Feel free to chose. Sound of silence is golden.
And I won't even mention the tremendous performance drop off when not hitched to mains power.
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Apple intros MacBook Neo: $599 with an iPhone chip
- Thread starter Aurelius
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Feel free to chose. Sound of silence is golden.
And I won't even mention the tremendous performance drop off when not hitched to mains power.
DukenukemX
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Why choose? Putting a fan in a laptop doesn't mean it'll sound like a jet engine. Apple could always just turn on the fan when a heavy workload is detected. It's better than thermal throttling. Also, what do you mean not hitched to mains power?
A fan? No fan is not an advantage for the Neo. The Air doesn't have one either. No, the thing that makes the Neo good is solid build quality in a cheap machine. Chassis doesn't suck, screen doesn't suck, sound doesn't suck. It's not fast but it doesn't cause problems.
Yes, the Macbook Pro has fans. And they are only heard when really called upon. Some believe the curve is too aggressive, waiting too long allowing the CPU to get too warm before speeding up. This is done purposely to serve a purpose making the cooling system active when needed without being overly intrusive. On lower power systems such as Air/Neo, a completely passive solution is sufficient.
Not hitched to mains power simply means being unplugged. Windows laptops' performance tanks when running on battery. Switching power modes to most efficient stretches battery life but really makes the system feel slow too.
That's fair, but that also speaks to an inherent problem with the business model that dates back considerably further than 10 years: as Microsoft and its chip partners can't mandate a base level of quality, PC makers pursue a price-driven race to the bottom until a device comes along that makes them open to what Microsoft and partners have to say.
That suggests Microsoft and crew might need to institute a bit of Apple-like control if they want consistent quality... but that wouldn't go over well. So they either risk the ire of vendors or accept the risk that Apple's vertical integration will give it a built-in advantage in some cases.
DukenukemX
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It's clearly not sufficient when some people are recommending to leave the Neo running over night just to export a video. The Neo doesn't even have a heatsink, which makes one wonder if this is done intentionally to limit the performance of the Neo by Apple? Plenty of people modding the Neo with a heatsink.
That hasn't been a thing on Windows laptops for a while. As long as you have an Intel Lunar Lake and newer, and AMD's Rembrandt and newer then they all operate at full speed unplugged. Also, the Neo doesn't even have the best battery life when compared to other Windows laptops. Mostly because the Neo's battery is shockingly small. Did nobody watch the Just Josh video on the Neo?
If you're using the NEO for editing, that's like buying a VW Beetle for hauling firewood. It does work but it's not very efficient. ;-)
I'd much rather spend a bit more and step up to the Air for that which is fine for occasional light work. Serious editing is solid MBP/MBS territory.
Hasn't been a thing with Win laptops? Plugged in vs. not? It still very much is. And it's not subtle meaning you have to use benchmarks either. It's very much in the pants feel. Just like I can tell when I'm solo vs. pulling 25,000 pound trailer! Not to mention the rate that battery % drops is scary in comparison. It's night and day.
Imagine if the Neo had a 60Wh battery! That would be great for content consumption freaks. 3 days of watching youtube videos without plugging in! Meanwhile the Panther Lake XPS battery drops about the same rate when sleeping!
I'd much rather spend a bit more and step up to the Air for that which is fine for occasional light work. Serious editing is solid MBP/MBS territory.
Hasn't been a thing with Win laptops? Plugged in vs. not? It still very much is. And it's not subtle meaning you have to use benchmarks either. It's very much in the pants feel. Just like I can tell when I'm solo vs. pulling 25,000 pound trailer! Not to mention the rate that battery % drops is scary in comparison. It's night and day.
Imagine if the Neo had a 60Wh battery! That would be great for content consumption freaks. 3 days of watching youtube videos without plugging in! Meanwhile the Panther Lake XPS battery drops about the same rate when sleeping!
DukenukemX
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The problem is the Toyota Rav4 running Windows can haul firewood for the same price. And yea, the Rav4 gets worse MPG than the VW Beetle but at least you can move firewood around.
Did nobody here watch the Just Josh video?
Better yet, imagine if it had 16GB of ram and a heatsink. But this is Apple so have fun fantasizing instead of buying a Windows laptop.
You have evidence of this happening to Panther Lake laptops? Battery life is rather impressive on Panther Lake laptops.
View: https://youtu.be/Xjkzb-j6nKI?t=965
I think you're missing the point. My Alienware 18 Area-51 with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275hx will get a score of 5392 Multi-thread in Cinebench 2026 on battery. And the 5090 laptop GPU will get 67976 on battery (Over 100k when plugged in). Definitely a bit higher than the MacBook Air M5... except this laptop competes with the MacBook Pro in terms of price.
You want to know how much battery I lost running 1 CPU test and 2 GPU tests?
15%.
My laptop is now at 85% and dropping. It would only be able to sustain that level of performance for about 45 minutes. A Macbook Pro would last MUCH MUCH longer. That's the Apple magic.
DukenukemX
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Gaming laptops AKA anything with an Nvidia GPU will never get good battery when in full tilt. They are desktop replacements, as in they're not meant last unplugged. They will slow down when unplugged, especially the GPU. When we talk about modern Windows laptops, we meant chips like Strix Halo and Panther Lake. Which won't have the same GPU performance as your Alienware, but neither would Apple. Nvidia needs to seriously consider better battery life for their laptop GPU's.
Did you run the test on a Macbook Pro or you just assumed? Last I checked a Macbook Pro won't last very long playing a game like CyberPunk2077. It'll get something like 2 hours or less on battery. Just visit r/macgaming and laugh at people who think ARM Macs are going to last several hours when gaming, when you're lucky to maybe get 2 hours. Like on Windows laptops, it really depends on the graphic settings. Giving your game a frame limit does wonders for battery life. Your Alienware 18 Area-51 wont do better, but it will play the games at a better frame rate, even when unplugged.
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And yet, Ming (analogy for the MB Neo) won the award for favorite character.
Such irony.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-nhPnMIXSM
The MacBook Neo is getting at least some pull with school boards: Kansas City Public Schools is becoming an "all-Apple" district by snapping up 4,500+ Neos.
The district was already partway there with iPads and MacBook Air laptops, so it's not like this was completely unexpected. But the Neo made it possible to completely switch over instead of having to keep other platforms around due to cost.
The key isn't so much the 'get' for Apple as the hit, even if partly symbolic, for Google and Microsoft.KCPS is ditching 30,000 Chromebooks and Windows laptops because it believes the Apple hardware is "more secure, durable, and reliable." However true you think that is (I'd generally agree, with reservations), that has to sting. And like we've said before, the Neo's impact on the competition isn't just the immediate sale — it's the long-term impact for both the schools and their students. A teen who uses a Neo in class might get a Neo at home and spend years or even decades in the Apple ecosystem.
I've also seen a few school staffers point out that students (once they're old enough, at least) take better care of premium hardware. A 13-year-old might abuse a Chromebook precisely because they know it's cheap, but will avoid that with a laptop that at least seems expensive.
I'm not necessarily expecting a wave of schools to make the switch, but I won't be surprised if other districts use the KC move to justify their own transitions. I still think Apple's main success in education will come from college students.
The district was already partway there with iPads and MacBook Air laptops, so it's not like this was completely unexpected. But the Neo made it possible to completely switch over instead of having to keep other platforms around due to cost.
The key isn't so much the 'get' for Apple as the hit, even if partly symbolic, for Google and Microsoft.KCPS is ditching 30,000 Chromebooks and Windows laptops because it believes the Apple hardware is "more secure, durable, and reliable." However true you think that is (I'd generally agree, with reservations), that has to sting. And like we've said before, the Neo's impact on the competition isn't just the immediate sale — it's the long-term impact for both the schools and their students. A teen who uses a Neo in class might get a Neo at home and spend years or even decades in the Apple ecosystem.
I've also seen a few school staffers point out that students (once they're old enough, at least) take better care of premium hardware. A 13-year-old might abuse a Chromebook precisely because they know it's cheap, but will avoid that with a laptop that at least seems expensive.
I'm not necessarily expecting a wave of schools to make the switch, but I won't be surprised if other districts use the KC move to justify their own transitions. I still think Apple's main success in education will come from college students.
DukenukemX
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You should have watched it till the end.
That's what I'm hoping for. Except not the end result you're expecting.
Kids don't care. If anything they'll treat it more like crap because they expect it to be durable.
Assuming that college kids don't play games.
History and logic suggest that someone exposed to an ecosystem early tends to stay in that ecosystem for a long time (see the surveys that repeatedly show American teens wanting and preferring iPhones). The teen who gets a MacBook Neo in high school might get a Neo for college because all their familiar apps and experiences are there. They get an Air once they land their first good full-time job; you get the idea.
There will certainly be some who'll use a Neo at school and decide they want a gaming PC at home, but they'll likely be in the minority both due to historical trends and the sheer cost of gaming PCs. Parents probably won't spend hundreds extra on a gaming PC that will affect homework, and a college student with a loan might be keen to stretch that money further.
It depends on the age. And like I said, I'm basing this off of real school staff experience, not abstract theory.
Of course some of them do. But you still have this notion that the world revolves around PC gaming, and that's just not true. While many PC owners play games (about 908 million at last check versus roughly 2 billion active PCs), there's a difference between regularly playing Candy Crush and regularly playing Arc Raiders. And like I noted earlier, college students might have to watch their budgets, especially when soaring Windows PC prices could make a gaming system impractical.
Just for some numbers I ran for ya'll for purposes of this discussion.
MBP 16 M4 Max 48GB
CB26 GPU - 67327
CB26 multiCPU - 7599
CB26 singleCPU - 656
MBA 13 M5 10/10c 24GB
CB26 GPU - 22708
CB26 multiCPU - 3430
CB26 singleCPU - 725
Surprising that the M5 air is faster single-core than the M4Max is, with it's superior cooling system.
Any others from these two devices you'd like to see?
MBP 16 M4 Max 48GB
CB26 GPU - 67327
CB26 multiCPU - 7599
CB26 singleCPU - 656
MBA 13 M5 10/10c 24GB
CB26 GPU - 22708
CB26 multiCPU - 3430
CB26 singleCPU - 725
Surprising that the M5 air is faster single-core than the M4Max is, with it's superior cooling system.
Any others from these two devices you'd like to see?
DukenukemX
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We all grew up on Macs. Specifically Macintosh II's because that's what my school had. My school also had IBM compatible's but they weren't exactly accessible to most students. I remember spending a lot of time trouble shooting the older Macs, the ones before MacOS was introduced. Who hasn't played The Oregon Trail on a Mac? When it comes down to it, kids minds are far more flexible when it comes to learning new things. Us older foks are the ones stuck on particular ways.
This same logic would suggest the tablet generation would only use tablets, and that clearly didn't happen. Same goes for Chromebooks. Especially when the products have limited capabilities.
There's a reason even consoles are failing, and it's again the PC. The idea is very simple in that I want to play games, do school work, and maybe make music. Do I get a Mac + PS5? Do I just get a Mac and hope my games work on it? Do you get a PC and not worry about anything? Especially in this economy when owning multiple devices isn't exactly cost effective. This is why laptops are popular, because a desktop PC doesn't do everything. A desktop PC can't be portable, which is a problem. Desktop PC's are for those who are in their 20's and want something more performant.
Keep in mind that logic also applies to video and photo editing, which is what Mac excels at, minus the Neo. How many people actually do video and photo editing? Probably less than people who play video games.
Not really surprising. M5 is a newer generation chip with better IPC. Cooling or not, it should be faster.
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If the kid is going on my dime they better the hell not be. lol
Seriously if a kid is racking up 50-100k in debt, they best be focused. Its not time for games in their lives.
Grew up on BBC Model B's as well as BBC Master 128's all connected via a LAN using Acorn's Econet (which was way ahead of it's time). Never owned a BBC Micro.
I was taking typing lessons and math lab on Macintosh and PC’s in the early/mid 90’s. The DoD school we went to had a really neat computer lab, had both sets of systems.
Every classroom also had a Mac system though, and that’s what the teachers used.
Don’t see another Mac in the education system until 7th grade(‘98). The entire school system was Apple and it was nothing but a rainbow of iMacs everywhere. The next year, they were all gone and replaced with PC’s.
That was the last time I touched a Mac until last year when I got bored and wanted to see what was new. I’ve been very happy. Except the games part sucks. I don’t want to pay even more money to use that software wrapper thing.
Every classroom also had a Mac system though, and that’s what the teachers used.
Don’t see another Mac in the education system until 7th grade(‘98). The entire school system was Apple and it was nothing but a rainbow of iMacs everywhere. The next year, they were all gone and replaced with PC’s.
That was the last time I touched a Mac until last year when I got bored and wanted to see what was new. I’ve been very happy. Except the games part sucks. I don’t want to pay even more money to use that software wrapper thing.
Mind you, that was also a different time when the computer market was more diverse (Apple II, IBM, TRS-80...) and mostly consolidating. There was no such thing as a laptop or smartphone. In that light, when I say "historical" I mean within the past two decades or so, when the PC and mobile markets largely settled down.
They're more flexible, but they still tend to take cues from what they grew up with (see: religion). And back in the '90s, we didn't have smartphones to sway our decisions — I suspect a teen who has an iPhone and uses a Neo at school will be that much more inclined to use a Neo at home.
As for Chromebooks and tablets... we've seen some runoff for both, but they're also different beasts. Chromebooks are basically Chrome browsers in (usually cheap) hardware wrappers: there is virtually no reason to stick with Chromebooks if you have the money for more. With tablets, that speaks more to them not really breaking out as the laptop replacements some thought they would be.
No, it's not the PC; we've even talked about this. Consoles are optional items, and the price hikes spurred by tariffs and component shortages have priced them out of range for many people. And while it's true that having one gaming-ready PC theoretically saves you money, that argument doesn't hold up so well when the price of the PC itself surges as much as it has. Many of the ostensibly affordable gaming laptops now cost $1,500 and up, including the Lenovo Legion 5i. For that money you could buy an entry-level Neo, a PS5, and still have $300 left over for games and accessories.
There are fewer devoted audiovisual editors than gamers, to be sure, but the Neo also isn't aimed at that crowd. It's a general productivity and entertainment machine, much like the Windows PCs in its price range.
DukenukemX
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Like it not, kids do play games. I still remember going to school with a floppy just to see if the schools 386 machine could play Mario through Nesticle. The answer is yes but with no sound.If the kid is going on my dime they better the hell not be. lol
Seriously if a kid is racking up 50-100k in debt, they best be focused. Its not time for games in their lives.
Apple tends to come and go when it comes to supplying schools with their products. Remember the eMac? The eMac was made specifically for schools.
Computing is diverse today as well. iPads, Android tablets, Chromebooks, Macs, Windows, and even Linux. No kid is going to look to buy a Chromebook because that's what they used in school. We know this because Google is now moving to AluminumOS.
Welcome to 2026 where everything has surged in pricing.
Gaming laptops aren't $1,500 and up.
OR, buy this HP Victus 15.6 inch FHD IPS 144Hz Gaming Laptop AMD Ryzen 5-8645HS NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 8GB DDR5 512GB SSD for $800 Which is $100 to $200 more than the Neo and you can save yourself $700. That laptop is more cost effective and you can carry it with you to game. It's also not lost to me that it includes only 8GB of DDR5 memory, but that's upgradable and if we can excuse the Neo with 8GB then why not this laptop?
Again, Windows PCs in that price range tend to do productivity better than the Neo. That gaming laptop with it's RTX 4050 will destroy the Neo is AI work loads, while also able to video edit with decent performance. With a bit more ram that gaming laptop would give M3 Pro's a hard time.
To start: Google has explicitly said that Googlebooks (aka Android on PCs) are not replacing Chromebooks. They're a superset, though definitely aimed at achiving that Apple- and Microsoft-level "stickiness" that isn't present for Chromebooks.
The form factors are diverse, but the platforms? Not so much. Remember, the '80s were a time when you couldn't even expect one brand to maintain compatibility between computers released a few years apart, let alone bring anything from one brand to another. Today, a Mac user can run iPad and iPhone apps; a Chromebook or Googlebook owner can run Android apps; even Windows users have some cross-platform support (especially if you're using something like Samsung DeX). And of course, the cloud and file standards make transferring your data much easier.
There's the rub. There was less chance to grow up with one platform in the past. If your family got a BBC Micro, you were probably running an IBM PC (or Amiga, or Mac, or...) within a few years because you didn't have much choice. You're much more likely to keep using a given ecosystem now.
That's better than nothing, but... buying a laptop with gaming in mind knowing it will struggle is not the best use of money. The Neo costs less and isn't aimed at gamers (aside from Apple Arcade, anyway).
Local AI maybe, but general productivity? Not really. You won't get much help from an RTX 4050 when running Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.
And when it comes to pricing, I'm thinking new systems. That HP Victus is from 2024, so laptops like it aren't consistently available. It's great that you can find older gaming portables that aren't too much more expensive than the Neo... but they don't pose a long-term threat to Apple.
Interesting on the dell front, this looks decent. https://www.phoronix.com/news/Dell-XPS-13-Wildcat-Lake
I’m legit interested in this as someone who (if he didn’t already have a nicer laptop) would probably get a Neo as it is. Still 8GB RAM at the base, but it looks like Dell was already on the right track by making a quality system that just happens to be cheap, rather than cheaping out to hit a price (like most Windows vendors).
DukenukemX
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This is nearly equal in performance to the Steam Machine, which even Valve said is more powerful than what 70% of users have on Steam. I wouldn't call it struggling. The 8GB of ram is going to be a problem for gaming though.
By productivity I mean anything that puts the CPU at max for longer than 1 minute. The RTX 4050 would help with video editing.
An RTX 4050 isn't required to game, but I found it as a thought exercise to show what can found if you look. A Ryzen AI 350 and Intel's 256V will do just fine and last longer on battery.
Seriously, 8GB of ram? This is what always happens with Apple. Apple does something stupid and the industry copies it. It's not even $600 as that's the back to school price. At least they took my advice and focused on the things the Neo does better, but I'm not sure if Quad speakers is the right idea. Two high quality speakers would be better.
That's what I was getting at. It's only a good gaming system so long as your games don't need more than 8GB of RAM... and the list of games that do is growing longer.
They do, but the current systems that use those tend to be uninspiring, only affordable on sale, or both. I'd rather turn the attention to Core Series 3-based laptops as those are the ones that will consistenyl compete against the MacBook Neo.
Apple didn't do something stupid, but I would also caution against suggesting that Dell simply mimicked what Apple was doing — the XPS 13 was certainly in development before March. The 8GB baseline could be a response... or it could simply be an acknowledgment that the 16GB config would raise the base price beyond what Dell wants to advertise.
The important part is that you can scale up as needed... you can even get a Core Ultra Series 3 version with up to 32GB of RAM and a 1TB drive. Apple will happily sell you a MacBook Air, of course, but Dell is offering some in-between points.
DukenukemX
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The ram is upgradable. That would increase the cost of the machine, but at least it's an option. Depending if this machine has a single 8GB stick or two 4GB sticks can really hurt that upgrade cost.
You can find plenty of laptops with these chips for sub $600. It's not a sale only thing.
That's debatable.
Dell saw what Apple did and thinks they can get away with 8GB of ram, so long as they have a pretty screen with aluminum housing. I guarantee you those four speakers sound like crap. Why else would they put four of them? I doubt that ram is slotted. If you buy those laptops with 8GB of ram then it's ewaste.
The cost of that extra ram would likely mean you should be looking at a Macbook Air. I doubt the extra 8GB is going to add another $100. Not in this market.
That's true — it just means that the real cost could be higher than suggested.
Whether or not they're good is another story... I'd still rather turn to Core Series 3 as that's where we'll find the new $600-700 systems going forward.
Dell isn't alone, but I'll say this: 8GB in Windows is more of a gamble than 8GB on a Mac. You can juggle quite a lot on a Neo before it buckles... I've seen Windows PCs with that amount of RAM cry uncle if you so much as open a couple of Chrome tabs.
The wild thing is that Microsoft is offering a version of its new Surface Laptop for Business with 8GB of RAM... and it'll still cost $1,299. At least Dell can point to the $699 price as a rationalization.
Defiantly. My windows 11 work laptop only had 8gb and it was a struggle. I added another 8gb made much more usable. I don't even do anything heavy on it besides PDFs word and excel. Youtube struggled on my break time also.
Y'all can decide for yourself whether the author of this article ODed on cough syrup, or it's copium, or what:
I tried the new $599 Dell XPS 13, and I can't believe how good it is: MacBook Neo is no longer the best deal in computing, this is
https://www.windowscentral.com/hardware/laptops/dell-xps-13-2026-hands-on
I tried the new $599 Dell XPS 13, and I can't believe how good it is: MacBook Neo is no longer the best deal in computing, this is
https://www.windowscentral.com/hardware/laptops/dell-xps-13-2026-hands-on
He needs to temper his enthusiasm, but he has a point: at first glance, Dell knocked this one out of the park. You know it's confident when it actually has MacBook Neo units at the event to help with comparisons.
Dell's main obstacles are the lack of a built-in headphone jack (the irony!), Apple's tighter ecosystem integration, and of course how the XPS 13 holds up in full reviews. I'll say this: if you made me switch to Windows and a pricier system wasn't in my budget, I'd get this — with at least 16GB of RAM, of course.
What a bizarre review. Every other sentence mentioned MacBook Neo. Not a single word about any of the laptops the XPS 13 actually competes with… you know… Windows laptops. Just Neo Neo Neo again and again.
Then there was this amazing line: “Windows is very intelligent when it comes to memory management”
Because based on specs and price this particular XPS is aimed at the Neo. Personally, I'd never get it because I want more, but not everyone needs that.
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