I’m looking at getting a new laptop and can’t decide between the new Macbook Neo and a refurbished Macbook Air. The Neo looks interesting, but a refurbished Air is quite a bit cheaper and seems like it would still do everything I need. I mostly use my Mac for browsing, email, documents and some light photo editing. Has anyone compared the two or gone with one over the other? I’d love to hear your experience before I make a decision.
Tbh if its mostly browsing and docs either one is overkill lol, wouldnt stress this too much
@JamieOnline eh, kind of, but the photo editing part changes that a bit. the Neo isn’t running the same kind of chip as the other Macs btw, it’s actually the same one from the iPhone, just not as much RAM to work with and you can’t add more later. any refurb Air from M2 onward handles that stuff better since it’s got more room to breathe once you’ve got a bunch of tabs and an editing app open together
Had a pretty similar choice to make a while back, watched a comparison that helped me decide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtgXyNKwwYo. ended up going refurb M2 Air myself, did some light Lightroom stuff on both before deciding and the Neo noticeably chugged once I had a bunch of edits stacked, Air just handled it without thinking about it
@Sally eh not sure I’d agree there tbh, “light photo editing” covers a lot of ground, if that’s mostly just cropping and basic adjustments on phone photos rather than actual RAW files, the Neo handles that completely fine, I’ve seen people way overestimate how much power that actually needs. what does “light” even mean for OP though, could go either way honestly
@iHelpYou fair question, it’s mostly just cropping and some light adjustments on photos from my phone, nothing crazy, no RAW files or anything like that
@Sally that tracks with what I’ve seen too, though sounds like OP’s case might actually be lighter than that, now that we know it’s just phone photo crops the Neo’s probably genuinely fine there specifically
One thing I’d add if you do go refurb btw, mine showed up with battery health a bit lower than what the listing said 
had to send it back once before getting one that actually matched. not a huge deal but check the battery cycle count before buying and only go somewhere with an actual return window, some of the cheaper third party sites dont give you one
Still think the Neo’s fine for what OP described, adding a separate point since we’re already comparing, early reviews found its real world battery life falls pretty short of the advertised 16 hours, more like 7-8 hours under light use in testing. Airs generally hold up better on battery too even the older refurb ones, probably matters more if OP’s often away from a charger than if it’s mostly used at a desk
@redmaple honestly between everything above it sounds like you don’t need the extra power the Air gives you, given it’s just phone photo crops. main things left to weigh are just the usual new-vs-used tradeoffs, Neo comes with full battery health from day one since it’s new, refurb Air’s battery condition depends a lot on the seller like Sally found out, so if you go that route stick to somewhere with an actual return policy, but you’d have more headroom to grow into if your editing needs change down the line