The MacBook Neo is Apple’s most affordable laptop ever and its clearest attempt yet to compete with Chromebooks and entry-level Windows laptops. Unlike the MacBook Air and Pro, the Neo runs on an iPhone-class A-series chip, which helps Apple cut the starting price sharply while keeping the design lightweight and colorful.

Apple just did something it hasn't done in over a decade: it made a Mac that almost anyone can afford.

The MacBook Neo, unveiled Wednesday, starts at $599 — nearly half the price of the cheapest MacBook Air — and it's Apple's most direct swing yet at the Chromebook and budget Windows market that has long dominated classrooms and first-time buyer households.

At 2.7 pounds and dressed in four cheerful colors — indigo, blush, citrus, and silver — the Neo looks nothing like the understated silver slabs Apple usually sells. It's clearly designed to turn heads and open wallets among a younger, more cost-conscious crowd.

The secret to hitting that price? Silicon borrowed from the iPhone. Rather than the M-series chips powering the MacBook Air and Pro, the Neo runs on Apple's A18 Pro — the same processor family found in the latest iPhones. That trade-off lets Apple slash the price dramatically, though it does mean slightly less raw horsepower than its pricier siblings. Apple claims it still handles AI tasks up to three times faster than comparable PC laptops — a pointed message in a week where the company has been loudly pushing its Apple Intelligence platform across its entire product lineup.

Importantly, the Neo runs full macOS, not some stripped-down mobile OS. It's a real Mac at an entry-level price — something Apple has resisted building for years.

The 13-inch display hits 500 nits of brightness, on par with the MacBook Air. The base model offers 256GB of storage; paying $100 more gets you double the space and adds Touch ID. Battery life comes in at 16 hours — two fewer than the Air, but respectable for the category.

The timing is notable. This week alone, Apple raised MacBook Air prices by $100 and pushed the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max to $3,899 — $400 higher than before. Mac revenue fell nearly 7% last holiday quarter, missing analyst expectations. The Neo won't fix that gap overnight, but it finally gives Apple a credible answer to the millions of iPhone users who've simply never had a reason to buy a Mac.