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Will the MacBook Neo be a Success?
- Thread starter KPOM
- Start date
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It looks like the perfect laptop for someone who wants a laptop that will just work, have an operating system that does not constantly need tweaking to function and break every single update, but does not need the performance of the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. In fact although I definitely don't need one..... for $599.... I just may get one.
JPack
macrumors P6
Yes, because it's competitive at $499/$599. People will have to forego the 16/512 expectation but I think the fruit logo is enough to persuade many.
I’m gonna say no, and that this product may be a little too late. Folks who would gravitate towards this probably have or prefer an iPad. Someone who has an interest in macOS would probably wait for a price drop on an Air with double the ram.
I dislikes iPads and wanted a couch machine but this missed the mark. It’s the same weight and thicker than the Air so not enough to offset the other lack in futures. Essentially a MacBook Wheezy.
I dislikes iPads and wanted a couch machine but this missed the mark. It’s the same weight and thicker than the Air so not enough to offset the other lack in futures. Essentially a MacBook Wheezy.
Counterpoint: This costs the same as a base iPad with the Apple Magic Keyboard and has twice the storage and more RAM, albeit in a heavier package and no touchscreen.
oneMadRssn
macrumors 603
The point is to go up against the likes of this: https://www.bestbuy.com/product/hp-...2023-4gb-memory-64gb-emmc-sky-blue/JJGS9KW6JQ
It's targeted at people that already own an iPhone, but think a Macbook Air is too expensive and an iPad isn't useful enough.
It will sell extremely well.
It's targeted at people that already own an iPhone, but think a Macbook Air is too expensive and an iPad isn't useful enough.
It will sell extremely well.
jz0309
macrumors P6
yes, it is a great value esp at EDU which is the main target market.
JPack
macrumors P6
That's a good point and I suspect Neo will cannibalize some iPad/Air sales. You can't do enough productivity or homework with an iPad but this thing can.
Premal212
macrumors 6502
This will absolutely dominate, I know on certain threads here there is sooo much hate towards the poor specs, but there are so many people that just don't need 10% of the performance, it's literally google docs and youtube day in day out.
And for 500£ thats an absolute steal. The Air is prices so specifically that anyone who knows a thing or two about a Mac would just go for the Pro, the delta is very minimal when youre in that price bracket, but this comes way lower, it's a good Mac for a lot of people.
And for 500£ thats an absolute steal. The Air is prices so specifically that anyone who knows a thing or two about a Mac would just go for the Pro, the delta is very minimal when youre in that price bracket, but this comes way lower, it's a good Mac for a lot of people.
A Mac laptop for 499 bucks will sell like hot cakes.
JPack
macrumors P6
Exactly, there's too many people here chasing specs whether they need it or not.
Outside of this forum, many consumers don't need the 16GB or 512GB even if you gave it to them for free. They really just use a computer to do web browsing, Excel record keeping, and Zoom calls. So even if Air is "only" $400 or $500 more, that's hundreds more they don't need to spend.
4sallypat
macrumors 603
Correct!
EDU market is huge for an affordable device for students - whether it's K-12 or college.
Price point makes it almost a first being this low!
My EDU order is in - 512GB w/ Touch ID for $599 (saved $100).
raythompsontn
macrumors 65816
You know you want one. Need is irrelevant. And I am in the same position. A cheap laptop, that does what I need, to take when I travel. In case of loss, well, I am not out big bucks.
raythompsontn
macrumors 65816
There is software that I run on my Mac that will not run on the iPad. The NEO would be a good machine for those applications as these apps are not resource intensive.
I like, and use my iPad, but sometimes I need a keyboard. The Apple keyboard is a little less than half the cost of the NEO. Yes, there are cheaper keyboards, but I find they are inferior products for my personal preference.
4sallypat
macrumors 603
I have both an iPad 11th gen and iPad Pro but I never use them regularly.
I prefer a Macbook and our EDU staff/faculty demands it.
We were going to initially get 1000 MBA for our staff/faculty, but this Neo will be the one to get and we are looking to replace our student HP Chromebooks with the Neo as the price point ($499) is lower than what we paid w/ extended replacement warranty thru Lexicon.
transpo1
macrumors 68000
It's the perfect gateway drug for someone who has an iPhone and wants to extend their reach into the Mac ecosystem.
That and education must have motivated Apple's strategy. After a few years and many updates, and because of the hardware limitations, it will bog down like many Apple products, and those same customers might upgrade to a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. 🙂
That and education must have motivated Apple's strategy. After a few years and many updates, and because of the hardware limitations, it will bog down like many Apple products, and those same customers might upgrade to a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. 🙂
kpluck
macrumors regular
It is possible it could help spur iPad/iPhone sales. If someone that is currently not in the Apple ecosystem at all is inspired to buy a Neo, they may like it so much that they end up buying an iPhone, iPad, etc.
-kp
You can get 1830 MacBook Neos for the price of 1000 MacBook Airs, or more realistically save $500,000 on the purchase of $1000.
Snørrbjørg
macrumors regular
I dont need one, and I will buy it because nice to have.
Maybe it will even replace my MBP16 Intel -19 at work. Only do MS Remote Desktop, browsing, mail, and light spreadsheets.
Maybe it will even replace my MBP16 Intel -19 at work. Only do MS Remote Desktop, browsing, mail, and light spreadsheets.
p33t3r
macrumors regular
Absolutely successful. My daughter's high school has had M1/8/256 Airs since they were released, and they are beginning to show their age and soon need to be replaced, if only due to wear and tear. I believe many schools will replace their entire laptop fleet with this, also to be able to break out of the Google ecosystem for those that have chromebooks.
I’m just going to directly quote John Gruber:
“$599. Not a piece of junk.
That’s not a marketing slogan from Apple for the new MacBook Neo . But it could be.”
“I’m writing this from Apple’s hands-on “experience” in New York, amongst what I’d estimate as a few hundred members of the media. It’s a pretty big event, and a very big space inside some sort of empty warehouse on the western edge of Chelsea. Before playing the four-minute Neo introduction video (which you should watch — it’s embedded in Apple’s Newsroom post), John Ternus took the stage to address the audience. He emphasized that the Mac user base continues to grow, because “nearly half of Mac buyers are new to the platform”. Ternus didn’t say the following aloud, but Apple clearly knows what has kept a lot of would-be switchers from switching, and it’s the price. The Mac Mini is great, but normal people only buy laptops, and aside from the aforementioned dabbling with the five-year-old M1 MacBook Air, Apple just hasn’t ventured under $999. “We don’t ship junk,” Steve Jobs said back in 2007. It’s not that Apple never noticed the demand for laptops in the $500–700 range. It’s that they didn’t see how to make one that wasn’t junk.
Now they have. And the PC world should take note. One of my briefings today included a side-by-side comparison between a MacBook Neo and an HP 14-inch laptop “in the same price category”. It was something like this one, with an Intel Core 5 chip, which costs $550. The HP’s screen sucks (very dim, way lower resolution), the speakers suck, the keyboard sucks, and the trackpad sucks. It’s a thick, heavy, plasticky piece of junk. I didn’t put my nose to it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it smells bad.
The MacBook Neo looks and feels every bit like a MacBook. Solid aluminum. Good keyboard (no backlighting, but supposedly the same mechanism as in other post-2019 MacBooks — felt great in my quick testing). Good trackpad (no Force Touch — it actually physically clicks, but you can click anywhere, not just the bottom). Good bright display (500 nits max, same as the MacBook Air). Surprisingly good speakers, in a new side-firing configuration. Without even turning either laptop on, you can just see and feel that the MacBook Neo is a vastly superior device.
And when you do turn them on, you see the vast difference in display quality and hear the vast difference in speaker quality. And you get MacOS, not Windows, which, even with Tahoe, remains the quintessential glass of ice water in hell for the computer industry.
I came into today’sevent experience expecting a starting price of $799 for the Neo — $300 less than the new $1,099 price for the base M5 MacBook Air (which, in defense of that price, starts with 512 GB storage). $599 is a f**king statement. Apple is coming after this market. I think they’re going to sell a zillion of these things, and “almost half” of new Mac buyers being new to the platform is going to become “more than half”. The MacBook Neo is not a footnote or hobby, or a pricing stunt to get people in the door before upselling them to a MacBook Air. It’s the first major new Mac aimed at the consumer market in the Apple Silicon era. It’s meant to make a dent — perhaps a minuscule dent in the universe, but a big dent in the Mac’s share of the overall PC market.”
daringfireball.net
“$599. Not a piece of junk.
That’s not a marketing slogan from Apple for the new MacBook Neo . But it could be.”
“I’m writing this from Apple’s hands-on “experience” in New York, amongst what I’d estimate as a few hundred members of the media. It’s a pretty big event, and a very big space inside some sort of empty warehouse on the western edge of Chelsea. Before playing the four-minute Neo introduction video (which you should watch — it’s embedded in Apple’s Newsroom post), John Ternus took the stage to address the audience. He emphasized that the Mac user base continues to grow, because “nearly half of Mac buyers are new to the platform”. Ternus didn’t say the following aloud, but Apple clearly knows what has kept a lot of would-be switchers from switching, and it’s the price. The Mac Mini is great, but normal people only buy laptops, and aside from the aforementioned dabbling with the five-year-old M1 MacBook Air, Apple just hasn’t ventured under $999. “We don’t ship junk,” Steve Jobs said back in 2007. It’s not that Apple never noticed the demand for laptops in the $500–700 range. It’s that they didn’t see how to make one that wasn’t junk.
Now they have. And the PC world should take note. One of my briefings today included a side-by-side comparison between a MacBook Neo and an HP 14-inch laptop “in the same price category”. It was something like this one, with an Intel Core 5 chip, which costs $550. The HP’s screen sucks (very dim, way lower resolution), the speakers suck, the keyboard sucks, and the trackpad sucks. It’s a thick, heavy, plasticky piece of junk. I didn’t put my nose to it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it smells bad.
The MacBook Neo looks and feels every bit like a MacBook. Solid aluminum. Good keyboard (no backlighting, but supposedly the same mechanism as in other post-2019 MacBooks — felt great in my quick testing). Good trackpad (no Force Touch — it actually physically clicks, but you can click anywhere, not just the bottom). Good bright display (500 nits max, same as the MacBook Air). Surprisingly good speakers, in a new side-firing configuration. Without even turning either laptop on, you can just see and feel that the MacBook Neo is a vastly superior device.
And when you do turn them on, you see the vast difference in display quality and hear the vast difference in speaker quality. And you get MacOS, not Windows, which, even with Tahoe, remains the quintessential glass of ice water in hell for the computer industry.
I came into today’s
Thoughts and Observations on the MacBook Neo
The MacBook Neo is the first major new Mac aimed at the consumer market in the Apple Silicon era. It’s meant to make a dent — perhaps a minuscule dent in the universe, but a big dent in the Mac’s share of the overall PC market.
daringfireball.net
IvyKing
macrumors 6502a
One thing I'm hoping for is that an increasing market share for Mac's will lead to an increasing number of applications that will run on Mac's.
conmee
macrumors 6502a
It will sell a lot. Will it be a success by Apple standards? Who knows? I thought selling millions of iPhone minis was considered successful, but as we know, it wasn't enough. As long as there is no huge negative PR related to performance or limited capabilities from the target audience, it should be a "success."
Nope.
I was just checking at PC's and if someone is on a budget, the MacBook Neo is still quite expensive. For $200 to $300 you can buy a PC for "light tasks" that will handle it no problem.
So will people really spend $599 on this thing if they don't need any performance at all while there are much cheaper alternatives?
I don't think this thing will capture people in 3rd world countries like India like cheap PC's can.
I was just checking at PC's and if someone is on a budget, the MacBook Neo is still quite expensive. For $200 to $300 you can buy a PC for "light tasks" that will handle it no problem.
So will people really spend $599 on this thing if they don't need any performance at all while there are much cheaper alternatives?
I don't think this thing will capture people in 3rd world countries like India like cheap PC's can.