MacBook Neo review: features, specs, price

Don’t call it compromised. The MacBook Neo is an amazing new entry point in Apple’s lineup that easily eclipses the base iPad and will be a revolution in the education market.

Apple is no stranger to attempting new and interesting budget products like the entry iPhone 17e or base iPad. While it thrives in the premium market, Apple’s best sellers are at the bottom of the lineup, and that bottom just dropped again for the MacBook.

MacBook Neo is yet another move towards a more affordable Mac that echoes previous attempts, like the iBook. Though, even in 2006, the iBook was a closer relation to today’s MacBook Air than to the MacBook Neo.

Apple has never breached sub-$800 with a new MacBook, let alone $699. Even in today’s money, accounting for inflation, the iBook started at $1,612.

The MacBook Air took on the “entry” model name with its $999 price point, and that position has made it the most popular model. There’s a chance the MacBook Neo will take over that position.

Rumors have come and gone about a new MacBook in Apple’s lineup, especially with the introduction of M-series processors. Many dreamed of a return to the flawed but beloved 12-inch MacBook released in 2015, but with Apple Silicon.

We didn’t get that 12-inch MacBook. Nor did we get a M-series processor, but more on that in a bit.

Behind the scenes, we had a bit of a battle about who was going to review this for AppleInsider, so we compromised. Wes Hilliard wrote the bulk of the text with a great deal of input from Mike Wuerthele, though the section with his name in the header is in his own words.

Let’s dive in.

MacBook Neo review: a new budget entry

The MacBook Neo is Apple’s budget-friendly laptop with a 13-inch display and colorful aluminum chassis. Some features were reduced or cut out to meet the $599 price point, but Apple hopes it will be seen as a fair trade.

The problem with bringing that 12-inch MacBook back is that it was redundant then and would be redundant now. It was simply too expensive to build at that size and still have enough processing power and thermal overhead to work well.

And, at the time, low power-demand Intel processors were crap.

Theoretically, just a few years later, Apple Silicon should have changed that. Price was still a concern. If Apple built the 12-inch MacBook today, it would likely sit above the MacBook Air, which is already a saturated part of the price ladder.

The 12-inch MacBook was a thin engineering marvel that was too slow to use

So instead, Apple has aimed downstream. Apple was clearly testing lower price points since it offered the aging MacBook Air with M1 at Walmart for $799 initially, and then $599 towards the end of that effort.

Those discounted options served as a litmus test for how people would react to an iPad-priced MacBook. The MacBook Air was already Apple’s most popular Mac due to its price, but there was clear demand for a lower-priced model.

And, to much internet sturm und drang, we got one.

MacBook Neo review: features

The MacBook Neo is closer to an iPhone SE in spirit than something like an iPhone 17e or iPhone Air. However, instead of simply being an old model with lesser features, it’s cutting even more corners to ensure affordability.

MacBook Neo review: a keyboard with no backlight

Apple has access to tons of low-cost recycled aluminum, so keeping the premium-feeling material isn’t an issue. The display is also Liquid Retina and exactly 13 inches diagonally.

It’s more-or-less got the same industrial design that was adopted with the M2 MacBook Air. I like its look and feel, but once you start digging into the details, it is truly a wholly new computer.

You’re getting a 500 nit display but sRGB instead of P3 wide color. It does meet Apple’s Retina standard for resolution, but True Tone that helps match paper white using environment sensors isn’t here.

Chances are, MacBook Neo users won’t miss True Tone. It’s a handy feature, but unless you’re directly comparing it to a display with the feature, you’re going to miss it.

MacBook Neo review: Touch ID is only available in the 512GB option

Touch ID is an optional and premium upgrade that is only available in the 512GB option. Those with an Apple Watch can authenticate some interactions from there, but otherwise it’s back to manual password input.

I’m struggling with the 256GB of storage, but only if I try to shove everything I own into the laptop. Realistically, most MacBook Neo users aren’t going to have a problem — especially if they’re using iCloud storage.

It has the older 1080p camera, dual side-firing speakers, a trackpad that lacks haptics, and a keyboard without a backlight. It’s a keyboard that works, a trackpad that clicks, and speakers that sound fine.

Everything lands well above expectations for a $599 laptop. Even when considering Apple standards, these are all specs and parts that were considered premium not all that long ago.

MacBook Neo review: two USB-C ports with USB 3 and USB 2 speeds

There are two USB-C ports, but one is 10 gigabit per second USB 3 speeds and the other is USB 2. I’m glad there are two ports, though the limitations presented by the A18 Pro are evident in their differing speeds.

If you plug in a fast peripheral into the slower port closer to the user, Apple will tell you.

The wireless chip isn’t Apple’s latest N1, but instead one that provides Wi-Fi 6E. It is equipped with Bluetooth 6.

These specs are next to meaningless to those in the MacBook Neo market. Chances are, the buyers of this laptop are still on Wi-Fi 5, and only maybe on Wi-Fi 6.

The battery life is a tad lower than what modern MacBook users might be used to. It is rated for 11 hours of web use or 16 hours of video streaming.

MacBook Neo review: more battery life than you’ll find anywhere in this price class

Apple’s battery life estimates are always a bit extreme based on limited usage. When Apple says 11 hours, they mean something closer to 8 hours of nominal use.

I don’t spend a lot of time away from a charger, but when I did, the MacBook Neo held up fine. I work out in town sometimes and never feel the need to pull out my portable battery or charger.

The MacBook Neo is a series of tradeoffs, at least when compared to more premium models. However, if this is someone’s first MacBook, the feature set is more than competitive in the space.

It’s better to consider it a new bottom rather than a lesser premium model.

MacBook Neo review: design

Every decision that went into the MacBook Neo helped improve margins while keeping prices low. That said, the design is still undeniably Apple.

MacBook Neo review: unmistakably Apple

While the MacBook Neo lacks some of the thinness of Apple’s other modern laptops, its aluminum unibody design is instantly familiar. The rounded edges and super-thin display lid evoke older MacBook Pro design.

It’s not Apple’s thickest laptop for sale today, but it’s certainly not evoking the ultra-thinness of the 12-inch MacBook. It is half an inch thick, which is 0.05 inches thicker than a MacBook Air but 0.11 inches thinner than a MacBook Pro.

The MacBook Neo comes in four colors: silver, indigo, blush, and citrus. The keyboard keys are color-tinted, but don’t have backlight passthrough because there’s no backlight.

The Apple logo on the rear of the display cover is a little different than Apple’s usual glass insert. Instead, it’s cut into the aluminum surface and can sometimes be difficult to see.

MacBook Neo review: performance

The A18 Pro might seem like an odd choice for a Mac, though many nerds online will happily tell you it isn’t without precedent. The Developer Transition Kit housed an A12Z that was first used in the iPad Pro, though this is the first Mac with a purely iPhone chip inside.

MacBook Neo review: nearly identical performance to iPhone 16 Pro Max

Run Geekbench and you’ll get fairly similar results to the A18 Pro iPhone — 3,441 single-core and 8,280 multi-core. It can run any app an iPhone can, so long as it is available for macOS.

The OpenCL score was 19,790 while the Metal score was 31,236.

Though, this is where things get interesting. It is running macOS, which means it can run anything within its limits that a Mac could.

MacBook Neo review: multi-core scores similar too

This processor originally built for an iPhone has access to Xcode, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Finder, and many other apps and tools unavailable on iPhone or iPad. If I want a new screenshot tool or clipboard history app, I can simply download it from the App Store or the web.

My iPad Pro with an M4, 1TB of storage, and tandem OLED display can’t run Xcode, and it has 16GB of RAM.

Even more glaring are the availability of features that should otherwise exist on iPadOS. I can easily manage peripherals in System Settings, Universal Control works via the MacBook Neo, and I can view the desktop in Apple Vision Pro.

MacBook Neo review: gaming works fine, but there are limits

AAA games like Resident Evil 4 can run, and run well with 1080p resolution. Though, at over 66GB on my 256GB SSD, it’s definitely not worth doing. And, you can run CyberPunk on the MacBook Neo, sure. You don’t want to, though.

I tried multiple games like Cult of the Lamb and other Apple Arcade titles. Even Apple’s most budget Mac can handle any App Store game, and that’s a boon for any buyer that might also be a gamer.

I’ll leave testing more Steam titles to those that actually use it more than I do, and Mike uses Steam for his own subset of titles on his Windows gaming PC. This isn’t a gaming laptop, and it is best to stick with what’s in the App Store or less graphically complex indie titles.

Gamers around the web that got their hands on a MacBook Neo couldn’t help themselves. WoW, Minecraft Java, and various Steam games do work, but at bare minimum settings.

MacBook Neo review: good-enough side firing speakers provide decent audio

Rosetta is still present in macOS Sonoma, but don’t count on it for too much longer. Like with any other Apple Silicon Mac, Rosetta is highly performant to the point that users coming from Intel may even notice better performance in spite of the translation layer.

The A18 Pro is a powerful chip, especially when compared to what is used in Windows PCs in the sub-$1,000 range. It isn’t hard to find bottlenecks via pro apps and complex workflows, but most users likely won’t encounter them, or just need patience to overcome them. More on that patience in a bit.

We’ll never know if the A18 Pro was designed with the Mac in mind. It’s still Apple Silicon, that Apple has always said scales fine.

It’s always been ludicrous to cry that “it’s an iPhone chip.” Just because an Apple Silicon chip was in an iPhone, doesn’t mean that it won’t make a good Mac.

A18 Pro is essentially a M1.5 or perhaps an M4 mini, depending on how you want to look at it. Hardware-accelerated ray tracing, improved processing for video streaming like YouTube, and more powerful AI processing make the MacBook Neo a cut above its price competitors.

Display support and resolutions

The default on the MacBook Neo screen is comfortable to view and set to 1408p x 881p. The USB-C port can drive an external display at 4K 60Hz, but that’s the limit of that port.

MacBook Neo review: Virtual Display on Apple Vision Pro works fine

MacBook Neo defaults to 1080p on the Studio Display or Apple Vision Pro Virtual Display. There are more resolutions available, which can make the icons appear infinitesimally small, but I stuck with the defaults.

If you need to play with HiDPI, you can. You just need a third party app like BetterDisplay to do it.

Funny enough, the wide and ultrawide views in Apple Vision Pro are available and fully performant. There’s no port bottleneck here other than losing the high-speed USB-C port if you don’t use a dock. Going ultrawide at 10240p by 2880p is possible, with DisplayPort over USB-C alt mode, all handled invisibly to the user.

There’s a lot to say beyond the specs.

Mike Wuerthele: everybody’s Mac

If you’re reading this, odds are your first computer was 8- or 16-bit. And it was either bought by scraping together your own money or using a family computer.

MacBook Neo review: everyone needs a first computer

Of course, this is a generalization. And if you fit that generalization, odds are you didn’t have enough power for what you wanted it to do.

In my case, it was an Apple II. Muse’s Castle Wolfenstein that I got for my birthday, and some kind of word processor, I forget which as I was 11 at the time, needed more than 32K of RAM. A parent came home with a RAM upgrade, and we were good to go.

The Apple II years were very nearly complete when the old machine was upgraded to that IIe. Fortunately, I got off that train, buying a Macintosh SE 1/20 at the dealership where I worked in 1989.

The larger point is, just about any job can be done on any relatively modern computer if you’re patient enough. You can do 4K editing or even 8K editing on this — as long as you’re patient. I’ll just be faster and more efficient on something more powerful and hugely more expensive.

And that’s really the crux of the matter, right? At some point in our life, what we wanted had to take a back seat to what we could afford. We’ve all gotten the tool that funds necessitated, rather than the perfect tool for the job.

MacBook Neo is Apple’s latest attempt at a budget laptop, and it’s a good one

The MacBook Neo is for you. It’s for everybody that needs a relatively inexpensive Mac to get any job done with patience. Yes, the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are faster, but they’re also notably more expensive.

For some, a $500 Mont Blanc pen is the only acceptable tool to write with. For others, that $1 Bic will do and has to, because that expensive pen makes no sense for them to get financially.

As far as the hardware choices go, the internet drama suggests that a backlit keyboard is a deal-breaker, I say as I type on my external Magic Keyboard at 5:25 AM eastern time, in the dark.

The webcam is fine, and is about what shipped on the MacBook Pro, through 2020. It was fine then, it’s fine now.

With the A18 Pro, this computer was always going to have 8GB of RAM. There were never going to be upgrade options for it.

MacBook Neo review: a laptop for everybody

Obviously, more RAM is better, but in the cost versus what you get debate, the MacBook Neo spits that hair just fine. Final Cut Pro runs fine in 8GB of RAM, Safari runs great, and gaming is fine too. If you need that 16GB of RAM, that’s fine too, just buy something else.

Or ditch your Chrome habit, and stop keeping 100 tabs open. That will work too. Bookmarks exist for a reason, and you’re probably not using dial-up which sometimes necessitated that approach.

There is no one true workflow, despite what some would lead you to believe. The MacBook Neo will accommodate very nearly all of them, with patience.

Wes: challenging the iPad

The first thing I thought about when I saw the MacBook Neo was the iPad. Apple isn’t abandoning the product, nor is it working to merge it with the Mac.

MacBook Neo review: running Pixelmator Pro on iPad Pro and MacBook Neo

The MacBook Neo is proof that Apple plans to keep the categories separate.

For the same $599, you can get either the MacBook Neo or the base iPad and Magic Keyboard Folio. Apple is expected to update the base iPad with an A19 soon, so that will place it more on par, performance and spec-wise.

The difference between the platforms is iPadOS and macOS. One is suitable for education and multi-user environments, while the other is not.

I believe these devices can exist in tandem and do not cannibalize each other. The iPad is still a great option for many users, and since it can be ordered without a keyboard case, it comes in even less expensive.

I think iPadOS is on a collision course with macOS, but not in the way some think. It isn’t that Apple will merge the platforms, but iPadOS will continue to grow and evolve by borrowing from the more established and mature macOS.

MacBook Neo review: iPadOS and macOS won’t merge

The MacBook Neo will never have a removable display that becomes a drawing tablet, while iPad won’t run Xcode. They’re two different platforms that serve different purposes.

If I’m asked to help a parent choose between the iPad and MacBook Neo, I’ll only need to ask a few questions to arrive at an easy answer. For the most part, the iPad will be best until at least high school.

Theoretically, if the household can afford it, the child could use an iPad for several years, get an upgrade by 5th grade, then get a MacBook Neo for high school. The iPad isn’t going to disappear suddenly, so that child could benefit from both platforms.

Apple’s low price points for both make that scenario exceedingly possible. Even after buying two iPads, one Magic Keyboard Folio, and one MacBook Neo across eight years, that’s still less than one MacBook Pro.

MacBook Neo review: the lack of Touch ID on the base model isn’t a problem with Apple Watch

Even more impressive is how easily iPadOS and macOS complement each other while offering totally different experiences. It wouldn’t be hard for a child to take the leap to macOS, especially if they’ve been using iPadOS with a trackpad and keyboard.

I’ve seen a lot of talk about the iPad going away, Macs getting touchscreens, and redundancies in the ecosystem. These are not indications of iPadOS going away, but instead, a sign of Apple’s bigger strategy.

The MacBook Neo all but confirms it.

MacBook Neo review: another rung in the ladder

The lines between iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro blur further with each release. The operating systems work together to present data to the user where and when they need it.

MacBook Neo review: a great entry-level laptop

Each OS feeds into each other without total redundancy or cannibalization. Every product in Apple’s pipeline exists in a way that can’t be replaced 100% by another.

The halo effect has always been a tool that Apple used to get you to buy more. In the ’00s, Apple used it to get Mac users to buy an iPod, and then again an iPhone.

Now, it’s that iPhone that’s the main product, and the Mac is the adjunct. With more products at $599 or less, it’s easier to experience the entire Apple ecosystem than ever before.

There were a lot of naysayers in the beginning suggesting that buying a used M2 MacBook Air is more performant for about the same price. They’re not wrong, but they’re missing the point of the machine.

Big business, and schools, aren’t going to buy used. That’s all there is to it, it’s not more complex than that.

There’s a closer-to-home example. If you’re providing tech support for your mother who doesn’t like tech all that much, buying her used has some perils, not the least of which is that you may not know the history of abuse heaped upon the machine.

MacBook Neo review: a strong first attempt at a budget-friendly MacBook

If you have that M1 or M2 MacBook Air already, you should probably stick with it. The port speeds are better, the monitors are a bit larger, and there are a few other niceties.

If you don’t, though, a MacBook Neo is a great machine at a fantastic price point. And, it’s new and warrantied.

Even if you have a fancy MacBook Pro, the MacBook Neo is a good machine to bang around with, get those emails in the coffee shop, and edit that video.

MacBook Neo review – Pros

• First MacBook at the $599 price point
• Excellent colors, if limited options
• A fair trade of price and feature set

MacBook Neo review – Cons

• Display support and port specs clearly limited by A18 Pro
• Before buying, consider if webcam, keyboard backlight, or trackpad mechanism spec reductions have gone too far
• 256GB storage in 2026 is pushing it, even with iCloud

Rating: 4 out of 5 for the $599 retail configuration, 4.5 out of 5 for the $699 config with Touch ID and 512GB storage.

It’s easy for us to recommend the MacBook Neo for anyone that might need a Mac for cheap. It’s also not the perfect choice absolutely, across the board, for everybody. A little bit more can get you a discounted MacBook Air, or perhaps you might need an iPad instead.

Whatever the case, the 8GB of RAM and various cut corners will be addressed in future revisions. This is an excellent first entry into the Neo product line, and its value will surely only improve.

Where to buy Apple’s MacBook Neo

The MacBook Neo is available now at Amazon, B&H Photo, and Expercom.

You can grab a slight discount on the standard $599 model at Amazon at press time, with a breakdown of available offers in our MacBook Neo Price Guide.