MacBook Neo Real-World Review with Nate Gorby Artwork

Basic AF: a (mostly) tech podcast

Spilling trash, talk, tech, and tea (though Tom says no politics). Plus, games, plenty of Apple tech, or whatever else comes into our heads. It’s a show where we get to hang out and talk tech, talk shit, and have fun every couple of weeks (and sometimes more often - only your podcast app knows for sure). We'll give you the lowdown on the gear we're using, some knowledge bombs to help you use your gear better, and answer listener questions.

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Basic AF: a (mostly) tech podcast

MacBook Neo Real-World Review with Nate Gorby

March 30, 2026 • Tom Anderson & Jeff Battersby • Episode 84

0:00 | 49:56

Nate Gorby is back — and this time he's got two weeks of daily MacBook Neo use to report on. Coming from an M2 MacBook Air he'd already sold, Nate picked up the Neo on day one and has been using it the way most people actually use computers: browsing, email, watching YouTube, light social media, and a bit of writing. No benchmarks, no synthetic tests — just honest, real-world impressions.

The guys dig into the details: battery life, the lack of MagSafe and Touch ID, the physical trackpad experience, speaker quality, the color-matched interface quirks, and whether 8GB of RAM is actually fine (spoiler: it is).

They also cover WWDC 2026 dates, the 26.4 updates, and Apple's decision to discontinue the Mac Pro.

In this episode:

Nate's daily use case: browsing, YouTube, Threads, light writing, some photo editing
The physical trackpad vs. the haptic trackpad on his wife's M4 MacBook Air
Living without Touch ID and why Apple Watch makes it a non-issue (mostly)
No backlit keyboard: why the Citrus color's white keys are a natural workaround
Battery life: good enough?
Why 8GB of RAM is genuinely fine
MagSafe as the one real missing piece
Target now selling the MacBook Neo — and what that means for reaching new Mac buyers
The education discount trick (you didn't hear it from them)
Speaker quality: surprisingly good for spoken word
WWDC 26 announced
26.4 updates now available — keyboard improvements for iPhone
Mac Pro discontinued; the Mac Studio is now the top of the line

Links from the show:

Nate on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ngorby

Nate on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ngorby

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Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen

Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.