I am sure by now, assuming you’re even slightly aware of the tech world, you will have seen the hype about the MacBook Neo – Apple’s first “budget” MacBook. Running on an A18 Pro processor from last year’s iPhone 16 Pro series, everyone in the tech space can’t seem to decide whether they love it, or they hate it. Personally, I think many of these opinions are not accurately considering who this laptop is truly for hence their apprehensions behind recommending it. It obviously isn’t going to be the main workstation of a full-time tech YouTuber, and it isn’t supposed to be.
Coming in Citrus, Blush, Indigo and Silver, this is easily Apple’s most uniquely coloured MacBook. I admit, this is purely why I want one! My Space Black MacBook Pro isn’t feeling anywhere near as fun as the Citrus-cased, white-with-a-hint-of-green-keyboarded MacBook Neo. I don’t need one, but Apple’s marketing has certainly captured my attention! Coming in at just $599 for the base model with 8GB of unified memory and a 256GB SSD, or $699 to upgrade to 512GB with Touch ID, the pricing of this MacBook is Apple’s lowest ever. In fact, with education discount, you can get it down to just $499. It’s for this reason I suspect we will be seeing these laptops across every Starbucks and college campus nationwide.
As mentioned above, I have a MacBook Pro. I admit for what I use my personal laptop for, this is overkill. I mainly bought it because at the time I really felt I needed a 120Hz screen because I was so used to a Windows setup with two high-refresh rate monitors. As it turns out, while yes for gaming and certain tasks my eyes can’t stand 60Hz anymore, for professional work like writing and editing photographs I am much less bothered. Even a MacBook Air would likely be overkill for the tasks I actually complete on it and so with that in mind, the MacBook Neo is likely perfect for someone like me. Assuming you’ve read my about section, you’ll know I work in tech in my day job, so you may wonder why I wouldn’t need a MacBook Pro. The reality is, every job I’ve ever had has provided me with my computer. In my last job it was Windows, hence the two high-refresh monitors and a Windows computer. In my current, they provided me with a MacBook so I don’t need to use my own. In my personal life, my computing requirements are just my hobbies (this blog, researching the latest Apple developments, reading about film photography, scrolling Reddit and basic image editing). I am probably the exact target market for the MacBook Neo, and lord knows their marketing has me hook line and sinker because the Citrus colour is truly calling me.
There’s been plenty of creators who’ve said that the Neo’s A18 Pro chip is not enough for their workflow, and they are probably right. This MacBook is not created for someone who needs to mass-edit video all day, or work with intense photo editing software. Need to edit the occasional 4K video? No problem. But if your job is to do this, you’re obviously not buying a budget grade laptop and hoping to be able to do it effectively. This MacBook is for students, for teachers, for people who just want a machine to surf the web. It’s basically an iPad replacement for people who don’t care for the touchscreen and want something with a physical keyboard and mouse without spending upwards of $1,000 to get a fully fitted out iPad. The proof is in the pudding: the MacBook Neo has sold out everywhere, becoming one of Apple’s most sought after computers ever. This is a big deal for a company who for a long time has felt reserved only for professionals. The budget Windows market has a lot of catching up to do.
In total honesty, if it wasn’t for the reasonable part of my brain telling me it’s a terrible idea, I would buy one today. As mentioned, I don’t need one, I have a MacBook Pro already (an M3 Max, I might add). But the urge for the cutesy green vibe is really calling on me… stay tuned for next week when I write about my bad purchase decisions!
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