We haven’t been short of new announcements and products to write about this week. Mobile World Congress (MWC to friends) was taking place in Barcelona, which saw several key products unveiled, from Honor’s Robot Phone to a new processor for wearables that will extend battery life, offer better performance and speed up charging.
But away from Barcelona, back in Cupertino, Apple has also got in on the announcement action. The company not only revealed the iPhone 17e to replace the iPhone 16e at the beginning of the week, but it also announced a new iPad Air running on the M4 processor, a new MacBook Air running on the M5 processor and two new MacBook Pro models running on the M5 Pro and M5 Max processors.
None of those were anywhere near as exciting as the announcement it made in the middle of the week, however, where it shook up the budget laptop market with the reveal of the MacBook Neo. This colourful little number is the cheapest MacBook Apple has ever offered, sliding in at just under £600, or under £500 if you have access to the education discount, making it considerably more accessible.
IMAGE CREDIT: APPLE
What’s the catch?
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shocked when I found out the price of the MacBook Neo. I was expecting Apple to pitch this cheaper MacBook around the £800 mark, shaving off a couple of hundred pounds compared to the MacBook Air but ultimately still being too expensive for many to justify. When I learned it was half the price of the MacBook Air, I was genuinely thrilled.
The MacBook Neo features a similar design to the current MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models with an aluminium unibody, but, wait for it, it comes in colours. There are four to choose from including Citrus (yellow), Blush (pink), Indigo (navy) and Silver – I’m all about the Blush because it reminds me of the 12-inch Rose Gold MacBook I had back in 2017 and I miss that little guy.
IMAGE CREDIT: DAVID PHELAN
The display is slightly larger than that model at 13-inches, meaning it is marginally smaller than the MacBook Air and the base level MacBook Pro. It’s an LCD panel, like the MacBook Air, with the same peak brightness of 500 nits, though it doesn’t have Apple’s True Tone technology. There is also no backlight behind the Magic Keyboard and the Touch ID fingerprint sensor that can be used for Apple Pay and authenticating passwords is only available on the 512GB model.
Speaking of storage, the MacBook Neo comes in 256GB or 512GB models, both of which have 8GB of RAM. In terms of power, the A18 Pro runs the show, which is what you’ll find on the Apple iPhone 16 Pro so it should be more than capable of everyday tasks from emails to browsing the web, but it’s not as powerful as the M series of chips on the company’s other MacBook models, or iPads like the iPad Air and iPad Pro.
IMAGE CREDIT: APPLE
Elsewhere, the MacBook Neo has two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack, but no MagSafe charging. Battery life is a little shorter than the MacBook Air at 11 hours web browsing compared to 15 hours on the Air. There’s a slightly lower camera offering with the Neo not featuring Centre Stage technology that you’ll find on the Air and Pro.
Ultimately then, there are a couple of compromises as you would expect, but this is a significant launch for Apple. It makes the MacBook accessible to a far wider selection of people, from students to those who just need an everyday laptop for life admin. Of the seven announcements Apple made this week, the MacBook Neo is the one I’m looking most forward to using.
IMAGE CREDIT: APPLE
Apple MacBook Neo price and availability
The MacBook Neo is available to pre-order from 4 March, with availability starting 11 March. As mentioned, it starts at £599 for the 256GB model, while the 512GB model costs £699.
