For years, the MacBook Air was the floor of the Mac lineup. A floor at more or less 1,000 euros, which left the affordable laptop market entirely to Chromebooks, Windows and low-cost manufacturers. With the MacBook Neo, Apple is changing strategy. Available from March 11, this laptop is priced from €699 in France, or 400 euros less than the MacBook Air M5 announced yesterday. This is a clear break in Apple’s commercial philosophy because for the first time, the Cupertino company is descending into the field of consumer machines, where it had never really deigned to go.
A technical sheet to read carefully
At the heart of the MacBook Neo is the A18 Pro chip, the same one that powers the iPhone 16 Pro, a first in the history of the Mac. It has a 6-core CPU, a 5-core GPU and above all a 16-core Neural Engine dedicated to artificial intelligence tasks. The machine is also completely fanless, no fan, no mechanical noise, which is rare in this Price range.
The display is a 13-inch Liquid Retina with a resolution of 2408×1506 pixels, 500 nits of brightness, support for a billion colors and anti-glare coating. The machine weighs 1.22 kg, making it a very light traveling companion. The announced autonomy is up to 16 hours of web browsing via Wifi. The connectivity is deliberately reduced: two USB-C ports (one USB 3, the other USB 2, both usable for charging) and a 3.5 mm jack. No Thunderbolt, no MagSafe. On the other hand, Wi-Fi is in version 6E and Bluetooth in version 6, two recent standards. The camera is a 1080p FaceTime HD, accompanied by two microphones and two side speakers compatible with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos.
On the software side, the MacBook Neo runs macOS Tahoe and includes Apple Intelligence in beta. The base model has 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage. Note that Touch ID is absent from the entry-level model, you have to move upmarket to obtain it, which constitutes a significant daily friction to unlock the machine or authorize Apple Pay payments.
Environmentally, Apple claims 60% recycled materials in total (including 90% recycled aluminum and 100% recycled cobalt in the battery), and an aluminum manufacturing process using 50% less material than traditional milling.
Performance measured by Apple but be careful not to take too many shortcuts
Apple publishes several comparative benchmarks in its official press release, all measured against the best-selling PC equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 5, the best-selling chip on the consumer Windows market. MacBook Neo is 50% faster on common tasks like web browsing, twice as fast on photo editing, and up to three times faster on on-device AI workloads, like applying advanced effects in Photos.
These figures can be explained by the very nature of the A18 Pro. Designed for the iPhone 16 Pro and produced in tens of millions of copies, this chip offers a performance/consumption ratio that Intel chips cannot match in this thermal envelope. This is also what allows the Neo to be completely silent, no need for a fan to evacuate the heat.
The 16-core Neural Engine plays a central role for Apple Intelligence: it runs AI features directly on the device, without sending data to the cloud, summarizing notes, rewriting text, Correction tool in Photos. A proposition that Windows PCs equipped with Intel Core Ultra 5 cannot really replicate at this level of fluidity.
The MacBook Neo does not cannibalize the MacBook Air, Apple has worked to differentiate them on several key points. At €699, the Neo has 8 GB of RAM and two USB-C ports without Thunderbolt. The MacBook Air M5 starts at around €1,199 with 16 GB of RAM, four ports including two Thunderbolt 4, MagSafe and Touch ID as standard. The MacBook Pro 14″ M5 Pro starts at €1,899 with 24 GB of RAM and a 120 Hz ProMotion screen.
The 500 euro difference between the Neo and the Air M5 is significant, but the Air’s double RAM justifies the expense for anyone running several heavy apps in parallel. For basic office, student or multimedia use, the Neo more than holds up.
Who is the MacBook Neo for?
Apple does not hide its ambitions, the Neo is presented as a machine for students, families, freelancers and new Mac users. Three profiles clearly emerge.
The students : This is the most obvious target. With 16 hours of battery life announced, a 13-inch format weighing 1.22 kg, Apple Intelligence to synthesize notes or rephrase essays, the Neo is made for lecture halls. Setup Assistant also allows you to migrate from an iPhone in minutes, further lowering the barrier to entry.
Les switchers PC et Chromebook : For the first time, Apple is offering a Mac directly comparable in price to entry-level Windows PCs and premium Chromebooks. Here, macOS Tahoe is a complete system, not a web OS, and the A18 Pro outperforms the Intel Core Ultra 5 that equips the competition at this price. Compatibility with Microsoft 365, Zoom, Canva and most everyday apps removes the last objections of Windows users.
iPhone owners without a Mac : millions of iPhone users have never had a Mac, due to lack of an affordable entry price. The Neo is designed as the missing link: iPhone Mirroring allows you to use your iPhone directly from the Mac screen, Handoff transfers current tasks between the two devices, AirDrop shares files instantly. The Apple ecosystem makes sense when you have both.
Who are its direct competitors?
By placing itself at €699, Apple is de facto entering a highly contested arena, with several opponents with very distinct profiles.
- Les Chromebooks premium (300–600 €)
This is the main strategic target. Chromebooks between €400 and €600 dominate the educational market, particularly in schools. Their advantage: lightness, decent battery life (9 to 12 hours), low price. Their structural weakness: ChromeOS remains limited for professional and creative applications, no native Adobe suite, no Windows software, compatibility limited to web and Android apps. The Neo responds directly: full macOS, local Apple Intelligence, superior autonomy.
- The Microsoft Surface Laptop (from €899)
Microsoft offers Surface Laptops with Snapdragon ARM chips, an excellent 3:2 screen, a keyboard recognized as one of the best on the market. The construction is premium. But the entry price (around €899) already exceeds that of the Neo, the autonomy is behind, and the connectivity is just as limited.
- Mid-range Windows PCs (€600–800)
In this segment, the Windows market is teeming with attractive options on paper: OLED panels, metal chassis, recent Intel Core Ultra or AMD Ryzen chips (Lenovo Yoga, Asus VivoBook, HP Pavilion). The advantage of these machines is total flexibility, games, native Windows software, more ports. The disadvantage: a real autonomy often between 6 and 10 hours, fans which rotate under load, and an A18 Pro which is clearly ahead of them in pure performance.
- The refurbished MacBook Air M2 (€750–850)
Paradoxically, the Neo’s most formidable competitor is perhaps internal to the Apple range. The MacBook Air M2 is now selling for around €750 to €850 refurbished, with 16 GB of RAM as standard, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, MagSafe and integrated Touch ID. For €100 to €150 more, it’s a significantly more versatile machine. This will be the central question for informed buyers.
The MacBook Neo is Apple’s logical and long-awaited response to a gap in its lineup. The $699 price is aggressive for a Mac, the 16-hour battery life is excellent, the A18 Pro’s performance is impressive for the category, and macOS Tahoe complete with Apple Intelligence gives it a value proposition that Chromebooks simply can’t match.
However, we must face the limits. The 8 GB of RAM in the base model may prove insufficient for intensive multitasking, especially with AI tools running in the background. The connectivity reduced to two USB-C ports (including one USB 2) will require a hub as soon as you want to connect a hard drive and a monitor simultaneously. And the absence of Touch ID on the entry level is a real negative point.
Still, for a student, a first-time Mac user, or someone looking to leave the Google or Windows world without breaking the bank, the MacBook Neo is probably the most coherent proposition that Apple has ever made to this market segment.
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