Apple isn't a brand renowned for value. From $200 knitted phone cases to $700 wheels, the company has dropped some truly ludicrous products over the years. Even the recently announced iPhone 17e feels like a stepping stone to a genuinely good deal – the iPhone 17. But the brand new MacBook Neo seems different.
After weeks of rumours, Apple has just announced the curiously named MacBook Neo – and when it comes to price, it's certainly The One. At $599, it represents incredible value, and the kind of price we've simply never seen a MacBook trade hands for. It probably doesn't stand a fighting chance of topping our best laptops for graphic design roundup, but it might still be the best choice for a lot of people.
The 13-inch MacBook Neo features a few obvious immediate trade-offs. No backlit keyboard, no M-Series chip (it's powered by the iPhone's A18), only 8GB starting RAM. Ironically if you're a creative; that is, somebody this very website caters for, this might not be the model for you. The Air and the Pro are going to have you much better covered for design and motion work. For starters, the Neo only supports one monitor.
But for layperson, and particularly for students, it looks like a no-brainer. Speaking of the latter, with Apple's student discount, the Neo comes down to just $499. That's less than half the price of the MacBook Air.
The MacBook Neo with the education discount is $499What an insane deal pic.twitter.com/8biMZUCcmYMarch 4, 2026
And it looks fun! Well, the pink and yellow models do at least. It's not quite the Y2K throwback many were hoping for, but it's the first splash of unmuted colour we've seen in the MacBook line up since, well, the noughties. Not that I have any idea how they think these days, but I suspect young people are going to lap the Neo up. And so, judging by the promo shots, does Apple.
In short, at $500 (or less for students), the MacBook Neo represents a new frontier for the MacBook – a device whose price sits in iPad territory, making it by far the most accessible laptop we've ever seen from the company. Mark my words: this is going to sell.
