MacBook Neo - 48 Hours Review… Just WOW! 😮

So then guys, I've been living with the brand new MacBook Neo for about 48 hours and I have to say this right at the start. For the price Apple is charging for this machine, this might actually be one of the best value laptops out there, not only just made by Apple. And honestly, if I wasn't a YouTube creator who needs to run heavy video editing apps all the time, this is probably the MacBook that I would buy for myself because this MacBook isn't trying to be a MacBook Pro. It's not even trying to be a MacBook Air. What Apple have done here is create a MacBook for the masses. a MacBook designed to get millions of people into the Mac ecosystem at a price that is genuinely very hard to beat. Now, after using the MacBook Neo for the last couple of days, I think Apple have actually positioned this machine really cleverly. This is not a laptop for professionals running huge workloads. It's not for developers training AI models locally and it's not for someone doing heavy video editing in Final Cut every single day. Apple already made machines for these people. So these machines exist right now with the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro with the M series chips. Instead, the MacBook Neo is designed for everyday computing. I'm talking about browsing the web, booking a vacation, writing documents, watching videos, editing photos, and even putting together a quick family vacation video. And when you think about it, that's exactly what most people actually use their laptop for. But next of all, let's talk about the design. And the MacBook Neo immediately starts to feel incredible value the second you just see it and hold it. The whole of this MacBook Neo is made out of aluminum or aluminium depending where you're in the world and you just don't see this kind of quality at this kind of price point. The chassis feels solid, premium, and exactly what you'd expect from a MacBook. It's also really lightweight, which means it's incredibly easy to carry around in a backpack or a bag. This is the sort of laptop you can take anywhere. school, college work, traveling, or just sitting on the sofa at home browsing the web. It's designed to be a daily companion, and it's in that role. It actually works super well. Now, moving on to the actual display on this MacBook. This is also a strong point for the MacBook Neo. You get a 13in liquid retina display, and honestly, for this price range, it's excellent. Text looks crisp, colors look fantastic, and viewing angles are really good for this price point. Watching videos, browsing websites, editing photos, everything just seems clean and sharp on this screen. If you compare this display to a laptop for around the same sort of price, the MacBook Neo actually ends up looking very impressive. Apple clearly didn't want this to feel like a cheap laptop experience. And moving on from that is also everything what's happening underneath the hood of this. Let's talk about performance next of all because this is where it's really important to understand what this MacBook is designed for. Inside the MacBook Neo is an A18 Pro chip which originally appeared in the iPhone 16 Pro lineup. And at first that might sound a little unusual but when you actually start using this MacBook it actually makes a lot of sense. This chip is incredibly efficient and it handles everyday task really well. Browsing the web is fast. Opening apps feels smooth. Editing photos is perfectly fine. And even basic video editings for, you know, things like vacation uh clips and making little small reels. There's no problems with this whatsoever. But again, this MacBook is not designed, like I've said, for heavy professional workloads. If you want to run large Final Cut projects with ProRes and you also want to do things like with RAW videos or 3D rendering or train AI models locally, then this simply isn't the machine for you. And that's completely fine because that's not what the Neo is trying to be. The Neo is designed for everyday users, as I keep repeating myself. And honestly, that's probably represents around 85% of people who buy laptops today. But moving on from this, let's talk about a few more other things on the outside. Let's talk about ports. So, you get two USBC ports and a headphone jack. One of the USBC ports run on USB 3 speeds and you get up to 10 GBs per second and the other runs on USB 2 speeds. Now, yes, there's no Thunderbolt here, and yeah, there's no MagSafe charging, but again, you have to remember what this laptop, I'm going to say again, is designed for. Most people buying this MacBook are just going to plug in a USB stick, maybe an external hard drive or use the USBC port for charging. They're not going to be connecting professional Thunderbolt storage arrays or studio equipment into this. So realistically for the audience, this laptop is designed for those ports and they're absolutely fine. And even if you connect up an external 4K display at 60 Hz or up to that, it works absolutely fine too. And you can use the actual screen at the same time on this MacBook. Then let's talk about speakers because sound is really good on these two. But we've got two external firing speakers out the side and this is different approach that Apple have taken here and again they're absolutely great. Now obviously Apple did also have to make a few compromises to keep the price lower compared to say the Air and also the Pro. So for example the keyboard here is not backlit. Now personally I do like a backlit keyboard because I've got so used to it. I've been using MacBooks since 2006. So you get the idea. when it came along, I started using it straight away. So, if you are working in the evening or in a darker room with no light switched on, yeah, this might be a bit of a problem. But, you know what they say, just buy yourself a USBC lamp and shine it onto your keyboard cuz you can do that on here. But at the same time, if you look at also other laptops too at this price range, about 50% of them do have a keyboard that lights up and about 50% of them don't. So, you know, it's a nice to have and I wouldn't mind having it, but it's not a big deal breaker for the price what you're paying for this MacBook. But then after this, something else that other people been talking about is this only has 8 GB of RAM. And it is true, it does, but there's a big thing here. Remember, this is not Windows running on here. We do not have Windows 11 cuz if you had Windows 11 with 8 GB of RAM, yeah, performance is going to be stupidly slow with that. But on Mac OS, because how Apple manages memory, it actually works surprisingly well for everyday tasks like web browsing, studying, watching content, editing videos, you know the list, this is absolutely fine. And the key thing is remembering what this MacBook again is designed for. If you need more memory because you're running professional apps all the time, then yeah, you should be looking at say a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro instead. But personally, if you are buying the MacBook Neo, I would recommend do spending a little bit more to get say the larger storage and also Touch ID, what is $100 more because that upgrade is definitely worth it in my opinion, especially if you plan to keep this laptop for several years. Now, next of all is battery life. Another really good strong part of the MacBook Neo. Again, it's not as good as a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, but Apple claims up to 16 hours of video playback or around 11 hours of web browsing. And from my own experience over the last 48 hours, the battery life has actually been super good. If you do use this MacBook as it is intended to be used for, and say if you were like a student or you were in school, you could easily get a full day battery out and about. And yeah, that's going to be fantastic for you. But next of all, I think let's talk about the most important thing, and that is the price of the MacBook Neo. It starts at $600 or if for educational users and a good MacBook, you know who this is targeted at, it's $500. And for that price, go and find me a full aluminum laptop, beautiful retina display, quite good battery life, Apple silicon performance, Mac OS tidy. You know what fits into your full Apple ecosystem. Buy me a laptop like that, brand new, not a used machine, a brand new one. You can't find it. You know, this price for this here is absolutely unbelievable. And if you do go into a store today and look at laptops that are around $500, many of them are plastic or, you know, say 3/4 plastic, part metal, have worse displays, weaker processors, and often loaded with Windows and Windows bloatware. And this also slows down over say after about 6 to one year of use. whereas the MacBook Neo will keep on going on for years. So, who is this MacBook Neo actually for? Well, in my opinion, this laptop is perfect, like I say, for students, family, and firsttime Mac users or anyone upgrading from an older Intel MacBook Pro or say a MacBook Air right now. I would be saying this if you had upgraded to one of the new M chips, that probably would have happened by now because you need that kind of performance. But if your Intel one is struggling a bit and you just need something a bit more newer, well, this is going to outbeat any kind of Intel MacBook that has been made in the past. And everything here will feel faster, smoother, and more responsive. So, after living with the MacBook Neo for the last 48 hours, I honestly think Apple have done something really smart here. This isn't a MacBook design for professionals or power users. It's instead a MacBook design for the majority. And I believe this MacBook is going to sell like hotcakes. It is, I believe, going to be next to the iPhone, the next most important or the most popular device that Apple sells. And I think that this Christmas, this is probably going to be one of the number one devices that I would say most people under the age of 35 or even under the age of 40, if they don't own a MacBook now, they're probably going to ask for one for Christmas if you know if family member is rich enough as it were to buy them one or it's something that they will save up for. And do remember come near around about Black Friday of things like this, I expect other people to be selling this even for less. And that, like I say, is remarkable for what you are going to be getting here. The MacBook Neo delivers exactly what it promises. It gives you here fast enough speed, fast enough performance in a well packaged design, what looks very premium. So, I'm going to say big round of applause for Apple for doing this because this is definitely a machine that I believe is going to sell super well out there. and I personally cannot imagine it being a flop. So, on that note though, guys, what do you think of the MacBook Neo? Would you get one? Are you thinking of getting one or have you maybe pre-ordered one already? Whatever it is, let me know in the comments below. And on that note, as well, guys, it's time to wrap up the video, too. So, if you have enjoyed watching it, please do press the like button. As always, if you want to hear the latest Apple news, reviews, and comparisons, make sure you subscribe to this channel and hit that notification bell. Until next time, guys. I will see you really soon. Take care. Bye-bye.

I've been living with the New Apple MacBook Neo for a couple of days now, and for the $599 price, this is the cheapest Macbook and one of the best value Laptops out there. This 48 Hour macbook neo review shows that if you're coming to the Apple Mac Eco System for the first time and say not a heavy video editor, it's a superior choice compared to other laptops out there. Let me tell you why this MacBook is probably my favourite MacBook in a long time!