Ever since the announcement of the $599 MacBook Neo over a week ago, I’ve been wondering: does this destroy the value proposition of other non-Pro laptops in Apple’s lineup? It’s a rather interesting question, because even at its incredibly affordable price point, MacBook Neo still manages to feel quite premium.
After actually trying out the laptop after its launch on Wednesday, I find myself even more perplexed on how this thing fits in Apple’s lineup – but not in a bad way.
MacBook Neo makes few comprimises
At $599 (and $499 for students), the MacBook Neo truly packs all of the things you’d expect out of an Apple product. Despite being the “cheaper MacBook,” you really can’t tell from the outside. It has an incredibly well built aluminum chassis, glass display, a great keyboard, and still gets plenty bright.
The main thing you’ll notice missing compared to other MacBooks is the force touch trackpad. The MacBook Neo uses a traditional click mechanism, though it still does click all the way around, unlike the even older diving board trackpads on pre-2015 MacBooks. Additionally, if you stick to the base model with 256GB of storage, you’ll be missing out on Touch ID. For an extra $100, you can add Touch ID as well as double the internal storage.
To put it simply, Apple did not have to go this hard. Even the M1 MacBook Air in 2020, which people often want to compare this thing to, didn’t have a 500 nit display. It was limited to 400 nits, and that was a limitation that many expected to show up on the MacBook Neo, but Apple decided not to. In my past 72 hours or so of using the MacBook Neo, I’ve been blown away at how little feels missing compared to my MacBook Air.
When thinking about the MacBook Neo, there’s two comparable Apple products that immediately come to mind: the MacBook Air, which previously sat at the bottom of Apple’s lineup, and the iPad Air + Magic Keyboard.
Does it break other Apple products?
MacBook Air now sits at $1099 after its M5 refresh, placing it $400 higher than the MacBook Neo with 512GB and Touch ID.
Obviously, the MacBook Air still has some things going for it. For one, you get 16GB of RAM on the MacBook Air, so if you’re a heavy multitasker, the Air will probably make more sense. The MacBook Air has a P3 display, which’ll be important if you do color work. MacBook Air also offers a Center Stage camera, so if you want your FaceTime calls to feel more dynamic, that’s something that MacBook Air offers.
Essentially, MacBook Air offers some slightly more premium features over the MacBook Neo, and if you have that in your budget, that’ll still be worth buying.
That said, not everyone is a super knowledgeable buyer. Many bought the MacBook Air simply because they wanted a Mac and they prefer laptops, so the MacBook Air was the cheapest option. Now, MacBook Neo is the cheapest option, and it comes in some appealing colors like Blush, Indigo, and Citrus to draw buyers in.
I get the feeling that a lot of people who might’ve bought a MacBook Air previously might now consider a MacBook Neo. They even both come in at 2.7 pounds and similar dimensions, so they both fall roughly in the same form.
Another great thing I’ve noticed about the MacBook Neo in my testing: it doesn’t get hot. My MacBook Air will sometimes get warm during certain tasks, like photo editing. On the MacBook Neo, I felt no warmth at all – it was completely cold. A18 Pro works wonders in a MacBook chassis.
iPad Air vs MacBook Neo
iPad Air + Magic Keyboard is a more interesting argument. iPad Air starts at $599 (though often goes on sale for $100 less, sometimes even more), and Magic Keyboard for iPad Air usually costs $269. Let’s just call it $800 on average, accounting for discounts on iPad Air.
At $800, an iPad Air setup comes with less storage than any MacBook Neo, at 128GB. It also comes with a much smaller 11-inch screen, as well as iPadOS instead of macOS. Sure, you have an M4 chip instead of an A18 Pro, but for workflows you’ll be carrying out on the iPad, the M4 chip is incredibly overkill.
None of those things are necessarily shockers – but the reason I point this out is that the iPad Air was often positioned as a “budget” Apple laptop setup compared to the MacBook Air, and now the MacBook Neo blows that equation out of whack. Even if you want to compare the budget iPad + Magic Keyboard Folio, that setup costs $598 in total, just a dollar shy of what a MacBook Neo would cost.
In short, the argument of iPads being budget Apple laptops is completely dead. If you value iPads for Apple Pencil, that’s still going to be valuable – but frankly I find it hard to imagine why anyone would want to bother using the iPad or iPad Air as a hybrid laptop when you could just buy a MacBook Neo.
Wrap up
All in all, the MacBook Neo feels incredibly disruptive to Apple’s lineup. In the short term, I feel like Apple should probably adjust some of its prices, or make their products a lot better.
For example, does the Magic Keyboard for base iPad really need to cost $249? The iPad itself only costs $349, and the fact that this setup costs just 1 dollar less than a MacBook Neo is a little ridiculous.
With iPad Air, I think the iPad itself should probably see a price cut, or get some feature enhancements to make it stand out more. A 120Hz ProMotion display and Face ID would be nice starting points.
Lastly, MacBook Air should probably get more premium. It’d be cool to see it get a Tandem OLED screen just like the iPad Pro, even if it meant the MacBook Air starts at a higher price like $1299. I could see a future version of the MacBook Neo having a 1TB/16GB trim at around $999 to fill the shoes of a ~$1000 MacBook Air.
What do you think about the MacBook Neo launch? Do you find it as disruptive as I do? Let us know in the comments.
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