Max Headroom 
On this week’s episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss first impressions of the MacBook Neo, Studio Display XDR, and iPhone 17e.
Following its announcement last week, the MacBook Neo arrived this week. Unlike every other Apple silicon Mac, the MacBook Neo is powered by the A18 Pro chip originally developed for the iPhone 16 Pro, making it the first Mac to use an iPhone-class processor instead of an M-series chip.
To reach its substantially lower price point, the MacBook Neo makes some compromises. Unlike the MacBook Air, it does not feature keyboard backlighting, a haptic trackpad, P3 wide color, True Tone, ambient light sensing, a camera indicator LED, MagSafe charging, Thunderbolt connectivity, or a 12-megapixel camera with Center Stage, nor does it come with Touch ID as standard. It is also thicker with a slightly reduced battery life, and has larger borders around the slightly smaller display.
That being said, it is $500 cheaper than a MacBook Air and is designed to compete with lower-cost Windows laptops and Chromebooks, while expanding the Mac lineup with a substantially more affordable option. We talk through the real-world impact of some of these compromises, including performance with the A18 Pro chip and 8GB of memory.
The iPhone 17e retains the same design and price as the iPhone 16e but adds the A19 chip, MagSafe support, Apple’s second-generation C1X modem, and 256GB of base storage. Apple also introduced a new Studio Display XDR model, replacing the Pro Display XDR. The new model offers a 27-inch 5K mini-LED panel with up to a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR brightness up to 2,000 nits, and Thunderbolt 5 connectivity. We compare both of these new products to their predecessors, as well as the iPhone 17e and the iPhone 16 as the two lowest-cost iPhones on sale today.
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If you haven’t already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear our discussion about Apple’s concentrated week of announcements that saw the introduction of 10 new products.
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This article, “The MacRumors Show: MacBook Neo First Impressions” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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