Apple MacBook Neo: The affordable macOS laptop we’ve been waiting for?
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Apple has been bombarding us with new product announcements this week, but the latest, the Apple MacBook Neoit’s a lot more fun with a certain edge.
Apple’s laptop pedigree is undeniable, and the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro have both received rave reviews from us in various ways in recent years. Both of those models are upgraded with new processors this year, and you can read more about them in our M5 MacBook Air and M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro articles.
The MacBook Neo, however, is treading ground the tech giant hasn’t walked in over a decade. With a starting price of just £599 for the 256GB SSD model, the MacBook Neo could be the affordable macOS laptop that many people have been waiting for. Like its more expensive stablemates, the Neo sports a traditional MacBook design made of aluminum, and the rounded edges give it a familiar look and feel.
Weighing in at 1.2kg, it’s a go-anywhere laptop that appeals to a wide range of consumers, including students, office workers and those looking for a general-purpose machine for web browsing or casual entertainment. And in order to meet different tastes, MacBook Neo will be released in four colorful episodes (according to Apple standards, at least): Blush, Indigo, Silver and Citrus.
Apple MacBook Neo: Powered by a portable chip
Naturally, the MacBook Neo isn’t as powerful as the new Air and Pro models revealed this week. In fact, it is powered by the phone’s processor, the A18 Pro, which is found inside the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Max.
This may seem surprising, but given that our mobile phones are little laptops in our pockets, it actually makes a lot of sense that Apple could use a new mobile chip to power its more affordable MacBook.
My first impression is that we will need to lower our expectations about performance. However, Apple is sure to have more than enough “power” complaints for everyday tasks such as browsing the web, creating documents, streaming and editing photos. To reinforce this point, it says that the chip is “up to 50 percent faster in everyday tasks than the best-selling PC with the latest shipment of Intel Core Ultra 5.”
Like the MacBook Air unveiled on Monday, the MacBook Neo’s processor has a 16-core Neural Engine that handles AI functionality, including many features that fall under the Apple Intelligence banner. According to Apple, on-device AI workloads are handled three times faster on the MacBook Neo than on the best-selling Intel PC mentioned above.
Apple MacBook Neo: Built into the 13in of its life
The display on the MacBook Neo appears to be very similar to that found on the new MacBook Air, although it is a fraction smaller at 13in, compared to the Air’s 13.6in diagonal measurement. It has fewer pixels at 2,408 x 1,506 but is said to achieve the same maximum brightness of 500 nits while supporting a billion colors. To help the MacBook Neo’s “use it anywhere” nature, there is an anti-reflective coating on the screen.
On the battery life front, Apple quotes 16 hours on a single charge, which is plenty for casual users and enough to see me through the many short trips I take across the continent to cover product launches. And, since the MacBook Neo uses Apple’s Magic Keyboard, I’ll feel right at home typing on it and using its Multi-Touch trackpad. It’s worth noting, however, that only the more expensive of the two MacBook Neo options – which comes with a 512GB SSD – supports Touch ID.
As Apple’s “budget” laptop, one shouldn’t expect too many bells and whistles, but it has the essentials covered in terms of connectivity, cameras, speakers and microphones. There’s a single 1080p FaceTime camera where you’d expect (dead center above the display), a pair of microphones that use beamforming to help improve voice clarity on calls, and two side-firing speakers that support both Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos.
Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 6 allow you to connect wirelessly to a variety of devices, while a pair of USB-C ports and a headphone jack make the Neo portable. Both USB-C ports can be used for charging,
Apple MacBook Neo: When can I buy it?
The MacBook Neo goes on sale officially on March 11th, which is just one week away, but you can pre-order it now. The 256GB SSD model without Touch ID will set you back £599, with the 512GB model with Touch ID costing £100 more at £699.
Two of my friends asked me about buying new laptops this year, and I recommended that they check out Apple’s MacBook range based on how well my trusty MacBook Pro works for me. Ultimately, however, they are put off by the price of new MacBooks and don’t want to go down the refurbished route.
If the MacBook Neo was around then, it might have rocked them. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see how well it performs in our tests, but it’s hard to see the MacBook Neo being anything other than a smash hit.
