Transcription
Over 60 days has the hype around the MacBook Neo now already passed and the opinions on this device are really extremely divided, because on the one hand, I think we all agree that this is currently pretty much the best budget laptop on the market. On the other hand, I have noticed several things in these 60 days, such as how the coating of the display, which was not discussed in any other video about this device. And just to be clear beforehand, this video will definitely not feature benchmarks, performance tests, or water-cooled MacBook Neos. This is about my real-life experiences. So, this is my honest review of the MacBook Neo. 60 days after the hype. So let's start directly with one of the most controversial points, namely the display. Because sure, the brightness and resolution of the MacBook Neo are really impressive in this price range. But I think that's not even the decisive point why the screen of the MacBook Neo looks so much better, especially compared to Windows laptops. Because if you look at comparable Windows laptops, you will quickly notice that almost all models have a matte coating on the display. And yes, at first glance, matte might even sound better, until you look a little closer and notice that the screen of all Windows competitors is made of plastic. This means that not only the casing, which we'll get to shortly, but also the coating of the screens is 100% plastic. And I don't know about you, but just because of that, the screen of the Neo, which is made of normal glass, simply looks a thousand times sharper and more high-quality. However, one point still bothered me about the display, namely the thick display bezels. I did some research on how much more expensive it would be for Apple to reduce the bezels to the thickness of the Air, and we're talking about well under $ per device. Therefore, one can say with pretty much certainty that they made the bezels of the Neo thicker on purpose, so that the Air looks better. So if that bothers you, I wouldn't get your hopes up too high that it will be better in the next generation. However, if you can overlook that, the screen has very few disadvantages. Next up is the hardware, and yes, I know that the MacBook Neo feels super high-quality with its aluminum casing. You've heard that 100 times in other videos, but it's really important to mention it again at this point, because yes, I was also in the situation a few years ago where my only computer was a cheap Windows laptop, and they are almost always entirely made of plastic in this price category. Therefore, it is really impressive that the MacBook Neo is entirely made of aluminum for the price. And sure, one can ask whether that is really so important, but I am clearly of the opinion that it is, because with laptops, there are a total of five points on which a user evaluates whether the device feels cheap or good. The first two we have already discussed. So let's move on to the trackpad and keyboard. And especially with the trackpad, I was really positively surprised, because on the Windows side, I haven't had the best experiences with mechanical trackpads. However, the V Neo feels surprisingly good. I can actually even say that it doesn't feel worse than that of the Air or Pro. It's just very different, but definitely very good. I have relatively little to say about the keyboard, because I really notice no difference to the MacBook Pro. And whether the lack of backlighting bothers you, you have to decide for yourself. So, for an Apple product, I've said a lot of positive things so far, but don't worry, my criticisms are still to come. And no, I'm not talking about the 8 GB of RAM, because I found that to be no problem at all. Before that, but and skip over, I'm really putting a lot of effort into this. A short word from today's sponsor, because if you've been subscribed to my channel for a while, it would actually be the perfect time to do so, then you know that I don't promote junk here. And yes, if I do find a good partner, then theoretically I could just read out their advertising jingles and give you my discount code Technikkopf. But today with NordVPN, I don't need to do that at all, because after this video, you have the task of trying NordVPN yourself through the link in the video description, because even though we're only talking about under €3 per month here, you have a 30-day money-back guarantee at any time. This means you can easily try out all the features yourself, such as the Threat Protection Pro or changing your location to watch movies cheaper. So, after the video, really check out NordVPN. You'll find the link in the video description. Now let's continue with the MacBook Neo. Next up is one of the most exciting points, namely performance, because that's where opinions on the MacBook Neo diverged the most. Some say the M18 chip is more than sufficient, others that the Neo occasionally becomes quite slow because the RAM fills up. Let's clear that up a bit, because yes, the Neo has "only" 8 GB of RAM and we already know that the successor will most likely be upgraded to 12 GB. Nevertheless, I never reached a point in everyday use where the performance was throttled because of it. Therefore, I wouldn't let myself be too scared by the many videos on YouTube about that. However, what I did have a bit of trouble with was the battery. Don't get me wrong. Especially compared to Windows laptops, the battery life is really very good. However, if you already know that you will be using the Neo on the go most of the time, I would consider perhaps opting for the Air. Not because of the battery life. That's only slightly better, but mainly because the Air charges twice as fast. So, to summarize the points so far, before we get to the last one, one must say that the Neo performs really well in almost all categories, with the two small criticisms regarding the screen bezels and charging time. So let's move on to the final category, software, and I actually find that the most exciting, because even though only a smartphone chip is installed here, Apple decided to use full macOS on the Neo. Theoretically, they could have just as well used iPad or a stripped-down version, but they chose macOS, and sure, that has its disadvantages, but if you look at Windows right now, then for most people, it's probably the better option. macOS runs significantly more reliably and is also much tidier than Windows. However, I don't want to go into all the pros and cons now. We've already covered those in this video here. There were really some points that really surprised me. So you can continue watching directly there. And one more important announcement, the Discord server is now finally available for everyone. So definitely join it. If you want the wallpaper from the video, I've also linked it in the video description.