There’s been a lot of discussion over the past year or so of the base MacBook being revived.
For my thoughts on what it would entail, I’m around 95% sure they won’t use the 2015 MacBook design (the one with the single USB-C 3.2 gen 1 port that wasn’t even Thunderbolt capable, the horrible even for 2015 480p webcam, and horrible butterfly keyboard that Apple never could fix from breaking), but I think some people, not me, did like the wedge design of the M1 MacBook Airs.
What has been rumored a lot recently is that this “MacBook” would use the A series SoCs instead of the M series SoCs usually used for Macs (as well as iPads) but would cost less. How much less would that be? As a cheaper option, it could work. A $699 MacBook with the A18 Pro SoC, 16 GB of unified RAM, and 512 GB of storage would be pretty compelling for many on a budget. Unfortunately, this is why I think the MacBook isn’t going to be the home run people think it might be. It will likely either be too expensive for what is dropped, it will be to close in price to the MacBook Air, it will be held back too much, or all of the above. (And because Apple still ships 256 GB SSDs on their base MacBook Airs.)
As somebody who has no interest in modern Macs, I’m wondering if anybody has any thoughts on this “MacBook”.
Not hyped at all. MacBooks tend to be expensive, and even if Apple releases one around the $600 range, upgrading the SSD will significantly increase the overall cost. In 2025, 256 GB of SSD storage is simply not sufficient for a laptop.
From a profit standpoint, the A-series MacBook doesn’t seem like a smart move for Apple. Despite its lower price, most consumers will likely still opt for the MacBook Air over the A-series. We’ve seen a similar trend with the iPhone SE — although it featured an older design and was cheaper than the base iPhone 12, only a small fraction of buyers chose the SE. Many preferred to stretch their budget and purchase the iPhone 12 instead.
I agree unfortunately. Even if they kept the insane SSD upgrade prices but made it so they could be upgraded post purchase, I’d argue it wouldn’t be a huge deal. But yeah, that’s why I don’t think it would do well unless it had at least 512 GB of storage and 16 GB of RAM for no more than 750 USD.
I would like to see them bring back the older 11” MBA mentality, a super small yet full feature laptop that can fit in any bag. I think a 12” 16:10 retina display with a squished down keyboard layout like the iPad Pro 11 Magic keyboard. Power it with an A18, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD with a free year of iCloud+ 200GB subscription. All that starting at $600 with options for 16GB RAM or 512GB SSD at $100 each. So $800 for the full 16/512GB option.
That gives you a $600 option that slots in right around the 11” iPad Air but without a touch screen and with a keyboard. Its a solid step up from the base 11” iPad in terms of performance and functionality and if you included the iPad keyboard, the price isnt too far off but the 12” MacBook doesnt have touch.
If you upgrade the 12” MacBook to 16/256GB to match the entry level MBA then its $700 vs $1000. You save $300 for a weaker smaller device. And upgraded to 16/512GB you save $400 which would be a significant amount for anyone looking for a portable device but not the most productivity.
I personally would be interested in a device like this. I think it could take some market away from anyone who uses a Chromebook as a secondary device, that’s me. I have a 16” laptop and I had an iPad as a portable secondary device. But the productivity of iPadOS compared to a more desktop like OS like ChromeOS (I actually run Linux a lot on my Chromebook) was substantial for me and I didnt use my iPad as a true tablet very often. If I was shopping between a $350 iPad, a $450 13” Chromebook, a $600 iPad Air, and a $600 12” MacBook, well I might actually just splurge for that 12” MacBook just because it’ll be a nicer full desktop experience. Plus savvy shoppers know that the resale value of any MacBook if far greater than any Chromebook, so you’d probably break even if you sold it in a few years.
And you get that pricing ladder game that Apple loves to play. You start with someone looking for an iPad, Chromebook, or a cheap laptop with a $500 budget. But at just $600 you can get the 12” MacBook. Oh but its only 8/256GB and its really not that much more for the 16/512GB model at $800. But at $800 you might as well snag a 13” MBA when its on sale for $800. But that 13” MBA only has 256GB SSD, so you should really look for a 16/512GB 13” MBA which you can find on sale for $1000. Now all of a sudden your budget just double as you played Apple’s game and climbed the ladder.
There are several problems with this approach. First of all, 8 GB of RAM in 2025 is going to have serious issues with modern macOS. If you run even a few Chrome tabs or use “Apple Intellegence”, you’re going to have a bad time with just 8 GB of RAM. Given Apple has moved to 16 GB of RAM on all of their Macs, including the cheaper Mac Mini, this will likely not happen.
As for the pricing ladder you mention, unfortunately, this might be why it won’t be viable for most people. Once you upgrade anything like the RAM or SSD, you’ll be in MacBook Air territory, and that will likely be a no brainer in this theoretical market.
Well it happened. The MacBook Neo is here. What do you think?
As far a 8/256GB goes, my wife’s base M1 MBA is still going strong all these years later. Spec for spec, the Neo seems like it will have similar to M1 performance.
Price is right on where I was hoping, just no option for a 16GB upgrade. Maybe that was a calculated decision, or maybe they were forced into that decision with the current RAM crisis.
Yeah there are quite a few. Especially later in the year as sales start to pop up more. I think a head to head comparison with some of the Omnibooks and Yoga 7s in this price range would be an interesting video. I suspect the conclusion will be that the windows laptops are better in performance numbers and functional utility, but the neo will be better in terms of form, fit, and finish. I think for many practical savvy buyers there are a number of windows options that are better. But just like in the Apple vs Android world, there are plenty of $800 Android phones that are better than the base iPhone every year and yet plenty of people buy the base iPhone just because its Apple. At least here in the US. Apple doesn’t need to be competitive at a price point to win, it just needs to show up at that price point and not be total garbage…sadly…
I have to be honest, it’s too expensive for all of the compromises it makes. If it was $399, which is something I would highly doubt Apple would ever do, especially with the RAM pricing surge, maybe, just maybe, I could see a use case for it. But when you have all of these compromises, even $699 seems to high.
Unfortunately, I think it is total garbage. Especially with that 8 GB of RAM only. You’ll be using swap so much I’d be surprised if they SSD isn’t at least heavily degraded within 5 years…
I personally think that if you only have enough money for the MacBook Neo, you should look at the second hand market.
Yeah I agree. At $599 and $699 it is not competing with Chromebooks. There are some Chromebooks in that price range but those are for ChromeOS enthusiast. I think most people buy Chromebooks in the $300 range, especially the cheap ones they use in schools.
At $599 even with a discount to $499 (university employee), this will not replace my Chromebook as my secondary device.
I wonder how many school districts will switch from Chromebooks to Neos. I suspect not many just bc of the price but I know nothing about how superintendents think. My brother’s school district has MacBooks in high school (they’re fancy) so I imagine the Neo will be a great way for them to save money when they next upgrade. But I cant imagine my kid’s district upgrading their $200 Chromebooks to this $599 MacBook.
For college, I think most students will still have the MBA. But I wonder how many parents that use an MBA as their personal computer will buy a Neo as their kid’s first computer. I have MBA friends that know nothing about computers, like not a single spec. They just buy the base MBA every 5 years and have done so ever since they went to college. I can imagine those people getting their kids a Neo.
The problem is that it really feels like something that might not last 5 years. At best, it will, but will feel slow by the end and become aggravating to use. At worst, it won’t.
I have to be honest, it’s too expensive for all of the compromises it makes. If it was $399, which is something I would highly doubt Apple would ever do, especially with the RAM pricing surge, maybe, just maybe, I could see a use case for it. But when you have all of these compromises, even $699 seems to high.
Ironically, I think the Neo would sell better outside of the US; markets where retailers aren’t so willing to heavily discount Windows laptops by up to 50%.
For example here in Indonesia, the Neo would probably end up starting at 12 million Rupiah ($700) for the base 8/256 model, 13 to 14 million ($800) for 8/512.
But while in the US you could find laptops like the Yoga 7 for the same price as the Neo,
here you’ll never get a Yoga for the same price as a Neo, rn here the cheapest Yoga 7 is 15.7 million ($929)
