MacBook Neo hands-on: Apple build quality at a substantially lower price

The Neo won't be for everyone, but Apple has managed to preserve a premium feel.

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[Dano40]

Not sure how many secrets there are to give away - the actual architecture is the same as M4, just fewer cores, less memory, etc.

Nitpick: there's no high-impedance support on the M1 Air, that was introduced with the 14"/16" MBPs first.

There are better sources of information that explain what’s going on better than most websites in regards to Apple Silicon or anything else in computing if that is something you care about most sites just gloss over things and if you’re reading some of those sites, well the Neo is probably not for you, for more than half of my non tech family the Neo computer is all they need.

https://creativestrategies.com/research/m5-max-chiplets-thermals-and-performance-per-watt/ deep diving….

 

[mariupolo]

Just looked up pricing. At Best Buy, the OmniBook 5 specced out as you suggest costs $799, or 33% more. The performance for most things a daily user will do will be somewhat snappier on the the MacBook Neo. The battery life will likely be better on the MacBook. The MacBook screen gets to 500 nits, the HP only to 300. The HP is competitive with the MacBook Neo, but hardly a clearly better machine,

The Snapdragon is a decent chip (I have one, the Elite), but I'm not really seeing why I would pay 33% more for the HP.And this holds true with most of the "midrange" Windows laptops.

I’m not familiar with the US market in particular and pricing can vary, but techradar reviewed the Omnibook 5 14 and said it started at $699 at Best Buy in the 16 GB/512 GB configuration. (Even $799 would be ~14% more than the 8 GB/512 GB Neo, not 33%.) They also specifically praised its battery life as its best aspect (it lasted 16 hours in their test). They do have some complaints with the build (plasticky keys and thick bezels), but for the price of the Neo with double the RAM it seems quite solid to me.

 

[StormyParis]

1. Windows is much more inefficient with RAM than MacOS.
2. Which brand "PC" was this? Was this a laptop?
3. How much did this PC cost new? Did it have the latest Windows updates (probably not).

1. the apps are basically the same. Even if the OS eats up a bit more... Also, source ?
2. home made. Gigabyte MB + Silverstone PSU (survived a power surge that killed half my appliances ^^)
3. MB + CPU + PSU + RAM around 150+150+100+150 = 550€ incl. VAT IIRC so 440 before tax. It's on a fully-updated Win10 until Oct. 2026. It's got a feature I direly need: 3 displays, off its i5 4570S.

 

[StormyParis]

The base Mac mini came with 8GB of ram until about a year ago, didn’t it? There’s plenty you can do with a Mac at 8GB.

Granted, I didn’t buy a Mac Mini until the base model had 16 GB ram but plenty of people did and still have them and they work fine.

"working fine" is very subjective. Wouldn't work fine for me I need 3 screens, also I'm doubtful 8GB of Apple RAM > 16 GB of Windows RAM. Any benchmarks under some load w/ several apps and lots of tabs, or is it "trust me Bro" iMetrics ?

 

[AI_Skeptic]

the apps are basically the same. Even if the OS eats up a bit more... Also, source ?

I don't know if linking to other competitors websites are allowed, but PCMag did an article about memory usage. Tom's Guide also has an article called "Windows fans say MacBook Neo’s 8GB RAM is ridiculous — so I tested it, and the results are shocking". I don't know if I'm allowed to link to it or not.

home made

You did not make a Home Made laptop. You made a desktop. That's different. Plus, you're using Windows 10, which is supported for another 2 years.

MB + CPU + PSU + RAM around 150+150+100+150 = 550€ incl

You built a completely different computer than what Apple is selling. Your computer is 14 years old (so how do you remember the price to that detail from so long ago?). It's literally Apples to Radishes comparison.

 

[StormyParis]

I don't know if linking to other competitors websites are allowed, but PCMag did an article about memory usage. Tom's Guide also has an article called "Windows fans say MacBook Neo’s 8GB RAM is ridiculous — so I tested it, and the results are shocking". I don't know if I'm allowed to link to it or not.

You did not make a Home Made laptop. You made a desktop. That's different. Plus, you're using Windows 10, which is supported for another 2 years.

You built a completely different computer than what Apple is selling. Your computer is 14 years old (so how do you remember the price to that detail from so long ago?). It's literally Apples to Radishes comparison.

Well, I answered your questions.

PCmag's article recommends 16GB with an eye to 32. Tom's Hardware explains Windows and MacOS report and use RAM differently, so reported RAM usage isn't comparable - nothing about efficiency (see how Adobe uses less RAM on PC), it's about design choices (unload what's inactive vs keep it at the ready) and reports.

Yes, I made a desktop that worked for 14 years, mostly because I could upgrade the RAM and disk. I'm being told there are laptops like this too ;-p

Yes, it's a different form factor, but outside of iWorld most laptops can take the upgrades I gave to my desktop. I remember the prices because that's the last PC I bought. I checked the i4570s was $180 at launch, so 150€ is cromulent. I also remember spending more than I wanted to on the PSU, and being happy with that MB's price (checked, it's mentionned there as 110€ incl VAT https://forum.macbidouille.com/index.php?showtopic=374852 Gigabyte H87N-wifi ). Sorry I got good memory... my budget for CPU+MB+RAM has been 500-ish every time I've looked if an upgrade was worth it since then.