Was I Wrong About the Macbook Neo?

Everyone agrees that Apple destroyed the

$600 laptop market with their new

MacBook Neo. But is everyone right? To

answer that question, we bought not one,

not two, but three other laptops around

the same price. Because let's be real

here, guys, Apple has clearly done a lot

right. Like the build quality, display,

keyboard, trackpad.

You guys are in for a rough ride here.

But I mean, hey, there's some

consolation. Y'all all got more than 8

gigs of RAM, don't you? And come on, it

couldn't be that hard to outsprint a

last gen mobile processor, could it? I

mean, I bet you guys could even do a

better segue to our sponsor Dbrand, who

scribbled all over my MacBook Neo. What

is up with that? Okay, not literally.

Their Sketch 2D skins just launched for

a wide range of MacBooks alongside major

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devices like the Switch 2. Check them

out over at shortlinus.com.

Let's kick this off with a short

introduction to each of our non-Apple

contenders. At 599 on the dot, we've got

the Lenovo Ideopad Flex 5i Chromebook,

which okay, yes, I know it's a

Chromebook. Uh, but given the way that

the MacBook Neo is so clearly targeting

educational users, we felt that it was

appropriate for those to be represented.

Next up, we have the Acer Aspire laptop

that goes for $689,

but we got on promo for $599 and has

since dropped as low as $479. It's uh

not really special, but in a way that's

exactly why we picked it. And before you

get upy about the sale price, we didn't

feel that this was a disqualifier

because unlike Apple, PC manufacturers

tend to treat MSRP as more of a hopeful

price and they'll use excuses as flimsy

as Valentine's Day to discount their

machines. A fact that is maybe even

better illustrated by our final

contender, the Dell 16. Its retail price

has actually risen from $750 to over 900

due to the Ram aocalypse. But in spite

of that, we were still able to pick this

thing up on sale for $5.99.

Now, let's see how they all stack up

against the one as we go through each

category. The idea here is we're going

to give a gold star to our standout

winner and a silver star to one that we

think merits an honorable mention. Then

at the end, we're going to see who's got

the most stars. Starting with

aesthetics, construction, and materials,

with one of the big ones for me for

usability being a one-finger hinge.

Apple absolutely nailed this. You can

deploy your MacBook Neo just like that.

How about the idea pad?

I mean, there are cool things about its

hinge, but that was not one of them. As

far as overall construction, that's got

to be another big L. Get it? It's an L.

and aesthetics. There's nothing to

dislike about it, but also nothing that

I would say particularly blows my socks

off. Moving on to the Acer Aspire

Premium, it seems like Acer didn't get

the memo because right on it, it says

Aspire Light, even though they advertise

it as premium on some of their online

listings. To its credit, even though

this is the largest display we've seen

yet at 15.6 in, its flex isn't any worse

than the Lenovo. And I always love to

see a 180° hinge. But overall, the build

quality is nothing to write home about.

And this one piece of metal here does

not make up for the fact that every

touch surface on this device is instead

made of plastic. Maybe Dell is going to

fare better here.

Nope. We're barely into this. And

already I'm noticing multiple things

that other publications who have talked

about the MacBook Neo versus $600 PCs

just can't capture when they're

comparing on paper specs alone. To

Dell's credit, the overall build quality

of this is clearly superior to the other

PCs thanks to its metal top and bottom.

But this also is not a unibody design,

injection molded or not, and it doesn't

have the same rigidity as the Neo. I

begrudgingly give a silver star to the

Dell and absolutely gold star to the

Neo. I mean, just it just feels so good

to touch. Every surface of it feels

premium and quality like what you would

expect from actually nothing like what

you would expect from when you're

spending just $600. Moving on to

keyboard and trackpad. I've actually got

to say I can already feel some aspects

of the Windows tax on the Windows

machine that are not reflected on the 5i

Chromebook. This is just a better

keyboard than what I'm about to touch.

There's a little bit of deck flex up

near the top. There's a lot of deck

flex, but nothing that's going to be a

gamebreaker for day-to-day usability.

And the trackpad is fine. My camera up

behind me asked if I could turn the

brightness on the screen up, which I can

do, but what I can't do is make it not

look like dog water. We'll get to that

in a minute. First, the keyboard. This

is a spongy piece of junk. It's not so

bad that you won't be able to type on

it, but I can pretty much promise you

that it won't appeal to just about

anyone's taste. While there isn't

actually any more deck flex than I just

saw, what stands out about it is that

it's more easily activated. So you feel

not just the travel of the key, but also

the sponginess of the deck surface. And

the trackpad is fine for a plastic

trackpad. Fair bit of friction actually.

As for the Dell being in theoretically a

completely different class of product at

quote unquote $900, it also has a pretty

decent keyboard. However, I've got to

take points away from the interface

just for how loose and cheap and rattly

the chassis feels whenever you're using

the touchpad.

Can you hear that? Yikes.

There's your comparison. So, with that

in mind, MacBook Neo Gold Star, IdeaPad

Flex gets the silver. If though you were

hoping that Apple would just sweep the

awards, IO is going to be an

uncomfortable conversation. The Flex 8i

Chromebook has a type-C on the right,

volume rocker, a type-C on the left, a

USB type A, a micro SD reader, and

that's all to go along with its 3 and

1/2 mm jack, and the webcam is nothing

to write home about. That's unfortunate.

Over here, we've got two types, micro

SD. Is that a SIM slot? Wow, it is. Too

bad it's a big fat lie of a SIM slot.

But the gigabit Ethernet port is not a

lie, and neither is the HDMI port,

additional type A and type-C port over

on the other side. I'm not excited to

see a DC barrel jack for charging. I'm

also not excited to see the quality of

this webcam. Yikes.

Would it be better without the light

behind me?

No. No, it isn't. Do I look that old?

Fortunately for PC fans, the Dell 16

manages a much better showing on the

webcam side of things, even if the IO is

not as much better as I might have

liked. We do get a full-size SD card

reader. Do love that. USB type A,

another A, a C, and an HDMI, but the

barrel jack makes a return. Can it at

least charge over USB type-C? I want to

check that. Great way to be sure that

any issues are not the cable is to use

an LT Truepec cable. And that look at

that. Charging supported. I don't mind a

barrel input as long as I don't have to

use it. As for the MacBook Neo,

unfortunately, I forgot to record

anything on set. So, here I am a few

days later. It's obviously better.

Meanwhile, the MacBook Neo is a big fat

for IO with a 3 and 12 mm jack. Okay,

love to see it. And the two USBC ports

have cute little color matched inards,

but only one of them supports USB 3

thanks to Apple's use of an iPhone SOC

to power this thing. So with that in

mind, I got to give my gold star to the

Acer and my silver has got to go to the

Dell thanks to its inclusion of an HDMI

port. Moving on, we've got the element