Apple unveiled the MacBook Neo on Wednesday, its cheapest laptop starting at $599 ($499 with education discount), undercutting the M5 MacBook Air by $500. Featuring an iPhone-derived A18 Pro chip and compact design, it targets students and casual users competing with Chromebooks and budget Windows PCs, though with feature trade-offs. Preorders are live, shipping March 11.
The MacBook Neo caps a busy week of Apple announcements including the iPhone 17E, M5 MacBook Air and Pro, refreshed displays, and M4 iPad Air—all available for preorder with March 11 shipping.
Priced aggressively to capture educational and budget markets, the 2.7-pound 13-inch laptop matches the Air's weight but offers vibrant colors: blush (pink), citrus (yellow), indigo (dark blue), and silver, versus the Air's more subdued palette.
Key specs include the A18 Pro chip (six-core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores, five-core GPU) from the 2024 iPhone 16 Pro, 8GB unified memory (60GB/s bandwidth), and 256GB storage (upgradable to 512GB for $100, adding Touch ID). It supports Apple Intelligence but trails the M5 Air's 10-core CPU, up to 10-core GPU, 16GB+ RAM (153GB/s), and 4TB max storage.
The Liquid Retina display (2,408x1,506 resolution, 500 nits brightness, sRGB) is slightly smaller/lower-res than the Air's 13.6-inch P3 True Tone panel. The 1080p webcam lacks Center Stage/Desk View (Air has 12MP). Audio features dual speakers with Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos (no AirPods support, unlike Air's four-speaker system). Battery is 36.5Wh for 11 hours web/16 hours video, shorter than Air's 53.8Wh (15/18 hours).
Ports: 10Gbps USB 3, 480Mbps USB 2 (both USB-C), headphone jack; no Thunderbolt 4 or MagSafe (uses 20W adapter). Keyboard is non-backlit Magic Keyboard with multi-touch trackpad (no Air backlighting/Force Touch).
Hands-on at the New York event praise its premium aluminum build, outperforming price rivals for everyday tasks like browsing, media, light editing, photo/video work, mobile gaming, and iPhone mirroring—ideal for school/small office. Heavier multitasking or pro workloads favor the Air.
