Apple launches MacBook Neo, its low-cost laptop at $599

Apple has finally added a new model to its MacBook lineup, a low-cost MacBook aimed at students and first-time buyers. Its name, MacBook Neo, got accidentally leaked ahead of the launch, and the device sits far below the MacBook Air in the price ladder.

John Ternus, who is Apple's SVP of hardware engineering, unveiled the low-cost MacBook at an offline special event in New York. The Apple Store website also went down ahead of the launch, as it always does with Apple product launches.

MacBook Neo lives up to the rumors; it's powered by the A18 Pro chip, which has a 6‑core CPU with 2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, a 5‑core GPU, a 16-core Neural Engine, and 60GB/s memory bandwidth. Considering the price band, it could be seen as Apple's competition to the Surface Laptop Go.

Apple said that "it’s up to 50 percent faster for everyday tasks like web browsing, and up to 3x faster when running on-device AI workloads like applying advanced effects to photos, compared to the bestselling PC with the latest shipping Intel Core Ultra 5."

The device features an aluminum enclosure in Blush, Indigo, Silver, and Citrus options, and offers 16 hours of battery life on a single charge. You can get all the entertainment using the dual side-firing speakers with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos, complemented by a 1080p FaceTime HD camera and dual microphones.

It's fitted with a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with a 2408 x 1506 resolution, coupled with 500 nits of brightness, and an anti-reflective coating to improve the viewing experience. Apple claims that the display offers higher brightness and resolution than most PC laptops.

Among other features, the MacBook Neo comes with 8GB of Unified Memory, a Type-C USB 3 port, a Type-C USB 2 port, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 6, DisplayPort 1.4, and supports one external display at 4K 60Hz.

Apple said that the MacBook Neo is built from scratch to be its "lowest-carbon MacBook." You'll notice design changes, such as the headphone jack being present on the left side of the device, along the two USB ports. It doesn't have a notch like its pricier siblings and has bezels that look similar to the ones on the iPad.

However, it seems like Apple hit people where it hurts the most by not including the MagSafe charging connector. There aren't any reasons to hate the MagSafe connector, which magnetically attaches to the MacBook and makes life easier. It remains to be seen whether it will reverse its decision in the future, just as it added MagSafe charging to the iPhone 17e.

MacBook Neo is now available for pre-order, starting at $599 for the 256GB model. It comes with Touch ID support, but you'll have to leave your pockets behind. Touch ID is available on the 512GB version, priced at $699. The device will start shipping on March 11.

The Cupertino giant has unveiled a stream of new devices over the week, including the iPhone 17e, M4 iPad Air, M5 MacBook Air, Studio Display XDR, and MacBook Pro with M5 Pro/Max chips.