Apple’s MacBook Neo turns out to be its most repairable lappy in 14 years

Apple's latest MacBook may be cheap, but it also comes with something modern MacBooks haven't offered in years: a fighting chance of being repaired. In a teardown published late last week, iFixit said that the recently-launched MacBook Neo is the most repairable Apple laptop in roughly 14 years, a surprising shift for a …

[Headley_Grange]

It's more like they are heading towards something that can be made in the US to appease Trump.

[fb2k]

...or after fighting new regulations (USB-C) and losing, they decided not to fight "Right to Repair" this time

[Snake]

I personally believe it is supply chain-caused: using more modular components (a) allows a lower cost as more off-the-shelf devices can be used, and (b) the more interchangeable construction allows swapping out of suppliers with less effort allowing subassembly construction to go to the lowest bidder. I might also add increased flexibility in final assembly contractors, as well.

[Antifa - Ost]

They should meet the new EU repairability criteria if they want to sell in Europe. Smartphones imported in the EU aready come with 5 years guaranteed software updates.

[BartyFartsLast]

Possibly, something simple and (relatively) low tech to stick together in the good old US of A but, it is a pretty smart move for more reasons, it opens up and gives them a presence in a market segment they've not got a foothold in yet.

Heck I even found myself looking at it and wondering if I might find a use for one.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Competitor to chromebook for schools/kids

Alternative to an expensive Windows11 upgrade for your home machine, especially given the cost of the ram/storage requirements for W11

given that they must have been designing / tooling for this machine for 2 years they timed it perfectly

[Richard 12]

I'd guess six to nine months actually, because it's mostly a respin of an iPad they already sell.

Variants of existing hardware are pretty quick, especially when modular. Each module can be independently designed and delivered, rather than trying to get everything onto one board.

The bottleneck is usually money. Many manufacturers can't spend the whole project design budget in the same financial year, risk needing to retool a mould, or that some important chip goes out of production.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

>I'd guess six to nine months actually

Oh to have Apple's internal review procedures.....

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

>It's more like they are heading towards something that can be made in the US to appease Trump.

Unlikely. Screws = cheap manual labour. Glue = automated dispenser / films

[brainwrong]

"Screws = cheap manual labour."

Err, no. Screws have been able to be installed by machine for ages.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

But they're still slow and a pain compared to a preprinted glue film

[cd]

Pentalobe screws are easy, just use a small flat-blade and span two of the lobes. Works better than the pukka bit.

[Anonymous Coward]

It really doesn't. Principally when reinstalling them - the screw will stay on the appropriate bit while you position it. This is also the reason that pozidrive is such an improvement over phillips head screws (yes, an appropriate size phillips does do that trick, but it's relatively rare).

But a real pentalobe bit is easy to get hold of, so no reason to not use it.

[VicMortimer]

Apple still did it to be annoying. Pentalobes are ONLY used for the outside screws, early iPhones used phillips for the two screws near the Lightning port, Apple actually switched them out for pentalobe if you took the phone in for service - and pentalobe drivers were hard to find back then. I remember somebody was actually selling kits with a tiny screw extractor and replacement phillips screws.

I'm honestly surprised they haven't changed screws again now that pentalobe drives are everywhere.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hat tip to a fellow cynic

[elsergiovolador]

Clue

. Instead of glue and rivets holding major parts together, the Neo relies heavily on screws.

It's quite possible that this is because US oblast administration has sniffed all the glue supplies.

[45RPM]

It looks like a very nice laptop. It should sell like hotcakes. With regard to repairability, it’s great news that it’s more repairable - this is something that should be encouraged. That said…

My 2011 MacBook Air was easy to replace the battery on. That’s the only repair it’s needed.

My 2020 M1 MacBook Air has needed no repairs at all. It only has 8GB RAM too - and it still feels as snappy as it did when new. The Neo should be even quicker. For most users (not gamers, not video editors) this is all the laptop that they’ll need - and, if I was a gambling man, will probably remain all that most people need for eight years or more.

[herman]

The double sided tape on the old Macbook batteries were not hard to remove - I just pushed a plastic spudger in there a few times. Apple Macbooks never die - sometimes you just wish they would - to finally have an excuse to buy a new one.

[Anonymous Coward]

My previous MacBook had to be consigned to the laptop in the sky as even third parties were giving up on making batteries for it.

[VicMortimer]

Huh? You can still get new 3rd party batteries for the 2006 MacBook and MacBook Pro. New PowerBook 100 batteries are available. PowerBook 140 batteries are rebuildable, they use A size NiCad cells.

There are even new replacement lead acid batteries for the original 1989 Macintosh Portable available. I might even get one, would be nice to get mine running again.

There's pretty much no vintage Apple that doesn't have parts available.

[herman]

Geez, don't destroy the guy's excuse for buying a new lappie. What if his wife reads your post?

[45RPM]

Really, I have a PowerBook 100 (you know, the 16MHz 68000 powered laptop). I can assure you that batteries are not available for it. But, if they were, and if they used modern chemistry, I reckon that (considering how big they could be, and how little power the 100 uses) it might set records for longevity.

[John Robson]

The A18 compares favourably with the M1, it's within a pretty small margin, so you're not likely to notice a huge performance leap (unless you do something like ray tracing).

What it does suggest though is that phones are about 4 years behind desktop chips in terms of capability (Nov 2020 - Sept 2024).

That's huge - that implies that the iPhone19 will have a chip as capable as the M4 - which is frankly bonkers.

If they can start to use thunderbolt and push multiple monitors from the phone then there's little reason to have a a computer at that point, just have a dock... You could probably get away with using the phone screen as a track pad as well...

[Anonymous Coward]

> "there's little reason to have a a computer at that point, just have a dock... You could probably get away with using the phone screen as a track pad as well"

I wonder what Apple will call such revolutionary capability? iDeX perhaps, seeing as it would just be an Apple implementation of Samsung's DeX

(Yes, phone as touchpad works well)

[John Robson]

iDeX is about right...

I was in conversations suggesting that it might happen as far back as the XDA mini...

Though that was alot more than four years behind desktops of the day!

[EdSaxby]

...And I'm still running a 2011 MacBook Pro - similar to you, the only component that "needed" replacing was the battery, however, I upgraded the HDD to an SSD, and maxed out the RAM. It's a wonderful machine, their best I think.

[blu3b3rry]

Likewise, running a late 2011 13" base i5 model here that I've owned since new and has been running various flavours of Ubuntu for a good few years now. So far it's been rather nice to work on and service - replacement battery two years ago, and last year swapped the main board for a second hand spare after the original died.

Maxed the RAM to 8GB, swapped the DVD drive out for a SSD caddy giving me plenty of storage space. It's still a lovely machine to use day-to-day and has a screen as good as machines I've got that are several years newer.

I prefer it to the later 2019 model that I got very cheaply off work when they cleared out their last Intel-based Macbook Pros.

[VicMortimer]

The 2011 13" was fine, the GPUs in the 15" have pretty much all failed now.

As I recall, OCLP just disables it by default because it's so failure prone.

The 2012s are rock solid. I've got one beside me right now, running 10.14 because it still supports 32-bit apps. It's got 4TB of SSD storage and 16GB RAM. Mac OS 15 is a bit slow on the 2012s, but it'll run.

[herman]

How did you upgrade the RAM? On my 2012 and 2015 the RAM is soldered in.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

>only component that "needed" replacing

If you are letting them near kids or users you will need to replace ports regularly

Assume this thing USB -C charges rather than magsafe?

[TVU]

"Apple’s MacBook Neo turns out to be its most repairable lappy in 14 years"

That is welcome news and it is better for the environment as well. That said, it will be interesting to see if other equipment launches follow the MacBook Neo's promising lead.

[Antifa - Ost]

Soon the will have to, if they want to import to EU.

[John Robson]

It also depends on the availability of spares - ports, batteries, keyboards, screens...

[IvyKing]

Chromebook replacement

Apple designed the Neo to make it attractive to school districts to replace Chromebooks. This meant that the Neo had to meet a strict cost to manufacture target and it also had to be reparable by district technicians.

[af108]

Another Apple rant with zero basis?

I have one of these and also an iPhone 16e. Both of these are products that were/are ridiculed.

I'd like to give a quick comparison of them against a Windows 11 Lenovo gaming laptop I have as well as a Google Pixel.

- 8 GB of RAM is plenty to run macOS even Tahoe. My Lenovo laptop has 16 GB of RAM and a faster-on-paper CPU, and it's slower.

- Never seen a single error message on either my phone or Mac. Not true of either the Windows laptop or Pixel.

- £599 for a laptop or phone is mid range. Therefore if you consider what you're getting with the Neo or iPhone 16e isn't premium, that's correct, as it's not supposed to be.

- I've never needed to upgrade or replace any component in any Apple product ever.

- External and cloud storage is cheap. 256 GB local storage and can't cope? Sort your life out.

- The hardware looks and physically feels nice. The hardware lasts, and is usually still worth more when you trade it in.

- Loads of other reasons

In the past people bitched at Apple for not offering "affordable" devices. They then launched them and some people still didn't like it. Wow, that's a real shocker!

Basically this is a decent laptop at a reasonable price. Don't start making stupid comparisons like "it only has 8 GB of RAM" as though that's a meaningful comparison to anything. If you've used macOS for any length of time you'll understand why that - as well as many other criticisms - don't stand up.

[QET]

Re: 8 GB ram is good enough.

Google Chrome would like a word with that (or rather, it would like more RAM unless you limit yourself to a dozen or so tabs).

Though that's partly the fault of Chrome being everything and the kitchen sink which Google would like you to use, since those things are Google services, and the fact the modern web is choked with ads and client-side scripts.

Which with Firefox & forks, you can at least do something about that.

Though there's also all the wonderful (sarcasm) Electron based programs, but those are again the sign of lazy developers.

[VicMortimer]

Re: 8 GB ram is good enough.

So delete Chrome. Firefox and Safari are fine.

Chrome is garbage anyway.

[QET]

Re: 8 GB ram is good enough.

Unfortunately, the very target demographic of such machine equals the internet with Chrome.

Unless we're talking about someone who's already a Apple acolyte anyway.

[doublelayer]

Re: Another Apple rant with zero basis?

In your quest to defend Apple there, who is the person making the rant you're fighting against? You didn't reply to anyone in particular and the article didn't seem very insulting?

I agree with some of your comments, not with others. Your speed comparison is entirely anecdotal and allows anyone else to tell you that their non-Mac is faster than a Mac using similarly empty evidence. There are also people who do need more than 256 GB of storage inside their computer, not hanging off it or across a network connection they might not always have. Evidently, you either aren't one of them or are just making assumptions, but either way, learn that not everyone is like you.

I do agree that, for the price, especially from Apple, this seems to be a reasonable spec. I expect this to be quite popular for many people. I would generally recommend the upgrade to the 512 GB model since the storage is soldered and, in my experience, storage and batteries are the components most often upgraded before replacing the machine.

[af108]

Re: Another Apple rant with zero basis?

@doublelayer this is The Register so irrational hatred of Apple products is unfortunately something you get here from certain people. There's a linked article on The Reg which describes the Neo as "bursting with compromise" when it really isn't.

Regarding the speed comparison I'm literally comparing my own experiences of using a Macbook and Windows 11 laptop side by side. I haven't gone as far as getting out my stopwatch as that seems a bit pedantic. The point here was that 8 GB of RAM is a very different story on macOS versus Windows.

> There are also people who do need more than 256 GB of storage inside their computer, not hanging off it or across a network connection they might not always have. Evidently, you either aren't one of them or are just making assumptions, but either way, learn that not everyone is like you.

Not everyone is like you either. Evidenced by the fact Apple have already shifted a load of these with 256 GB of storage and will continue to do so.

[doublelayer]

Re: Another Apple rant with zero basis?

Ah, your true colors reveal themselves. You leap to Apple's defense even though there was nobody to attack, and despite complaining that you needed to counter "another Apple rant", you couldn't point to the rant. The best you had was a headline on a different article, a headline which is entirely correct, since, as you said yourself, "Therefore if you consider what you're getting with the Neo or iPhone 16e isn't premium, that's correct, as it's not supposed to be." That's what compromise means; in order to have the lower price, you must accept lower specs, and depending on what you want, those specs might be too low.

The point about anecdotal evidence should be obvious. You don't have any evidence and we have no reason to trust your statements. Among other things, you've had your new MacBook Neo for at most a week now and it's running a fresh install. We have no idea what state your Windows machine is in; evidently you get lots of errors which could be Windows's fault or evidence that you've got software problems from misconfiguration which could easily produce slowness. We can't do anything useful with that comparison and neither can you. If you want to compare like with like with a stopwatch to prove the difference, that could work, but it's probably not worth it.

And finally, the 256 GB complaint. You're correct, some people don't need more. But I did not say that everyone needs more. You did, however, say that people shouldn't: "256 GB local storage and can't cope? Sort your life out."

For someone who complains about "irrational hatred of Apple products", you've got a very spirited defense system for them going on whether you needed to or not. Let me guess, I'm going to be an irrational hater now, despite saying that I thought the Neo would be quite popular?

[af108]

Re: Another Apple rant with zero basis?

@doublelayer do you actually have a Neo, or not?

I do.

I also have a Windows 11 laptop, Google Pixel and many other devices. That's how I'm able to make a comparison of actually using them. If I was purely in the Apple camp then it's unlikely I'd have any Windows or Android devices. But that's not the case.

Your response seems very frosty for no particular reason.

[John Robson]

Re: Another Apple rant with zero basis?

I'd have really liked to see at least a small nvme drive in there... but my guess is that the A18 has the controller on board.

Even if it was a nvram only board like the studio) that would be ok...

But having said that... the only internal apple storage I've ever had fail was a removable stick of "not quite nvme", and that's at least partly because it spent a few years in an adaptor as a cache drive in a server before it eventually shuffled off the mortal coil.

[VicMortimer]

Re: Another Apple rant with zero basis?

8GB would be a problem for me.

That said, I'm using a MacBook Air with 24GB, I'm not doing heavy duty video with it so I didn't need a Pro. 16GB was a bit constraining.

But for most users, 8GB is adequate.

[John Robson]

41 screws...

That's why the keyboard feels decent, they've actually attached it properly.

And yes, that's a lot of little screws, I might even invest in a little torque limited electrical screwdriver for technicians.

[MrMerrymaker]

Maybe they're changing

Lol I crack me up

[BartyFartsLast]

I don't often say this but

Kudos to Apple,

This looks like a smart move, something that can be given to young people in school and 'capture' their OS loyalty, old people who need a bit more than a tablet but don't want the faff of Windows or want something a bit prettier than a budget wintel and those who don't care what OS is on it as long as it plays youTube/netflix//whatever stream service and let's them buy crap on the 'met

[mark l 2]

For the price the Macbook Neo seems like a great laptop with a decent spec and good build quality. So hopefully even if your not interested in buying an Apple device, having them release a lower priced laptop will make other manufactures have to up their game and release better hardware to compete with it. And so should hopefully be a benefit for everyone.

[DS999]

Based on pricing of M1 Macbooks

That stayed around at places like Walmart for a couple years after Apple quit selling them, I wouldn't be surprised to see these selling for $399 a few years down the road. Since they'll still be faster than any "budget" Windows laptops (or Chromebooks) then unless the AI bubble has burst and RAM is cheap again, those "budget" laptops - if they exist at all - will be lucky to have 8 GB. Apple might end up doubling the Mac marketshare on the back of the Neo.

[IvyKing]

Re: Based on pricing of M1 Macbooks

I'd be willing to bet that the Walmart M1 MBA's were a marketing test by Apple to see if a laptop designed for the education market would be attractive to normal consumers.

[VicMortimer]

Re: Based on pricing of M1 Macbooks

Apple has known that for decades.

They've built education-only machines before. And normal consumers always went nuts until Apple started selling them to everybody.

[ComicalEngineer]

What's not to like?

Not everyone is a gamer / video editor and needs humungous RAM and a massive SSD.

For students (in particular university students) and people who want to do ordinary tasks (writing reports, spreadsheets, email, net surfing etc) this will be perfectly adequate. In fact I can see a ready market for students who don't want to be crippled by the restrictions of a Chromebook. Buy a cheap port replicator (less than £10) and a USB stick for additional storage and Bob's your mother's brother.

I am glad to see Apple improving the repairability which is most welcome. Now if they would just either stop soldering RAM in or else providing a spare RAM port...

I would honestly be very tempted by one of these if I was in the market for a new budget machine.

[Richard 12]

Re: What's not to like?

The Apple A and M series are system-on-chip designs, the RAM has to be soldered in.

It also means the GPU and CPU share the same physical memory, which makes transfers between them basically instant and gives them both a pretty decent performance boost "for free" as they don't have to wait for DMA transfers.

The SSD didn't need to be soldered in though. That's purely a cost saving measure - which makes sense in this, just not in the "pro" MacBooks.

[VicMortimer]

Re: What's not to like?

The RAM did not have to be soldered. Other ARM chip designs don't need soldered RAM.

And let's not pretend shared VRAM is an advantage for anything but cost. It's NOT new, and integrated graphics has never been better than a discrete GPU and VRAM.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What's not to like?

All new models of Apple laptop since (I think) 2015 have had soldered storage, so it's nothing new.

[Snowy]

If

You can not get the parts then is it truly repairable?

[VicMortimer]

Re: If

https://www.ifixit.com/Parts/Mac_Laptop

Check there in about a month, the parts will be available for this too.

[Snowy]

Re: If

Are those prices good?

[Blackjack]

Since it is aimed at schools they either made it easier to repair or lost to Windows crapbooks.