Will the MacBook Neo be a Success?

[Sh3ldon]

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.

May be they want to stay with Apple ecosystem if they already have an iPhone.

 

[Sh3ldon]

And in any case, it could be more than adequate for what I use it for: reading MacRumors, listening to Led Zeppelin in the background, and going to the few remaining forums in the world to mock my Android friends. Lost here on the top of a mountain, with the generator providing me with electricity, I don't need a data center to connect to the world. The yellow Neo would match the falling leaves in autumn!😛😂

 

[JPack]

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.

Neo isn't intended to fight with $200-$300 plastic netbooks. The bulk of global notebook sales volume is in the $400-$700 band, which is where Apple is targeting.

Consumers don't just look at price. Otherwise, Acer and HP would be at the top of sales charts. Consumers consider everything from build quality, performance, battery life, resale value, to brand recognition.

Of course Neo won't capture customers in low income countries. Consider which three cities the March 4 event was held in.

 

[STOCK411]

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.

There are no pcs that run winodws you can get for that in the US. its will run the bloated chromeos

 

[cjsuk]

I don't think it'll be a success in education which is the target. Not because the hardware or software is bad but the fact that the target users will have several problems:

• Education users are mostly feral. They'll get broken in two minutes flat. Swapping screens out for junk ones is going to be hell as they look like they are bonded to the lid. With a bit of luck the USB-C connectors will be at least replaceable if the chassis isn't bet around them.
• There's not enough RAM to run the stack of crap that most edus run due to Electron: outlook, teams, various other bits of crap built on Electron and equivalents

I think it'll also be a problem in other markets. I've observed that people are starting to get suspicious about the cloud and lock in and the low storage amounts in machines, particularly iOS. "what do you mean all my photos aren't on my phone" is a common and shocking discovery now. There's a push away from this model, esp with US behaviour, well promoted alternatives and this is an attempt to tie in to it again.

It'll sell though, at least initially.

 

[Zest28]

There are no pcs that run winodws you can get for that in the US. its will run the bloated chromeos

Please stop spreading misinformation, you can get laptops like this in the US. And it runs Windows 11 pro, not Chrome OS.

ACEMAGIC Laptop 15.6 FHD Laptop, AMD Ryzen 3 4300U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Pro, Graphite, WiFi 6, Backlit KB, Gray - Newegg.com

Buy ACEMAGIC Laptop 15.6 FHD Laptop, AMD Ryzen 3 4300U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Pro, Graphite, WiFi 6, Backlit KB, Gray with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

 

[iHorseHead]

I think it'll be very successful.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Please stop spreading misinformation, you can get laptops like this in the US. And it runs Windows 11 pro, not Chrome OS.

View attachment 2610321

ACEMAGIC Laptop 15.6 FHD Laptop, AMD Ryzen 3 4300U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Pro, Graphite, WiFi 6, Backlit KB, Gray - Newegg.com

Buy ACEMAGIC Laptop 15.6 FHD Laptop, AMD Ryzen 3 4300U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Pro, Graphite, WiFi 6, Backlit KB, Gray with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

Ahhh yes, the highly respected Acemagic brand from China that ships preinstalled malware. I know the point was to show it's possible to buy a Windows machine but doesn't mean you should.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acemagic

 

[STOCK411]

Please stop spreading misinformation, you can get laptops like this in the US. And it runs Windows 11 pro, not Chrome OS.

View attachment 2610321

ACEMAGIC Laptop 15.6 FHD Laptop, AMD Ryzen 3 4300U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Pro, Graphite, WiFi 6, Backlit KB, Gray - Newegg.com

Buy ACEMAGIC Laptop 15.6 FHD Laptop, AMD Ryzen 3 4300U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Pro, Graphite, WiFi 6, Backlit KB, Gray with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

Who the heck is “acemaagic”

Sure. You can buy a pc from some sketchy company for that price. But i doubt it will last more than a year before blowing up

 

[dumastudetto]

Who the heck is “acemaagic”

Sure. You can buy a pc from some sketchy company for that price. But i doubt it will last more than a year before blowing up

It's a six year-old budget CPU powering Windows 11 bloatware so I'm not sure you'll want it to last more than a year. 😀

 

[svish]

I think the device will be a successful product. At $499 for students, can see it selling well. Also it is a good MacBook despite its shortcomings.

 

[Zest28]

Who the heck is “acemaagic”

Sure. You can buy a pc from some sketchy company for that price. But i doubt it will last more than a year before blowing up

There are many other companies, this was just an example. Here is one of Asus ... or is Asus not good enough?

ASUS Vivobook 14 14" FHD Laptop - Intel Core i3-1315U - Intel UHD Graphics - 8GB RAM,512 GB SSD - Win 11 Home - Quiet Blue - Newegg.com

Buy ASUS Vivobook 14 14" FHD Laptop - Intel Core i3-1315U - Intel UHD Graphics - 8GB RAM,512 GB SSD - Win 11 Home - Quiet Blue with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

 

[Andeddu]

The price is so competitive that I plan on buying one without even needing or having a real use case for it. I have an M1 Air in my household, which I gave to my partner, but I can’t say no the Neo at that price point. I’ll probably just be using it for web-browsing, occasional AAA gaming and streaming TV shows on it rather than my ancient iPad Mini 4.

 

[genexx]

Not in Europe, at least. €699/€799 for a stripped-down MacBook? Hard pass. If the 13.6" MBA feels too big and money is no object, sure — it has a niche. But for anyone who already owns an MBA, there's zero reason to even look at those prices.

 

[MultiFinder17]

My school currently has a bit over 1000 convertible Lenovo laptops running Windows 11 all of which have horrid specs, horrid performance, and cost the district around $400-500 a pop. 4GB RAM, Pentium Silver, 128GB EMMC. The teachers got Surface Book Go's with a Pentium Gold, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD. My school is one of 250 in the district, every single one of which got the same setup. None of them are great in any way. I would hope that IT downtown is looking hard at a new cheap metal laptop that won't fall to pieces like these little plastic Lenovos do, with far better specs than they have, and for around the same price as them.

Please stop saying "No schools use Windows any more". I work in one of the largest school districts in the US, and we are 100% Windows with a few islands of Macs around. We experimented with Chromebooks briefly during COVID and luckily realized they were trash and dumped them after a year or so.

 

[4sallypat]

Not in Europe, at least. €699/€799 for a stripped-down MacBook? Hard pass. If the 13.6" MBA feels too big and money is no object, sure — it has a niche. But for anyone who already owns an MBA, there's zero reason to even look at those prices.

Wow, that's pricey in Europe!

Do you have students that can get the EDU pricing ?

I just bought a Neo using EDU (work as an educator).

1 United States Dollar equals 0.86 Euro so $499USD = 430€.

 

[LincolnBio]

Probably. It is kind of funny seeing so many comments on here like "ahh this laptop will be a great choice for somebody else!" though.

I get that this is a tech enthusiast forum, so most of the prospective Neo customers probably aren't posting here. When I think of the people I know who aren't tech nerds, most of them are using iPads. But maybe that's because there wasn't anything like the Neo available. I was one of those nerds who had a MacBook Pro in college and would've found the Neo underpowered.

I think the most interesting potential use case is a Chromebook alternative, because those aren't generally being bought by individual customers, but by schools or other institutions mass-purchasing them. Will that be the market Apple can count on? I guess we'll see.

 

[JitteryJimmy]

Yes, at least for a while. Other computers in this price range are junk. Neo seems to be technically on par with the M1 MBA, which is still a great laptop for basic home/office/school use.

 

[JitteryJimmy]

Probably. It is kind of funny seeing so many comments on here like "ahh this laptop will be a great choice for somebody else!" though.

I get that this is a tech enthusiast forum, so most of the prospective Neo customers probably aren't posting here.

As a tech guy, I support my family and friends with purchases and support. So that "someone else" is them. This is a great choice for these others, as the vast majority of them are what we'd consider "light users", and there is a tremendous price difference between $1000 and $600.

 

[4sallypat]

My school currently has a bit over 1000 convertible Lenovo laptops running Windows 11 all of which have horrid specs, horrid performance, and cost the district around $400-500 a pop. 4GB RAM, Pentium Silver, 128GB EMMC. The teachers got Surface Book Go's with a Pentium Gold, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD. My school is one of 250 in the district, every single one of which got the same setup. None of them are great in any way. I would hope that IT downtown is looking hard at a new cheap metal laptop that won't fall to pieces like these little plastic Lenovos do, with far better specs than they have, and for around the same price as them.

Please stop saying "No schools use Windows any more". I work in one of the largest school districts in the US, and we are 100% Windows with a few islands of Macs around. We experimented with Chromebooks briefly during COVID and luckily realized they were trash and dumped them after a year or so.

Our K-12 school district currently uses Chromebooks for students as well as Intel Macbook Pros from 2020 for staff/faculty.

As for staff/faculty devices, the worst experience we have had - I was very vocal and told my boss 6 years ago to get the new AS M1 MBP since it just got released.
Boss replied: "Apple is making a low offer for 1000 Intel MBP" so that ended the argument to save the district tons of money.
Boss is no longer working for us.

My new boss is all over the Neo and I have convinced her to buy 1000 at $499 and get AppleCare+ thrown in.

 

[Yr Blues]

I think for students and most normies looking for a budget friendly laptop, yes. The 3 things that are great are the lack of notch, the aluminum body, and the colors.

I remember buying plastic MacBooks for $999 (1280x800 screen) and they were pretty great.

The lack of a backlit keyboard might be the deal-breaker for me.

 

[maflynn]

When the rumors started swirling that apple was putting an A processor into a Mac, I was largely skeptical and largely a nay sayer.

I admit I was wrong, and seeing first impressions, and various insights, I realized I failed to view this product for whatit was and whom it was aimed too. I'm not the target audience, but mom/pop, grandma/grandpa, students, light usage, someone who wants a cheap laptop as a backup.

I think Apple struck gold on this, and it will be a success.

 

[popup]

In Europe(Spain) 699€. Too much. And the student price is 679€... Oooooh, 20€ discount.

 

[Zazoh]

The price is so competitive that I plan on buying one without even needing or having a real use case for it. I have an M1 Air in my household, which I gave to my partner, but I can’t say no the Neo at that price point. I’ll probably just be using it for web-browsing, occasional AAA gaming and streaming TV shows on it rather than my ancient iPad Mini 4.

Same. I ordered it and don’t need it. At that price, price of a few dinning experiences with the fam. It’s going to sell like hotcakes.

 

[Yr Blues]

Yes.