Apple’s one of the most exciting launches during its ‘big week’ will most likely be the MacBook Neo that has announced last night. The Cupertino based tech giant is finally bringing an entry level laptop which is most likely aimed at students with a slightly affordable price point compared to the MacBook Air and Pro lineup.
MacBook Air is priced at ₹69,900 in India for the base variant while the students could get the device for as low as ₹59,900.
MacBook Neo top features:
Display:
MacBook Neo features a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with a resolution of 2408×1506 pixels and a peak brightness of 500 nits. The screen comes with an anti-reflective coating and support for 1 billion colours to bring vibrant images to life.
Performance:
The laptop is powered by the Apple A18 Pro processor featuring a 6-core CPU, a 5-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. The base model of the device is paired with 8GB of unified memory and a 256GB SSD.
Software:
The MacBook Neo runs on the new macOS Tahoe with support for Apple Intelligence features. The device is packed with an incredibly power-efficient battery that delivers up to 16 hours of battery life on a single charge.
Camera:
The laptop comes with a 1080p FaceTime HD camera featuring optimised image processing for vibrant video calls. It also features Magic Keyboard for a comfortable typing experience, a large Multi-Touch trackpad with gesture support, and a Touch ID option for easy and secure login authentication.
Connectivity:
The MacBook Neo weighs just 1.23kh. The laptop comes with a dual side-firing speaker setup with Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio support, alongside dual mics with directional beamforming. It also comes with two USB-C ports (one supporting USB 3 and external displays), a 3.5mm headphone jack, support for Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 6.
MacBook Neo vs MacBook Air:
While both the MacBook AIr and MacBook Neo come with the same weight at 1.23kg, there are some notable design differences. For instance, the MacBook Air features a backlit keyboard, a haptic Force Touch trackpad, and slimmer display borders with a notch. However, MacBook Neo comes with a mechanical Multi-Touch trackpad, a color-matched non-backlit Magic Keyboard, and noticeably thicker display borders.
On the performance front, the MacBook Air with the more powerful M5 chip completely beats the A18 Pro on the MacBook Neo.
The MacBook Air comes with support for Wi-Fi 7, a dedicated MagSafe 3 charging port, and two high-speed Thunderbolt 4 ports capable of driving two 6K external displays. However, the MacBook Neo features Wi-Fi 6E and two standard USB-C ports (one USB 3 and one slower USB 2) with support for a single 4K external display.
Even on the battery front, the MacBook Air takes a significant lead with a 53.8-watt hour battery with up to 18 hours of battery life and support for fast charging. . The MacBook Neo, on the other hand, comes with a smaller 36.5-watt-hour battery with 20W charging support.
How are users on social media reacting?
“windows is so shit these days that perhaps mac will become more popular in a good way” wrote one user on Reddit
“I used to despise nearly everything that apple makes, but this is singlehandedly one of the best options possible, given how there’s the ram and ssd shortage. Not to mention there’s a student discount that strikes the price down to 499” wrote another user
“Where’s that guy who’s always telling us that the end of M1 support is just around the corner and that everyone who bought only 8GB of RAM is an idiot? Seems to be strangely silent after this release, even though what we see here is basically an M1 with 8GB of RAM.” yet another user added
