Trevor Long reveals the the Mac Book Neo for under $1000

From the latest gadgets to the tech, shaping our everyday lives, he tests it, travels with

it and tells it's right. Australia's leading tech expert Trevor Long, this is Tech Talk

on Triple N.

And here he is off the back of the Grand Prix. I know you're a big car man mate, what

did you think about the race on the way again?

I was gutted, I just can't talk about it after Oscar, you know, bend it with a hook

turning Melbourne, who would have thought. Yeah, I was gutted. In fact, I was down there.

I left halfway through the race because I just wanted to beat the crowds and I didn't

feel the excitement of the race after Oscar was out. So it was a good weekend but disappointing

in the end. But we got this week at China to make up for it.

Well, that is very true. Can I just ask very quickly as well mate, when you did crash

out, did the crowd just go completely dead essentially? Is that what happened?

Well, it's fascinating. It wasn't quite completely dead because no one was paying attention.

It was a formation lap. It was 20 minutes before the Grand Prix. So most people at that

time are getting their last drink, you know, getting, kind of getting settled for the

race. You're not actually paying attention. So it actually spread through the crowd like

a rumor. And then it was just, you know, hands over faces and shock. It was, because

maybe 70% of people there had some sort of McLaren or Oscar merchandise on. It was phenomenal.

Yeah, I can tell on the TV. It was either Orange or Green and one techie question around it

with the electric or the hybrid engines they're doing this year 50, 50, 50. What's the

noise levels like? Is it a bit lower than what it used to be? No, I think the actual one

there, when they're screaming past, it's the same as last year, which by the way, is still

nothing like the good old days of V10 and V8 engines. But when the race is starting, like

when they're doing their starts, it's a very weird, unusual sound like we've never heard

in motorsport before. So fortunately, on balance, it's pretty much the same for sound.

But hopefully we get some, hopefully we get those first 10 laps of racing again, every

race. Yeah, 100% that was epic. Now, mate, I've got to ask you about Apple because they

did a drop during the week. And it's actually pretty damn interesting. I guess we'll talk

about the new iPhones to start with. Is it the E-Rage, the 17 E? That's right. So last

year, they introduced this 16 E at 999. And this year, it's simply a follow up with an

upgrade. So, but it's, it's critical because it's double the memory, which is great. So

same price, 999, double the starting memory. It's got a better process. There's some more

power, a better AI, all those kind of things. And has their mag safe, the magnetic attach

wireless charging, which is a great feature. So it kind of now doesn't have much that it's

missing other than cameras. It just has the one camera. And a lot of people do think

they want more cameras. And that's why they buy the more expensive phones. But for 999,

on balance, it's an amazing value iPhone. And it's aimed at people who still have an

old iPhone, an iPhone 7, 8, 10, 11, that now is getting on. Battery is probably struggling.

Performance is probably struggling. This is a brand new iPhone. It's going to last another

five or six years easily, but it's only 999. So on value, it's $400 cheaper than the

iPhone 17. The 17 is pretty good bang for your buck. From a camera point of view, do you

know that is it all lens or is it more software that makes a good photo with the iPhone?

Well, you get pretty good pictures from this new one. You will get great pictures from

this one. It has a 40 out of me because people want to call fusion camera. So quality

is excellent. But what you get if you want that to zoom, you're actually just cropping

in on a photo. So really, it's just a one lens, shoot them up, do your best. It's great

quality. But for one lens, there's no wide angle. There's no zoom. So it's a good camera.

Don't get me wrong. It just lacks some of the extra features of a more premium smartphone

and bang for your buck, even at that price. If you want to switch to Android, there are

sub $1,000 phones that have many more cameras and features than this. If this is really

only good value in the Apple ecosystem, gotcha. But talking about good value, right? So

these Apple Macbook Neoes have actually caught my eye. I've been thinking about buying

a laptop. Is it worth buying something like this?

Cannot wait to get my hands on it and properly test it out. But honestly, this is a remarkable

thing from Apple. For years, people would say, I really want a MacBook or my kids want

a MacBook. Mate, the cheapest MacBooks, the MacBook Air, which is now $17.99. At best,

it's been about $15.99. But the new one with the new chip is $17.99. And so now I can

say to you, sure, there's a MacBook. It's called the MacBook Neo $899. That is just to

be clear, if you haven't been listening for the last three minutes, folks, that's cheaper

than their cheapest iPhone. So it comes in a range of colors. It has the performance of,

it actually has the chip, the processor of an iPhone 16 Pro. And look, I don't know

yet, but I suspect it won't be good at video editing or audio editing or photographic.

But I think for the average user school, note taking, spreadsheets, word documents, browsing

the internet, all those other things are amazing. Yeah. I think it's, I think it's going

to change the laptop industry generally. I look forward to your review review on this

when it comes out properly. Because as a guy who does a lot of video editing and audio

editing, that's in particular what I would want to use it for. So it will be interesting

to know if you can do these things efficiently. And look, comparatively, they did announce

a new MacBook Pro with their new M5 Ultra and Pro chips. But just to be clear for people

that don't know about video, if you really want to speak up at a laptop, you could spend

$11,000 on a MacBook Pro. Now that will make a Hollywood movie. But for $900, am I prepared

a way to bit longer for my video to export? I think I am. Yeah, I think I can handle that

for the real right? Exactly. All right, Trevor, that's awesome. I really look forward

to getting your full review on that one as well. Because I will be a purchaser. Thanks

for your work. As per usual, we'll do this again next week.

Cheers, mate. Talk to you then.