MacBook Neo Vs iPad

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Are you trying to decide whether to buy a MacBook Neo or an iPad? Let's compare them both.

So Apple's new low cost MacBook Neo has a lot of people trying to figure out whether they should be getting a MacBook Neo or an iPad. There's a lot of overlap in the capabilities and the prices for these two products. But it is very hard to actually compare the two because in some ways they're very different and in other ways they are very similar. Plus there are many different ways to configure them, particularly the iPad. 

If we look at the MacBook Neo, for instance, there are really only two configurations, if you don't think about color. There's just the lower price model at 256 GB for storage for $599 and the one that doubles that storage and has Touch ID for $699. That's it. There are only those two options. If you want something more you have to go to the MacBook Air and the prices jump above $1000. 

The iPad, on the other hand, has a ton of different configurations. You can start on the very low end with the standard iPad and only 128 GB of storage. That only costs $349. Clearly a much lower cost than the MacBook Neo. But you're getting much less as well. You're getting half the storage of the base MacBook Neo. You're getting a much smaller 11" screen and you're not getting any keyboard or trackpad with that. As soon as you start to add things to make it more like the MacBook Neo it becomes pretty expensive. For instance at just 256 GB if you add the keyboard and trackpad that Apple sells plus the Pencil, which is maybe the reason you want to consider an iPad, over the MacBook Neo the price jumps to more expensive than the most expensive MacBook Neo. Other configurations bring it up even more. For instance even just that base iPad at 512 GB with the Cellular option, another advantage over the Neo, plus the keyboard, plus the pencil is well above $1000. 

You can still stay under the price of the MacBook Neo if you get the iPad Mini. But at meager storage and that's an even smaller screen. If you look at the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro you've got various different price points. If you go to the 13" size screen to match the Neo and you get a decent amount of storage to match the Neo as well, it's more expensive than the Neo. Add a keyboard, add a pencil and the price. goes up and up. 

So let's compare the two when it comes to weight, because both are pretty light weight. If you're considering an iPad that may be a big factor. Now the MacBook Neo is 2.7 lbs or 1.23 kg. With the iPad you can go much lower than that. A standard iPad is just about a pound and the iPad Mini is less than a pound. Most of the models stick to just above one pound. But that is without the keyboard and trackpad. So, just the tablet. If you're going to add the keyboard and trackpad the total weight for both the iPad and the keyboard goes to something above 2 pounds and gets pretty close to what a MacBook Neo weighs. It is a similar story for size. The MacBook Neo is just under 12" wide by 8" deep and the height, or thickness, is ½ inch. iPads can be smaller than that. The iPad Mini is much smaller of course. But the 11" iPads, whether it is the standard, the Air, or the Pro is definitely smaller than a MacBook Neo. The 13" is about the same size. Now the thickness of the iPad is always going to be half of that of the MacBook Neo. But that's because it doesn't include the keyboard and trackpad. Once you add that you're going with a 13" iPad, the size and the weight become very similar. 

Now let's compare the hardware that you actually get with both of these. Of course with the MacBook Neo the keyboard and trackpad are built in. They are always there and they are included in the price. For the iPad the Magic Keyboard that includes a Trackpad or there's a folio keyboard as well that includes a trackpad, those are additional hardware and there are different prices depending upon which model of iPad you're looking at. 

Now the screen size of the MacBook Neo is just one screen size. 13 inch. You can get a 13 inch iPad as well to match that. But you can also get an iPad that's smaller, 11" and that's goo and bad. Good for weight and size but bad if you want to see a lot or multitask. You can also, of course, go with the iPad Mini and get something even smaller. A huge difference though with the screen is that the MacBook screen is not a Touchscreen, no Macs have touchscreens. But the iPad screen, of course, is a Touchscreen and that's actually the only way to interact with it unless you get the keyboard and trackpad. Also, you can get an Apple Pencil with the iPad and you can use that, of course, for drawing, note taking, things like that. No such option is available for the MacBook Neo. 

So when it comes to hardware you actually have more capabilities with the iPad although most of those capabilities are additional hardware that you have to buy.

Now perhaps the biggest difference and the clear divider between the MacBook Neo and the iPad is that the MacBook Neo is a Mac. It runs macOS, and Mac software. the iPad, that runs iPadOS and it runs iPad software that you can only get from The App Store. So there's a clear division between the MacBook Neo which is an actual computer with a computer operating system that runs computer software. The iPad which is a mobile device that runs mobile or tablet software and runs mobile or tablet apps. 

Now you actually can run some iPad apps on the MacBook Neo. As a matter of fact technically you can run all iPad apps. But it is up to the developer of the app to allow that. A lot don't sometimes because they haven't developed an interface that works without a touchscreen, some because of licensing or legal issues, and other just decided not to support the Mac so they unchecked that box. But a lot of iPad apps will work on the MacBook Neo. 

The same for iPhone apps. Most iPhone apps will just work on the iPad. Either there's an iPad mode where it works with a larger screen or you're actually seeing an iPhone app on your iPad screens exactly the same app you're just looking at it on a larger screen. Now you can also use iPhone apps on any Mac as long as the developer okays it, which a lot of times is not the case. However, since the MacBook Neo is running macOS, a feature of macOS is iPhone Mirroring. So you can mirror your iPhone screen on your MacBook Neo allowing you to control your iPhone and see what's on your iPhone on your Mac's screen. A really useful feature of macOS that isn't available on iPad OS. 

Beyond that there are just a lot of apps that are only available for a computer operating system. In particular developer apps, for instance. A lot of development apps and some creative apps are only available for macOS and not for iPad OS. Sometimes you have a stripped down or lesser version for the iPad. So if there are apps you need to use in particular and you're thinking about getting an iPad, make sure that those apps will work on the iPad. Don't assume because there's a Mac version that there's an iPad version, because often that isn't the case. 

Oh, and another major difference here when it comes to software is The App Store. For the iPad you can only get apps through The App Store and Apple's got rules about what apps can be available in The App Store. The Mac has an App Store as well with those same rules but you can download apps from other places directly from the developer in a lot of cases which a lot of developer apps, and creative apps will do. They prefer to deploy their own apps. This lets them update their apps more frequently or provide, like, system extensions and tools that aren't allowed according to The App Store rules. It's a very different software ecosystem to be on a computer operating system like macOS versus a walled garden app store system like iPad OS.

 So let's breakdown the advantages of having an iPad. You've got, of course, the Touchscreen. You can add an Apple Pencil and do drawing on it. You can separate the iPad from its keyboard, meaning that you can just use it as a tablet only. Which you may want to do for a lot of situations like reading or watching videos or even just doing things with the Apple Pencil when you really don't need the keyboard. Most configurations of the iPad will either be slightly lighter and smaller than a MacBook Neo. But some configurations, like just using the tablet by itself, are considerably smaller and lighter. Also a lot of casual games and social media apps are only available on the iPhone and iPad. They don't have computer or desktop versions for Windows or Mac. So consider that there are some apps that you can run only on the iPad or iPhone and not on a Mac. So the iPad is a clear winner if you only use it for certain things. Like, for instance, reading. You clearly want to read on a tablet and not a laptop. Watching video there's really no point to having the entirety of the computer with the keyboard always attached for just watching video. Of course you've got the Apple Pencil for drawing and also note taking. A lot of people like to use it for note taking with the Touchscreen. If you don't need a keyboard for note taking then you've got an advantage with the iPad there and for any apps that may only just run in a table or mobile environment. 

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Let's look at the advantages of the MacBook Neo. The main one is that it is a real computer operating system. You're running the same macOS that every other Mac is running. So you have windows all over the place. You can work with your files as you might expect on a computer whereas it is much more limited on an iPad. You can get Developer and a lot more creative apps. For instance, if you need to use the Terminal or anything that runs in the Terminal, you're going to want a Mac. If you're using a creative app that doesn't have an iPad version, like Blender or something like that, there are tons of apps out there that you can get for the Mac that just are not available for the iPad. Also, multitasking is still much better even though the iPad has made some really good strides recently, multitasking if you're using like seven or eight different windows at once and quickly switching between them and all of that, then you clearly need macOS, not iPad OS. Then also if you want full laptop experience pricing an iPad with the extra hardware is going to cost more. So the MacBook Neo wins on price if you want all those extras. 

So, the MacBook Neo is the winner if you have to use a wide range of developer or creative apps. If you want traditional file management and multitasking. If you just want a no compromised laptop, it's a laptop, it's not a tablet that you're trying to use like a laptop, then the Neo is the winner. If you're currently using a macOS and are thinking that an iPad might be an interesting mobile device for you, you're probably going to run into a lot of frustration and a big learning curve to try to do things will iPad OS that you're used to doing on the Mac. I do want to point out that in a lot of situations neither device is going to be perfect. For instance, if you need a device to read books, then an iPad wins. But if you also want full computer apps, well you just can't really get both of those with one device. If you want to play a lot of casual games that are only available on the iPhone and iPad but you want the full laptop experience, you're not going to be able to do it with one device. Small and light, like an iPad Mini for instance, but you also want a larger screen for more complex tasks, you're going to need either two different size iPads or a MacBook and an iPad. If you want pencil drawing and developer tools, just like using the Terminal, something simple like that, again you're not going to get that really in one device. That's going to make it hard for a lot of people to decide if they need a lot of the capabilities of both devices but can only get one of the two devices. You're going to have to decide which things you can do without. In the end only you can really decide which one that you want. I encourage you to try both out. Get into an Apple Store or another store that has both on display that you can play around with them. Sometimes the choice becomes obvious once you actually try each of the devices. Let me know in the comments below if you think there are other important factors when trying to decide between a MacBook Neo and an iPad. Thanks for watching.