Meet the MacBook Neo, Apple’s versatile answer to the Chromebook, starting at $599

Apple on Wednesday unveiled a low-cost laptop dubbed the MacBook Neo, the first time the company has targeted a similar audience as Google did with its Chromebook.

Starting at $599, the MacBook Neo is aimed at students or users whose work doesn’t involve extensive workflows like video editing or 3D rendering. The 13-inch MacBook Neo comes in four colors: silver, blush, citrus, and indigo. The base model comes with 256GB of storage, and upgrading to the $699 model gets you 512GB of storage, plus Touch ID.

Apple appears to be able to offer the Neo at this price point because the laptop runs on the A18 Pro chip, which powers the iPhone 16 Pro models, rather than the more powerful and pricier M5 chip used by the latest MacBook Air.

“Powered by the A18 Pro, MacBook Neo can handle everyday tasks, from browsing the web and streaming content, to editing photos, exploring creative hobbies, or using AI capabilities across apps,” Apple wrote in a press release. “In fact, it’s up to 50 percent faster for everyday tasks like browsing the web, and up to 3x faster when running on-device AI workloads like applying advanced effects to photos, compared to our best-selling PC with the latest Intel Core Ultra 5.”

The laptop comes with a 1080p FaceTime HD camera and dual microphones, as well as speakers that run from each side of the laptop to support spatial audio. Apple says the laptop’s battery can last up to 16 hours on a single charge, which is connected via one of the two USB-C ports. The Neo also has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

The MacBook Neo uses a 5-core GPU and a 16-core neural engine, which can support similar levels of gaming and on-device AI tasks as a modern iPhone. It’s fanless, like the MacBook Air, and can run silently.

With a persistent shortage of RAM making Apple’s most advanced models like the MacBook Pro up to $400 more expensive than their predecessors, the MacBook Neo has the potential to appeal to users who don’t need a lot of tech perks…or for those of us who simply can’t resist a pink MacBook.