loading . . . If Youâre Reading This, MacBook Neo is Not For You Hi, youâre here reading a tech blog. This automatically means that MacBook Neo is not for you. Congratulations.
If youâre thinking about plugging in external displays, itâs probably not for you (though it can do one).
If youâre mad about the USB protocols itâs using, itâs not for you.
If you know what Thunderbolt is, itâs not for you.
## Who Itâs Actually For
Appleâs very clearly stating who this laptop is for: kids, students, and those that just need The Big Screen (and if you donât know what that means, you guessed it, itâs probably not for you).
### Direct Quotes From Apple
> âŚbrowsing the web and streaming content
> âŚbrowsing the web, creating documents, streaming content, editing photos, and taking advantage of AI
> âŚtheir favorite apps, like Messages, WhatsApp, Canva, Excel, Safari, and more.
> âŚsummarizing notes in Bear or using the Clean Up tool in the Photos app
> âŚa perfect on-the-go companion for work or play, from the classroom to the coffee shopâŚ
## The Differentiation
This happens rather often in the tech zeitgeistâa major division between the people who are into tech for the tech and those who are into the tech because of what it enables. Some people just want to see the best of the best in technologyâfaster benchmarks, beefier chips, higher resolutions and refresh rates, but thereâs also a subset of us who are less interested in the numbers and more interested in what the technology enables.
### Applying This to MacBook Neo
At $599, this is a major shake up in the budget laptop world. If you wanted a MacBook for under $1,000, you had to go used, which isnât always attractive to the general consumer. People want to be able to walk into the Apple Store or the Best Buy or the Target and come out with a laptop. Most people arenât concerned with finding the most bang for their buck and trying to find that perfect inflection point between performance and value. Some people just want to buy a computer.
Taking a notable step into this market is huge for Apple because now people have an option for connecting with their (probably more expensiveâŚand more powerful) iPhone. While most people buy their phones on 2â3 year contracts, they donât do that with their computers. Itâs a much harder sell to drop $1,000 at once than it is to pay $35/month for a little while, which is why people have historically been willing to pay more for phones than laptops.
This is a Mac, and it sits firmly within the price that most people are willing to pay for a laptop, and itâs a pretty decent one for doing things that people do on their phonesâŚbecause it is a phone, but it has the advantage of a longer battery life, a better keyboard, and a huge screen.
Not a lot of techies in the space are going to get it (both in the sense of âunderstanding itâ and âbuying itâ but this has the potential to have a huge impact in the general consumer market and Iâm really excited to see what this means for the desktop/laptop world over the next few years. https://blog.samclemente.me/if-youre-reading-this-macbook-neo-is-not-for-you/
