I’ve been looking for the perfect device to take away with me when I’m travelling for as long as I can remember. My latest attempt was an iPad with a folding keyboard but this seemed to be compromised by iPadOS. So when the MacBook Neo was launched I thought that it sounded like it might be the answer.
Unboxing
It won’t surprise you to hear that the unboxing experience for the Neo is no different to any other Apple product. It comes in the usual stiff box, carefully packed with the Neo, and below that just a USB-C cable.
In Use
There has been a lot of moaning online about the specs of the Neo and the amount of RAM in particular. It comes powered by an A18 chip, as found in the the iPhone 16, and 8GB of RAM. The objections seem to be that in this day and age 8GB is not enough. I’m sat here typing away on my Neo and it is quick and responsive and that’s the point – for the tasks for which it is designed, browsing the web, creating documents etc., it is absolutely fine. Are you going to be able to edit videos and play Football Manager on it? Probably not, but that’s not what it is for.
Let’s start with the good. It’s very good to use. It’s snappy and remains so even with lots of tabs and apps open. To be clear, these aren’t high load apps, I save the development for my Pro, but browsing the web, doing my family history, blogging etc. it is absolutely perfect.
It has a nice keyboard that is good to type on but, and this is probably my biggest complaint, it is not backlit and is almost impossible to see in low light conditions. I am considering adding a MagSafe ring to the lid so I can snap on a light for these occasions.
The trackpad is also not as good as you’d find on the more expensive MacBook models and is very loud when clicking but it is still considerably better than the ones I have used on other devices.
Of course, you get all the advantages of MacOS, even if it is Tahoe and there’s not a lot of love for that online either, but I have no problem with it.
Conclusions
All-in-all I like the Neo and can see it becoming my main everyday machine. It’s available in a (small) range of colours other than the usual grey and works well for the range of tasks for which it is designed. I’m willing to bet that for most people it will absolutely fine and if you need to be using a keyboard will be better than an iPad. It will be interesting to see if it’s an either/or choice for people and iPad sales hold up.
| Pros | Cons |
| Good price (esp for a MacBook) Great display Good performance for everyday tasks Full desktop experience | No backlight on keyboard Very loud clicky touchpad Slow 20W charging Build quality not up to Apple’s usual standards |
