Apple has today announced the release of a new budget “MacBook Neo” costing just $599/£599 for the base model.
That’s half the price of new M5 MacBook Air announced yesterday and marks a major milestone in Apple moving into the budget laptop market.
The $599 model comes with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM and the $699 model comes with 512GB, 8GB of RAM, and includes Touch ID.
In the US (possibly other regions too), you can also get a $100 educational discount making the base model $499 – which could be a Chromebook killer in the classroom.
Some are even calling it a MacBook Air killer!
It’s powered by an iPhone A18 chip (the same as the iPhone 16 Pro) so don’t expect Apple Silicon M-series chip performance, but it’s the price that will grab all the headlines.
Here’s what else we know about the MacBook Neo:
- Apple claims the A18 chip is 50% faster than a PC using an Intel Core Ultra 5 chip
- 8GB will be the maximum amount of RAM you can add
- 13 inch Liquid Retina Display with a resolution of 2408 x 1506
- Brightness support of 500 nits
- No backlit keyboard
- Is optimized for use with Apple Intelligence
- Connectivity isn’t great. 2 USB ports: One USB 3 port that supports charging, 10GBps transfers and DisplayPort support. One USB 2 port that only supports 480Mbps (we’re not sure why they couldn’t have just added two USB 3 ports?).
- Only supports one external display up to 4K and 60Hz
- Supports sRGB display color gamut but not P3
- 1080 pixel webcam
- Side mounted speakers supporting Spatial Audio
- Available in 4 colors: Silver, Citrus, Bush and Indigo
- No MagSafe charging which is disappointing but charging should be possible with any USB-C charger via the USB 3 port.
- 16 hour maximum battery life
- Pre-orders are available from today with the official launch on March 11th
The announcement follows yesterday’s big news with new M5 MacBook Air and MacBook Pros announced along with a new refreshed Apple Studio Display 2 and a new Apple Studio Display XDR.
You can pre-order the MacBook Neo from Apple here.