Actually, MacBook Neo Is For Me
The MacBook Neo should not be a device for me. I have a Mac in my office with an M3 Max chip. And I have an M4 MacBook Air maxed out with 32GB of RAM. You know, just in case. When the new Macs hit a couple weeks back, I assumed I would be tempted by one of the M5 variants. But just like any good consumer, I'm compelled by the idea of "new". Despite its iPhone-class chip and meager 8GB of RAM, I had to try out the MacBook Neo.
And I sort of love it.
I keep trying to find a breaking point in my own workflows, but I honestly can't. Yes, it's ever-so-slightly slower at certain tasks. And yes, my workflows are admittedly pretty light, dominated by web-usage with a few native Mac apps sprinkled in here and there. But I gave it a solid week of daily usage. There's nothing I would consider a deal-breaker here or even close to it. So I'm keeping it.
I'm honest-to-god surprised by this. I had assumed I might return it and opt for an M5 machine. Instead, I think I'm gonna trade in one of my other Macs.
I realize this reads like one of those gimmicky posts where someone forces themself to do something, perhaps in order to write a post about it. Like when I quit email many years ago. I promise this is not that!
I just really like the MacBook Neo. Yes, I like the color, but I also like the footprint, which is ever-so-slightly more compact than the MacBook Air. I also just like the way it feels versus the Air. I was someone who still sort of preferred the "teardrop" shape of the OG Airs, so I don't mind the ever-so-slightly chunkier form factor. It's the exact same weight as the Air, and that smaller footprint makes it fit a bit better in my bag.
I also like the screen even though its 13" is ever-so-slightly smaller than the 13" of the Air. One thing I notice: because there's no "lip" here – the cut out area for the camera found on both MacBook Air and Pro screens in recent years – when you expand an app full-screen, which I often do, the screen real estate is actually even more similar to the Air because that "full screen" pushes everything below the lip. On the Neo, with no lip, it goes right to the bezels.
I even sort of like the speakers right there at the front of the machine.
I thought the actually-clickable trackpad would annoy me. It's slightly louder, but I like the feel of the click. And it clicks all over. No corner has been left un-clicked. The only downside I've found is the lack of the "deeper" click which the fake-click-trackpad enabled. Here, there's an option to do that with a three-finger tap instead. I honestly even like the sound it makes on-click! It reminds me of a more old-school machine. Ditto with the sound the keyboard keys make.
Speaking of, I love the slight color-matching those keys take on. I find black keys always end up looking greasy, whereas white keys always end up looking dirty. Because these are yellow-ish – almost like a "cream" color – I'm hopefully they'll age better than those. Time will tell, I suppose.
On the color front, I obviously opted for "Citrus" and in my mind it's the clear winner of the colors. I checked out the others at an Apple Store, and while I was tempted by "Indigo", it was a little too dark for my taste. That made it appear more gray or dark silver, or even one of the million variants of black that Apple rotates through. I did like those off-blue keys though! "Blush" was way too subtle. And "Silver" way too boring. I implore Apple to have more fun here.
Taking the Citrus out-and-about garners a lot of looks. People clearly know it's a MacBook but perhaps haven't seen the Neo before and might think it's a custom paint job. That plus the Apple logo blending in far more as it's color-matched and not metallic. Like many of Apple's machines, the color shifts depending on the lighting situation. In daylight, the "Citrus" Neo almost glows. It's fun to look at while using it!
When I think about my appreciation for all of the above and then I remember that this machine is $599 (well, $699, as I got the Touch ID version, which I'd obviously recommend), I'm sort of astounded. Apple is a company that famously doesn't do cheap. This machine in no way feels cheap and yet is cheap. Certainly relative to other Macs. But even relative to other machines by other manufacturers, I have to imagine this is the best value you can possibly find. Sure, there will be machines which are less expensive, but those are undoubtedly junky in some ways. The MacBook Neo is truly, honest-to-goodness, great.
Not great for its price. Just great.
Which is undoubtedly why those other manufacturers are freaking the fuck out at the moment. Even if they could somehow match the build quality here, they'd still have to run Windows. Ouch.
That's why I truly believe this machine is the smartest move Apple has done in years. It is going to vastly expand their Mac base. That has famously been growing over many years thanks to the halo effects of at first the iPod and then the iPhone and iPad, but I suspect this machine is going to boost the business with no halo required. It's just a really great machine at a really great price.
One more thing: I will admit that one reason why I think I'm so gung-ho about keeping (and using) the Neo is that part of me wonders if it's the last time I might be able to before AI workflows require beefier specs again. Right now, with all services in the cloud, it mostly doesn't matter. But if AI moves more local – and not just with Apple, but with tools like OpenClaw, and whatever comes after – not only will 8GB of RAM not cut it, you're going to want the most RAM and best chips possible. And so again, this may be perfect timing for Apple to do the Neo.
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler