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Here’s Mac nerd John Siracusa this morning after the introduction of Apple’s MacBook Neo, a $599 machine running an iPhone chip:
Yeah, it is pretty insane, and a testament to Apple’s truly remarkable silicon prowess.
Some on the socials are complaining about the shortcomings of the MacBook Neo: No backlighting for the keyboard, the touchpad isn’t pressure sensitive, it ships with only a 20W charger.
Like anyone gives a hoot about any of this!
The Neo is going to fly off the shelves like no Mac before it, even in this K-shaped economy.
Especially at just $499 for education pricing.
College campuses are already full of Macs, and the MacBook Neo will just sweep up any holdouts who bought a low-cost PC instead.
Yeah, you can go into Best Buy and pick up a Windows PC with more RAM, more storage, a backlit keyboard and more ports, but none of them have the Apple cool factor — or work as well as a Mac.
Windows sucks, and everyone knows it.
Most teenagers already use an iPhone for its cool factor. Surveys consistently show that 88% of teenagers own an iPhone.
This cool factor obviously extends to the Mac, too. The barrier, until now, was the higher cost.
I can’t see how this low-cost machine isn’t going to expand Apple’s already-growing Mac market share. It’s going to be like when Microsoft released Windows 95 and saw explosive growth.
Look at the MacBook Neo’s industrial design — it’s cool af!
Millions of new MacBook Neo users will reap all kinds of benefits for Apple and its users.
There’s the halo effect: The entry-level Neo will act as a gateway drug for Apple’s pricier products.
Growing market share only accelerates network effects — more software, more services for Mac users.
Plus, Tim Apple is going to sell a lot of services and subscriptions.
The biggest surprise is why it took Tim so long. Get all the details here.
Also in today’s newsletter:
Time to sell some internal organs: This week’s new Apple goodies just went up for preorder.
And here, exactly, is how much the new M5 MacBook Pros will cost you — try to guess the cost of the maxed-out configuration.
🔥 DEAL OF THE DAY: Time to upgrade your sucky car charger. This insanely powerful Anker charger packs three ports and pumps out nearly 170W, and it’s nearly 40% off.
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Here’s how to get the spiffy new MacBook Neo wallpapers, no Neo purchase required. Plus, the new wallpapers spell out “Mac,” not “Neo.”
If you’re tempted to pick up the new iPhone 17e, we have a roundup of the nicest cases for it.
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
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A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
Cult of Mac’s buyback program
Tweets of the day
Wallpaper of the day
One more thing ...
[At my first job at Hewlett-Packard] I remember telling one of the supervisors, “I love this stuff, I love this stuff,” and then I asked him what he liked to do best. And he said, “To fu*k, to fu*k.”
Today’s poll
How big a hit will the MacBook Neo be?
Results from yesterday’s poll: What do you think of the new M5 MacBooks?
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