Apple’s new MacBook Neo may be the company’s most affordable laptop in years, but you don’t actually need to buy one to get part of the experience.
The upcoming macOS 26.4 update adds the Neo’s colourful marketing wallpapers to the system. As a result, older Macs will be able to download and use them too.
The wallpapers were originally introduced alongside the £599/$599 MacBook Neo. This model comes in a bright lineup of finishes, including silver, blush, citrus, and indigo.
In macOS 26.4, Apple is expanding that aesthetic with four new backgrounds — Mac Purple, Mac Blue, Mac Pink, and Mac Yellow. All are designed to match the playful palette Apple is using to promote the device.
Once the update lands, you’ll find them in the Pictures section of the Wallpaper settings menu. They’ll sit alongside Apple’s existing macOS backgrounds. This will give users on older MacBooks and desktops an easy way to mirror the look.
The update to Apple’s macOS Tahoe platform is currently in beta, though it is expected to roll out more widely by the end of March. Alongside the wallpapers, the update also introduces support for new emoji characters.
Not everyone is thrilled with Apple’s recent wallpaper choices, though. Some Mac users on Reddit have pointed out that certain dynamic wallpapers can consume a surprising amount of system memory.
One user said the animated “Macintosh” wallpaper extension can appear as one of the most memory-hungry processes in Activity Monitor. The user noted that on a 16GB M2 Pro Mac, the wallpaper process was using more RAM than most background tasks.
Still, if you like Apple’s new Neo-inspired aesthetic, macOS 26.4 makes it easy to bring a splash of those colours to your current Mac, no new laptop required.
