The MacBook Neo was launched on Wednesday, Apple’s budget-friendly laptop priced at approximately R14,599 in South Africa, offering premium build quality, a Liquid Retina display, and powerful A18 Pro processor, making it the best value in its class. Picture: Apple
Image: Apple
If you’re in the market for a MacBook Neo or any new M5 laptop from Apple, you need to know that they no longer come with chargers.
That’s something unique to the United Kingdom, Europe, and now South Africa.
The reason for this, as cited by Apple, is an effort to reduce environmental waste, but that is quite laughable considering these devices still come with chargers in the USA.
To me, it seems like a shameless cost-cutting measure to produce higher profits outside of the USA.
It means if you purchase the new MacBook Neo, which was released in early March, you will also have to buy a charger if you don’t already have one.
However, with the Neo, its power requirements mean that it can be charged with a low-voltage charger like the ones used for iPhones. These are generally 20W chargers, but will work perfectly without harming the laptop.
The recommended charger, though, is a 30W laptop charger, which will charge the Neo much faster.
However, it’s also worth noting that the Neo is the only Mac laptop that does not offer fast charging.
The workaround with the Neo is definitely manageable, as the rest of the M5 MacBooks will require the more high-powered laptop chargers.
Though it’s always best to use the Apple-specific chargers for their products, there are also cheaper alternatives if you don’t want to pay the hiked-up prices for their aesthetically pleasing offerings.
Brands like Anker or UGreen are a good alternative for under R1000, especially for the higher-powered MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros.