The wait for a cheap MacBook for everyday work and entertainment is over. On Wednesday, Apple announced the low-cost MacBook Neo, which is sure to appeal to those who want a MacBook but spend $1,000 or more on a MacBook Air out of reach. The new MacBook Neo starts at $599 (£599, AU$899), and you can get it for $499 with Apple’s education discount.
Taking on Chromebooks and cheaper Windows laptops, the MacBook Neo is not based on the Apple M-series processor, which powers the recently announced Apple MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models. Instead, it uses the A18 Pro chip found in iPhone 16 Pro from 2024. The A18 Pro has a six-core CPU (two cores and four high-performance cores) and a five-core GPU. Compare that to the M5 chip that powers the new MacBook Air: The M5 has a 10-core CPU (four cores that Apple now calls “super cores” and six efficient cores) and eight or 10 GPUs.
No matter what color you choose, the MacBook Neo has an all-aluminum body.
Read more: Everything Apple Announced This Week, From the iPhone 17E to the MacBook Neo
For the lower price, the MacBook Neo has a 13-inch display that’s smaller than the 13.6-inch screen on the much smaller MacBook Air. Still, the size is a nice surprise as rumors were pointing to a 12-inch budget Apple MacBook display. It’s a Liquid Retina display that should look great, with a resolution of 2,408×1,506 pixels. It’s also rated at 500 lumens, so you should be able to use it outside and check what’s on the screen.
The MacBook Neo has a 13-inch display that is slightly smaller than the 13.6-inch MacBook Air.
Not surprisingly, the base MacBook Neo forces you to make do with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of solid-state storage, which is half the memory and storage that Apple offers in the base MacBook Air.
You can’t upgrade the memory, but you can double the storage to 512GB, a $100 upgrade that also adds Apple’s Touch ID to the keyboard. So that’s about the development of Neo.
You can upgrade to a 512GB SSD that includes a Touch ID keyboard, but the MacBook Neo doesn’t offer a keyboard backlight.
The color is not too expensive because Apple offers MacBook Neo in many colors: blush (pink), citrus (yellow) and indigo (dark blue) in addition to the basic silver. The color options are more muted than the bright hues I was hoping to see.
The ports are small and very difficult. Instead of the faster Thunderbolt 4 ports found on the MacBook Air, the Neo offers slower USB-C ports. You get a 10Gbps USB 3 port and a 480Mbps USB 2 port, as well as a headphone jack.
MacBook Neo offers only three ports: two USB-C and a headphone jack.
Another compromise you have to make with the Neo is sure to disappoint students who put off doing their homework until the morning: The keyboard doesn’t have a backlight.
You can Pre-order the MacBook Neo nowand will begin shipping next Wednesday, March 11.
Watch this: The new MacBooks come with M5, M5 Pro and M5 Max chips
First experience with MacBook Neo
CNET was on site Apple launch event of Neo in New York, and we got to spend some time using the new MacBook. It looks and feels like a decided premium compared to most of the Windows competition at its price. The all-aluminum body is lightweight but sturdy, and feels like it will withstand daily use at school or in the office. The four color options all look great, and the keyboards and macOS elements are color-matched.
For those on a budget, the MacBook Neo comes in basic silver.
We’ve seen demos of the A18 Pro chip’s performance, and it really came together in the works, which isn’t really surprising. If you’re a heavy multitasker, looking to do heavy photo or video editing, or intensive gaming or local LLM use, you’ll want to step up to the Air or Pro.
But if your main goal is to do the things you used to do on an iPhone, including working with photos and videos and mobile games, but with a bigger screen, a full keyboard and trackpad, and the availability of the macOS operating system, this is your MacBook.
The Neo seems to be an excellent choice for school and home office/small office users, as a flagship Chromebook. If you’re an iPhone user, however, Neo has a definite edge because you can use iPhone mirroring with Neo. The devices complement each other in a way that you just don’t get with a Windows laptop or Chromebook.
