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The MacBook Neo Looks Like a Hit for Students. Should Anyone Else Choose It Over the Air?

​Even before the introduction of the MacBook Neo, Apple had a great student laptop. The MacBook Air is our current pick as the best laptop for college students. So in addition to competing against Chromebooks and budget Windows laptops, the new MacBook Neo is also going up against the MacBook Air for school laptop buyers.. Given the large price difference between the Neo and Air, I think we’ll see tons of colorful MacBook Neos in schools by next fall. It looks like a hit for student budgets, but should you consider buying a MacBook Neo if you’re already out of school?. Let’s take a closer look at the new Neo to see what features it offers and those that are missing.. MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air. For $599, or just $499 with Apple’s educational discount, the MacBook Neo significantly lowers the entry price for MacBook shoppers. The Neo arrives on the heels of the new M5 MacBook Air, which raises the Air’s price by $100 to $1,099. That likely puts the Air beyond many student budgets.. There’s also last year’s M4 MacBook Air to consider. It can usually be found for less than $1,000 at Amazon. Right now, it’s selling for $899.. With M4 MacBook Air models still readily available, budget laptop shoppers have three MacBook options.. MacBook Neo and MacBook Air compared. Price $599$899$1,099. CPU A18 ProM4M5. No. of CPU cores 61010. No. of GPU cores 588. RAM 8GB16GB16GB. Storage 256GB256GB512GB. Screen size 13 in13.6 in13.6 in. Screen resolution 2,408×1,506 pixels2,560×1,664 pixels2,560×1,664 pixels. Weight 2.7 lbs2.7 lbs2.7 lbs. Dimensions (HWD) 0.5 x 11.71 x 8.12 in0.44 x 11.97 x 8.46 in0.44 x 11.97 x 8.46 in. Connections USB-C x2, headphoneThunderbolt 4 x2, headphone, MagSafe 3Thunderbolt 4 x2, headphone, MagSafe 3. Battery 36.5-watt‑hour52.6-watt‑hour53.8-watt‑hour. The fact that the price gap between the MacBook Neo and the discounted M4 MacBook Air is greater than that of the M4 Air and M5 Air makes a compelling case for the Neo. The Neo costs $300 less than the discounted M4 Air and $500 less than the $1,099 M5 Air. Only $200 separates the older M4 Air and the new M5 Air.. We don’t yet know how the MacBook Neo with its A18 Pro processor and 8GB of unified memory will measure up to a MacBook Air with an M4 or M5 chip and 16GB of RAM.. I can tell you right now, however, that if you’re a creator who uses photo- or video-editing apps or plan to use Apple Intelligence or run other AI workloads, a MacBook Air is the better choice for the additional GPU cores and greater memory allotment. You’re stuck with the Neo’s 8GB of RAM; the only upgrade offered for it is doubling the storage to a 512GB SSD for $100.. The Neo makes more sense as a MacBook for casual use around the house. Think of it as an oversized, nontouch iPad with an attached keyboard. It will let you browse the web, watch shows and movies, edit photos and videos you took with your iPhone, and respond to texts using a keyboard. It’s also compact and portable, with a lightweight aluminum bo  

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Rabbit’s Cyberdeck is a modern take on a netbook

​When you think of an AI-forward PC, you might think of something like NVIDIA’s $3,999 DGX Spark — a computer with enough computing power to run complex large language models locally. That’s not what Rabbit is trying to build with Project Cyberdeck. Instead, the company’s goal is to produce a device tailored for vibe coding, and Engadget was given an exclusive first look at the upcoming PC. Rabbit began working on Project Cyberdeck after the company’s CEO, Jesse Lyu, saw how much his software engineers were using Claude Code. Lyu thought a small form factor PC, like the netbooks that were popular in the late aughts, with a command line interface would be ideal for on-the-go vibe coding, but when he went online to look for something that fit the bill, he was disappointed.”They all come with shitty rubber dome keyboards,” Lyu says of low-cost PCs like the latest Chromebooks, which use flexible silicone sheets under their keys to save on space and cost. “They’re not something you would enjoy typing on for an extended period of time.” So Rabbit decided to build its own device. For inspiration, Lyu and company looked to an unlikely source: the Sony Vaio P. The Cyberdeck takes inspiration from the Sony Vaio P. SonySony’s netbook was only briefly available from the start of 2009 to about the end of 2010. At the time, the 8-inch Vaio P was the world’s lightest netbook, weighing just 1.4 pounds, but it had a host of issues. It was also expensive, costing considerably more than other Intel Atom notebooks of the time. In 2009, the most affordable Vaio P would set you back $900 (about $1,365 adjusted for inflation). With Project Cyberdeck, Rabbit is aiming for a device that costs about $500, and hopefully avoids a similar fate.I saw a few early renders of Project Cyberdeck, which Rabbit isn’t ready to share publicly yet. Imagine a cross between the Rabbit R1, Vaio P and the original Nintendo DS. It looks cute. All the renders had four USB-C ports to allow users to connect the device to external monitors and peripherals, though the actual IO specs are as-yet undecided. The company is in the process of sourcing components and working towards a final design, so details can — and will — change. I saw some of the parts Lyu has been testing in his office, but no final prototype as such. For one, Rabbit still needs to decide on a chipset. The company is aiming for a performance benchmark relative to the Raspberry Pi 5, which has a Broadcom BCM2712 quad-core Arm Cortex A76 processor clocked at 2.4GHz. With 16GB of RAM, the Raspberry Pi 5 can run two external monitors, a capability Rabbit hopes to match with the Cyberdeck. The idea here is to make a device that’s powerful enough it won’t feel slow when it’s communicating with Anthropic and OpenAI’s servers, but affordable enough to make it a no-brainer purchase for developers. The company confirmed Project Cyberdeck will run Linux. Rabbit will allow users to modify the operating system and install any third  

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Tech

Yeti’s Durable New Portable Power Station Doubles as an Off-Grid Solar Generator and UPS

​Goal Zero’s newest portable power station comes with a more durable build and additional capabilities.  

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Tech

My Favorite Gaming Headphones From SteelSeries Cured My Battery Anxiety

​I’ve used a lot of great wireless gaming headsets, but this pair from SteelSeries helped me stop worrying about battery life, making them worth the high price.  

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Tech

When to Stream ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ on Peacock

​The scary movie arrives in April.  

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Tech

Nano Banana 2: How Much of an Improvement Is Google’s New AI Image Model?

​I edited photos with the original Nano Banana, the pro model and now Nano Banana 2. Here’s how they stack up.  

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