I would put a newborn in it. But I do like to have newborns facing me so while it's practical I'm not sure I could. Although I think Maclaren actually sell a soft carrycot now? In which case it's ideal. If I had my time again, I would get an XT and carry the baby in a stretchy wrap sling for 4 or 5 months. You will save a fortune.
Ah, just seen that you live on the first floor. I do too, and a maclaren is ideal as I can lift it up easily even with my almost 2 year old still in it. If not, you need somehtig with big bumpy air tyres to get up and down the stairs. We have a Mountain Buggy for big walks and that is also great, but big and much more expensive.

I used it from about 3 weeks. First, I had a huge, deep pram given to us and when I switched to Mclaren, it's true I felt weird about dd facing away from me and that the buggy is quite low. This feeling passed in a few days, though and I'm v.happy with it, although we might get Volo for the summer, as it's much lighter (dd is 14 m).
Techno is quite light, easy to fold, easy to push(in the city).

You can, but that's not to say all of us would iyswim!

I love the techno and we have got one, but with a newborn, their sleep is very very important, and if you don't have something with a bit of suspension (eg big 'air' tyres or at least some bounce in the frame somewhere) they are going to be doing the moro reflex every time you hit a pebble, and it's not fair imo.

(moro reflex is when baby throws its arms up in shock due to some unexpected disturbance)

I really think a second hand pram with big wheels, not necessarily an old fashioned one but anything that can cope with uneven pavemnts etc is a must for the first few weeks if not up to about 3-4 months, till the reflex stops.

plus it'll help them get to sleep when you are out and about. Nothing worse than a sleeping baby being woken by a bump in the road, when the only point of getting off the sofa and going out in the first place was to get them to sleep!!!