The MacBook Neo is a laptop in the MacBook series that is developed and manufactured by Apple Inc. It is the first Mac to use an A-series chip found in the iPhone rather than the M-series chips found in other Apple silicon Macs. The MacBook Neo is positioned as the entry-level MacBook, situated below the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. It was first announced on March 4, 2026, and released on March 11, 2026. It is currently the cheapest laptop Apple sells, with a starting price of US$599 for regular buyers and US$499 for students.
Overview
Apple introduced the MacBook Neo as part of its March 2026 product launches on March4, 2026.
It has been posited that the strategy behind the MacBookNeo centers on mainstream users and students, offering an accessible and affordable device within the
Apple ecosystem According to an Apple marketing executive, the name "MacBook Neo" was chosen to feel fun, friendly, and fresh.
The MacBook Neo is the least expensive laptop that Apple has ever sold, with a starting price of US$599 and US$499 with education pricing. Pre-orders began at launch, with general release beginning on March11, 2026.
The MacBookNeo's name and model identifier (A3404) was accidentally revealed a day early by Apple when regulatory documents for the MacBookNeo were published on Apple's website.
Specifications
Design
The MacBook Neo features an aluminum body design like the
MacBook Air models,
a Liquid Retina display with black, uniform bezels. It is therefore the first MacBook since the 2022 13" M2 MacBook Pro to have a notchless display. It is available in four colors: Silver, Blush, Citrus, and Indigo.
The keyboard and feet are color-matched to the chassis.
|
|
| | Silver |
| | Blush |
| | Citrus |
| | Indigo |
Hardware
The MacBook Neo features a 13-inch
Liquid Retina display with a resolution of 2408×1506 and has a ppi of 218. It has two
USB-C ports (one USB 10Gbps with support for DisplayPort 1.4, and one running at USB2.0 speed), a headphone jack, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 6.
It uses an AppleA18Pro chip (previously used on the iPhone 16 Pro),
and has 8 GB of unified memory (not upgradeable), shared between the six CPU cores (two performance, four efficiency) and five GPU cores. It is the first publicly available Mac released with an A-series SoC rather than an M-series chip since the transition to Apple silicon.
The 256 GB base models ships without
Touch ID with a lock button in place of the fingerprint scanner; the 512GB model includes TouchID.
It can run one 4K display at 60 Hz (such as Apple's Studio Display at a scaled resolution).
Because the Apple A18 Pro is an efficient low-Watt SoC, the MacBook Neo relies on passive fanless cooling and runs completely silently.
Performance
Early performance tests done by
Digital Trends show that the MacBook Neo outperforms the M1 Macbook Air with
Geekbench results scoring 3,461 points in single-core and 8,668 points in multi-core tests, with a Metal score of 31,286 points in graphics benchmarks.
The MacBook Neo also outperforms the M3 iPad Air in single-core tests.
A photographer and video editor tested the MacBook Neo during professional workflows, and concluded that: "Editing 4K video on this computer is totally fine, even with every other app running."
Technical specifications
Software
The MacBook Neo initially shipped with
macOS Tahoe 26.3.1. A day-one update, 26.3.2, was released exclusively over-the-air for the MacBook Neo on March 10, 2026.
Repairablity
A report by
iFixit found that the MacBook Neo is Apple's most repairable laptop in 14 years, highlighted with a screwed-down battery tray, lack of parts pairing, screwed-down keyboard, and modular ports and speakers.
Timeline
Notes
External links
