The MacBook Neo is essentially the M1 MacBook Air all over again. That laptop changed the game in 2020 and became the default choice for anyone wanting a great all-around thin-and-light laptop for around $1,000. The M1 Air remained so good that Apple kept selling it until last month. Now, the Neo takes its place as Apple's cheapest laptop, starting at $599. It offers enough power for everyday tasks, lasts all day on a charge, and is designed to attract students and first-time laptop buyers into the Apple ecosystem. And it will succeed.
The Air is still better than the Neo in almost every way, but even the base MacBook Neo is good enough to be the go-to Apple laptop for many people. Actually, it's not just the go-to Apple laptop; the Neo's hardware simultaneously outclasses an entire range of affordable—and even far pricier—Windows laptops, as well as almost any Chromebook. And it runs on an iPhone chip.
Design and Build
The Neo's design is familiar yet refined. It shares the same 2.7-pound weight as the 13-inch MacBook Air and feels solid in hand. The chassis is available in four color combos, though the colors are not as vibrant as some might wish. The 13-inch IPS LED display with 2408 x 1506 resolution is vivid, bright, and pleasant to look at. It even gets bright enough for comfortable outdoor use in all but direct sunlight. The speakers sound full for their size and can fill a small room with music, though they lack the bass and loudness of pricier MacBooks. Still, they are much better than typical speakers found in cheap or midrange Windows laptops. Be mindful that grabbing the sides of the Neo may muffle the audio.
Keyboard and Trackpad
Typing on the Neo feels similar to other current MacBooks. Key travel is not as deep as on some Lenovo or Asus keyboards, but it's not as shallow as the butterfly-switch era MacBooks. A downside is the lack of keyboard backlighting, though three of four color combos have bright, near-white keycaps that help a tiny bit. The 1080p webcam produces sharp, clear images even in low light, but lacks the higher resolution and Center Stage auto-framing of newer MacBook Airs and Pros.
The Neo's most impressive hardware compromise is its mechanical trackpad. It lacks Apple's Force Touch, but that feature is rarely used. Instead, the trackpad clicks anywhere—corner to corner—just like Apple's haptic trackpads. It feels similar, with a slightly chunkier click sound and a smaller surface area. This trackpad sets the bar for mechanical trackpads, easily outclassing the stiff, piano-key-style hinges found on many other laptops where the top third doesn't even click.
Performance
The MacBook Neo zips through light workloads. The A18 Pro chip outperforms Apple's M1 MacBook Air in single-core processing benchmarks, which is vital for everyday productivity tasks like web browsing and working on Google Docs. The Neo's 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage are adequate for these uses, but the machine shows its limits when pushed. For instance, clicking the Applications folder on the dock sometimes takes a second for icons to populate. The relatively small RAM and storage prevent the Neo from handling heavier creative apps as well as MacBook Airs and Pros. Think of the Neo as more suited for Canva and CapCut than Photoshop and Premiere.
In a stress test with over 60 Chrome tabs across four desktops, along with Slack, Signal, Steam, Messages, and Apple Music running simultaneously, the Neo slowed considerably. It also struggled with Lightroom Classic editing of 50-megapixel RAW files, requiring multiple turns of the spinning beach ball of death. However, for its intended audience—students making presentations or office workers handling documents—8GB of RAM is sufficient.
Battery Life and Charging
The Neo's battery life is excellent. In typical usage—web browsing, messaging, streaming music, and occasional video calls—it lasted just under nine hours with the screen at 75% brightness. That includes a 40-minute Google Meet call and nearly two hours of Apple Music. Windows laptops offering similar battery life often have bigger batteries and cost more than $599. Apple includes a 20W USB-C charger in the box, but the Neo can charge at up to 30W with a higher-wattage adapter. Charging from zero to 50% takes about 45 to 50 minutes, and another hour to reach full. The included charging cable is annoyingly short at five feet.
Ports and Connectivity
The Neo lacks MagSafe and offers only two USB-C ports—one 10Gbps USB 3 and one USB 2.0—both on the left side. They are unmarked, which is confusing, but the USB 3 port is closer to the hinge. Plugging an external monitor into the front port triggers a notification. Either port can be used for charging. The Neo also has a 3.5mm audio jack, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 6. The lack of a wider port selection may require dongles or adapters for many users.
Pricing and Upgrades
The base $599 model comes with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. For $699, you get double the storage and a Touch ID sensor in the power button—a worthwhile upgrade, especially with a student discount. Apple no longer offers a 16GB RAM option on the Neo, which is disappointing two years after making it standard on other MacBooks. However, for the target audience, 8GB should be fine.
There will always be cheaper laptops than the MacBook Neo, but finding one that is cheaper and better—or even the same price and better—without major compromises is difficult. If you need more RAM, a better screen, a faster processor, or more ports, the Neo is not for you; the Air and Pro are better suited. But for students and laptop newcomers seeking an easy-to-use, reliable machine, the Neo is the new default recommendation. It won't last as long as an Air with more RAM, but its lower price makes it a great on-ramp to the Apple ecosystem. Most people don't want to spend $1,000 on a laptop, and Apple now has the perfect machine for that crowd.
Source:The Verge News