After months of rumors, leaks, and speculation, Apple has finally revealed its new affordable laptop: the MacBook Neo.There are some notable downgrades compared to the MacBook Air, but it looks like a fantastic computer for $599, and education customers can get it for just $499.The MacBook Neo shares a resemblance to the MacBook Air, with a similar aluminum design, rounded corners, and a weight of just 2.7 pounds.
It has a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, with a resolution of 2408 x 1506 and a maximum brightness of 500 nits.Most other PC laptops in this price range have 1080p displays, so the MacBook Neo should be a step above the competition.The keyboard layout and touchpad are also similar to the MacBook Air, but with two important differences.
It’s only a “multi-touch trackpad” and not the Force Touch trackpad that Apple has been using on its laptops for years, so you get a physical click mechanism like most PC trackpads instead of the simulated haptic clicks.The keyboard also doesn’t have a Touch ID sensor for biometric authentication, unless you get the higher-end model with 512 GB storage.Face ID does not exist on any Mac computers, so it’s either Touch ID or passwords.
The laptop is powered by an Apple A18 Pro chipset, instead of the Apple Silicon M-series chips found in all other Mac models, or the Intel-based CPUs used before that.That’s the same hardware currently used in the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, with a fully fanless design, but here it’s paired with 8GB of unified memory.Apple isn’t offering any memory upgrades for the MacBook Neo, just the option to double the storage from 256 to 512 GB.
For connectivity, you get one USB 3 Type-C port with up to 10 Gb/s and DisplayPort 1.4 support, a USB 2 Type-C port with up to 480 Mb/s, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.That’s a significant downgrade from the dual Thunderbolt 4 ports on the current MacBook Air, but it also won’t matter to most people—just make sure you plug high-speed devices into the correct port.There’s also no MagSafe charging connector, but you can use either of the Type-C ports for power.
The rest of the hardware includes Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 6, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera (without Center Stage support), dual speakers, and 60GB/s memory bandwidth.It ships with macOS 26 out of the box, with support for on-device Apple Intelligence features.Even with many more limitations than a standard MacBook Air, this could be an excellent laptop for typical productivity tasks.
The main question right now is how macOS performs on an A18 Pro with only 8GB memory—Apple says it’s "up to 50 percent faster for everyday tasks" than a similarly-priced PC laptop with an unspecified Intel Core Ultra 5 processor.We’ll have to wait for long-term reviews, but considering how the 8GB memory M1 MacBook Air is still a decent computer nearly six years after its introduction, the MacBook Neo be acceptable for most workloads.I wouldn’t expect video editing, games, or local AI models to work well, though.
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You can pre-order the MacBook Neo starting today for $599, and the option to double the storage and add a Touch ID sensor is $699.If you’re a teacher or student, Apple’s educational discount drops the base model to just $499.Source: Apple Newsroom
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