Yes, I personally have used the MacBook Neo for a few months now and run a Youtube Channel about Apple tech called Craig Neidel. I have been surprised at just how well the MacBook Neo has performed for me with only 8 GB of ram. Does it use swap? Yes, but I was not noticing it for much of my workload and only when you really stress the machine with more than 20 tabs open and multiple apps can you start to notice a slowdown.
I have created a few videos on my Youtube channel (Craig Neidel) to test video editing to see just how much the MacBook Neo can take. Again, I was surprised to see it can handle 4K 24 FPS video editing with almost no noticeable performance hits during the scrubbing and editing process. Yes, the exporting took a little longer for sure but if you do some light video editing then the Neo can actually handle it quite well with only 8 GB of ram. I can’t say that about too many Windows Laptops.
While it can handle some heavy lifting, the right way to use the Neo is for things like emails, browsing, zoom calls, Youtube, Pages, and similar tasks. Here the Neo shines and it’s very good for sure. It really is a step above similar Windows machines in the same price range not only in build quality but also I would say in performance. Especially for students who can pick up a Neo for around $499 it’s an overall value king.
So if you are worried about buying a MacBook Neo with only 8 GB of ram I would say don’t be as long as you understand what it’s for. I mean if you need more then look at the MacBook Air with 16 GB or 24 GB but you really need to be doing more demanding tasks to justify that cost increase. Since I do video editing I really use my Neo as a second computer. I have a M4 Pro Mac mini I use for video creation and heavy lifting and use the Neo to travel with and for lighter tasks. That is a great way to use the Neo also.
So at the end of the day it really punches above it’s weight on paper. Can it do everything, no. Can it do most things just a bit slower, yes. But when you factor in cost it’s really a great value so buy one and don’t look back. If you want to check out my youtube channel you can do that at Craig Neidel.