Which MacBook Should You Buy: Neo, Air or Pro?

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. If you're looking to buy a new MacBook let me help you decide which of the three MacBook models you should choose. 

Now when you consider all of the different options that are available, there are a ton of different MacBook models to choose from. But they're broken down into three named models. The MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, and the MacBook Pro. Let's take a look at each one of these, see its advantages and drawbacks, and then compare them to help you decide which of the three is right for you. 

Let's start with the MacBook Neo. The main advantage of the MacBook Neo is its low price. Everything else comes from that, although there are two advantages to it that are there despite the low price. One is that it is very lightweight. You're not paying less here and then getting a heavier laptop because they're not using lightweight parts. It's just as light as the MacBook Air. Also, it comes in these colors that only are available for the Neo. Another advantage I need to point out, and it won't be for the last time in this video, is that the MacBook Neo is a full Mac. A lot of people mistake the MacBook Neo for something like a chrome book. Something that's not a true Mac but that's not true at all. It runs macOS, just like the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro, and runs all of the same software. It's just as much a Mac as any other Mac. 

Now the low price has some drawbacks. There are limited options. Only two if you don't include the colors. There is just the 256 GB storage size and the 512 GB, both which are pretty small in terms in storage. So, if you need to store a lot of files, like you've got a lot of media, you're working with videos, that kind of thing, then that rules the Neo out right there. In addition, keep in mind the processor in the MacBook Neo is not the same as the processors in other Macs. It is, in fact, an older iPhone processor. The processors in the iPhone are so powerful that Apple was able to get them to run full macOS. Doing so meant they could produce a Mac at a lower cost and it also takes up less energy so it can do with a smaller battery. So all that contributes to making it a cheaper MacBook but you are dealing with less power than the others. You also have very limited memory. It is only 8 GB. Both options have 8 GB of memory. So, memory intensive tasks, that's not for the MacBook Neo. Also, the ports, there's just these two USB ports. They are not even thunderbolt ports. One of them is only USB2. So if you need to connect a lot of peripherals and have a lot of speed there transferring files to and from drives and other devices, then the MacBook Neo doesn't handle that. Also it doesn't have a MagSafe connector for power. So when you plug in power you're plugging in a real USB connector, which means if somebody trips over the cable it's going to take the MacBook off the table. Whereas with MagSafe it avoids that. 

The screen is also the most basic screen for all the MacBooks and there's no keyboard backlight on the MacBook Air. There are other disadvantages as well. For instance there is a cheaper mechanical trackpad. But in general these are the main disadvantages. Now let's go to the MacBook Air. 

The MacBook Air is a full Mac processor. So you're getting the same processor you would get, say, in an iMac or a Mac Mini here. It's also lightweight. Just as light as the MacBook Neo. It's got bigger batteries. It's got better battery life. There's no fan in it, which is also true with the MacBook Neo, and I'll talk a little bit later about what the advantage of having no fan is. But a big advantage to a MacBook Air is that it comes in two screens sizes. So if you get the 13 inch MacBook Air, that's not really much of an advantage over the Neo. But, the 15 inch MacBook Air, that's a considerably larger screen. If you need screen space then the 15 inch MacBook Air is a considerable upgrade from a Neo. Also a MacBook Air has a ton of different memory and storage options. It has plenty of disadvantages when compared with the MacBook Pro, like it has limited ports. It just has the two USB ports but they are thunderbolt ports. Also has a screen that is only a little bit better than the MacBook Neo. Of course one screen is at least larger. 

One thing to note here is I often hear people lament that the MacBook Neo doesn't have more options. You can't get more memory for it or you can't get more storage for it. If you want a MacBook Neo with those options, then simply go to the MacBook Air. The Neo is meant to only be that lowest end. 

So, finally, we've got the MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro has some big advantages over the rest. It's got the most powerful processor. You can go all the way up to the max, like the M5 Max processor. It's got the biggest battery so it is going to need that because you might be doing more processor intensive tasks. It's got a fan built-in which can be an advantage. I know I said not having a fan is an advantage and we'll talk about that in a bit. Probably the biggest advantage to the MacBook Pro, the one that is not talked about often enough, is the screen. The screen is brighter. It's got more details. A wider range of colors. It's far superior to the screens on the MacBook Neo and MacBook Air. This is important if you work with photos or video. Somebody is paying you to do photo work or video work you want to be able to look at a screen with the best possible color and range and the MacBook Pro has that. Also you've got the most ports on the MacBook Pro. But not just the most ports. The fastest ports. The highest end MacBook Pros have thunderbolt 5. So if you need to be able to connect fast devices to your MacBook, then the MacBook Pro is the one for you. 

All the MacBooks has speakers and an array of mics, but the MacBook Pro has the best for all of those, just the number and the quality and there are the most options. MacBook Air has got a lot of memory and storage options but the MacBook Pro has more. Of course, the main drawback is you have to pay for all of this. It is expensive! So the MacBook Pro is much more expensive than, say, the MacBook Neo. It is also heavier particularly the larger screen model comes in a 14 inch and 16 inch screen size. Now a 16 inch screen is great if you need that but that means you're going to be dragging around a much bigger and heavier MacBook.

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So now that we've looked at all three individually, let's compare them with a chart. So, in this chart I've got some major things. These aren't all the factors. But these are the big ones. The first one is which of these is a full Mac. I wanted to bring this up because it is important because they are ALL full Macs. Again, like I said, the MacBook Neo is a full Mac. A lot of people don't realize that. So I'm pointing that as a big win for the MacBook Neo because they're getting a full Mac at a really low price. 

Now CPU is another thing where the MacBook Neo comes out kind of a winner because it would be easy to rank them say one out of five for the Neo, three out of five for the Air, and five out of five for the MacBook Pro. But that's not really the case. I've used my MacBook Neo to edit 4K video in Final Cut Pro using Motion for effects. It handled it really well. Like I didn't really notice that I was working on a MacBook Neo. I just got my work Done. So I would really rank them as a 3 out of 5 for the MacBook Neo. It handles a lot of the stuff that you could throw at it, even beyond what you think it should. 4.5 for the MacBook Air because it has definitely a faster processor, and then the MacBook Pro, of course, is the top of the line there. So 5 out of 5. 

Now it comes to weight. The MacBook Neo and the MacBook Air have 2.7 lb versions but the MacBook Air goes up to 3.3 lbs if you get the one with the bigger screen. Whereas the MacBook Pro, that's much heavier. It's 3.4 to 4.7, almost twice as much as the MacBook Neo if you get the big screen. 

The screen sizes; the Neo comes in only the one screen size whereas the MacBook Air you can get in a 15 inch screen size which is important to a a lot of people. The MacBook Pro is either 14 inch or it's 16 inch, the largest screen. In addition, the quality of the screens are that the Neo and the Air are both good. Technically, the Air is a little bit better than the Neo, but they both are completely left behind by the great screen on the MacBook Pro. Like I said, the MacBook Pro screen really is the best choice if you're professionally working with photos or video. 

Now the options, as I said before, there's only really two options. The 256 GB or the 512 version for the Neo, but you've got all sorts of memory options and storage options for the MacBook Air. Even more for the MacBook Pro. 

Now ports if a really big one because MacBook Neo just has those two ports. One is a special USB3 port that also handles video, but it's not thunderbolt. So, it can do a decent job but it is just this one port. The other one is a USB2 port and you're probably going to be using that for power. So you only really have that one extra port for things. The MacBook Air isn't much better but it does have a MagSafe port for power leaving the two USB ports open for use for peripherals. Those USB ports do handle thunderbolt 4, so considerably faster and more capable than the MacBook Neo. Like both of the ports on the MacBook Air can handle screens. The MacBook Pro, of course, that goes way beyond that. There's the MagSafe for power. There are three USB ports and they handle thunderbolt, up to thunderbolt 5 if you get the higher end models. You've got a separate port for HDMI, really handy if you give a lot of presentations and also a SD card slot. It's important to realize that the battery sizes are very different between the three models. MacBook Neo has a very small battery.

The MacBook Pro, that has a battery almost twice the size. Now it need it to handle all of the more processor intensive things that you probably would be doing with a MacBook Pro. So it's not actually going to extend the battery life for typical use. But if you're not doing typical use, like you're just watching something or just reading a webpage on a MacBook Pro, that big battery is going to make it last a long time. Also if you want to go up external displays it is important to know that the Neo can just do one display at 4K. MacBook Air can do one or two displays at much higher resolution. The MacBook Pro can go up to four displays on the higher end model. 

Of course this is all tempered by the price. $600 starting price for the MacBook Neo. The MacBook Air start at $1099 and probably going to go up from that depending on the options you want. Otherwise, you could just have gotten a MacBook Neo for that lower end and it's about the same thing. Then you've got a much higher price starting for the MacBook Pro, going up from there. Typically, you're spending $2000 to $3000 dollars for a MacBook Pro, but it can go as high as 6000 or 7000 easily. 

I also want to talk about a few other more minor things, but these tend to be deal breakers for some people, so they are worth mentioning. You may not care about any of these but some people do. There's the backlit keyboard. Like I personally don't care too much about that. I rarely ever work in a dark environment and some people really rely on it. It's important to realize that the MacBook Neo doesn't have a backlight. Same thing for the MagSafe. A lot of people really want this. It's a requirement for them. Now here are two that if you consider them to be deal breakers, well maybe you shouldn't. There's the HDMI port and SD card slot that's on the MacBook Pro. A lot of people will only consider the MacBook Pro because of these two ports, but remember, you can get cheap and tiny little adapters. My last several MacBooks have been MacBook Airs and now a MacBook Neo. I really don't miss either of these ports because I've got adapters that I bring with me when I travel. It's not that big a deal. 

Now whether or not there's a fan could be an advantage or disadvantage depending upon your needs. The reason people love the silent MacBook Neo and MacBook Air is for audio recording. You don't want the fan noise there when you're doing that. But on the other hand if you have processor intensive tasks, like you're a developer and you're always compiling or you are always rendering video and things like that and you find that you need all the processor power you can get, a fan means it can keep the processor cool, thus the processor can do more work. Now a lot of people find that they get the MacBook Pro, they do all this intense work, and the fan still never comes on because Apple's processors just don't get that hot. 

As I mentioned before there's the port speed. The MacBook Neo really doesn't have much there. Just the standard USB3 or one of the USB ports, and only USB 2 for the other one. That's all that iPhone processor inside it can handle. But as soon as you go to the MacBook Air you've got thunderbolt 4 ports and you can get thunderbolt 5 on some of the MacBook Pro models. So if you need lots of ports, you want to hook up a hub with lots of other devices and things like that, then the Neo is probably not for you. You want to go with the other two. 

So I think that sets up a pretty good case for which of the three MacBook models is for which type of Mac user. There's still a lot of overlap to be sure. I hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.