The Macbook Neo is a great laptop for a vast majority of users. Including myself. I spend nearly all of my time writing. I would say it is about 99% writing. However, I have been dabbling with AI, I think 10% of my time on my Macbook Air M2 are spend on experimenting with local LLM and vibe coding with Xcode and Python. Than running local LLM, My Air is not really doing any heavy lifting. If anything, its power and talents are wasted on me. So for emailing, browsing the web, writing, or watching videos, the Macbook Neo is great. But it is also a good alternative to the iPad as well. So, naturally, I am curious which Apple product the Neo will cannibalize and the more I think of it, I think the Neo is more likely to cannibalize the Air than the iPad. Let's look at this together.
I can writing on my 2016 12" Macbook as long as the keyboard does not give out. I can write on any old laptop or an old iPad I have around somewhere in my desk drawer if I wanted to. Emailing. If your old tech still run current browsers or apps, you're really good to go. I am sure you are feeling some of the slowdown though. That is why you may be thinking upgrading.
Macbook Neo? Macbook Air? and iPad Air with M4? Even the regular iPad?
If you do any coding you will want the Neo or Air. If you're a dabbler like myself, even the Neo might be good enough though you are limited by what local AI models you can run with mere 8 GB of RAM as I understand it. The Air would be great but you are talking about saving a few hundred bucks that could go towards the next Neo upgrade if you don't need all that power the Air provides you today.
As for replacing the iPad, sure. However, the iPad, despite the new window-based multitasking that became a favorite among YouTubers who want to use their iPads as their daily driver, is a totally different computer altogether. It’s a tablet that can be paired with a keyboard to turn it into a laptop. I use my iPad for reading, watching a vast majority of my videos (Apple TV, Netflix, YouTube), and play games. I imagine I can do that on the Neo but reading books makes it a bit awkward. And there are just tons of apps I use that are not available on the Mac.
Perhaps you might get the Neo over a new iPad and if you already have an iPad, you will continue to use the iPad. If not, there is a good chance that you will get an iPad in the future because it is just a different type of device. It’s a lot more portable and easier to carry around. If you’re going to the doctor’s office, which would you take? The Neo or iPad?
Back to the Air. It packs a punch. And the reason I may consider getting the MacBook Air with M5 is because it is so much powerful than my M2 Air. With 32 GB of RAM, I can run a bigger LLM model and do more in terms of AI. But again, all that power is not going to let me writing any faster or better. That’s all on me. It is not going to check the mail any faster. The Neo is good enough for that.
Apple is presenting the MacBook Neo as a laptop without compromises. For a daily computing needs, it can do pretty much anything you throw at it with feeling like you bought into something that is in any way inferior. In fact, Apple offers four excellent colors to choose from that fit your personality and environment. You cannot say that about the Air, can you? At least the Air cannot match the bright colors of the Neo options.
And if you’ve been here before, you will know that I constantly complain about battery life. I have not done that in a while because Apple devices just offer great battery life these days. And even in that department, the Neo is not compromised. Sure, the MacBook Neo’s smaller battery means it offers sixteen hours of battery life compared to the eighteen hours for the Air. For daily tasks, I would not be surprised if you only charge the Neo once every other day.
While I am not in the market for MacBook Neo, I cannot go to the Apple Store to test drive it. If money is no object, yeah, I think I might pick up a Citrus Neo with 256 GB (don’t need the 512 GB option because I would just use it for writing, messaging, and emailing anyway). But I do need more power than what the Neo offers. So it’ll be the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro for when I upgrade at the end of the year. For everyone else who does not need the computing power offered by Apple’s M series chips, I sure hope you pick the MacBook Neo because you will not be disappointed. And if you are thinking about getting the Neo instead of an iPad, I do not recommend it. The iPad is just a very different device that offers a very different experience.
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