New Macbook Neo

[2ilent8cho]

Looks like they will be around £413.64 without VAT going by KRCS pricing , which is a decent price.  https://cdn.krcs.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/PDFs/KRCS_Schools_Price_List_10thMar_2026.pdf

Edited March 11 by 2ilent8cho

[Roberto]

A few reviews seem to out and aligning along the lines of "not for power users but better than you'd think, considering".

 

I could be tempted personally if I needed a laptop to just take with me for typing stuff up, but equally I have an ipad with a keyboard case and I suspect the use case for me is actually fairly narrow. Low power consumption, not fast charging per se but I think MKBHD's review said it charges in an hour anyway.

Edited March 11 by Roberto

[DrCheese]

£413 is crazy. If only they were managable in a shared enivroment (or could put ChromeOS on them :P) - That said, I could see them being pretty dented fairly quickly.

 

If these get moved up to the A19 Pro next year, they'll come with 12gb of RAM.

 

[Roberto]

1 minute ago, DrCheese said:

If only they were managable in a shared enivroment 

Do they not work with a MDM?

[2ilent8cho]

4 minutes ago, DrCheese said:

£413 is crazy. If only they were managable in a shared enivroment (or could put ChromeOS on them :P) - That said, I could see them being pretty dented fairly quickly.

 

If these get moved up to the A19 Pro next year, they'll come with 12gb of RAM.

 

 

macOS can, our 140 iMacs in the IT rooms all login directly to Office 365 at the login screen using Platform SSO. Students are then auto logged into Office 365 and OneDrive (though they have to do 2 clicks on the OneDrive screen). 

 

Actually getting under £400 price on a tender for these which surprised me. 

[robintech]

Could make a nice bundle with the Neo and 17e at £599  you're then then fully in the apple ecosystem. Pity they can't link up to each other for offloading tasks like rendering or something, the 17e being more powerful I think.

[synaesthesia]

11 minutes ago, robintech said:

Could make a nice bundle with the Neo and 17e at £599  you're then then fully in the apple ecosystem. Pity they can't link up to each other for offloading tasks like rendering or something, the 17e being more powerful I think.

 

And there you go - ecosystem bought into, and a forced obligation to stay that way as changing when things don't go your way can be even more time consuming and expensive.

[DrCheese]

Aye sorry, I know you can add them to MDM and use Platform SSO (It's what I have on my MBP)

It's more the issues with storage space & things like Smoothwall IDEX not being ideal (Not working on PSSO devices at all (?))

 

Right now the only way to auth these easily on S/W would be via putting Google Chrome & the S/W extension on, then zapping any non chrome browser. (Unless there's another way?)

 

 

Edited March 11 by DrCheese

[dhicks]

1 hour ago, DrCheese said:

Unless there's another way?

 

As discussed (at some length) over in this thread:

I've written a client that can run on Windows and MacOS (and Linux) to inform the Smoothwall server of the machine's current username / IP address. It can report to the Smoothwall server using RADIUS or (as we found that didn't work for some reason) Smoothwall's own iDex. We have this running on our MacOS machines using the Moysle MDM set to run in a startup script where the Moysle environment provides the username to the client, which then informs the Smoothwall server. Should work for all browsers (indeed, all traffic from a device), although we've only tested with Chrome as that is what we have set up.

[2ilent8cho]

 looks like its very easy to repair, even has a battery that is screwed not glued in. 

[psydii]

So.. £39 for display or external enclosure damage repair. very reasonable assuming that also covers the keyboard. **But** your need AppleCare+ to get that pricing which adds £124  to the price, so actually £623.00 for students.

 

..and assuming institutional pricing is going to be just that, but less VAT, gives a unit cost £519, and a repair cost of less than many other tier 1 OEMs.

[psydii]

This gives me hope that keyboard repair/replacement might not need applecare+ MacBook Neo Exploded View and Orderable Parts - Apple Support

[2ilent8cho]

I'm sure the parts will be on here https://selfservicerepair.eu/en-GB/home in a few weeks like other MacBooks have a few weeks after launch, I'm eager to see what price they charge for parts on it for the Neo. 

[synaesthesia]

*twitches nervously*

That actually looks...... decent?

Leopard and it's spots though, the cynic in me is still shouting loss-leader or the free shot of hero in to get you hooked.

Or maybe Satan is starting to shiver and something is actually changing for the better.

Watching intently. 

[TheHyperTechie]

Great price at ~£413 in my opinion. I think schools will definitely be looking into these instead of opting for the Windows/Intune route (I would be, if ours weren't externally managed).

[dhicks]

On 04/03/2026 at 22:32, dhicks said:

I've ordered one for pickup at the Apple store next Wednesday.

 

I spent yesterday getting it home and set up. I use MacOS fairly regularly at work but generally on desktop machines, I don't much like trackpads. I'm not sure if this trackpad is average, but I found it quite fiddly to use, and somewhat variable as to how it registered clicks. The problem is probably mostly me not being used to a trackpad. I've also not used the keyboard for any real amount of typing yet, either, but it does seem solid enough.

 

We've ordered a (USB C) wired mouse, an AV adaptor so we can connect HDMI, USB and power when using with a large screen, a power supply and a sleeve - none of those come with the basic device, so factor in maybe another £50 depending on how you (or your staff / pupils) will be using it. The AV adaptor, in particular, I'm interested to see if the cheaper (£12), non-Apple version we've bought works okay compared to the Apple version (£70!).

[dmj]

1 hour ago, dhicks said:

The AV adaptor, in particular, I'm interested to see if the cheaper (£12), non-Apple version we've bought works okay compared to the Apple version (£70!).

This is my bugbear on my MBP - the screen switching and desktop management on Linux is so much better, esp on older monitors. I need HDMI and USB-C for my dual monitor setup and even then I have to go through a ritual every morning of plugging things in the right order. Plus all the popups drives me crazy !

[DalekSec]

Apply have released the repair guides: https://support.apple.com/en-us/126520

 

Main takeaways 

 

Easy to repair, no glue just screws

Keyboard is replaceable, dont have to replace top of the shell

 

Hopefully they learn from this and move it to the Pro lineup! 

[3s-gtech]

Separate replaceable USB-C ports? Engineers have finally used their brains - having them on the mainboard is utter madness.

[dmj]

38 minutes ago, 3s-gtech said:

Separate replaceable USB-C ports? Engineers have finally used their brains - having them on the mainboard is utter madness.

Planned obsolescence in most cases. 

[Synkrox]

1 hour ago, 3s-gtech said:

Separate replaceable USB-C ports? Engineers have finally used their brains - having them on the mainboard is utter madness.

 

Same on some new Lenovo models they were showing off at BETT.

 

Not a moment too soon either!

 

[2ilent8cho]

1 hour ago, 3s-gtech said:

Separate replaceable USB-C ports? Engineers have finally used their brains - having them on the mainboard is utter madness.

 

The MacBooks have been like that for years, we've swapped them a few times on our M1 MacBook Pros.

[3s-gtech]

1 minute ago, 2ilent8cho said:

 

The MacBooks have been like that for years, we've swapped them a few times on our M1 MacBook Pros.

Only bought Mac Minis and one Air recently, not opened any of them. Pleased that they did that.

[Arthur]

 

[dhicks]

On 12/03/2026 at 10:15, dhicks said:

The AV adaptor, in particular, I'm interested to see if the cheaper (£12), non-Apple version we've bought works okay compared to the Apple version (£70!).

 

I've got the Macbook plugged into our large screen. MacOS seems be recognizing it's in "clamshall mode" properly with HDMI, USB keyboard / mouse connection and power all connected through the AV connector, so when I close the Macbook's lid with all that connected it stays on and displays on the big screen - nice. The headphone connection also seems to work just fine, too. About the only thing I'm having issues with is my genuine antique 40-year-old IBM Model M keyboard, which MacOS is having trouble regonising beyond "generic keyboard". It seems that something is getting lost between the keyboard itself and the PS/2-to-USB-to-KVM-to-AV connection.