Apple's $599 MacBook Neo isn't for you. But it might be the most important laptop announcement in years - and the budget Windows market should be paying close attention.
The MacBook Neo is a $500 Wake-Up Call for the Entire PC Industry
The MacBook Neo is a $500 Wake-Up Call for the Entire PC Industry
- Thread starter Julio Franco
- Start date
Beerfloat
Posts: 1,225 +2,344
For me personally it's just the RAM limit. Everything else is acceptable.
Apple has always been stingy with RAM. But 8GB is just not right in 2026.
The article hits the nail on the head. It's a laptop for everyone else.
Apple has always been stingy with RAM. But 8GB is just not right in 2026.
The article hits the nail on the head. It's a laptop for everyone else.
yRaz
Posts: 9,291 +16,337
I mean, I guess 8GB is fine for web browsing and arguing with strangers on the Internet. Not terrible if paired with an SSD. If you need "a computer" then I suppose those will get the job done.
BlackyNoir
Posts: 45 +137
I loathe Apple. The company, the products, the way they comport themselves, their anti competitive anti consumer bullshit. Apple could burn to the ground and I would open the champagne. The last time I used an Apple product more than once was the Mac+ (as in, one gen after the original Macintosh) a bit after its release.
Yet, the article is spot on. On all its arguments. No notes.
Yet, the article is spot on. On all its arguments. No notes.
Neatfeatguy
Posts: 2,275 +4,576
So....it's an iPhone with a keyboard that doesn't take pictures or let you make phone calls on?
No. Wait. It's an iPad that has a keyboard and now it's being called "disruptive mainstream product" because it costs only $500!
No. Wait. It's an iPad that has a keyboard and now it's being called "disruptive mainstream product" because it costs only $500!
Gars
Posts: 609 +156
Yes, its not for me, but I know so many people that will love it.
But they are all Windows people.
Anyway, TY for the great review!
But they are all Windows people.
Anyway, TY for the great review!
Melkor Unlimited
Posts: 364 +334
In 2017 I have bought "device" with whole 4 GB RAM and 32GB eMMC for ca. $250.
It is still in working condition.
Silent (no fans). Can play movies, youtube videos, Plant vs Zombies (and similar perfomance hungry
games).
yRaz
Posts: 9,291 +16,337
I have an Intel atom somewhere with similar specs. I had to put Linux on it because 10 was awfully slow. I actually don't know where it's at right now but I remember loving it for its power efficiency. I think it ran on something silly like 7 watts and it had a 52Whr battery. I remember the display on it was terrible. It was washed out and barely displayed color. IIRC, I bought it NEW for $150. It was the 32GB ofstorage that made me shelve it, not the memory. I remember my daughter playing Rollercoaster Tycoon on it during COVID.In 2017 I have bought "device" with whole 4 GB RAM and 32GB eMMC for ca. $250.
It is still in working condition.
Silent (no fans). Can play movies, youtube videos, Plant vs Zombies (and similar perfomance hungry
This won't happen until Microsoft pulls their heads out of their rear ends and stops shoving Copilot down all our throats along with fixing the reliability issues that plague Windows.
This is NOT for the mainstream market @Julio Franco.
This is a Mac Chromebook for the primary education market (elementary to high school).
Yes this is fine for some consumers - the same ones that Chromebooks are fine for.
It doesn't even have enough RAM to run some iPhone apps. It's designed for middle schools to have a cheap laptop to hand out - NOT to disrupt the laptop space. That's why Apple limits it RAM and SSD - to not disrupt it's own laptop space. They tried and largely failed to convince schools to use iPads instead of Chromebooks so they had to try something else because that education market are your future customers.
This is a Mac Chromebook for the primary education market (elementary to high school).
Yes this is fine for some consumers - the same ones that Chromebooks are fine for.
It doesn't even have enough RAM to run some iPhone apps. It's designed for middle schools to have a cheap laptop to hand out - NOT to disrupt the laptop space. That's why Apple limits it RAM and SSD - to not disrupt it's own laptop space. They tried and largely failed to convince schools to use iPads instead of Chromebooks so they had to try something else because that education market are your future customers.
Last edited:
Also the argument that because enthusiasts won't buy the Mac Chromebook means they can't assess is a false dichotomy. It's like say a Chef can't say a hotdog is worse meat than a hamburger because of his "fancy" tastes.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #13
I disagree, you have my full opinion on the article
but time will prove one of us right.I believe this is very much a mainstream move because of the price point. Do you think the average person buying a $350 iPad is asking themselves how much RAM it has or which SoC is running the tablet? Or are they just thinking about what tasks they can accomplish with it, even if that’s just watching YouTube or playing a simple puzzle game?
I don't think the average Chromebook was desirable for the average consumer, but this one will be because of the reasons explained in my editorial. The iPhone chip, regardless of its origin is very efficient and seems powerful enough. The RAM is by far the most controversial part of the specs, but in my experience using both Mac and Windows full time for the last two decades, Macs tend to run more smoothly when RAM-constrained than Windows, especially unmanaged Windows systems loaded with bloatware.
Also, I know at least four people using M1 Airs with 8GB RAM (regular folks, not enthusiasts) and I've never heard any of them complain about their laptops running slow.
LordVile95
Posts: 436 +277
Not really it’s a MacBook which runs a desktop OS and it halves the cost of a portable MacBook.
OpenGL is deprecated, Vulkan is off the table, no DirectX, so it's useless for mass adoption. You don't need bigger screen for calculator.
We need some competing brand with #linux + #android ecosystem that really want to compete around 600 $
W11 cannot really compete with MacOS
W11 cannot really compete with MacOS
Theinsanegamer
Posts: 8,735 +17,801
With these coming out, if they are popular, I sure hope it finally drives apple to support mac OS on the ipads. There's nothing separating this from a regular ipad outside of the keyboard.
Granted I dont think the target audience will care. And if these do succeed, the A19 pro offers a 12GB option which will likely show up in the next generation.
You do realize that iphones dont support any of that and have seen mass adoption for over a decade, right?
It's a shame, but the rationale I've heard is that these chips are packaged on top of the RAM, and the newer double density DRAM chips are a bit taller then the 8GB models, so to increase ram Apple would need to invest in new packaging and manufacturing, which defeats the purpose of reusing existing tech to make a cheap device.
Granted I dont think the target audience will care. And if these do succeed, the A19 pro offers a 12GB option which will likely show up in the next generation.
BadThad
Posts: 1,785 +2,043
One of Apple's biggest gigs is selling "cloud storage". I venture to say 99% of users have used all their "free" local and cloud storage within months of starting and are paying Apple monthly for more. When that's used up, they'll buy more instead of ever cleaning-up their act. This cycle repeats eternally for 99% of Apple users. SAD As a Windows/Android user I pay NOTHING to anyone for cloud storage. It's one of the biggest ripoffs in tech.
Ironically, just yesterday, my grandkid came to me and said her tablet couldn't take pictures anymore. I'm not an Apple expert but I sat there for an hour trying to free-up space. An EXTREMELY frustrating experience for a Win/PC user! APPLE SUCKS
Ironically, just yesterday, my grandkid came to me and said her tablet couldn't take pictures anymore. I'm not an Apple expert but I sat there for an hour trying to free-up space. An EXTREMELY frustrating experience for a Win/PC user! APPLE SUCKS
Last edited:
So, how do you make sure that you lose nothing in case of some kind of disaster? Have you devised your own offsite backup solution?
Ben Myers
Posts: 426 +162
AS long as people use the Neo within its limits, it will be OK. What are the limits? 256GB is not much capacity, but iCloud helps there. 8GB is not much memory, enough for largely single tasking. Fire up several tasks like browser plus Word plus Excel, and the system will beat the small SSD to death swapping program segments and data to make room for the program that just came into focus.
Of course, Apple will never tell you about these very practical limitation.
Several years ago, I worked on a failed MacBook just a month or two out of warranty. It had 8GB and failed 256GB SSD. So I replaced the Apple-proprietary SSD and the system became usable again. But this Neo has a soldered-on SSD, not fixable. So Apple will sell many of these when they fail. At a $500 price point, they are throw-aways for the Apple cult.
Of course, Apple will never tell you about these very practical limitation.
Several years ago, I worked on a failed MacBook just a month or two out of warranty. It had 8GB and failed 256GB SSD. So I replaced the Apple-proprietary SSD and the system became usable again. But this Neo has a soldered-on SSD, not fixable. So Apple will sell many of these when they fail. At a $500 price point, they are throw-aways for the Apple cult.
BadThad
Posts: 1,785 +2,043
Of course! It's EASY with Windows and Android (which doesn't concern me at all anyway). I back-up to my PC SSD, PC HDD and my external SSD backup drive. No offsite because I don't care enough. If it's gone, it's gone, my life will go on just fine. I'm old and nearly dead anyway. lol
Ben Myers
Posts: 426 +162
I do some repair work on Macs. I have one of my own for this purpose. And I always have to remember that the Mac desktop user interface is almost as different from Windows as possible. What I do like about the MacOS is that it is very easy to restore the OS to original condition with a downlaod of the OS, unlike Windows where one often has to jump through hoops.
BadThad
Posts: 1,785 +2,043
Help a brother out please. Is there an efficient way to clean-up an ipad? It's tied to my daughters phone so I turned-off cloud sync - I'd delete a pic/vid and it would put it right back. lol My grandkids like taking pics and video with it but it has almost no local storage left to do so.
Theinsanegamer
Posts: 8,735 +17,801
Easiest way is to just reset it in the settings menu. Or unlink your daughters account from the settings menu.
MacOS restoration does work very well.
One thing I always hated was how hard Apple made it to make bootable USB drives with different OS X versions. Having to download the installer from the store and making it such a massive PITA if you didnt have a mac handy to do it.
Most users reading here aren’t like me. I run 2 Macs (macOS IS BSD Unix).
I have a Linux computer I use on rare occasions. A windows do laptop. And a K62 for gaming.
So I’m not locked to any circle of software.
99% of what the standard user does on windows can be done on THIS Mac! The Apple Arm base outperforms most low end i3 chips. A look through steam and most Mac versions of big games will run on this. Nothing blockbuster like Laura Croft but most will.
HD video check
Fast streaming.
Office and education
For those looking for a low cost but good enough +
This is a market kick to the
I have a Linux computer I use on rare occasions. A windows do laptop. And a K62 for gaming.
So I’m not locked to any circle of software.
99% of what the standard user does on windows can be done on THIS Mac! The Apple Arm base outperforms most low end i3 chips. A look through steam and most Mac versions of big games will run on this. Nothing blockbuster like Laura Croft but most will.
HD video check
Fast streaming.
Office and education
For those looking for a low cost but good enough +
This is a market kick to the
Similar threads
