MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air: Which One Should You Buy?

Five 100 bucks. That's the terms quality betwixt the MacBook Neo and the MacBook Air. Having spent a batch of clip investigating and utilizing some laptops successful the MacBook lineup, I tin accidental that there's a wide demographic for some of these devices.

As a longtime laptop tester, my extremity present is twofold. I privation to marque definite that you bargain the close MacBook, and I besides privation to marque definite you don't overpay oregon underbuy. Deciding isn't really arsenic hard arsenic you mightiness think. Don't deliberation you privation a MacBook aft all? Don't hide to cheque retired our guides to the Best Windows Laptops, the Best Chromebooks, oregon the Best Linux Laptops.

The Easy Way to Decide

There's 1 casual question to reply if you're stuck betwixt the Neo and the Air. Is this for a occupation that you volition usage full-time? Because if you're sitting successful beforehand of this laptop for 8 hours a day, don't fuss considering the MacBook Neo. You'll apt beryllium tempted by the price, but it's compromises are conscionable excessively many. Trust me.

On the different hand, if you answered “No” to that question, you tin apt prevention immoderate currency by buying the MacBook Neo without being bothered by immoderate of its deficiencies. For example, a batch of radical person a enactment PC oregon laptop astatine the office, but past request thing for weeknights, weekends, oregon to question with. It besides works perfectly for a student, whether successful precocious schoolhouse oregon college.

I cognize that's an oversimplified mode of reasoning astir it, but it's a bully spot to start.

Design, Size, and Aesthetics

There's a tiny quality successful size, but it isn't arsenic important arsenic you mightiness assume. The MacBook Neo's surface is 13 inches, measured diagonally, which is implicit fractional an inch smaller than the 13.6-inch MacBook Air. As idiosyncratic who often works connected a MacBook Air, I recovered it beauteous casual to power to the somewhat smaller Neo. You tin besides upgrade to the 15-inch MacBook Air, which gives you a importantly bigger canvas to enactment on. But that besides costs an other $200. In presumption of portability, the MacBook Air is 0.44 inches versus the 0.50 inches of the Neo. Again, not a immense difference—especially since they're identical successful weight.

The MacBook Neo does depart from the MacBook look successful presumption of plan successful a fewer cardinal ways. It's a spot much playful than different MacBooks, utilizing rounder edges, achromatic keycaps, and immoderate much brighter colour options. They're obscurity adjacent arsenic daring arsenic the iMac colors, but you get to take betwixt Silver, Blush, Citrus, and Indigo. Silver and Blush are much subtle, portion Citrus and Indigo are the bolder options. My favourite facet of the MacBook Neo is the deficiency of a notch, though. Don't get maine wrong: I privation bladed bezels connected my laptop similar everyone else, but I've ever recovered the notch to beryllium an disfigured solution.