The MacBook Neo is weird.

It's not often that Apple releases a new

type of MacBook, but today we got the

MacBook Neo, which is a completely new

budget laptop that costs just $600.

However, after taking a closer look at

this, I found a lot of things that Apple

did not initially tell us. And just as

much as the MacBook Neo does really

well, there's an equal number of caveats

that explain how Apple got it down to

this price in the first place. So, is

the MacBook Neo the perfect budget

laptop, or does it ultimately fall

short? Let's find out. Okay, probably

the thing that surprised me the most is

the design. It's actually new and

different. It's not a recycled look that

we've seen from them before, and it's

made of aluminum, not plastic, as there

was some fear that Apple's cheapest

laptop wouldn't feel premium. It's a

nice metal laptop that comes in some fun

colors. And Apple has also color matched

things like the keyboard to the color as

well. So, depending on which color you

choose, the keyboard is different on

every model. However, this keyboard also

comes with a few big asterisks. For

starters, it's not back lit. So, if you

plan on using the MacBook Neo at night

or in dark environments, it's not going

to light up like all of Apple's other

laptops. And if you zoom in a bit on the

top right, the base $599 model does not

come with Touch ID. You'll actually have

to go in Apple's configurator and pay

$100 more to add a Touch ID key to the

keyboard. Now, to be fair, the 699

MacBook Neo also adds double the

storage, going from 256 to 512 GB, and

that is the only spec option you can

choose on the Neo. The RAM you cannot

adjust. It's 8 GB on every model. And

aside from color, that's the only

customization. Below that, Apple has

also made similar cuts to the trackpad.

In size, it looks a bit smaller compared

to other MacBooks, and it does not have

haptic feedback or pressure sensitivity.

All other laptops that Apple has made

since 2018 have supported haptic touch

where you can do that hard press to do a

certain action. The MacBook Neo doesn't

have that, which sure is definitely a

bummer. But of all the cuts Apple made

on the MacBook Neo, removing haptic

feedback from the trackpad, that's one

that makes sense to me. Next up, the

display also has some interesting

compromises. So, it's a 13-in liquid

retina panel, and all that means is it's

an LCD display with rounded edges. So,

the contrast, the vibrance on here isn't

going to be out of this world. It's an

sRGB panel, so it doesn't even support

the P3 wide color of Apple's other LCD

displays. And while it only goes up to

500 nits of brightness, it's still high

resolution, it's still going to be crisp

and clear, and for a $600 MacBook, I

actually don't have a problem with the

display at all. I think it's fine.

However, when it comes to connecting

MacBook Neo to an external monitor, it's

not as simple. It only supports a single

monitor at a time and it only goes up to

4K at 60 Hz, which unfortunately means

you can't use the MacBook Neo with any

of Apple's 5K studio displays or in fact

any of the monitors that Apple sells,

which definitely seems like a bit of an

oversight. Actually, where I've noticed

some of the most brutal cuts are with

the IO over on the left side of this

product. So, you get two USBC ports

here, but neither of them are the

ultraast Thunderbolt ports. And while

the first port is USB 3.0 0 speeds. The

second one is only USB 2.0, which is

incredibly slow. And if you plan on

transferring files on this product, you

probably don't want the Neo in the first

place. Apart from that, the only other

IO on this is actually a headphone jack,

but it's placed in a really weird

position. It's really far down on the

left side. So, I do think that plugging

in headphones could be a bit strange.

While on all other MacBooks, it's placed

right next to the USB port. My guess is

it might have to do something with the

new speaker system on the MacBook Neo

because it's different than any MacBook

before. See, usually the speakers are

flush with the keyboard and sound shoots

up at you like this. But the MacBook Neo

is equipped with sidefiring speakers

where sound goes left and right away

from you. And I have a feeling that just

physics would make this sound worse than

the other option. But to be fair, Apple

says the MacBook Neo still supports

spatial audio, so I don't think it'll

sound that bad. Now, even though the

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part of the video. Now, let's get back

to it. Although, honestly, set all of

that to the side, there's one part of

this MacBook Neo that I am fascinated

by, and that's the processor that Apple

has chosen. See, the MacBook Neo has an

iPhone chip inside. It uses the A18 Pro

from the iPhone 16 Pro series. And while

initially this would make it sound like

the MacBook Neo just isn't that powerful

or capable, that's not the case at all.

When you compare the A18 Pro to

something like Apple's M1 chip, it's

nearly better in every way, and it's

based on a far more modern 3 nanometer

architecture, so it supports things like

native hardware ray tracing out of the

box. I also believe it's the key

component that has allowed the MacBook

Neo to exist at $600 in the first place.

Apple's M series chips can be incredibly

pricey and the new ones are very

complicated. But the A18 Prochip on the

other hand has been around for a while.

The supply chain is built out. Apple has

some previous stock they probably want

to get rid of and it is produced in way

higher quantities than the M series

chips, allowing Apple to keep their cost

down. I also think Apple using an iPhone

chip is genius because of the battery

implications here. And Apple says the

MacBook Neo is rated for up to 16 hours

of continuous video playback. For

context, that is only 2 hours less than

the MacBook Air rated at 18 hours for

the same benchmark. And the MacBook Air

again is nearly double the price as

this, which is wild because I would have

assumed that battery would be the first

place Apple made cuts in order to get

you to spend more money on a MacBook Air

or a MacBook Pro. But no, the MacBook

Neo 16 hours of battery is ridiculously

good for the money. Because let's be

real, the money is always what matters

the most at the end of the day. And I

have two closing thoughts on this

MacBook Neo. The first is the price of

$599

being an absolutely objectively great

value for what you are getting here. Not

to mention, if you're a student or

educator, you can get the MacBook Neo

for $100 less starting at $499, which is

the most insane deal on a new Apple

product I would say ever. As for my

second thought, uh, how does the iPad

make sense anymore with this MacBook Neo

existing? Like again, to reiterate, a

$600 MacBook Neo comes with an A18 Pro

chip, a 13-in display, a keyboard, and a

trackpad, as well as multiple ports. On

Apple's website, you literally can't do

the same with an iPad. You start with

the base iPad, it's 3.49, but then you

put it up to the 256 storage, that's

$4.49. And then you add the Magic

Keyboard Folio and you're looking at a

$700

product with an older processor. But

things get even more out of control when

you do this with the new iPad Air.

Because when you spec this with the

equivalent 256 GB of storage, you're up

to $6.99 and that's before you add the

Magic Keyboard. Guys, when you throw the

Magic Keyboard on the iPad Air, you go

up to $968

out the door for an iPad. And now you

can buy a MacBook for $300 plus dollars

less. Listen, the point I'm trying to

make here is that the MacBook Neo, spec

for spec, is a better value than I think

any other Apple product the company has

ever released. This is a $600 MacBook

that has more capable software than any

iPad and comparable hardware to any

other MacBook. Even with some of the

questionable cuts Apple made to get this

down to $600, I don't think the MacBook

Neo has an Achilles heel. And if I was a

Windows laptop company right now or a

Chromebook manufacturer, I would be

terrified because within 2 years,

there's not going to be a single person

that should or will be choosing a

low-end PC over the $600 MacBook. And I

think down the road we will look back at

this moment as an inflection point when

Apple finally cracked the low-end

market. Something they have historically

had trouble in. They don't like to make

cheap products. And this is a cheap good

product. Except for the name. I hate the

name MacBook Neo. Why did they call it

Neo? That's so bad. We should go back to

the drawing board there. Anyway, I hope

you enjoyed this video or you learned

something new. If you did, drop a like

down below and hit subscribe for more

videos like this. I've been Sam. I'll

talk to you in the next video. Bye-bye.