The MacBook Neo's a winner

The MacBook Neo is out, and the reaction has been rapturous. David Pierce and Nilay Patel both bought one for themselves, justifying the purchase as research for the podcast. Patel’s wife was unenthusiastic when he showed her the new computer. Pierce ran into a fan at the Apple Store who was very excited to talk about the Neo. The computer costs $599, or $699 with Touch ID and 512GB of storage. Patel bought the more expensive model. The Apple Store employee assumed he would.

A different idea about a computer

The Neo is not a cheaper, worse MacBook. It is a different idea about a computer. Apple’s marketing is playful in a way it hasn’t been in years — colorful, cheap, not taking itself seriously. The device runs an iPhone chip (the A18) with 8GB of RAM. A teardown reveals it is essentially an iPhone with a giant battery and a keyboard. The motherboard is tiny. The device feels dense and solid because there is almost nothing inside it except battery.

The key insight is that the Neo is the perfect companion for people whose primary computer is their phone. For most people in the world, that is the case. The Neo provides a more capable web browser, a good keyboard and trackpad, and a fine display. It is the exit ramp for everything that hits a wall on a mobile device. This is a paradigm that has not truly existed before.

The iPad problem