I’m late to the party on the MacBook Neo, I know—but I wanted to make this review different. Instead of just reading benchmarks, I tested it the way I actually use laptops: real workloads, real multitasking, and a bit of nerdy setup (terminal tweaks, Homebrew, iTerm2, VS Code, Chrome tabs everywhere), plus some server troubleshooting for my Linux home server project. Right away, the Neo surprised me: it doesn’t feel cheap, the hinge and one-hand open are genuinely impressive, and the corners/edges feel insanely smooth. The bezels are chunky, sure, but the trackpad engineering is the real highlight—Apple basically re-engineered a mechanical trackpad so you can click anywhere, and it’s still better than most Windows laptops. I compared it to the M1 MacBook Air where it actually matters: battery, display, and sustained performance. The Neo’s screen is solid for the price, but it’s sRGB (not P3 like the M1 Air) and it’s not as bright, plus there’s no True Tone. Battery life also isn’t M1 Air-level—under my heavier setup it dropped fast, though idle drain was only about 2% overnight. Performance is interesting: Geekbench looks great in short bursts, but in real dev tests the M1 Air pulls ahead as projects get bigger (and it has better sustained power and bandwidth). My takeaway: if you can find an M1 Air at the same price, grab it. If you can’t, the Neo at $499 with student discount is the best brand-new laptop for the average person this year—heat.