I’ve just argued that the MacBook Neo offers phenomenal value for money and is the machine I expect to recommend to a great many people.
However, it of course won’t be suitable for everyone. I think a quick glance at the specs would rapidly rule it out for videographers, but there is one compromise that means it’s not a good choice for photographers either …
Videographers can rule it out completely
Obviously professional videographers would be buying the MacBook Pro or Mac Studio. But for enthusiastic amateurs, the MacBook Air is a remarkably capable machine for video editing, so long as you are not doing anything too sophisticated.
The same will not be true of the MacBook Neo.
The first issue is storage. The base machine only has a 256GB drive, and the only upgrade is to a 512GB one. To put that into perspective, I’m currently working on a relatively modest 14-minute mini-documentary, and my Final Cut Pro library is over 600GB. Yes, you could work on an external drive, and yes, you could work with proxy files, but it’s often far more convenient to have an internal SSD large enough to store a complete working project.
Second, the limited external display support will be an issue for many of those who like to work with an external monitor at their desk.
Third, the lack of Thunderbolt support may come into play for more demanding projects relying on fast access to external drives.
Finally, there’s the display …
The sRGB display is a big compromise
One of the great things about MacBooks is that they’ve always had fantastic displays. All of the other machines in the lineup support the P3 color gamut. That’s made color accuracy dramatically better than the majority of Windows laptops, which use the much smaller sRGB gamut.
sRGB is also what you find on budget monitors and is one of the compromises which enables these to be made so cheaply.
Unfortunately, it’s also one of the compromises Apple has had to make to get the MacBook Neo down to that impressive price point. For photographers and videographers alike, it really is a compromise you don’t want to make.
The orange triangle shown here illustrates how many different colors other MacBook screens can display. The white triangle shows you the far more limited color range of the sRGB display on the MacBook Neo.
For photographers, a MacBook Air is worth it
I said earlier that once I ask friends about their needs, I will suggest that some of them should opt for the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro over the Neo. Anyone even moderately serious about photography would definitely fall into this group, just because of that display.
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