for the sRGB space. Those that need more the MacBook Air is available at a reasonable price if your smart.

Q-6

 

[I7guy]

Lots of Neo buyers are returning their Neos because they know once the neo 2 comes out shortly theirs will be obsolete and worth pennies on the dollar.

IMO, the Neo2 will come out in April 2027. So the people who "need" a laptop will be SOL, if their strategy is to wait until 4/27.

 

[dborja]

Really ???....surely that is still a year away since Neo only recently came out

And then next year, the Neo 3 will be on the horizon...

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Please provide evidence that the Neo is being returned more often than other Apple devices because of the possible update to the chipset. To the contrary, there are shortages of the Neo, and consumers are forced to wait 2-3 weeks for on-line purchases.....which indicates there isn't a large stock of returned computers.

It seems like you might have taken a rumor about running out of chips and turned it into an unsupported statement about high returns. Logically, what percentage of Neo buyers even know the difference between an A-series and M-series chip....let alone care about a possible update down the road?

My nephew just bought two Neos, one for himself and one for his girlfriend. He has a BS/MS in Mechanical Engineering and works at a national research laboratoy, so he is not completely naive about technology. Anyway, he didn't give these rumors a moments thought.

Exactly. the target audience isn't going to care about this. At all.

 

[Howard2k]

Lots of Neo buyers are returning their Neos because they know once the neo 2 comes out shortly theirs will be obsolete and worth pennies on the dollar.

I’ll take “things that aren’t happening” for $400 please.

 

[Howard2k]

Really ???....surely that is still a year away since Neo only recently came out

No. That account is just satire.

 

[dzankizakon]

You’re trying to argue by reducing a display to a font-rendering variable because it’s the only angle you can argue. The rest of us are talking about the actual screen in front of our faces — reflectivity, contrast, optical bonding/lamination, coating quality and panel characteristics. Same text signal, worse optical path, worse perceived result. This isn’t “imaginary”: it’s just inconvenient for your understanding of displays.

These things have zero effect on text crispness. You claim you see something, fine, I claim it's placebo, I'm not going to waste more time. Goodbye.

 

[KPOM]

IMO, the Neo2 will come out in April 2027. So the people who "need" a laptop will be SOL, if their strategy is to wait until 4/27.

Unless the supposed shortage of A18 Pro chips forces Apple to release an A19 Pro version sooner. The Neo is a hit, so Apple won’t want to stop selling it even for a short time. Since the A19 Pro is still in active production it would be easier to make a few million more than to restart production of the A18 Pro.

 

[I7guy]

Unless the supposed shortage of A18 Pro chips forces Apple to release an A19 Pro version sooner. The Neo is a hit, so Apple won’t want to stop selling it even for a short time. Since the A19 Pro is still in active production it would be easier to make a few million more than to restart production of the A18 Pro.

I don’t think Apple wants to cause an uproar by releasing a new chip not even two months even the neo was released. They would probably pay for more capacity for the older chip. But I don’t know, I’m just guessing.

 

[Queen6]

I don’t think Apple wants to cause an uproar by releasing a new chip not even two months even the neo was released. They would probably pay for more capacity for the older chip. But I don’t know, I’m just guessing.

Think the same as Apple has far more foresight than many others hence their success. 2027 next gen Neo will surface and Apple will hold on pricing as they know they have a runaway product and the means to enforce with the factories.

Q-6

 

[KPOM]

I don’t think Apple wants to cause an uproar by releasing a new chip not even two months even the neo was released. They would probably pay for more capacity for the older chip. But I don’t know, I’m just guessing.

I don’t think they would release a new model 2 months after the original, but they did release the 4th generation iPad about 7 months after the 3rd generation. From what I understand they haven’t actually “run out” of chips but are going through the inventory of binned chips faster than they expected.

 

[DeepSix]

Really ???....surely that is still a year away since Neo only recently came out

Many are saying Neo 2 is coming later this year. Way too soon if you ask me. I'm certain it's already in production.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

Many are saying Neo 2 is coming later this year. Way too soon if you ask me. I'm certain it's already in production.

I heard somewhere that the new model will be the Neo Pro😊

 

[DeepSix]

I heard somewhere that the new model will be the Neo Pro😊

Neo Pro, Neo Ultra, whatever it's going to be called. It's going to be a night and day upgrade. Apple better be prepared to offer free upgrades or gift cards to anyone who bought the Neo at full price. What they're doing is not right.

Neo is a beta product and I feel bad for anyone who paid to test it, only to have the real product coming later this year.

 

[I7guy]

Neo Pro, Neo Ultra, whatever it's going to be called. It's going to be a night and day upgrade. Apple better be prepared to offer free upgrades or gift cards to anyone who bought the Neo at full price. What they're doing is not right.

Neo is a beta product and I feel bad for anyone who paid to test it, only to have the real product coming later this year.

The Neo is not a beta product. Like all products the Neo will be improved over time. The general MR poster community does not know when a new Neo will be available. It’s no different than Apple upgrading the iPad air from the m3 to the m4.

 

[Technerd108]

Neo Pro, Neo Ultra, whatever it's going to be called. It's going to be a night and day upgrade. Apple better be prepared to offer free upgrades or gift cards to anyone who bought the Neo at full price. What they're doing is not right.

Neo is a beta product and I feel bad for anyone who paid to test it, only to have the real product coming later this year.

So what is a better laptop for the $599 or $499 with edu discount in terms of an alternative.

Yes, the Neo 2 will be better but right now in terms of a better laptop what Windows? Are $599 Windows laptops better. Heck just for kicks I looked up $599 Windows laptop and I found screens with a maximum brightness if you paid more of 300nits. The ram was 12gb. It had a mid Intel processor from last year and it was $1100 direct from HP. You can find some deals on older laptops but there is always a catch sort of like the $599 Neo like somehow price dictates what is available.

As far as beta products try a Pixel phone or every new update for Windows 11.

Look, every gen 1 anything is sort of a beta product in the sense that it is a gamble to see if it will sell. Look at the stupid AR glasses..... Every company releases beta crap but Apple is different.

They spend a lot more into R&D and producing a product that will last and can be incrementally updated with some new hardware while retaining the basic design for years. The Neo isn't just a MacBook Air with less stuff. It is a complete redesign in the same design language.

So while I can understand if the Neo isn't what you expected or doesn't meet your needs but to say it is a beta product just isn't true.

This is a laptop series that will get yearly chip updates at least. People who care about this already understand and wanted the Neo anyway and most everyone else will use it until it doesn't work for them which most likely will be 2 or 3 years and they most likely will simply trade it in for a new Neo. They won't even notice the drop in resale value because they will still be using the Neo.

And if you do buy yearly then you should understand that the 2nd version will always have some sort of upgrades over the 1st so why wouldn't you just wait until next year when the Neo 2 comes out spring of next year???

The Neo 2 isn't available now and won't be for some time so it is not very relevant at this time as it is anyone's guess what or when we will get a Neo 2.

 

[snipr125]

So what is a better laptop for the $599 or $499 with edu discount in terms of an alternative.

Yes, the Neo 2 will be better but right now in terms of a better laptop what Windows? Are $599 Windows laptops better. Heck just for kicks I looked up $599 Windows laptop and I found screens with a maximum brightness if you paid more of 300nits. The ram was 12gb. It had a mid Intel processor from last year and it was $1100 direct from HP. You can find some deals on older laptops but there is always a catch sort of like the $599 Neo like somehow price dictates what is available.

As far as beta products try a Pixel phone or every new update for Windows 11.

Look, every gen 1 anything is sort of a beta product in the sense that it is a gamble to see if it will sell. Look at the stupid AR glasses..... Every company releases beta crap but Apple is different.

They spend a lot more into R&D and producing a product that will last and can be incrementally updated with some new hardware while retaining the basic design for years. The Neo isn't just a MacBook Air with less stuff. It is a complete redesign in the same design language.

So while I can understand if the Neo isn't what you expected or doesn't meet your needs but to say it is a beta product just isn't true.

This is a laptop series that will get yearly chip updates at least. People who care about this already understand and wanted the Neo anyway and most everyone else will use it until it doesn't work for them which most likely will be 2 or 3 years and they most likely will simply trade it in for a new Neo. They won't even notice the drop in resale value because they will still be using the Neo.

And if you do buy yearly then you should understand that the 2nd version will always have some sort of upgrades over the 1st so why wouldn't you just wait until next year when the Neo 2 comes out spring of next year???

The Neo 2 isn't available now and won't be for some time so it is not very relevant at this time as it is anyone's guess what or when we will get a Neo 2.

You can get Windows laptops with OLED displays, 16 GB RAM, 512 gb storage and ARM snapdragon chips for less than £599. I was recommending the Neo to my colleague at work as her laptop is on last legs, but she showed me these deals on Currys in the UK, and i could not argue against them (HP omnibook) Against a deal like this only the Neos build quality is better.

 

[weckart]

You can get Windows laptops with OLED displays, 16 GB RAM, 512 gb storage and ARM snapdragon chips for less than £599. I was recommending the Neo to my colleague at work as her laptop is on last legs, but she showed me these deals on Currys in the UK, and i could not argue against them (HP omnibook) Against a deal like this only the Neos build quality is better.

I watched a Neo-PC comparison video yesterday. In short, the Neo will have the best display by far, the best single core performance but will be absolutely hammered in multicore tasks. It depends on your needs but there are £1k notebooks being reduced to Neo prices all the time with 16GB RAM and 1TB storage (as all three PCs in the above comparison video had) so the Neo will not be an immediate choice for everyone, even at that price range.

 

[Technerd108]

You can get Windows laptops with OLED displays, 16 GB RAM, 512 gb storage and ARM snapdragon chips for less than £599. I was recommending the Neo to my colleague at work as her laptop is on last legs, but she showed me these deals on Currys in the UK, and i could not argue against them (HP omnibook) Against a deal like this only the Neos build quality is better.

Windows on arm may as well be a Chromebook as it is not running full Windows x86.

https://www.reddit.com/r/snapdragon/comments/1rqjark/snapdragon_x_plus_destroyed_by_a18_pro

The Screen on an Asus is 300 nits brightness with a much lower PPI.

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Of course with Edu discount the Neo is still an overall better laptop in my opinion. But everyone values different things and might prefer Windows and Oled and this is a decent choice I will admit. Even with the better ram and storage I think MacOS does a better job with ram compression and usage than Windows.

Then you have MacOS. Unified ram and storage.

The Neo isn't as Feature rich in some ways but that is typical Apple. An air can't compete compared to some Windows laptops in similar price range with 120 hz better screens. But an air is an overall better laptop than a comparable Windows laptop. Same goes for the MacBook Pro. Now the same with Neo at the low end.

Apple never competes on specs but on the experience and Apple does a pretty good job of giving you a similar experience across devices and price points.

 

[I7guy]

You can get Windows laptops with OLED displays, 16 GB RAM, 512 gb storage and ARM snapdragon chips for less than £599. I was recommending the Neo to my colleague at work as her laptop is on last legs, but she showed me these deals on Currys in the UK, and i could not argue against them (HP omnibook) Against a deal like this only the Neos build quality is better.

Yeah I wanted a Mac and the Neo was perfect. I didn’t shop in price I shopped in experience. I know it will be more stable than a windows laptop and I’m a lifelong windows user.

 

[maflynn]

Lots of Neo buyers are returning their Neos because they know once the neo 2 comes out shortly theirs will be obsolete and worth pennies on the dollar.

That doesn't make sense.

Using your logic, lots of iPhone 17 users are returning their phones, because the iPhone 18 is going to be better.

Do you have data to back up your claim that there's a high return rate on the Neos

 

[DeepSix]

The Neo is not a beta product. Like all products the Neo will be improved over time. The general MR poster community does not know when a new Neo will be available. It’s no different than Apple upgrading the iPad air from the m3 to the m4.

So what is a better laptop for the $599 or $499 with edu discount in terms of an alternative.

Yes, the Neo 2 will be better but right now in terms of a better laptop what Windows? Are $599 Windows laptops better. Heck just for kicks I looked up $599 Windows laptop and I found screens with a maximum brightness if you paid more of 300nits. The ram was 12gb. It had a mid Intel processor from last year and it was $1100 direct from HP. You can find some deals on older laptops but there is always a catch sort of like the $599 Neo like somehow price dictates what is available.

As far as beta products try a Pixel phone or every new update for Windows 11.

Look, every gen 1 anything is sort of a beta product in the sense that it is a gamble to see if it will sell. Look at the stupid AR glasses..... Every company releases beta crap but Apple is different.

They spend a lot more into R&D and producing a product that will last and can be incrementally updated with some new hardware while retaining the basic design for years. The Neo isn't just a MacBook Air with less stuff. It is a complete redesign in the same design language.

So while I can understand if the Neo isn't what you expected or doesn't meet your needs but to say it is a beta product just isn't true.

This is a laptop series that will get yearly chip updates at least. People who care about this already understand and wanted the Neo anyway and most everyone else will use it until it doesn't work for them which most likely will be 2 or 3 years and they most likely will simply trade it in for a new Neo. They won't even notice the drop in resale value because they will still be using the Neo.

And if you do buy yearly then you should understand that the 2nd version will always have some sort of upgrades over the 1st so why wouldn't you just wait until next year when the Neo 2 comes out spring of next year???

The Neo 2 isn't available now and won't be for some time so it is not very relevant at this time as it is anyone's guess what or when we will get a Neo 2.

I watched the JustJosh podcast yesterday. He literally recommended people not to buy the Neo. But instead get a MacBook Air, and use that until the Neo 2 is out. Then get the Neo 2.

 

[Technerd108]

I watched the JustJosh podcast yesterday. He literally recommended people not to buy the Neo. But instead get a MacBook Air, and use that until the Neo 2 is out. Then get the Neo 2.

That is what I would do. I didn't need a video to understand that. I also said a few times in this thread that all first Gen products generally aren't recommended as the 2nd release generally fixes some issues with 1st Gen.

Ever owned a Pixel phone? Any new product from Google or Microsoft? Then in 6 months it is discontinued.

But what I would do as a current MBA owner is not what the demographic buying the first Gen Neo. These are people who don't care about 12gb ram or 8gb. They just want a simple laptop that works for them on MacOS in a fanless design.

Most of the people buying the Neo now and there are a lot of them just want a cheap MacBook and as long as it works for them they will keep it until it doesn't work for them and probably trade in in 2 or 3 years for a new improved Neo.

In any case, the Neo is selling well and people aren't returning it in mass because they are unhappy with it. The opposite is true.

If I needed a laptop now and I couldn't afford an air and my options were cheap Windows laptop or Neo I would buy the Neo. Not only will it be a better experience than a comparative Windows laptop I am willing to bet that even with a much anticipated better Neo 2 the original Neo will still have better resale value than a Windows laptop in the sane price category.

I have also said numerous times in this thread for me personally I would try to find a New in Box M3 MBA or M4/5 MBA on sale instead of the current Neo. This doesn't mean that the Neo isn't a great product for others?

 

[edubfromktown]

Get whatever works for your needs within a 3+ year timeframe. You can resell it and get plenty of value if you decide to trade-up.

Most do not need massive amounts of RAM, storage and top tier CPU and GPU densities.

 

[I7guy]

I watched the JustJosh podcast yesterday. He literally recommended people not to buy the Neo. But instead get a MacBook Air, and use that until the Neo 2 is out. Then get the Neo 2.

The podcaster must not have been in touch with the millions that have bought the MacBook neo, including myself. Apple hit it out of the park for the demographic that will be well served by the Neo.