Apple’s budget MacBook Neo is here to take on the best cheap laptops and Chromebooks

It’s been rumoured for a long time, but Apple has finally taken the wraps off arguably its most exciting laptop in years.

The $599 MacBook Neo arrives as the most affordable entry in Apple’s laptop range, with a price that’s more in line with the brand’s iPad range – including the new iPad Air M4 – than the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.

This is the first MacBook to be powered by the A18 Pro chip originally made for an iPhone, and, like the iMac, it also comes in a range of fun colours – Silver, Indigo, Blush, and Citrus – that are also a first for a MacBook. Apple has colour-matched the keyboard and feet, giving it a very distinct look.

The A18 Pro chip has a 6-core CPU (with 2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores) and a 5-core GPU, along with ray-tracing support and a 16-core neural engine. Apple will only offer a single 8GB memory option, with storage sizes of either 256GB or 512GB.

Battery life is stated at 16 hours for video streaming and 11 hours of web browsing, and there’s a 1080p camera on the front. Unlike the other MacBook models, there’s no notch, but a bezel similar to that of an iPad. The display is 13 inches, with a 2408 x 1506 resolution and a reported 500 nits of brightness.

The base model ships without Touch ID, although you can pay a little more and get a version with the fingerprint unlock embedded into the keyboard.

Connectivity comes from two USB-C (one is a USB 2 and the other USB 3) ports and a headphone jack, so no MagSafe charging. There is Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 6 though, which is welcome.

MacBook Air Neo Price and Release Date

Prices start at £599/$599 for a model with 256GB storage and £699/$699 for a Touch ID-toting 512GB variant. It can only be selected with 8GB memory, and there’s no 1TB storage option.

This is a breaking news story. We’ll update it as we get more information