The Colorful MacBook Neo Is Apple’s Cheapest Laptop Ever

After a week of merchandise announcements—starting with the iPhone 17e, a refreshed iPad Air, and souped-up MacBook Pro models—Apple has unveiled a caller class successful its laptop lineup for the archetypal clip successful a while: the “MacBook Neo.”

Positioned beneath the MacBook Air arsenic an entry-level machine, this caller MacBook is the astir affordable laptop the institution has ever made, with a starting terms of $599. While it's been imaginable to bargain a caller MacBook Air astatine little prices—like the 2020 M1 MacBook Air Apple sold for respective years for $699 exclusively done Walmart—this is officially the cheapest MacBook retired the gate.

Aside from the price, its attack to colour besides makes it unsocial among the different MacBooks successful Apple's lineup. You person respective bold colour options, including Silver, Indigo, Blush, and Citrus. The colors harken backmost to the iBook G3 of yesteryear and are akin to the existent iMac design. While determination are respective colour options for the MacBook Air, they are overmuch much subtle.

Despite its price, Apple isn't appearing to chopped corners connected the screen. With a solution of 2408 by 1506 and up to 500 nits of brightness, Apple boasts that it is “both brighter and higher successful solution than astir PC laptops successful this terms range.” There's a 1080p camera, 2 USB-C ports, a Touch ID sensor, side-firing speakers with Dolby Atmos, and a headphone jack.

The MacBook Neo makes immoderate concessions to deed its assertive terms though. It's powered by the A18 Pro chip—the aforesaid processor wrong the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. Yup—you work that right. iPads person utilized Mac chips for years, but present a MacBook is utilizing an iPhone chip. Still, this processor should present much powerfulness than the archetypal M1 spot successful the MacBook Air. Apple claims the spot gives the MacBook Neo up to 16 hours of artillery life. That's little than MacBook Air oregon MacBook Pro.

The usage of the iPhone spot means this MacBook besides means that it lone supports 1 outer monitor. While Apple doesn't see it successful the main assemblage of its property release, successful the notes astatine the bottom, it's specified that investigating was done connected a configuration with 8 GB of unified representation and 256 GB of storage.