7 features the Mac Book Neo is missing — from display downgrades to connectivity caveats | Tech Radar

Overview

7 features the Mac Book Neo is missing — from display downgrades to connectivity caveats

Well, Apple had to cut a few corners to hit that $599 price

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The Mac Book Neo is here, with the laptop having just been revealed at Apple's big March event. Yes, the budget laptop exists, and just as rumored, the Neo is built around an i Phone chip (the A18 Pro).

The Neo has a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, along with some smartly striking color schemes. It also comes with a surprisingly low price tag that, on first glance, offers incredible value. But what doesn't the Mac Book Neo have?

To get that price down, Apple has obviously had to make some compromises, and to that end, here's a roundup of notable omissions with the Mac Book Neo.

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You get a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with the Mac Book Neo (packing a resolution of 2,408 x 1,506), plus an anti-reflective coating.

What you don't get, though, is the Display P3 color gamut found on other contemporary Mac Book screens, which provides more vibrant colors (reds and greens). Similarly, the Neo doesn't have a True Tone display, a feature that allows the laptop to adjust the screen intelligently based on ambient lighting levels.

It's not really surprising to see that some corners have been cut with the screen, though, given that

There's another change for the screen in terms of Apple not cutting out a small notch in the top of the display to house the camera. Instead, the 1080p Face Time webcam is embedded in the top bezel – but that means the Mac Book Neo has thicker bezels as a result.

And okay, that does give the Neo a slightly dated look – but this isn't supposed to be a device with a premium appearance, it's a budget laptop. I think it's a fair enough compromise, and indeed some people are even glad to see that there's no notch with the Mac Book Neo.

Apple has provided a Magic Keyboard with the Mac Book Neo, but a less magical touch is that the keyboard deck isn't backlit.

With the primary target audience being students wanting an affordable notebook for school or college – who are likely to be using the laptop in the evenings, or at night – lacking a backlight for key visibility could be an irritating drawback.

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That said, this won't bother everyone by any means, and it's obviously a situational disadvantage.

Apple's N1 chip arrived late last year with the i Phone, and it was revealed as part of the new Mac Book Air M5 yesterday. Sadly, the wireless chip – which provides Wi-Fi 7 – isn't an ingredient in the recipe of components for this new affordable laptop, and you'll be left with Wi-Fi 6E if you buy a Mac Book Neo. Still, that isn't the end of the world, especially not with an affordable device, and the Neo does have Bluetooth 6.

While you get a 1080p Face Time camera with the Mac Book Neo, it doesn't benefit from Apple's Center Stage feature.

This is functionality that uses AI to keep you in the shot, panning or zooming to match your movement (if you move about, of course). It's a neat touch and one present on many modern Apple devices (i Pads included). But again, losing this is all part of the cost-cutting measures for Neo in terms of a cheaper camera solution.

You don't get Mag Safe charging with the Mac Book Neo – it's USB charging only (there are two USB-C ports, and a headphone jack, and that's it for connectors).

If you're in the European Union or the UK, unfortunately there's another missing piece of the puzzle with the Mac Book Neo: you won't get a charger included. This is a situation that'll probably be familiar to you by now if you live in Europe, brought about by regulations in the EU to cut down on e-waste. (Note that the EU isn't directly preventing the inclusion of chargers – it's a more complex matter than that).

With no charger supplied in the box with a new Mac Book Neo, you'll either have to buy a charger unit separately, or use an existing solution. The good news is that it should work fine with a standard (fast) phone charger – as the laptop is built around that i Phone chip – so you should simply be able to use the same one that charges your smartphone. Phew.

To be clear, in the US (or elsewhere outside of Europe), you get a 20W USB-C Power Adapter with the Neo (plus a USB-C cable – and you do get the cable in Europe).

If you thought the Mac Book Neo had a pair of USB 3 ports, sadly it doesn't – one of them is USB 3, but the other is USB 2 and therefore missing out on some key functionality.

This secondary USB port is a lot more sluggish, with around 20x slower data transfers, in fact, and it also can't be used to pipe out a (Display Port) monitor signal. In other words, you must use the USB 3 port to hook up an external display – and it doesn't seem like the ports are labelled, either.

This is a somewhat awkward nuance for the Mac Book's wired connectivity, then, as if you have a monitor attached to the Neo, and you want to use a USB thumb drive, you'll be forced into having the latter in the slowcoach port.

While I've mentioned that some of the above corners which have been cut by Apple are understandable in a budget-oriented laptop like the Neo, this particular decision around ports is a bit of a mystifying one.

➡️ Read our full guide to the best laptops

1. Best overall: Apple Mac Book Air 13-inch M4
2. Best budget: Asus Chromebook CM14
3. Best Windows 11 laptop Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch
4. Best gaming: Razer Blade 16
5. Best for pros Mac Book Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro)

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for Tech Radar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

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Key Takeaways

• 7 features the Mac Book Neo is missing — from display downgrades to connectivity caveats

• Well, Apple had to cut a few corners to hit that $599 price

• When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission

• The Mac Book Neo is here, with the laptop having just been revealed at Apple's big March event

• The Neo has a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, along with some smartly striking color schemes