9 hours ago
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ZDNET's key takeaways
- A $599 laptop is doable if your education depends heavily on it.
- Aside from completing your homework, the MacBook Neo is an entry to the perks of the macOS ecosystem.
- Still, you shouldn't expect even older MacBook Air-level performance from it.
I didn't have my first truly capable laptop until I graduated from college and could finally afford a 13-inch M2 MacBook Air.
After paying for my tuition, rent, gas, and groceries, there was no way my parents were going to come up with an additional $1,100 for a laptop. So, I was stuck with a hand-me-down HP model that hissed and buzzed like it was on its last legs, couldn't make it through hour-long lectures without an extra charge, and became my trustee hand warmer in the winter.
Also: How to get the MacBook Neo $499 education price - qualifications to know
I graduated from college in 2022, meaning hybrid classroom models, online assignments, virtual lectures, and digital textbooks were the norm, and they still are. An incapable laptop is an insurmountable barrier to a high-quality education; if the newly announced MacBook Neo had existed when I was in college, it would've changed everything.
A summer job price point
The most important thing about the MacBook Neo is its price. You can find a second-hand M2 MacBook Air for as low as $700, but you'll sacrifice a warranty or any guarantee of its performance. The MacBook Neo begins at $599, with the only conditions for a lower price being 256GB of storage and the omission of Touch ID.
I'm confident I could have afforded this price point when I was in college, either by saving up money from my summer job or splitting the cost with my parents. Even with $300 on my parents' end, I could've ended up with a reliable, competent computer instead of the HP they bought for the same amount of money from the neighborhood IT fixer-upper guy.
Good enough performance
The MacBook Neo's A18 chip promises fast UI responsiveness and software load times, making it suitable for most low-stakes daily computing tasks. So, if your degree relies on a digital learning experience that mostly involves writing papers, accessing textbooks, completing online quizzes, watching lectures, researching, and writing online discussion posts, the Neo should do just fine.
Also: Apple's $599 MacBook Neo hands-on: The budget laptop we've all been waiting for?
However, if your homework involves 3D rendering, heavy video editing, animation, pro-level audio editing, or engineering, you may want to invest in a machine with more computing power. If you're heavily constrained by your budget, you might want to consider on-campus computers with editing software and use the Neo for everything else. That's what I would've done.
Ecosystem perks
Aside from the MacBook Neo's use cases for your homework, its place within the Apple ecosystem means it'll work seamlessly with your iPhone. You can hand off apps from your iPhone to your MacBook screen, make FaceTime calls, send iMessages, and use Apple Pay. Additionally, after your homework is done, you can watch videos and movies on its decent-sized 13-inch display, a great option for students short on cash for a TV.
What you shouldn't expect from the MacBook Neo
Ultimately, the MacBook Neo is the most basic, stripped-down MacBook you can buy from the Apple store. Thus, it has the weakest battery capacity (based on specs), display features, computing power, memory, storage, data transfer speeds, audio performance, and charging speeds in the modern MacBook family.
So, you shouldn't expect to do hours of homework each day without frequently charging throughout the week, or the fastest speeds for backups to external hard drives and SSDs. You'll also miss out on Thunderbolt-enabled USB-C ports, a backlit keyboard, a sharper front-facing camera, and True Tone and ambient light sensors that adjust display color and reduce eye strain.
Also: MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air: We tested both models, and here's which one to buy in 2026
Finally, you shouldn't expect an exceptionally powerful audio experience, as the Neo sports only two side-firing speakers and microphones, relying on Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum upscaling software to compensate for the lack of hardware. Also, the Neo doesn't support spatial audio with head tracking, even when connected to compatible Apple headphones.
That's to say, this isn't a laptop that will solve all your problems, but it definitely would make life so much easier if you're a student, especially if you can buy it at Apple's discounted $499 price.
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