US EditionI Love the MacBook Neo and Its Wild Colors — but Apple Missed a Big Trick with the iPhone 17e
Apple's MacBook Neo uses the iPhone 16 Pro's A18 Pro chip to offer a $599 laptop for students and workplaces, $500 cheaper than the MacBook Air with some feature tradeoffs.
- On March 4, Apple unveiled the MacBook Neo with a $599 starting price, and the laptop went on sale this week following the announcement.
- Designed to undercut rivals, the Neo is $500 cheaper than the MacBook Air and competes with low-cost Windows laptops and Chromebooks for education and workplace use.
- Apple equipped the Neo with an iPhone-derived A18 Pro and pared back premium Mac features like keyboard backlighting, Touch ID, MagSafe, Thunderbolt, and a 13-inch display with thicker chassis.
- Bundled with iPhone integration, the Neo's pricing could pressure low-end PC makers like Acer and Samsung, as college students can now buy an iPhone and a MacBook together for $1,098.
- During its product week, Apple announced 10 new items, including a Studio Display XDR and the MacBook Neo in four colors, three exclusive to Neo.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Hands-on: This hub fixes the MacBook Neo’s biggest limitation
Apple’s new MacBook Neo is one of the most exciting and disruptive products Apple has released in years. Starting at just $599, or $499 through the education store, it delivers incredible performance and build quality without much compromise. You get a laptop that looks, feels, and performs like a true Apple laptop. But like many Apple products in 2026, it lacks a variety of ports. I would argue that customers used to this price range expect mor…
Best of 9to5Toys – This week’s top deals: MacBook Neo, new MacBook Pro, Pixel Watch 4, more
Good morning and welcome to Best of 9to5Toys Weekly – a one-stop shop for all of the week’s best deals on Apple gear, Samsung and Android tech, accessories for smartphones and Macs, intelligent household upgrades, and even deals to update your wardrobe. This week’s lineup include a giant Google Pixel sale, MacBook launch week deals – up to $320 off Air, $200 off M5 Pro models, and Neo from $569, more – as well as the M4 iPad Air launch deals at …
4 MacBook Neo productivity apps you need to try right now
This week, Apple’s newest laptop, the MacBook Neo, went on sale. Reviews of the device have been almost universally positive, with many praising the laptop’s starting cost of just $599—a price point few expected Apple would ever reach for a notebook computer. Apple is clearly positioning the affordable machine as a productivity device for use in two main areas: education and the workplace. Indeed, imagery on the MacBook Neo’s product page featur…
Apple has expanded its notebook catalog with the MacBook Neo, a computer that is positioned as a new gateway to the Mac ecosystem. After spending a few hours with it, the feeling it leaves is that of a laptop designed to like it from the first moment. I have not had time to test its performance in depth, but I do have time to look at aspects that are often the ones that really mark the daily experience such as design, construction quality, scree…
The MacRumors Show: MacBook Neo First Impressions
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss first impressions of the MacBook Neo, Studio Display XDR, and iPhone 17e. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Following its announcement last week, the MacBook Neo arrived this week. Unlike every other Apple silicon Mac, the MacBook Neo is powered by the A18 Pro chip originally developed for the iPhone 16 Pro, making it the first Mac to use an iPhone-class proce…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
