Apple unveiled its new budget-friendly laptop, the MacBook Neo, in March — welcome news for investors. Starting at $599 with a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, the device aims to make the Mac experience “even more accessible to millions of people around the world.”
The MacBook Neo could be the best reason yet to buy Apple stock.
Ben Gran for The Motley Fool:
For years, many Apple observers questioned whether the company could design a low-cost laptop that fit the brand’s premium standards. MacBook Neo seems to fit the bill — and overall Mac sales are up because of it.
According to the company’s most recent earnings report on April 30… the Mac category is showing strong growth, with sales up about 6% year over year.
On the April 30 earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that “the customer response to MacBook Neo has just been off the charts, with higher-than-expected demand.” The low-cost laptop seems to be achieving the strategic goal of attracting new customers who might have been reluctant to pay for higher-priced laptops. Cook also said that the company “set a March record for customers new to the Mac, partly due to the Neo.”
But this low-cost laptop isn’t the only reason to buy Apple stock. The company’s most recent quarterly revenue reached $111.2 billion, up 17% year over year, and its diluted earnings per share were up 22% year over year. Apple’s new product launches seem to be hitting the mark.
MacDailyNews Take: Plus, Apple just doubled MacBook Neo production!
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Apple should quickly create the desktop equivalent of MacBook Neo. Repurpose Neo’s logic board in an economical plastic case with passive cooling, similar to Apple TV box. $499, $599 for 512GB SSD. It’ll offset cancellation of base M4 Mac mini for customers who just want a competent Macs at affordable price. NOT for the A.I. people.
There’s no good reason to create this, the Neo in clamshell mode serves the same purpose if you want it to. The Neo is primarily a young person’s (kids, teens, college students) entry-level Apple computer. This demographic does not buy desktops, they’re highly mobile and want the screen and software a laptop offers since these are the limitations of their main computer, their iPhone.
There WAS “no good reason,” until the current extended RAM crisis caused by A.I. AND the base M4 Mac mini being sold out (to the point of cancellation) because of people hogging it up for A.I. Apple obviously thinks DESKTOP Mac mini config priced at $599 was a great product, to give DESKTOP computer customers (especially the ones new to Apple) an affordable DESKTOP Mac choice. That choice is gone, it’s $799 now (with months of delay). To fill that gap, there IS very good reason to offer a Mac choice even lower-priced than MacBook Neo. From Apple’s perspective, RAM is so expensive now and will likely remain so for a while. Instead of raising price per unit, use less RAM per unit and sell more units total to the “casual” majority of customers. The ones who don’t need an M4/M5 with 16GB+ RAM will happily pay significantly less for an A18 Pro with 8GB of RAM in Neo or NEW “Mac nano.” AND it’s certainly not just for “kids, teens, college students,” clearly proven by Neo STILL being sold out with 2-3 weeks delay even as Apple ramps up production to catch up to demand before back-to-school shopping.
Using a smartphone chip is a genius move. Apple must have plenty of binned A-series chips sitting around to save plenty of money. If only Apple had what it takes to convince schools to switch to Neo laptops. However, I do understand that elementary schools need to work to a budget and buy computers that are as low-priced as possible.
I agree with ken1w
I want a PORTABLE but not MOBILE Macs, hence Neo Mini. All days I just do surfing and minor shuffling of text. AND I LIKE macOS over Wintel. I am an ideal customer who’d not do strong AI like its bigger M4 brothers. For India, the price of Neo mini will be below or embracing ₹50,000. The standard psychological limit. I think same would be the case with countries like India, Pakistan, Indonesia , Philippines and so on. M4 is too heavy (overkill) for us.