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Will the MacBook Neo be a Success?

Will the MacBook Neo be a Success?

  • Yes

    Votes: 237 91.5%

  • No

    Votes: 9 3.5%

  • Yes, but only after a major update (12GB A19 Pro, better connectivity)

    Votes: 13 5.0%
  • Total voters
    259
I remember loving the plastic MacBooks that came in black and white. Low-res screen. No backlit keys. Glowing logo. They did bring back the janky touch-pad. Those were great until the slowly cracked and crumbled. The Neo is nearly half the price (inflation aside).
 
Zest28 said:
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.
Click to expand...
Of course it will sell great. There are no cheaper options in a notebook that gets them a Mac.
 
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1BadManVan said:
As much as the tech snobs dont seem thrilled about the specs on paper, I still think this will be a huge success for apple and a great way for people that have been wanting to get into a MacBook for a basic computer, without the $1k price tag, this will be a huge hit
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Agreed. The people sitting in front of the screen of the Neo will be overjoyed with it. Fun, colourful, and capable of everything they throw at it. They won’t be launching Activity Monitor while they work. New generations of Mac users being born starting Wednesday is a great thing to me. Tim Cook’s lack of product knowledge made him assume the iPad was the future of computing, as a result the Mac saw tons of neglect in hardware and software. Furthermore they lost the education market to Google. Though software quality has a ways to go, since the advent of M series chips, which were born out of iPhone/iPad chips, Mac hardware has never been better IMHO. If the Neo supercharges the attention given to Macs, I am all for it. I don’t need one, but I want one of those citrus biscuits!
 
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4sallypat said:
Oh how I miss the glowing white Apple logo from the other side of the display - everyone knew you had a Mac....
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I miss the glowing logo, the breathing sleep light, and the green LED battery level indicators. Jony Ives homogenous and monolithic tastes killed those when his power increased, and the finance department was happy cutting as much as possible at the expense of user experience and whimsical delight. I think if  continues with the fun colours and iterates every generation, Macs like the Citrus Neo will scream Mac, at least until the PC vendors start the photocopiers.
 
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AlixSPQR said:
It's too early to tell. But I wouldn't be surprised if it is.
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I fully expect it to be a huge success for apple. But I also fully expect to see this have higher returns then other Apple laptops. Once the excitement of buying a new apple product wears off, and you use it, or that you find you don't use it because you already have a Mac, people will start returning them.

There's no way to measure that, unless apple mentions it, but that's my opinion of what the future will hold
 
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Our school district has just committed to buying 1000 Neo (base) in silver for our staff & faculty to replace the 2020 i7 MBP during our refresh.

If the staff/faculty accepts them for education, we will buy 14,000+ for our students to replace out the current Chromebooks which are a nightmare.

Without the Neo, we were going to go with our second choice - Lenovo PC W11.
That would have been a disaster!
 
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maflynn said:
I fully expect it to be a huge success for apple. But I also fully expect to see this have higher returns then other Apple laptops. Once the excitement of buying a new apple product wears off, and you use it, or that you find you don't use it because you already have a Mac, people will start returning them.

There's no way to measure that, unless apple mentions it, but that's my opinion of what the future will hold
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That's the way I feel about the iPad, and the iPod past the Generation 2 or so. I find the iPad quite boring these days, and am not very interested in newer iPhones other than the 14 Pro I have had for a few years already.
 
Two combinations are either out of stock or pushed until April at many places: Citrus 512GB, Blush 512GB

Apple.com:

Citrus 512: Mar 27 - Apr 3
Blush 512: Mar 27 - Apr 3

The Citrus 256GB has also almost pushed to April:

Citrus 256GB: Mar 25 - Mar 27

—

Target is out of stock on the same two configs:

Citrus 512: "This combination isn't available. Notify me when available."
Blush 512: "Out of stock. Notify me when available."

—

Walmart is out of stock on the same two configs, and also is out of stock on the Blush 256.

Citrus 512: "Out of stock"
Blush 512: "Out of stock"

—

However, Best Buy and Amazon still have all configs, all colors in stock. So that is good: each out of stock SKU can mean a lost sale.

And the Neo remains the #1 New Release in Computers & Accessories.
 
Citrus and Blush are popular! All Chicago-area Apple stores are out of stock of those in 512GB with April availability reported.
 
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KPOM said:
Citrus and Blush are popular! All Chicago-area Apple stores are out of stock of those in 512GB with April availability reported.
Click to expand...
Same shortage here in So Calif.

We are returning the 512GB Citrus for a 512GB Blush.

Wife hates the Citrus color looking like antifreeze that spilled onto it.

Will return the Citrus near the 14 day period hoping the Blush is available.

IMG_4713.JPG
 
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It will be a major hit. This is Apple's most important product in many years. It does not matter if you like it or not, if you need more than 8 GB RAM, if you think the processor is underpowered. What is matters is that Apple laptops have just become much more affordable, and many people who were not able or not willing to spend $1,000 on a Mac will be able to buy one now. That includes students, young professionals, people in developing countries, and many, many others.

And the MacBook Neo is a very important product even for those Mac enthusiasts who do not care about it. Because the Neo will dramatically improve Apple's market share in computers. And it means that Mac OS will become a much more attractive platform for developers; after all, there will be more demand. One should expect more software being released for Mac, and software being updated more often. With an increased market share all over the world, it will be harder to ignore the Mac as a platform.
 
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What's been a pleasant revelation is how much attention Apple was giving the needs of the education market in the design of the Neo. One need was getting price close to the Chromebook range and another was making it easy to repair. The latter was exemplified by the much easier replacement of the battery and keyboard.

The Neo reminds me a bit of the original Mac vs the Lisa. One difference is that the Neo runs the same software as all the other Macs.
 
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IvyKing said:
What's been a pleasant revelation is how much attention Apple was giving the needs of the education market in the design of the Neo. One need was getting price close to the Chromebook range and another was making it easy to repair. The latter was exemplified by the much easier replacement of the battery and keyboard.

The Neo reminds me a bit of the original Mac vs the Lisa. One difference is that the Neo runs the same software as all the other Macs.
Click to expand...
And I guess also easier for third party repair shops after the warantee ends.

Speaking of apple care. Used to end after 3 years. Now it's month to month or per year.

So does that mean I can pay for 10 years and still be covered? Or is there a limit?
 
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ivnj said:
So does that mean I can pay for 10 years and still be covered? Or is there a limit?
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Dunno, my guess is the limit will be set on a per device basis.

Getting back to the Neo, I did play with a display model this afternoon when shopping at Best Buy. The trackpad behaved as it was supposed to and the mechanical nature didn't bother me as my first trackpad was on a 2009 MBP. My other motive in trying out the Neo was to see if the Calculator app's bug with handling sign in RPN mode had been fixed - tried 10^-1 and got the correct 0.1 as opposed to -10 that I get with the last few releases of Sonoma.
 
skaertus said:
It will be a major hit. This is Apple's most important product in many years. It does not matter if you like it or not, if you need more than 8 GB RAM, if you think the processor is underpowered. What is matters is that Apple laptops have just become much more affordable, and many people who were not able or not willing to spend $1,000 on a Mac will be able to buy one now. That includes students, young professionals, people in developing countries, and many, many others.

And the MacBook Neo is a very important product even for those Mac enthusiasts who do not care about it. Because the Neo will dramatically improve Apple's market share in computers. And it means that Mac OS will become a much more attractive platform for developers; after all, there will be more demand. One should expect more software being released for Mac, and software being updated more often. With an increased market share all over the world, it will be harder to ignore the Mac as a platform.
Click to expand...
Yes, Apple has hit this out of the ballpark!

Our EDU organization has started some testing to see how the Neos would work in EDU.

So far, every teacher and staff that are using the Neo replies back with "awesome", very fast and snappy, and wonderful durable construction that would be perfect for a classroom.

As IT, I found it very useable for our network management, databases, and app based remote desktop & VOIP.

Even I did the unthinkable - open up 60 tabs between 3 web browsers and get a yellow RAM memory pressure to peak and then settle down to green.

We are ordering 1000 Neo (base) and will replace the 2020 MBP we have been begrudgingly using.
 
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Basic75 said:
Interesting, so nobody thinks the missing MagSafe will be a problem?
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Correct - they had been issued 2020 MBP i7 and it only has 2 USB-C ports so this Neo replacement is a natural.

We won't have to distribute additional HDMI & USB-A adapters - they can use the ones we gave them back in 2020.

And their 61W chargers can also be reused.
 
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Lounge vibes 05 said:
"$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.”
Click to expand...
Spot-on.

I don’t think the Neo is just nibbling at Windows and Chromebook sales, it’s more like a full-on collision, and the Neo’s coming out on top.

People are going to notice just how much better MacOS Tahoe feels compared to Windows 11.
 
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Basic75 said:
Interesting, so nobody thinks the missing MagSafe will be a problem?
Click to expand...
I don’t use MagSafe on my MacBook Air, mostly because I plug it into a Studio Display that charges it. Plus, with notebook batteries lasting a full day, there’s no real reason to always keep it plugged in when away from a desk. It’s nice that the more expensive Macs have them, and it’s a differentiator (the magnetic USB-C cables that I tried in the past always seemed either to break or disconnect too easily), but particularly if one has never used it in the past I don’t think it’s something most Neo buyers will miss.
 
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