IOL’s Michael Sherman got up close and personal to experience the new MacBook Neo firsthand, which was released in South Africa on Wednesday. Everything about this laptop is premium except the price, which sets it up to take the entry-level market by storm. Picture: Michael Sherman/IOL
Image: Michael Sherman/IOL
On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to test out the new MacBook Neo as it was launched in South Africa, and it was a unique experience even for someone like myself who has been using Mac laptops for the last 16 years.
Positioned as an entry-level 13” MacBook at R11,999, I can confidently state that you will not get a better new laptop for that price in South Africa. And this little powerhouse is more than powerful enough for 90% of the public, save software coders and professional video editors and photographers.
That’s after I was able to play around with the Neo for over an hour at the launch event with iStore in Sandton.
The first thing that struck me were the colours. On display were two base models in blush and citrus colours. These are definitely funkier and honestly more exciting colours than you get in the MacBook Airs and Pros.
However, when you pick it up, that’s when you notice what a good laptop this is. Its solid aluminium housing makes it feel premium and in fact feels very similar to the much more expensive 13” MacBook Airs which start at R21,999 for the new M5 versions also released this year.
It also has slightly more rounded edges, which for me make it feel more modern.
Even the typing experience, as someone who uses a modern MacBook, felt exactly the same.
In fact, if it weren’t for the colours and the white keyboard, the average person might find it difficult to distinguish between the Air and the Neo.
It’s also interesting to hear just how powerful the speakers are. Of course, it’s no comparison for the beefier 16” MacBook Pro which has the best sound system of any laptop on the market, but the Neo is definitely comparable with the Air.
Of course, the major difference between the Air and the Neo will be performance, and that’s where I expected to see a distinct difference.
You will see that clearly in highly demanding tasks like complicated video or photo editing, for example, but for web browsing, it felt exactly the same as the Air.
I even compared some of the stats; the Neo is actually almost twice as fast as my 16” M1 MacBook Pro when it comes to the speed of web browsing. And I was able to see that firsthand, as I opened plenty of tabs in the Apple native web browser Safari, and was able to switch between the tabs seamlessly without any lag or the pages having to reload.
All this with what should be an inferior 8GB unified memory and 256GB SSD and an iPhone processor (A18 Pro). But that’s the thing; Apple is a software company at its core and designs its hardware according to the software, making everything highly optimised.
Even the screen, though it’s 0.6” inches smaller than the Air, is a seriously high-quality Liquid Retina display which reaches the same brightness levels as the Air.
“It's definitely going to change the market,” said iStore Chief Commercial Officer Linda van der Nest.
“It packs a punch at only R11,999 locally priced in South Africa.
“And we really think that this is going to be the choice laptop for people who in the past wanted an affordable computer and the only choice really was a PC.”