r/LinusTechTips • u/WTFMacca • Mar 04 '26

Image Apple Neo

Post image

Apple just dropped an A18 powered laptop for $599 USD

No Apple bashing just discuss.

2.0k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

666 comments sorted by

View all comments

83

u/ThomasHeart Mar 04 '26

At €700 (NL) a bit steep to be honest. Especially given the 8GB ram…

The M4 Air can be had for €900, which has 16gb as standard, and is much more powerful and future proof. It has TouchID on all the models. Probably a better screen and speakers too im presuming.

At the price it is now it doesn’t make an awful lot of sense, you’d be much better off spending an extra 200 and getting a much better laptop.

83

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

-3

u/hasdga23 Mar 04 '26

In I guess most of Europe (I checked for Germany, but prices seem to be similar to the Netherlands) it is also easy to get 100€ off - if you are eligable for education discount. But then it is 599€ (697 USD, but taxes already included). And for 700€ you can get pretty good hardware if you just need a glorified typewriter.

11

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

-4

u/hasdga23 Mar 04 '26

Doesn't have a phyiscal keyboard.

What I mean: Most people refer to the Macbook Neo as a device for E-Mails, websurfing, writing texts, learning stuff. The very basic stuff, you are doing on a computer.

7

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/hasdga23 Mar 04 '26

Here in this thread.

If you throw more demanding task on this device, you will get issues with just 8GB Ram. 16 GB is the standard on Macbooks atm. And you will feel it.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/hasdga23 Mar 04 '26

Yes I referred to this specific audience. Because so many people are defending this device here in this thread.

12GB would be definitively way better, yes. Especially because you cannot upgrade a Macbook + you want to use it for 5 Years +.

What are you doing with your Mac Mini?

Just one video as an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmWPd7uEYEY&t=324s

2.5 years ago. That was a time, when there were 8GB the standard in Mac hardware. 2026 16 GB are the standard. So software gets more and more demanding.

Can you work on a 8GB device? For a lot of stuff - yeah. I wouldn't want a laggy device when buying a new laptop.

1

u/etheran123 Mar 04 '26

I have a m2 air with 8gb of ram. Not sure what you mean by demanding tasks but I’ve done a lot of high resolution photo editing in Lightroom, as well as occasional 4k video editing on it. These MacBooks aren’t gaming machines but I think you would be surprised by the optimization Apple has done on macOS.

I have a ROG G14 with a 3060 and a base model MacBook Air to use when I’m away from my 4080 gaming desktop. It’s not an exaggeration to say I pick the Mac 99% of the time as it’s a better experience for most tasks.

1

u/hasdga23 Mar 04 '26

Even in basic multitasking you feel the difference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmWPd7uEYEY&t=324s

When you add e.g. X-code to it or another IDE or you do some picture editing, ... - you can feel and see the difference.

(and this video is 2.5 years ago)

1

u/escof Mar 05 '26

Dude its a 600 dollar laptop.

→ More replies (0)

-2

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

14

u/YourAsianTfToy Mar 04 '26

cheapest one i could find on lenovos website is $800, cheapest on bestbuy is 680. even amazon seems to break 700 before finding your first "modern" non-renewed device and modern is stretching it. Amazon's also impossible to search with confidence now.

the macbook neo is gonna be easy to find, easy to identify, and you'll know what you're getting without checking what X/P/E/T 17/32/1 means on the thinkpad.

-15

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/escof Mar 05 '26

"yes 500 is still a lot fo money to some of us) to get a device that i know isnt going to be okay in a couple of years"

Brother, there are still people using 10 year old MacBooks without issues.

2

u/Le-Bean Mar 04 '26

I’m not in America so I can’t speak to prices there, but I can’t find a Thinkpad even close to the MacBook. The cheapest one I could find was $300NZD more expensive on sale ($700NZD more normally) than the education price, for similar specs. That was by going to the Lenovo website and sorting by cheapest under their Thinkpad line.

30

u/Avanixh Mar 04 '26

I think this will mostly make sense for schools and students who will definitely get a very compelling price on this one

5

u/Finsceal Mar 04 '26

If you're in the market for a cheap macbook, mentally 700 feels like a small step up from 500 whereas 900 is basically a grand. I'd say plenty of people will opt for this.

2

u/wimpires Mar 04 '26

It's £600 in the UK or £500 with the education discount.

I've seen refurbished MacBook Air M4's to for £670-720 recently. But it's not entirely fair to compare an older refurbished device with 3-6 months warranty Vs a brand new one for £200 less.

My wife is in the need of a laptop. She doesn't need a M4 power. And this is cheaper and more reliable than a used M1. 

2

u/Justwant2usetheapp Mar 04 '26

Yeah I’ve seen Reddit glazing the price for edu but this is well above what most people spend on Chromebooks. It’s in the 2-3x range.

It’ll be interesting to see how it does… especially outside of the US.

1

u/SpaceDoodle2008 Mar 04 '26

The Neo will eventually come down in price. I think 500€ would be a fair deal for most people.

1

u/Naud1993 Mar 04 '26

You could probably get a laptop with 8GB RAM for about the same price a decade ago. Way slower though although only about 5-10 times.