This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
MacBook Neo is Apple’s entry level laptop. | Image by Apple
Apple is not famous for its cheap products, which is why the launch of its new low-end laptop is very unusual. Priced at $599, or $499 for students, the MacBook Neo is far cheaper than any other entry-level MacBook in recent history.
That price is made possible by a swath of compromises, which made many tech heads very mad about it. Shortly after the announcement, an army of tech bros felt it necessary to explain how bad the MacBook Neo is and why people should definitely buy some other laptop. While backed by some facts, all those complaints only showed that the tech heads got mad for the worst reasons possible.
Yes, it’s a very basic laptop
The greatest complaint about the MacBook Neo is that it features an A18 Pro chipset with 8 GB of RAM that cannot be upgraded. That’s far from Apple’s best MacBook processors, and it’s not even its latest smartphone chipset. Compared to the M5 chip inside the recently announced MacBook Air, or even some older M-series processors, it’s a noticeable downgrade.
Recommended For You
People online were quick to say that because of those horrible specs, the MacBook Neo is not worth its price. Of course, they’re right that the amount of RAM won’t serve anyone who wants to edit 4K video, run Docker, or play around on Blender. The processor won’t be capable of running smoothly Cyberpunk 2077 or any meaningful local LLM.
That’s the point of the MacBook Neo, though. If you are doing any of those things regularly, then this laptop is not made for you. You probably already own a far more powerful laptop or desktop computer, and the most attractive part of the new model is its fun colors.
Apple’s goal with the MacBook Neo wasn’t to compete with the recently launched M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros. It’s there to challenge some of the most popular Chromebooks and Windows laptops. It neatly fits as Apple’s most basic laptop at the lowest price possible, and there are many consumers who are going to love it for that.
The perfect budget laptop
Apple is targeting students with the MacBook Neo | Image by Apple
Looking outside the tech bubble, people rarely need that much from their laptops. Probably billions of laptop users use their computers to write emails, browse the web, use a web app or two, watch Netflix, and not much more. For them, having a laptop that can run Chrome smoothly is more than enough, and the MacBook Neo shouldn’t have an issue with that.
What puts the MacBook Neo apart from the vast majority of Chromebooks and Windows laptops in the same price range are the details. It’s light, colorful, and has a great build quality and up to 16 hours of battery life on one charge. All those are things that very few, if any, of its competitors in the same price range can offer. Often, those factors make a budget laptop more attractive to consumers than its processor.
In fact, most of the people the MacBook Neo is made for are likely to never know how much RAM and what kind of processor their laptop has. They don’t follow Apple’s release cycles, and unless their laptop nudges them multiple times, they won’t even update their OS.
What would you change in the MacBook Neo?
The MacBook Neo is made for students that need a basic laptop to do their homework. It’s the computer you buy for your parents or grandparents to replace their ancient laptop that barely works. It’s the simple second laptop for professionals that work in a corporate environment and don’t want to use their company-issued computer for personal stuff.
It’s fast enough
MacBook Neo’s keyboard doesn’t have backlight. | Image by Apple
For those people, the MacBook Neo is more than fast enough. Despite not being the latest mobile chip, the A18 Pro has a performance that’s similar to the M1 chipset, which also started with 8 GB RAM. For Windows users, that amount of RAM would be a pure nightmare, but on macOS it is more than enough for surprisingly many things.
I know that because I’m still rocking a 2020 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro with 8 GB RAM and 512 GB storage. In my usual workday, I have Pages, Slack, WhatsApp, Spotify, and Arc with multiple tabs running simultaneously without any hiccups. I don’t experience any issues doing simple edits in Photoshop, and my only complaint is that after 5 years my battery doesn’t last as long as before.
That doesn’t mean the MacBook Neo doesn’t come with some weird compromises, but those are not related to its specs. I’d pick the lack of a backlit keyboard or the trackpad without any of the Force Touch features I love dearly as disappointing omissions, not the specs.
It will sell like hotcakes
Surely, there are $599 Windows laptops that are larger and probably have better specs than the MacBook Neo, but they certainly don’t feel and look as good. There are also Windows laptops that look and feel the same or even better, but they’re more expensive. And that’s the key to the MacBook Neo’s inevitable success.
If you’re someone who cares about the amount of RAM or whether there’s a USB 3 or Thunderbolt port in your laptop, you probably shouldn’t buy Apple’s new budget device. For anyone else, that’s very likely the perfect laptop. If someone tries to convince you something else, don’t believe them because they’re wrong.
Grab Mint's 3-month 5GB plan for $10/mo!
$10
/mo
$15
$5 off (33%)
Right now, you can take advantage of Mint Mobile's 5GB 3-month data plan at a solid discount. This 'last chance' promo lets you save $5/mo on the plan, making it simply too good to resist for those looking for a reliable and affordable service.
Ilia, a tech journalist at PhoneArena, has been covering the mobile industry since 2011, with experience at outlets like Forbes Bulgaria. Passionate about smartphones, tablets, and consumer tech, he blends deep industry knowledge with a personal fascination that began with his first Nokia and Sony Ericsson devices. Originally from Bulgaria and now based in Lima, Peru, Ilia balances his tech obsessions with walking his dog, training at the gym, and slowly mastering Spanish.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: