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Apple has announced a brand-new, low-cost laptop, the MacBook Neo. Starting at $599, it is Apple’s most aggressively priced MacBook ever, and it sports an Apple A18 Pro chip, like the one the company used in its iPhone 16 Pro smartphones.
This is a dramatic shift for Apple. Although the company has long prioritized affordable computers in its lineup, including entry-level MacBook models and the similarly affordable desktop Mac mini, the MacBook Neo is by far Apple’s most aggressively priced Mac yet, given its $599 starting price and all-in-one laptop form factor.
The MacBook Neo is made from recycled aluminum and features a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with a maximum brightness of 500 nits. The LED-backlit panel has a resolution of 2408 x 1506, which equates to 219 pixels per inch. Apple notes that it supports a billion colors and the sRGB color gamut.
In many ways, the MacBook Neo looks like the rest of the company’s laptops. It has a Magic Keyboard and a large Multi-Touch trackpad, it includes optional Touch ID, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, and promises good-quality audio input and output via dual mics and dual side-firing speakers. The new laptop is 1.27 centimeters (0.5 inches) thick and weighs 1.23 kilograms (2.7 pounds).
As for connectivity, there are just two USB-C ports, neither of which supports Thunderbolt. One port is a USB 3 port (up to 10 Gb/s) that supports charging and DisplayPort. The other USB-C port is just USB 2, so it can charge and transfer data relatively slowly (up to 480 Mb/s). There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack. As expected, external display support is not too crazy here. The MacBook Neo supports one external display up to a native resolution of 4K at 60Hz. The USB 3 port supports native DisplayPort 1.4.
The biggest question of all will come down to performance. The A18 Pro, which Apple debuted in 2024 to power the iPhone 16 Pro, proved capable in the iPhone, but a Mac is a different beast. Apple has never put an A-series chip in a Mac before. Still, the company promises that with the A18 Pro, “MacBook Neo can fly through everyday tasks, from browsing the web and streaming content, to editing photos, exploring creative hobbies, or using AI capabilities across apps.”
“In fact, it’s up to 50 percent faster for everyday tasks like web browsing, and up to 3x faster when running on-device AI workloads like applying advanced effects to photos, compared to the bestselling PC with the latest shipping Intel Core Ultra 5,” Apple adds.
Thanks to Apple Silicon’s efficiency, the MacBook Neo delivers up to 16 hours of battery life on a single charge. While real-world results may vary, Apple’s battery life figures often reflect typical use: web browsing and video streaming at 50 percent display brightness.
Speaking of intense tasks, the A18 Pro has a six-core CPU with two performance cores and four efficiency cores. The chip has a five-core GPU, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and a 16-core Neural Engine. Memory bandwidth is relatively low at 60GB/s and the chip supports 8GB of RAM. It will be extremely interesting to see how the MacBook Neo handles photo and video editing tasks.
In any event, regardless of performance, photographers seeking a low-cost MacBook will need to keep the Neo’s ports and storage situation in mind. Storage starts at 256GB and tops out at just 512GB, and the faster USB-C port is still just USB 3. These could be limiting factors.
“We’re incredibly excited to introduce MacBook Neo, which delivers the magic of the Mac at a breakthrough price,” says John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering.
“Built from the ground up to be more affordable for even more people, MacBook Neo is a laptop only Apple could create. It features a durable aluminum design in four beautiful colors; a brilliant Liquid Retina display; Apple silicon-powered performance; all-day battery life; a high-quality camera, mics, and speakers; a Magic Keyboard and Multi-Touch trackpad; and the intuitive and powerful features of macOS. There is simply no other laptop like it.”
No matter how MacBook Neo works for photographers, Apple’s affordability mission is a great one. As prices on nearly everything increase, a more affordable MacBook series is great news for many, especially students and families.
Pricing and Availability
The new Apple MacBook Neo comes in just two configurations. The entry-level one ships with a Magic Keyboard without Touch ID and a 256GB SSD for $599. The higher-tier option adds Touch ID and doubles the storage to 512GB. Otherwise, both laptops are identical; they each have the same A18 Pro chip, unified memory, and ports. Education prices start $100 lower in both cases.
Both versions are available in four colorways: blush (pink), indigo (navy blue), citrus (yellow), and silver, with color-matched keyboards and trackpads. Not only is MacBook Neo the most affordable MacBook yet, but it is also the most colorful.
The MacBook Neo is available to order now, and deliveries begin on March 11.
Image credits: Apple
English (US) ·