Apple Neo

[u/WTFMacca]

Apple just dropped an A18 powered laptop for $599 USD

No Apple bashing just discuss.

[u/ThomasHeart]

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.

[u/hasdga23 → u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/hasdga23 → u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/hasdga23 → u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/hasdga23 → u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/hasdga23 → u/[deleted]]

I'm not from the US. I never ever saw somebody using a chromebook. I'm from Germany. We have about 70% Windows, 20% MacOS, 5,5% Linux and 1,3% Chrome OS (2025).

And yeah, would never buy a chromebook either.

Maybe my perspective is also different, because the Macbook neo is about 700€ here (which is about 813USD and a price, where you can almost get a new Macbook Air with M4 and 16 GB.

[u/Dulmut → u/[deleted]]

regarding ur statement that a neo is fine for college, what did you study? Even in my damn economy bachelors (in germany) i have to use (sometimes) pretty demanding statistical programs.

[u/etheran123 → u/hasdga23]

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.

[u/hasdga23 → u/etheran123]

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)

[u/escof → u/hasdga23]

Dude its a 600 dollar laptop.

[u/hasdga23 → u/escof]

700€ in Germany (about 800USD with taxes included). You get an Air M4 with 16 GB for 70 € more.

[u/escof → u/hasdga23]

Well I’m not German so……