If Apple’s goal with the release of the MacBook Neo was to get tongues wagging, then consider it mission-accomplished.
The cheapest new MacBook you buy has plenty of praise and criticism before anyone outside the press even gets to use one, but the disruption goes way beyond clickbait headlines.
I’ve said that Apple needed a $500 MacBook before, and the only thing that was surprising was sticking with an aluminum shell.
We knew something like this was coming, but it seems that both Windows laptop and Chromebook makers were caught off-guard regardless.
Chromebooks in particular seem like the most likely victim here, so what can be done to save them?
Why the Neo is deadly to Chromebooks
It’s an assault on multiple fronts
If we’re talking Chromebooks today, then we are talking about the Chromebook Plus.
I own an Acer Chromebook Plus 514, which usually costs somewhere between $300 and $400. As low as $250 if you can get a deal.
This will net you a 14-inch 1200p display, an AMD or Intel CPU with a surprisingly decent iGPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD. Though newer models have options up to 512GB.
The port selection is decent, and there’s a built-in SD reader to augment that paltry storage.
It’s a perfectly cromulent computer. Everything about it is just OK. It feels fair for $300, or at least it did.
If I were a student choosing between this merely adequate computer and the $500 (with an education discount) MacBook Neo, I’d do whatever was necessary to get that extra $100 to $200.
If we’re talking about $500 mid-range Chromebooks? You’d have to be a few cards short of a full deck to pick the Chromebook over the Neo.
An $800 premium Chromebook? That was already a poor choice in the world of $999 MacBook Airs, now it’s a redundant product category.
8/10
- CPU
-
Intel Core i3-N305
- GPU
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Intel UHD
Let’s be honest. These are floppy plastic machines with mediocre screens, trackpads, speakers, and build quality.
All things that were acceptable when the cheapest Mac cost $1,000, but that’s in the past now.
ChromeOS has a software problem
There’s no Windows legacy to fall back on
Setting aside hardware quality, the real problem here is macOS.
If you’re comparing $600 Windows laptops to the MacBook Neo, there’s a real roadblock in the form of software compatibility. If your work or studies relies on a software package that only has a Windows version, you may be out of luck.
Yes, solutions like Crossover work, but that’s expensive, and you can use WINE for free, but neither is guaranteed to be reliable.
ChromeOS already has little software designed for it natively. In comparison, macOS is a much more mature and full-fledged operating system.
If all you ever do is use a web browser, then there’s little difference here. If you need to run any apps outside a browser, the options on macOS are much wider.
Even the option to run Android apps in ChromeOS isn’t an advantage here. Apple Silicon machines can run iOS and iPadOS software natively. As long as the developer allows it.
What Chromebooks need ASAP
It’s do-or-die time
Apple enjoys all sorts of advantages when it comes to the pricing of the MacBook Neo that no Chromebook maker does.
Having complete control over the hardware and software allows Apple to fudge the margins, and optimize its software for a specific hardware platform.
Having access to millions of binned iPhone chips with no go-between taking a cut is a big one. Having figured out supply chain and design problems on other more expensive MacBooks trickles down to the Neo.
To match the Neo on overall hardware and build quality at the same price will require razor-thin margins down the line. It’s hard to see how the involved parties will manage that.
Trying to do this might end up being misguided. Instead, it makes more sense to maintain that $200 to $300 price advantage and improve the software that comes with a Chromebook.
The ongoing merger between ChromeOS and Android could be the key here. In comparison to ChromeOS, macOS is a juggernaut, so it needs every development advantage it can get.
If we’re being honest, things are not looking too good for Chromebooks in a post-Neo world.
It’s going to look even worse in a year or so if Apple chooses to bump the Neo into the next iPhone chip in line, which will be more powerful and come with 12GB of RAM. It will be fascinating to see how this all plays out.
