Apple MacBook Neo Review - Surprisingly good and capable laptop for $599 with one big flaw

[Redaktion]

Apple's new MacBook Neo is the first budget MacBook powered by the A18 Pro smartphone processor for $599. The result is a laptop that looks and feels like a MacBook, and is also surprisingly powerful for what it is. There is one big flaw though.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Neo-Review-Surprisingly-good-and-capable-laptop-for-599-with-one-big-flaw.1247679.0.html

[X]

BIG RESPECT for checking temporal dithering existence. THANK YOU. And please check the same thing (every kind of flickering) with every screen.

[Lily]

Just a heads up, in the title it's stated that it has one big flaw, but reading the article I'm struggling to understand what it is, is it the battery runtime at high brightness settings, the temporal dithering or the limited connectivity? Not quite sure, great testing though.

[Terror Byte]

Just a heads up, in the title it's stated that it has one big flaw, but reading the article I'm struggling to understand what it is, is it the battery runtime at high brightness settings, the temporal dithering or the limited connectivity? Not quite sure, great testing though.

It is the lack of backlit keyboard. That's a deal-breaker for me alone. P!ss poor usb options are also a deal breaker.

[NuclearNotebook]

You've accidentally swapped the colour response measurements for sRGB and P3 in the data - P3 coverage should be the lower of the two values.

Beautiful machine on the inside & very nicely done photos so full credit to the reviewer there.

Interesting to see that the speakers measure slightly better than the Air's, many reviewers are blindly reporting that they're "worse" just because there are less of them. Shows the importance of gathering actual data.

[RobertJasiek]

I find it interesting that quite a few mention the missing backlit keyboard as a dealbreaker. I do not care about it at all, as long as I can deactivate it.

No notch has removed my first potential dealbreaker. For me the remaining dealbreakers would be 8 GB RAM (not future-proof, I would want 16 GB; also I might wish to load long videos with files larger than 8 GB, something reviewers never consider), the tiny arrow keys (and other insufficiencies of Apple's keyboard layout), the upselling beyond cost to the minimally acceptable 512 GB storage and the glare display.

Ok, presumably I would be an Air buyer, however, this would still have the dealbreakers of tiny arrow keys and the glare display. For the latter, I would not be upsold to the Pro because I would not need its speed. (For AI, I would need about 8 times the speed of M5 Max and adapted software. Therefore, MacBooks would only be interesting for office tasks for me.) With the missing matte display options for Neo and Air (and the notch of the Air), and with the tiny arrow keys, Apple does not offer any notebook hardware I would want to buy. Appreciating silence and reasonably long battery life (and not too bad repairability of the Neo) are insuffient hardware offerings for my needs. Not to mention OS, software and license terms.

[Air vs Neo]

If you are in the market for a Neo, see this: Dave2D shows (youtu.be/h26FlWu7aDc?t=587) that while a used/Apple Refurb MacBook Air costs more, the Air has:

• Better and bigger display
• Chunkier bezels on the Neo, but also no notch
• Better trackpad (haptic on the Air vs machanical on the Neo)
• 16 GB unified memory (vs 8 GB on the Neo)
• Better chip (M4)
• Backlit keyboard
• 2 vs 4 speakers on the Air
• 7.5 vs 11.5 hours battery on the Air
• 3 microphones vs 2 on the Neo
• All this despite the weight being the same
• No Touch ID on the Neo base 599 model

And (feel free to add more to the list)

• Better screen ratio on the Air (1:1.545 (2880px/1864px) vs 1:1.6 (16:10) on the Neo)
• Temporal dithering on the Neo (can cause eye strain)
• MagSafe (magnetically attached power connector) on the Air
• Both fast USB-C ports on the Air

Dave2D concludes: "Personally, I would go for the MacBook Air".

At the end of this video, Just Josh also says he'd buy a refurbished Air instead: youtube.com/watch?v=OaENnuQvv9o

The Neo is still a win. Since the Neo is smaller than the Air 13, but weights the same, it could have weighted a bit less. Things to improve for a Neo 2: A bit lighter by 0.22 to 0.33 lbs and 12 to 16 GB unified memory. If temporal dithering is such an issue, then it needs to be fixed as well.

How does the temporal dithering look like from a normal viewing distance and why is it so bad that:

If you are sensitive to temporal dithering, you will not be happy with the MacBook Neo.

?
First search result when searching for "temporal dithering":

This method can sometimes cause issues like eye strain or headaches for sensitive individuals due to the flickering effect it creates

If not already, APPLE should introduce a setting to disable temporal dithering.
Second search result:

Preventing temporal dithering on Apple Silicon Macs

Interesting to see that the speakers measure slightly better than the Air's

Except they don't?:

They lack a bit of punch compared to the MacBook Air

[Citizen_not_Consumer]

There are much better laptops for less or equal money you can get:

-OLED screen
-more RAM (12gb or 16gb)
-touchscreen with pen support
-convertible
-glass trackpad
-Fanless with 17 hours battery
-same multicore performance
-runs ChromeOS, Linux, and Android apps
-if you like to play games. these chromebooks can play smoothly millions of Android games. I doubt MacBook Neo can play smoothly even the very few games that have been ported for the bigger Macs!

for $479 (IPS touch screen):
chromeunboxed.com/the-acer-chromebook-plus-spin-514-just-hit-a-new-all-time-low-price-of-479/

for $649 (OLED touch screen):
chromeunboxed.com/yes-the-lenovo-chromebook-14-is-the-best-chromebook-ive-ever-used/

Both laptops are better in every respect than the MacBook Neo.

[X]

You don't have today any Apple laptop without blinking screen (MBP PWM, people report temporal dithering for Pro, Air and Neo) and you can't have Air/Neo without screen reflections from the factory (MBP can have nanostructural thing)

Temporal dithering could be avoided - it's enough when MacOS is using the same amount of colors like hardware (MacBook Intel had switch in some moment?)

Neo could be battery warrior, but they didn't want it (could cannibalize Air and basic users maybe are Ok with it). And could be perfect for people with eyes problems, but low contrast and Apple amazing strategy is not allowing for it.

Of course this will be hit. But again this apple is not 100% healthy.

[Jonathanm1975]

Who works at 150 nits? That's one TINY battery.

[Adam1]

Who works at 150 nits? That's one TINY battery.

Exactly. The test should be with 250 nits at least.