4 ms·

It's too expensive. As a long time user ('91) I am fully aware how blessed we are with Macs' prices today. However, an M5 Air 16G/512 is $1,100 without any dis

It's too expensive. As a long time user ('91) I am fully aware how blessed we are with Macs' prices today. However, an M5 Air 16G/512 is $1,100 without any discounts and Airs are frequently discounted by $200 at least in the States. $599 is dangerously close to $1,100. Yes, it's 40ish % diff before any discounts, but the Air is like 3x the value and the Air has much more runway in it. I would not recommend a Neo to anyone in my circles at this price. They deleted the wrong things, imo. I'd rather it was plastic, with a backlighted kb and TouchID at $400. TouchID by default should be table stakes on Apple hardware today, it's that useful. Then, I'd have 3 right now. I am just talking about surface level stuff, they thought of cannibalization, repair costs, upgrade ramps (8GB), etc, they are smart.

killingtime74 4mo ago
It's not designed for your circles or for people where paying 40% more is a choice. Many products make no "sense" when you can hand wave the price away.
- stasomatic 4mo ago
  I think it's a throwaway given its specs and inherent limitations at $600. At $400 USD, I wouldn't be yapping here. Caveat emptor, yo.
m463 4mo ago
I could make a counterpoint: it's too cheap. It will cannibalize the market for better apple products. Mac pro is already gone. Sort of how $1.99 apps, then $0.99 apps drove the app price to free. Now apps are supported by advertising or trick subscriptions and the good/honest apps are pretty much gone. (except I do like and respect anything from omnigroup)
- stasomatic 4mo ago
  Fair, but I thought I addressed this in my last paragraph. My gut tells me the Neo sits at an uncomfortable price spot, given its specs, in the line up. Geeks won't buy it as a daily because they know what an Air costs and brings. I am with Christina Warren who more than twice said on MBW that the Neo is not a good fit for students as it’ll run out of air a year or two in (pun intended :)).
  - Mawr 4mo ago
    Bro, it's not that deep. It's a facebook/youtube/travel/college machine with a nice screen, great build quality and awesome all day battery life. It's not an ultrageek wizz wozz local LLM performance junkie machine.
briandw 4mo ago
Nothing will ever be cheep enough. “599 is dangerously close to 1100”? It’s 1100 is nearly double! I bought the neo for my daughter to use in HS and it’s perfect. Fast, great build and great battery life. Ill be buying a second one for my son, and paying just a bit more for both than the one air you mentioned. You should just buy a chromebook and save the 100-200$ for a plastic laptop.
- stasomatic 4mo ago
  My guy, I was just pontificating from the comfort of my backlit M5 MBP kb :) I do not need to buy anything. I am set for 3-4 years, but you will be shelling a couple of K$ 1-2 years from now. I think! Joking and sarcasm aside, I was talking about the value proposition. Pound for pound, I don't think the Neo's MSRP pulls its weight compared to the Air. As in performance for $ ratio. And, I am not looking down at people who do buy it, the more of us, the better.
rconti 4mo ago
I'm pretty price insensitive myself. That said, I have an M1 air, and if someone gave me a brand-new air today, I wouldn't switch, because the M1 feels as good as new, and the hassle of switching machines simply isn't worth it. No doubt a new Neo is faster than my M1 air. So I just can't really imagine how the Neo is 3x the 'value' of a brand-new Air, when I don't value the performance of the M4/M5 (?) Air above the hassle of swapping machines.
- stasomatic 4mo ago
  I was saying that the Air is 3x value of Neo at being 40% more expensive. To piggyback on your M1 Air comment, if I hadn't spilled a coke on my own M1 2020 2 years ago, I'd still be using it. It's a legendary machine. Logic board repair would've been $700, so it sits on my shelf. I'm thinking of getting a rotary tool and cutting out the aluminum off of its case for some cyberdeck projects.
Jblx2 4mo ago
Is there any purpose for a backlit keyboard for someone who can type?

killingtime74 4mo ago

It's not designed for your circles or for people where paying 40% more is a choice. Many products make no "sense" when you can hand wave the price away.

stasomatic 4mo ago
I think it's a throwaway given its specs and inherent limitations at $600. At $400 USD, I wouldn't be yapping here. Caveat emptor, yo.

m463 4mo ago

I could make a counterpoint: it's too cheap. It will cannibalize the market for better apple products. Mac pro is already gone. Sort of how $1.99 apps, then $0.99 apps drove the app price to free. Now apps are supported by advertising or trick subscriptions and the good/honest apps are pretty much gone. (except I do like and respect anything from omnigroup)

stasomatic 4mo ago
Fair, but I thought I addressed this in my last paragraph. My gut tells me the Neo sits at an uncomfortable price spot, given its specs, in the line up. Geeks won't buy it as a daily because they know what an Air costs and brings. I am with Christina Warren who more than twice said on MBW that the Neo is not a good fit for students as it’ll run out of air a year or two in (pun intended :)).
- Mawr 4mo ago
  Bro, it's not that deep. It's a facebook/youtube/travel/college machine with a nice screen, great build quality and awesome all day battery life. It's not an ultrageek wizz wozz local LLM performance junkie machine.

briandw 4mo ago

Nothing will ever be cheep enough. “599 is dangerously close to 1100”? It’s 1100 is nearly double! I bought the neo for my daughter to use in HS and it’s perfect. Fast, great build and great battery life. Ill be buying a second one for my son, and paying just a bit more for both than the one air you mentioned. You should just buy a chromebook and save the 100-200$ for a plastic laptop.

stasomatic 4mo ago
My guy, I was just pontificating from the comfort of my backlit M5 MBP kb :) I do not need to buy anything. I am set for 3-4 years, but you will be shelling a couple of K$ 1-2 years from now. I think! Joking and sarcasm aside, I was talking about the value proposition. Pound for pound, I don't think the Neo's MSRP pulls its weight compared to the Air. As in performance for $ ratio. And, I am not looking down at people who do buy it, the more of us, the better.

rconti 4mo ago

I'm pretty price insensitive myself. That said, I have an M1 air, and if someone gave me a brand-new air today, I wouldn't switch, because the M1 feels as good as new, and the hassle of switching machines simply isn't worth it. No doubt a new Neo is faster than my M1 air. So I just can't really imagine how the Neo is 3x the 'value' of a brand-new Air, when I don't value the performance of the M4/M5 (?) Air above the hassle of swapping machines.

stasomatic 4mo ago
I was saying that the Air is 3x value of Neo at being 40% more expensive. To piggyback on your M1 Air comment, if I hadn't spilled a coke on my own M1 2020 2 years ago, I'd still be using it. It's a legendary machine. Logic board repair would've been $700, so it sits on my shelf. I'm thinking of getting a rotary tool and cutting out the aluminum off of its case for some cyberdeck projects.

Jblx2 4mo ago

Is there any purpose for a backlit keyboard for someone who can type?