I’ve been using the MacBook Neo laptop quite a bit over recent months since its March reveal and here’s how I’ve found using it over that time.
Now, full disclosure, Apple recalled my sample for a period (fair enough; it was their laptop and was surely in high demand from reviewers), but I’ve had the same citrus model back over the last couple of months to see how I’ve been feeling about using one more recently and to find out if my feelings have changed about it.
In between time I’ve been using last year’s M4 Pro MacBook Pro, so it provides an interesting contrast with the Neo.
The first thing to note since my original review the price of the MacBook Neo has risen due to component costs alongside wider Apple price rises. It’s now $699/£699 from $599/£599 with the Touch ID version now at $799/£799 – so a $100/£100 rise all round. At the time of writing, Amazon UK is still selling it at the cheaper price, but Amazon US isn’t.
Now, the MacBook Neo price was very compelling at the start and is now – obviously – only slightly less compelling. It’s not that I think people won’t consider the Neo as a result, but it is more likely they’d consider an alternative such as a second-hand MacBook Air – there’s currently sub-$700 pricing on the last-gen MacBook Air M3 on Back Market, for example or $750/£739 for refurbished models on Amazon. It’s hard to argue that isn’t a better buy with a more advanced display with thinner bezels, dual Thunderbolt ports and a charger in the box (you don’t get one with the Neo in the UK and EU).
After several months, what remains most impressive about the Neo is that it still feels like a high-quality laptop. It’s certainly not impossible to mark the lid, but it doesn’t feel like you need to treat it with kid gloves either.
There are a couple of compromises with the design but it is fairly minor stuff. There’s no backlit keyboard for example (some will find this annoying) while the bezels around the 13in display are fairly thick. The keyboard and trackpad feel excellent and make it feel like you’re using a proper MacBook rather than a cheaper competitor or an iPad with case. If you are a person who previously would have considered buying a keyboard case with a standard iPad or iPad Air, the Neo remains a compelling alternative.
It’s brilliantly portable at under 1.3kg just like the 13in MacBook Air – it’s light enough to not notice it too much in a backpack or carry in your arms between events or venues. It’s a great laptop for putting in a satchel bag as an alternative to
I still think the 512GB Touch ID model is worth it if you can push to $799/£799. As I said in my initial thoughts on the Neo, that amount of storage is only just about enough for me and I quickly maxxed out the 256GB on my review Neo with work and personal files.
I thought the lack of Touch ID on my review model would be a problem, but I do wear an Apple Watch and because of the auto-unlock feature it wasn’t as much of a problem as I thought since every time I went to the Mac, it unlocked itself.
Everyday performance has remained surprisingly good – the A18 Pro is obviously a cheaper part than M Series chips used in Apple’s other laptops but it doesn’t often show. If you’re in a web browser and a smattering of other apps – such as Microsoft Office for example – it is absolutely fine. Photo work and light video editing is also no problem. As I discussed in my original review, single-core performance from this chip is excellent (comparable to, say, Apple M1), but it’s on multi-core for advanced tasks that it is slower than other Apple chips.
The battery life is fine but not exceptional. And certainly it’s not near the MacBook Air – I found that I didn’t get anywhere near the cited 16 hours. Constant work got us between 6-8 hours and very light use towards 10 hours. That isn’t that realistic though – you’ll be looking at 6 hours plus.
The main downside on performance is that only 8GB of RAM is present. This remains an issue in my book (though not for everyone) as it’s not enough for regular switching between apps. I wouldn’t say I’m a power user, but I do have quite a few things open and on my MacBook Pro I have 24GB of memory. 16GB would be a big help for the Neo, but that seems unlikely with global memory prices being so high. If you regularly move large amounts of data, I’d always recommend a different Mac. But this applies to relatively few people and for most the USB-C ports (which are of different configurations) are absolutely fine.
If your day-to-day workload is browsing, email, Microsoft Office, streaming, school or college work and occasional creative tasks… well, I still feel the MacBook Neo is the ideal laptop for you.
Also read: These must-have Apple MacBook Neo accessories even match the various colors
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