The MacBook Neo has taken the PC world by storm by being a well built laptop at an amazing price.

I’ve been burned in the past by the $700 PC that is absolutely trash after a few years.

Apple’s newest laptop is taking shots at every crappy plastic windows laptop and Chromebooks for schools all in one go.

Creators have piled into the mix as well to see what this budget laptop can do.

So does it live up to the hype?

We will touch on pricing, specs, power, who this laptop is for and by the end of this you’ll know if this is the right laptop for you.

If you prefer to watch the video version you can do so here!

Let’s start with the most interesting thing about this laptop. No not the specs, its price!

The base model is $599 and there is one singular upgrade to $699. Education pricing is even better at $499 and the upgrade at $599.

That upgrade bumps the storage from 256gb up to 512gb and gets you TouchID on the keyboard.

My wife is a teacher and of course that meant we got the upgrade version. $599 for that feels like we robbed Apple.

Tim Cook tweeted saying, this has been the most successful week for Mac yet!

The Neo comes in 4 colors including silver, blush(pink), Citrus(dehydrated pee that doesn’t look as bad in person), and Indigo(should be called almost blue)

The Neo is running an iPhone chip. MacOS can run on an iPhone.

This is insane!

It gets the A18 Pro chip out of the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. THAT IS WHAT I CARRY AROUND DAILY!

Now for a potential downside.

You may have heard people talk about RAM and it does only have 8gb but I can’t hardly imagine that matters given the testing that many other creators have completed with this laptop.

Dave2D and MKBHD did some benchmarks, basically the chip is as good as an M1 and in some cases better.

The screen is a noticeable compromise compared to some of the other tech in my house but is a 13” retina display that looks really good upon first glance, but it doesn’t get super bright and starts to look not as good at dimmer brightnesses, at least to my eyes.

It is a resolution of 2408 by 1506 and supports full sRGB colorspace, no P3 wide color or true tone support like on the Air.

Apple claims all day battery life with up to 16 hours, which is 6 hours less than my MacBook Pro but it also weights nearly a pound less…

It is notable that battery life is 6 hours MORE than Apple claims for the iPad or iPad Pros, that comparison is coming up later in this video when we get to should you buy this or not.

The speakers are just ok, it has a two speaker system that I can’t complain about.

The webcam is 1080p, again thats fine, I don’t think that matters either at this price.

The trackpad…Apple has been using force touch for many years now, which simulates clicks with a haptic motor.

That is in everything, the Macbook Air, Pro, now even the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard and of course the separate magic trackpad you can buy for mac desktops.

The Neo uses a multi-touch trackpad that actually physically moves to actuate clicks.

It is good enough and likely a cost cutting measure by apple. It is still miles better than anything windows is doing, but it isn’t as good as their more expensive computers.

I think it is a perfectly fine compromise at this price point.

One more notable item (maybe) is that the keyboard is not backlit.

I rarely use my laptop where this would be an issue and my desktops all don’t have backlit keyboards and guess what, I am still here and they all still work.

So will this.

Cross shop with me for a second.

You might wonder if you should pick this up or the MacBook Air, I think that is going to be the main comparison still.

Maybe?

I think we will have to see how sale prices of the MacBook Air go. If you can still find the last gen on sale under $1000 I think the MacBook Air is still going to be the best laptop for most people, but what do I know?

Apple is going to sell tons of these Neos and they have been selling like hotcakes already.

The Neo and the Air weight the same.

The Air is just slightly bigger in width and depth. In pictures it looks like the overall footprint of the Neo is smaller

Laptop Comparison and Replacements

Let’s compare to the other options I have here:

The last time I spent $700 on a laptop it was a Lenovo Yoga 730 2-in-1It is a bit dated but my still relevant. It has a 13” screen just like the Neo.

I have to plug it in first because it doesn’t run unless it is plugged in.

I bought this machine in 2018 when I was starting grad school. I had traded in a MacBook Pro and did not have a laptop at the time.

I quickly began to dislike almost everything about this computer but the touchscreen.

It has a version of touchID, the keyboard was ok, but the fans were loud, it was really slow and the battery life was terrible.

It lasted maybe 4 years on battery before it had degraded to the point where it had to be plugged in at all times.

The Windows 11 upgrade only made things worse.

This machine exists now for one singular purpose, to interface with my car. VW owners will understand, but the VAGCOM software and cable that I have to clear codes and change setting in the vehicle is windows only.

This is the real computer it is replacing. I’d imagine there are a handful of people who still have very old MacBook Pros or Airs that don’t want to or don’t need to spend the money on a current gen MacBook Pro.

The reality is that the Neo is more powerful than this old computer.

This has a 2.7 GHz, dual core intel i5, wow that takes me back down memory lane. Geekbench single core score of 921 and multi-core of 1843. It had intel integrated graphics…which those always were terrible, there’s no sugar coating that.

It also has 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB hard drive. In that regard, the Neo matches those specs.

It is almost comical the difference, the Neo is in the 3,000’s for single core I’ve seen between 3400–3500 and high 8,000s, 8500–8600 for multi-core.

That is over 100% better single core and over 120% better multi-core, out of an iPhone chip!

Then of course I have an M4 Pro MacBook Pro.

A machine that costs over 4 times as much.

Sure it has a much better screen, more RAM and a better processor, but it is also heavier and bigger to carry around in a bag.

It is much more of a portable desktop than it is a laptop, I couldn’t even think about the 16” version and adding even more weight into my backpack on trips.

Where does this leave the iPad?

Not in a good place in my opinion.

The iPad Air base model costs $599 and when you add the keyboard and pencil Pro its $997 for the 11” model with even less storage.

If you wanted to match the 13” screen size you are at $1247 for an iPad, where my biggest complaint right now is that it doesn’t run full MacOS, despite having a more powerful chip than the MacBook Neo

With the Neo you are getting better battery life in a slightly heavier package, but with that comes a much more capable machine as well.

As far as the iPad has come, if I have to pick one device, it is going to be the Mac.

What is most interesting is this has completely caught windows PC makers off guard.

The Asus CFO is on record calling it a “content consumption” device and positioning the 8GB of RAM as a limitation.

Effectively calling their consumers too stupid to understand that when Apple makes a $600 product it is actually a good product.

The verdict then? If you are on a budget and need a Mac laptop, this is a no brainer.

It is the best built laptop in the price range and performs well above it price category.

If you need more power and would like a bigger screen then the MacBook Air still has you covered, but at a bit of a price premium.

And if you are watching this video or any other tech videos on Youtube, then like MKBHD said, this laptop is probably not for you.

That’s it for this time, get subscribed for more Apple Tech and Productivity articles and until next time.

Later!