MacBook Neo testing + innovations from Spain
Tech Things #58
Since my last mailout, I’ve had hands-on time with some innovative tech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this month. Tecno’s modular phone concept at 4.9mm thin showcases a sustainable future where you buy add-ons instead of upgrading, and I tried the Meta Ray-Ban Display with Neural Band, which is different to the Ray-Ban Meta. It has a tiny in-display on the right lens and you control it with finger gestures; you can read about it or watch my TikTok video.
Speaking of videos, if you want to see Xiaomi’s Vision Gran Turismo electric hypercar, Honor’s robot phone with foldable 3-axis gimbal + 4mm foldable, robots that fight, paint or interact, Leica’s first Leitzphone smartphone by Xiaomi and Lenovo’s rollable XD laptop + Legion Go handheld concept, it’s all on video. I attended MWC Barcelona as a guest of Tecno South Africa.
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And back in South Africa, one of the most highly-anticipated Apple products has landed: the new 13-inch MacBook Neo, starting at R11 999. It is Apple’s first shot at an entry-level laptop, but powered by an iPhone chip, the A18 Pro and 8GB of RAM. I’ve been using it for a week now and I’m suitably impressed, as a MacBook Air M4 user. Because it’s entry-level, don’t expect upgrades, there are just 2 variants: a 256GB and 512GB with Touch ID; that’s it. It is made from aluminium like regular MacBooks and comes in four colours.
I’ve already edited videos, had Apple Music playing in the background, Safari opened with over 20 tabs from YouTube livestreams, to multimedia heavy social platforms, Gmail, Canva, Excel, Whatsapp, Instagram etc. The laptop did not stutter with all of that but, realistically, buyers of the laptop are not even going to use it that intensively.
So who is it aimed at? First-time Mac buyers, families, students and I’d go as far as to say writers and journalists. All the details are in my initial post when the Neo launched alongside the iPhone 17e, iPad Air M4, and new MacBook Pro M5 variants. A proper review + video on my TikTok will follow next week. Is there anything you want to know specifically about the Neo? Let me know!
Still on the local front, FNB announced that its wildly popular eWallet feature is now available on Whatsapp, making it easier to access for South Africans without a bank account. Yes, this means new eWallet customers can use the service directly on Whatsapp. All the details on Recharged.
Reads you may want to catch up on:
Till next time,
Nafisa