Don’t Buy the New MacBook Neo When the 15-Inch Air Is This Cheap

2 min read

Yeah, the MacBook Neo is only $599, but that budget-friendly price comes with trade-offs—especially if you’re doing anything beyond basic web browsing. For starters, you’re stuck with 8GB of RAM, which chokes fast if you’ve got a flood of Chrome tabs open alongside other memory-demanding apps.

That’s where it starts making sense to level up to the MacBook Air, especially when the 15-inch model with the M4 chip is at a record-low price of $949 on Amazon ahead of Bezos’s Big Spring Sale.

For $350 more than the Neo, you’re getting 16GB of RAM instead of 8GB, a much roomier 15-inch display (goodbye cramped 13-inch screen), and a chip actually built for laptops. The MacBook Neo leans on an iPhone chip, which works for casual use, but it’s not the move if you tend to push your system hard.

As a tech expert, I’ve tested both the 15-inch MacBook Air with the M4 chip and the MacBook Neo. One thing I miss the most from the Air while using the Neo is the keyboard. The Air delivers crisp, tactile feedback with a snappy rebound that keeps typing fast and precise. By comparison, the Neo feels softer and slightly mushy, lacking that same responsiveness, which isn’t surprising given its sub-$600 pricing.

The 15-inch MacBook Air isn’t the only Apple laptop on sale. The 13-inch MacBook Air with the M4 chip is also discounted for $899 (though that’s not its lowest price ever, for the record).

I love it for frequent travelers and anyone constantly on the move, but the cramped layout isn’t the most comfortable for long stretches at your desk. That’s where the 15-inch MacBook Air pulls ahead.

Now, if you’re a professional content creator with RAM-heavy and high-processing needs— perhaps you’re a video or photo editor—skip both the Neo and Air, and get yourself the MacBook Pro with the M5 chip. It’s $200 off on Amazon.

It’s only a matter of time before the prices on these bad boys spring back up (no pun intended), so don’t wait—especially if you’ve been eyeing the 15-inch Air.

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