MacBook Neo costs only 579 francs
Apple has unveiled a new budget MacBook. The Neo is based on an iPhone chip and should offer sufficient performance for office applications.
With the MacBook Neo, Apple is launching a new office laptop for those on a tight budget. At 13 inches, it is slightly smaller than the MacBook Air, has an iPhone chip built in and costs 579 francs or 699 euros in the cheapest version. Compared to more expensive MacBooks, you make sacrifices in terms of performance and connections - but not in terms of workmanship.
iPhone chip and 8 GB RAM
The core of the MacBook Neo is the A18 Pro. The chip originally comes from the iPhone 16 Pro from 2024 and has 6 CPU cores and 5 GPU cores. The performance is roughly on a par with the M1 from 2020, which means the MacBook Neo is aimed at people who mainly use their computer for web browsing and office applications. Apple specifies a battery life of up to 16 hours of video streaming, two hours less than the MacBook Air.
In keeping with the low price, there is only 8 gigabytes (GB) of RAM. No more can be configured. You can upgrade the basic 256 GB SSD to 512 GB for an additional 100 francs or euros. The new MacBook Air comes with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD as standard. However, it costs at least 1049 francs or 1199 euros.
The 13-inch LCD display offers the same image quality as that of the MacBook Air. Its resolution is 2408 × 1506 pixels, which corresponds to a pixel density of 219 pixels per inch. The backlight without local dimming achieves a maximum brightness of 500 nits. Only a display with 4K resolution and up to 60 hertz is supported externally, but you can still operate it in parallel with the laptop display.
Colourful aluminium unibody, few connections
The design of the Neo is the same as all other MacBooks. Despite its lower performance, the budget laptop is slightly thicker (1.27 × 29.75 × 20.64 cm) than the Air (1.13 × 30.41 × 21.5 cm). But at 1.23 kilograms, it weighs exactly the same. In terms of materials and workmanship, the aluminium unibody is no different from its larger siblings. The available colours are «silver», «pink», «citrus» and«indigo».
Source: Apple
There are differences in the connections: The two USB-C sockets on the left-hand side do not support Thunderbolt. One of them offers USB 3 with 10 Gb/s, the other only USB 2 with 480 Mb/s. There is a headphone socket on the right. MagSafe is missing, so you have to charge the Neo via USB-C. Apple does not use its own N1 for the wireless chip, but probably an older Mediatek chip. Accordingly, only Bluetooth 6 and Wi-Fi 6E are available.
The MacBook Neo will be available to order shortly, with deliveries starting on 11 March.
My fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.
From the latest iPhone to the return of 80s fashion. The editorial team will help you make sense of it all.
Show all