The MacBook Neo made a huge splash earlier this year, giving people the premium quality of a classic MacBook for just $599 (or $699 at the time of writing, thanks, RAM shortage).It filled a gap in the market for people who could benefit from the form factor of a laptop but didn't need the extra computing power, and it threw in some cool color options as an extra.Everyone was excited about what it would do to the rest of the market, too, but it has not turned out well.
The premium feel of the Neo is its whole selling point, but most competing products are nothing but low-spec hardware in a crappy plastic chassis.Do I even need to write a whole article about why that's not a good thing? No one cares about the Neo's spec sheet It focused on what its audience actually needed Close Apple has always made a very particular type of laptop.You have very little freedom in the hardware or the software, and you don't get to customize how it looks, but it feels like the most expensive and premium bit of tech you own.
The Neo gives people that same premium feel without the power.That might sound a bit odd at first, but there's a huge segment of people out there who would only use a laptop for browsing, streaming, and basic office applications, and guess what? A modern phone chip can do all of that.But just because the chip is powerful enough doesn't mean a tiny smartphone is actually nice to use for those kinds of jobs.
Typing is objectively better on a physical keyboard, and viewing is objectively better on a big screen.So, when you can have a premium MacBook display, keyboard, speakers, and trackpad for $699, a lot of people are going to make the purchase.Have I made that clear enough? What's good about the Neo is how amazing it feels to use, no one cares about its A18 chip or its 8 GB of RAM or even its lack of a keyboard backlight.
It cut back on the things its audience doesn't actually need, and kept the quality high everywhere else.Related Your cheap laptop's CPU is fine, but everything else is the problem A $500 laptop is faster than ever, so why does it still feel terrible? Posts 1 By Monica J.White The big mistake the competition is making Pairing low specs with low quality The competition, on the other hand, decided to match the Neo's surface-level specs and shove everything in cheap plastic cases with bouncy keyboards, crappy trackpads, and dim displays.
The Neo genuinely created a new product category: the premium low-spec laptop, and it works because people who don't need power shouldn't have to pay for it just to get a decent-quality product.But since most of the competition forgot to include the 'premium' part, they don't fall into the same category.They're nothing but bad budget laptops, no power, no quality, and absolutely no value.
Take the Acer Swift Air 14, for example.It has a decent CPU, but that goes for all cheap laptops nowadays.It's also got the $699 price tag and the cute colors, but reviewers found that the lid and keyboard flex under your hands, the keycaps feel cheap, and the display is dim.
Plus, for some reason, the Start menu ships full of junk games and VPN trials (why!?).The yet-to-be-released Lenovo IdeaPad Vibe looks to be another offender.The base configuration costs $699, but it seems all the features that actually make for a nice laptop will cost extra.
It may be too early to judge, but when a plastic-bottomed chassis is an option, the base configuration is probably going to be stuck with it.Not that plastic is automatically the enemy; a well-built plastic laptop can feel great.But I have no faith in these Neo-competitors focusing on nothing but the low price and varied color options.
If they're not advertising a quality build, chances are they don't have one.Another problem is the operating system.8 GB of RAM is really not a lot in a modern context, and even these low-priced machines are only 8 GB right now because of the wonderful RAM shortage.
The Neo can get away with it because macOS can run quite efficiently, and Linux can do an even better job with the right distro, but Windows? Windows and its famous bloat fare far worse with only 8 GB to work with, and there's not much Windows users can do about it.Why laptops as a whole are worse off now We've got a new type of bad, and it's better hidden than before Now that the "premium low-spec laptop" exists, manufacturers will go after the label even when their product doesn't hit the standards.In other words, we've got a load of new laptops that look premium in the pictures, but feel like garbage when you actually use them, and it's impossible to know without hands-on experience.
The price used to be enough to know that a laptop would be utterly terrible, because you just couldn't get quality for $699.But now that you can, people need to be really careful about what they buy.Is it a premium low-spec laptop, or is it just a plain old budget machine misrepresenting itself? If you're not careful, you'll have paid "nice laptop" money to get nothing more than a "nice-looking" laptop.
And it's a mistake you'll pay for twice, once when you realise your product sucks, and again when you have to pay to replace it after only a couple of years.That means more laptops in landfills and more money out of your pocket sooner.Buy the right product, or consider other options Anyone who's happy to become an Apple user can sidestep all of the uncertainty and just buy a Neo.
Its praises have been sung loud enough for anyone in the market for a laptop to hear.But if you're a diehard Windows user, you need to buy smart.Look out for well-reviewed products (like the new XPS 13), and try not to be too swayed by the pretty colors.
If things aren't looking great, it might be time to reconsider.Does your new PC genuinely need to be a laptop? Because if not, swapping the laptop for a mini PC and a tablet is a genuine option.Either way, don't reward a company for a low-effort product that does nothing but copy the Neo's price and fancy colors.
MacBook Neo (A18 Pro) Brand Apple Operating System macOS If you want a cheap laptop that gets a lot of praise, the MacBook Neo is a safe bet.Other than that, make sure to read reviews.See at Amazon $699 at Apple $699 at Best Buy Expand Collapse
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