The all-new $599 MacBook Neo has been a hit for Apple since the delightful introductory video in March. Now Apple has shared a behind-the-scenes look at how it made the magic.
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Apple has a chip problem. MacBook Neo is selling far better than the company had expected, and now it seems like there aren’t enough binned A18 Pro chips to keep the production run going for another 6-12 months before a new version is released.
Some have floated the idea of Apple axing the 256GB trim, and just using an unbinned A18 Pro chip in the 512GB trim. That’s certainly plausible. I do wonder though, how can Apple prevent this from happening with every forthcoming MacBook Neo?
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Apple has sold through its MacBook Neo inventory for April. The earliest deliveries for new MacBook Neo orders from Apple now quote delivery dates in May.
MacBook Neo’s launch has resembled a flagship iPhone launch more than a typical Mac release. After more than a month since its release, customers continue to purchase the $599 laptop faster than Apple can produce them.
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Even Windows fans saw the MacBook Neo as a stunning buy, with many saying that Microsoft and other brands were going to be forced to respond. Microsoft has now done so – but in completely the wrong way.
Yesterday saw the announcement of some very steep Microsoft Surface price hikes across the full range of models. The 13-inch version matching the MacBook Neo display size has cumulatively seen a staggering 50% increase from its original price of $999 to $1,499 today …
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Last week a new report on the MacBook Neo’s success contained details on Apple’s plan for the product’s successor, and the next-gen Neo already sounds like a big upgrade.
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The MacBook Neo is already available in a fun choice of colors, but some people like to go further by giving their machine a more personalized look.
Some do this with skins, cases, or silicone key covers, but you can switch up the color combo using official Apple parts for as little as $39 …
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In the era of Apple Silicon, MacBooks are more affordable than ever. Nowadays, you can buy a MacBook Air with 512GB of storage and 16GB of memory for $1099 directly from Apple, when such a configuration would’ve cost $1599 just a few years ago. And on top of that, we have MacBook Neo bringing the entry-point down substantially.
Even with Apple’s prices coming down though, there’s still a number of deals to be found out there if you look just a little.
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If you’ve thought the MacBook Neo could be for you, but the 512GB maximum storage size wasn’t enough, a YouTuber may have good news for you.
They carried out a DIY upgrade to swap out the SSD for a 1TB one, which is also faster than the stock one supplied in the device …
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Repairability ratings based on official government criteria in Europe have found that Apple gets the worst ratings for the repairability of both iPhones and MacBooks.
However, in the laptop rankings the MacBook Neo was found to be very much an exception, so perhaps there’s hope for the future …
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I would argue that Apple currently has its best MacBook lineup it’s ever offered. Since the release of the MacBook Neo, they now have a really strong option at every price point. But at the same time, there is a slight awkward issue. The MacBook Neo is now the default recommendation for anyone who just wants a Mac laptop, and if you need Pro-level features and hardware, you go with the MacBook Pro. So where does that leave the M5 MacBook Air? Who is the target customer now? The MacBook Air is no longer the de facto entry-level computer, but it’s also not as powerful as the Pro-level MacBooks, so who should buy the MacBook Air?
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If you’re in the market for Apple’s colorful new MacBook Neo, you might have to wait a few weeks to get your hands on one. Here’s the latest on MacBook Neo availability, and where you might be able to find one sooner.
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The new MacBook Neo has apparently been a smash hit, and Apple will likely talk up its success at its next quarterly earnings call. But, in what can be considered a good problem to have, Apple is facing a bit of a supply chain predicament. Its stock of A18 Pro chips — the previous-gen iPhone processor that powers the Neo — is reportedly running low according to respected analyst Tim Culpan.
One of the ways Apple got the price of the Neo down was by using leftover, binned, A18 Pro chips that were originally destined for life inside iPhone 16 Pro. If it needs to ramp up production again, though, the laptop’s margins will be squeezed.
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I’ve had the MacBook Neo for a month, and it’s been an absolute pleasure to use. The Neo has been one of the more exciting new Apple products in a while. It gives you insane value, amazing build quality, and great performance, especially for the price. But to get the price down to $599, Apple had to make some compromises. To elevate my experience a bit, I added a few budget-friendly accessories that I think anyone can add to their MacBook Neo setup!
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Apple is doubling down on the adorable mini-Finder character it created for the MacBook Neo campaign. Watch the ads here.
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TrendForce has revised its 2026 notebook shipment forecast downward, with Apple standing out as the exception. Here are the details.
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The charging brick that came with your Apple device – or the one recommended by Apple, in the case of iPhones – usually won’t get you the fastest charge. It can be worth spending a bit more money on a more powerful charger.
Conversely, every Apple device has its own maximum charging rate, and buying a charger which exceeds this is just a waste of money …
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As someone who bought my first Mac in 2019 as a young student without much money of my own, the MacBook Neo is incredibly inspiring. When the M4 Mac mini came out towards the end of 2024, I had already felt quite strongly about its potential for inspiring young creatives – and the MacBook Neo takes that much further.
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It looks like Apple is selling MacBook Neo laptops faster than it can make them. Meanwhile, the Mac is breaking records because of it.
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The US has long been an outlier when it comes to Apple’s keyboards, using text labels for things like the tab, return and delete keys. The company has long been using glyphs instead of text for all of its keyboards in the rest of the world.
That has now changed, with Apple switching from text to glyphs in the latest US versions of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, and matching this in the new MacBook Neo. There are some exceptions, however, and a likely practical reason for this …
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Apple created an adorable Little Finder Guy to promote the MacBook Neo on TikTok, and PCalc developer James Thompson turned them into some equally delightful 5K wallpapers.
Three of them are in the classic blue and white color scheme, while two others are rather more colorful …
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Sam Henri Gold last week wrote a rather sweet blog post about the difference between advice from tech reviewers and real-world usage of our devices.
He rejected arguments by reviewers saying that the MacBook Neo is not the right machine for those wanting to do things like video editing, and a new test backs his view …
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In an interesting test, DuckDB’s Gábor Szárnyas compared the 512GB MacBook Neo with a range of cloud servers to see how Apple’s new entry-level laptop performs on heavy database workloads. Here’s how it did.
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One of the biggest mysteries ahead of the MacBook Neo launch was the price. We’d seen various estimates in the $599 to $799 range, and while we’d certainly hoped for that lower-end figure, experienced Apple watchers weren’t necessarily expecting it.
Reaction to the price was universally positive, all the more so as it breaks the $500 barrier for education users. School and college students can buy the machine for just $499 …
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YouTube creator DirectorFeng is back with another ASMR-themed video in which they attempt to upgrade the storage on a new Apple device. Watch it below.
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