Apple Launches $599 MacBook Neo, Its Most Affordable Laptop Ever, Powered by iPhone Chip
The MacBook Neo uses Apple's A18 Pro mobile processor — a first for any Mac — targeting Chromebook and Windows users with a breakthrough entry price.
Apple unveiled the MacBook Neo on Wednesday, a 13-inch laptop starting at $599 — the lowest price ever for a new Mac — powered by the A18 Pro chip, the same processor used in the iPhone 16 Pro lineup. The launch marked the first time Apple has placed a mobile A-series chip inside a laptop, rather than one of its M-series desktop-class processors.
The MacBook Neo features a fanless aluminum enclosure with a 13-inch Liquid Retina display at 2408-by-1506 resolution and 500 nits brightness. The base configuration ships with 8GB of unified memory, a 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine.
Apple claims up to 16 hours of battery life and up to 3 times faster on-device AI workloads compared to a competing Intel Core Ultra 5 PC laptop. Storage options start at 256GB.
The device is available in four colors — blush, indigo, silver, and citrus — with matching keyboards.
Apple positioned the Neo as its most eco-friendly MacBook as well, citing 60% recycled content overall, 90% recycled aluminum, and 100% recycled cobalt in the battery. The company said it aimed the device at students, families, and new Mac users.
Education pricing starts at $499.
"Built from the ground up to be more affordable for even more people, MacBook Neo is a laptop only Apple could create," said John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. Preorders opened Wednesday alongside the M5 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro refreshes, with in-store availability for all models beginning March 11.
Read the original reporting at Apple Newsroom.
