Review | Apple MacBook Neo review: budget laptop punches above its weight, eyes new market
It looks and feels like a regular MacBook but is half the price, and while lacking a few bells and whistles, the Neo delivers a solid performance
The US$599 MacBook Neo proves it is possible to make a laptop that stays true to Apple’s reputation for craftsmanship, performance and reliability – even at roughly half the price of the popular MacBook Air. With that price point, the company is opening up macOS to a completely new market of first-time buyers who previously could not afford to splurge, or preferred not to.
The Neo is a product that was once unthinkable from a company that spent years panning the idea of netbooks and never bothered to make a budget laptop of its own. But that was before Apple started equipping Macs with its own in-house silicon, upping the ante for what consumers expect in terms of battery life even when pushing these machines to their full potential.
In early discussions of the MacBook Neo, there was a prevailing narrative that the machine was only suited for “basic” tasks such as web browsing, watching videos and writing up documents. But with the iPhone A18 Pro chip, the Neo is capable enough to edit images with Adobe Lightroom.
Even for consumers who stick to more casual computing, the Neo’s aluminium build, crisp screen and well-balanced speakers are going to make this a no-brainer purchase for millions. The device looks, feels and sounds every bit like a Mac.
Still, to reach such a mass-market price, Apple did a substantial amount of cost cutting. Many luxuries that make the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro so pleasant to use have been excised from this new member of the family.
The question is whether most people will care about what has been left out. Here is a list of compromises and differences versus the company’s other laptops.