The Neo Effect: How Apple’s cheapest Mac is changing the PC game

The MacBook Neo is poised to be a top-selling laptop in 2026, thanks in large part to its affordable $599 entry price. Despite launching at a more accessible price point than Apple’s $1,099 (though often discounted) 2026 MacBook Air, the Neo makes surprisingly few concessions in terms of build quality. Its design has the same level of precision as pricier Apple products, and we found in a hands-on comparison that it handily outclasses similarly priced Windows laptops in just about every way despite running on an iPhone chipset.

In short, you might want one, or perhaps you already have one. Whatever your situation is, it’s possible that you may also want a couple of accessories to get the most out of your Neo. We have nine recommendations — a MacBook Neo accessory starter kit, if you will — that can help you protect it, customize it, or just use it more comfortably in your day-to-day life.

Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo ($499 for students) has sent shockwaves through the PC ecosystem, and now Microsoft is responding with deals targeting students in the US. A new “Microsoft College Offer” is launching today, which will see the software giant bundle 12 months of free Microsoft 365 Premium and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with select Windows 11 PCs that have also been discounted.

Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo are all participating in this Microsoft College Offer, and Microsoft is even discounting some Surface devices days after hiking the prices of its Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models. Best Buy is selling a 15.3-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x for $499.99, with 16GB of RAM, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X processor, and 256GB of storage. Walmart has HP’s 16-inch OmniBook 3 for $429, with a similar configuration. Amazon, Dell, HP, and Microsoft’s online store will also have similar deals.

If you’re having trouble deciding on a color for a new MacBook Neo, you might not have to choose just one. The folks over at MacWorld found that Apple doesn’t appear to limit the colors of spare parts you can buy for your Neo, potentially allowing you to deck out your indigo laptop with pink-tinted keyboard caps or a citrus green bottom cover.

You’ll have to pay for these spare parts on top of the Neo’s $599 starting price, though. While the bottom case costs $34.32, the keyboard caps are $39, and the top case is $175.12. A replacement for the entire keyboard is priced at $139.92 (with a $29.40 return credit). The MacBook Neo and its spare parts are available in silver, indigo, blush pink, and citrus.

If there’s one thing I know about Microsoft after covering the company for more than 20 years, it’s that it will always respond to a competitive threat. Apple’s MacBook Air convinced Microsoft and Intel to launch thin and light laptops with the Ultrabook initiative, the iPad pushed Microsoft to create its own tablet hardware, and the threat of Chromebooks saw Microsoft try to match the security and simplicity of ChromeOS with S mode versions of Windows.

A history of fast follows (and my own sources) tells me that Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo announcement last month will force Microsoft to seriously improve Windows. A lot of changes are imminent. Barely two weeks after Apple announced the MacBook Neo, Microsoft unveiled a plan to fix Windows 11 that involves focusing on performance, reliability, and the overall user experience.

When the MacBook Neo arrived last month, I knew Windows laptop makers were in trouble. For $599, the Neo offers fantastic build quality and solid performance in a sleek and ultra-portable package. Windows laptops in this price range tend to be ugly, cheap-feeling, and a little slow.

Despite years of rumors, the MacBook Neo still seemed to take the Windows world by surprise. I expect proper competitors to pop up just as soon as the companies can manage, but I wanted to see what the competition in the PC space is like now.

It was a little surprising to see Apple decide to leap fully into the affordable laptop market, to try and compete with devices the company typically prefers to just look down its nose at. It was also a little surprising to see Apple basically nail it on the first try.

On this episode of The Vergecast, Nilay and David get into the weeds on the MacBook Neo, the $599 laptop that appears to tick just about all the boxes of the average $599 laptop buyer. Both David and Nilay bought a Neo this week, so they compare notes on their early tests, briefly get very upset about MacOS Tahoe, and then spend some time wondering why no PC maker seems willing or able to make a laptop this good at this price. After that, they round out the week of Apple reviews — and Nilay comes very close to buying a Studio Display XDR he absolutely doesn’t need.

The MacBook Neo is here, and it took no time at all for an executive from a major PC manufacturer to put their foot in their mouth trying to discuss this new competition from Apple’s $600 laptop. On Asus’ latest earnings call, CFO Nick Wu said that the Neo and its aggressive entry-level pricing were “certainly a shock to the entire market.” Wu also disclosed that Asus had some knowledge of Apple developing the Neo back in 2025, much as many of us had heard rumors of a MacBook with an iPhone chip for months — and yet, Asus and other PC makers seem to have been caught flat-footed.

What’s worse is these company executives don’t even seem to realize what the Neo means. Apple has fully entered the budget laptop space, with an extremely capable (and colorful) device seemingly geared at everything from mainstream Windows laptops to the fleets of Chromebooks in schools everywhere. Apple’s manufacturing might, design chops, and near-total ownership of its tech stack give it the tools to take on this market in a big way. Somehow, the PC makers still don’t see it coming. Here’s how Wu described the MacBook Neo, specifically its 8GB of RAM limitation:

The MacBook Neo is Apple’s newest, most affordable laptop. Our final verdict? It punches way above similarly-priced laptops in terms of design, and the performance isn’t bad either. If you can’t afford the MacBook Air, or you aren’t sure if its extra features or power are worth it to you, the Neo may be a really good pick. This laptop starts at $599, and goes down to $499 if you’re able to get an educational discount.

At first glance, the Neo is not that different from Apple’s other laptops, even if its four colors are more divisive. It features an aluminum design, a 13-inch (2408 x 1506) display, two USB-C ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, and side-firing speakers. You also get a 1080p camera, a multi-touch trackpad, and a color-matched Magic Keyboard (the 512GB model also includes a TouchID sensor). That said, it lacks Thunderbolt ports and MagSafe, which come standard on the MacBook Air.

It’s MacBook Neo review day, so let’s talk Apple’s new $599 laptop. I’m going to host another AMA for Verge subscribers today at 11AM PT / 2PM ET. Like last time, it’ll all take place in the comments section of this post.

What do you want to know about the MacBook Neo? I’ve got the “blush” pink one on hand right now, and I’m happy to answer whatever I can about Apple’s new MacBook with an iPhone chip. I also have the 15-inch M5 MacBook Air and 16-inch M5 Max MacBook Pro review units on-hand too, so we can also nerd out about those a bit if you’d like.

The MacBook Neo is basically the M1 MacBook Air all over again. That laptop changed the game in 2020, and became the default option for just about anyone who wanted a great all-around thin-and-light laptop and could spend $1,000. The M1 Air was good enough that you could still buy a new one until last month. The Neo takes its place as Apple’s cheapest laptop, with a starting price of $599 and enough power to handle everyday tasks and last all day on a charge. It’s designed to entice students and first-time laptop buyers into Apple’s world. It will.

The Air is still better than the Neo in pretty much every way, but even the cheapest MacBook Neo is good enough to be the go-to Apple laptop for a lot of people. Actually, not just the go-to Apple laptop; the Neo’s hardware simultaneously embarrasses an entire class of affordable (and even far pricier) Windows laptops, as well as just about any Chromebook. And the thing runs on an iPhone chip.

The forthcoming MacBook Neo is certainly compelling — at least for the right person. One could argue that buying a last-gen MacBook Air is a better bet in most instances; however, if you’re still sold on picking Apple’s colorful budget laptop ahead of its launch on March 11th, Best Buy is throwing in a $25 e-gift card when you preorder either the 256GB model for $599 or the step-up 512GB variant for $699.

At its core, Apple’s cheapest laptop is all about tradeoffs. For $599, you get a 13-inch aluminum machine with a fairly large bezel around the display, a color-matched Magic Keyboard, a physical (!) trackpad, and a 1080p camera that lacks some of Apple’s newer tricks (ahem, Center Stage). On the side, you’ll find a 3.5mm headphone jack, side-firing speakers with support for spatial audio, and a pair of USB-C ports (one USB 3 and one USB 2), both of which can be used for charging. There are no MagSafe or Thunderbolt ports, though the higher-end 512GB model does include a TouchID sensor for added convenience.

My first thought when Apple announced the MacBook Neo today was “okay, but why not just get an older Air?” If you’re thinking that too, you might be right. If you can find one.

The Neo starts at $599 with an A18 Pro processor, 8GB of memory, and 256GB storage, and ends at $699 with the same specs plus TouchID and 512GB of storage. It has two USB-C (not Thunderbolt) ports, a pretty basic-looking screen, a mechanical trackpad instead of haptic, and various other cost-saving measures. It’s the cheapest new MacBook you can get now.

Apple just announced a new entry-level MacBook that runs on the same A18 Pro chip that launched two years ago in its iPhone 16 lineup and starts at $599. The MacBook Neo features a 13-inch (2408 x 1506) display, 8GB of RAM, 256GB or 512GB of storage, a Magic Keyboard, multi-touch trackpad, 1080p camera, two USB-C ports (one USB 3 and one USB 2), a headphone jack, and new side-firing speakers with support for spatial audio and Dolby Atmos.

It’s available in four colors: silver, indigo, blush, and citrus, each with a color-matched keyboard.

Here is the MacBook Neo, Apple’s new entry-level Mac laptop. Its colorful chassis options easily set it apart from current MacBook Air and Pro models. But the biggest difference is that inside the Neo is an A18 Pro iPhone chip instead of an M-series processor Apple typically uses in its laptops and recent desktops.

The first thing you notice, touching the device, is obviously the colors. They’re not quite as vibrant as the orange iPhone 17 Pro, but the blush and citrus colors (which are more like pink-ish and chartreuse-ish) do look pretty nice. Apple says the keyboards are color-matched, but the effect is pretty subtle on all but the blue — which is called indigo.

On Tuesday, during Apple’s weeklong product launch event, a listing for the “MacBook Neo (Model A3404)” appeared on a regulatory compliance page on Apple’s website under its lineup of 2026 MacBooks. First spotted by MacRumors, the listing appears to be an accident and has since been removed, but may have been a leaked reference to a rumored entry-level MacBook. Unfortunately, it didn’t include any additional details beyond the device’s name and model number.

Apple has reportedly been working on a budget-friendly MacBook priced under $1,000 and powered by an iPhone processor, rather than an M-series chip like the rest of the Mac lineup. It is also expected to have a smaller display, potentially bringing back the 12-inch display size Apple retired several years ago.

Rumor has it, Apple is working on a low-cost MacBook. And not “low-cost for a Mac,” but a proper cheap laptop, possibly as low as $599. For a company that traditionally targets the more premium end of the market, this would be something of an about-face.

Of course, Apple takes great pride in its design and aesthetics. So the company isn’t going to simply take the innards of a MacBook Air, slap them in a cheap plastic case, and call it a day. Instead, Apple is supposedly building a smaller laptop, with a lower-resolution screen and an “entirely new design” around an iPhone processor.

Apple is reportedly working on a low-cost laptop powered by an iPhone chip. This could be a small deal, a decision made by supply chain economics and the fact that the M1 MacBook Air continues to sell well at Walmart. Or it could be huge, a return to form for a company that once seemed to have a clear purpose for each of its devices but whose lineup feels more confused than ever.

We’re hoping Apple picks the latter approach, and we have an idea for what it might look like: the iBook, a laptop line once so innovative that Phil Schiller had to jump off a ledge onto a mattress to prove its technical prowess. We can maybe leave the toilet bowl in 1999, but the spirit of those devices is once we’d love to see come back.