My Thoughts on the MacBook Neo

Posted on Mar 9, 2026, by sirkorgo

Apple had it’s recent announcements of a whole barrage of stuff. We got refreshed MacBook Pros, Airs, iPhone 17e, and a new MacBook, the MacBook Neo.

It’s intended to be Apple’s “budget” laptop. While $599 USD sounds pricey, you have to consider there’s the education discount (which apple DOESN’T check for) that brings the laptop down to $499. But that still might sound pricey to some. Personally, I think you’re getting a LOT for a $499. Most laptops at this price range typically have horrible build quality, bad displays, speakers, and Windows, oh boy I absolutely HATE Windows.

Windows, in my experience, runs horrible on lower-end laptops due to the lack of optimization the amounts of bloatware Microsoft shoves down users’ throats.

With the MacBook Neo, you get a really nice build of a laptop, a 13 inch screen, an A18 Pro chip with 8 GB of RAM.

Yeah… an iPhone chip with 8 GB of RAM doesn’t sound too good.

But you can’t just look at the specs on paper. This iPhone chip is the same one used in the iPhone 16 Pro, and it’s surprisingly powerful along with the “limiting” 8 GB of RAM.

And here’s where the market Apple is targeting. They’re not trying to target gaming or professional users, they’re trying to target people who just want a keyboard, touchpad, and a nice display to take notes in class, watch movies, do work meetings.

Some folks will see this and think, “Well my Windows laptop for the same price with more RAM and better storage and better-“

When someone says that, they’re missing the point of the laptop. Sure the same price of a Windows laptop COULD get you more, but you have to consider that Windows laptop probably isn’t gonna last that long. Horrible update support, bad build quality, and I can assure you the display and speakers WILL be bad.

But what about gaming? It’s not for that. Macs aren’t for gaming. The demographic Apple is targeting likely isn’t gonna be playing much games or at the most Roblox, or Minecraft.

Which run FINE on iPads and iPhones with probably more constrained specs than the MacBook Neo.

To sum up everything I said, I think the MacBook Neo is a good laptop for anyone who genuinely doesn’t care about performance and just wants a high quality laptop for cheap that can play movies, take notes, and join meetings. If you wanna game, edit videos, or do anything intensive, then this laptop probably isn’t for you.