How did the MacBook Neo catch everyone by surprise?

The MacBook Neo is the small product that’s causing big reactions in the industry right now. While a budget MacBook was certainly expected for some time, at least by Apple enthusiasts, few were expecting it to be as good as it is.

While you can read all about what makes this product a success in my MacBook Neo review, I was keen to dive a little deeper into how this product came about and how it fits into the Apple ecosystem from the experts. So I sat down with Apple’s VP of Mac and iPad Product Marketing, Tom Boger, and VP of Mac Hardware Engineering, Shelly Goldberg, to find out more about the Neo.

“It truly is a Mac through and through,” says Boger. “It's like it's the essence of the Mac experience in terms of the quality and the durability, the user experience of a Mac for someone who couldn't access a Mac at a different price point,” says Goldberg.

Long time coming

It’s been over six years since Apple offered an entry-level MacBook, so what made now the right time to reintroduce one? According to Boger, a number of factors had to be in place before this could happen. “When we were based on Intel processors, creating a Mac that we could be proud of at that price point just wasn't possible.”

And it was the A-series chip rather than the M-series chip that changed that. While known for powering the iPhone and the lower-end iPads, the performance of this chip goes way beyond that. The MacBook Neo runs on a similar A18 Pro chip to that used in the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, and everyone has been blown away by just how capable it is in a laptop.

This wasn’t the first time Apple had considered creating this device, but the stars had to align to bring it to launch. “We always knew we wouldn't ship a product like this if it wasn't a Mac, if it didn't deserve the title of Mac,” says Goldberg.

Chips to meet products

One major advantage Apple has over its competitors is that it now makes its own chips, so rather than building a product around a chip, it can actually build chips to suit its upcoming roadmap. “We have a world-class silicon team that knows our product roadmap in advance, many years out,” says Boger. “Sometimes we're putting in technology in that silicon three or four years in advance to enable the very existence of that product to begin with.”

That could mean Apple was planning the Neo while developing the A18 Pro chip, or at least had a more advanced machine in mind when it came to its specs. I always knew the iPhone 16 Pro range was seriously powerful, but seeing the chip run a full version of MacOS and multitask photo editing, video and internet browsing was more than I expected.

Built to play

“One question that was asked fairly often was, is it running kind of a scaled-down version of Mac OS? And the answer is no, it is not,” says Bogen. “It's running the full version of Mac OS that people know and love on Mac Air and Mac Pro.”

The biggest limitation here is the memory, which is fixed at 8GB. For general tasks and even basic photo and video editing, that’s plenty. However, if you are looking to edit 4K video or big audio projects, you are going to want a machine with more memory, like the MacBook Air, which now offers between 16GB and 32GB of unified memory.

While the Neo also probably isn’t the machine you would buy for playing the latest AAA games, it’s more than capable for casual gaming, and of course, AI tasks. “We needed a chip that definitely ran Apple intelligence, so it has a very powerful neural engine to run all of the features that.”

Apple also knew it couldn’t just start with a MacBook Air and take bits away, so they started the Neo with a blank slate and built up. “Every single tiny little decision that we were making was heavily and thoroughly debated and almost litigated so that we could optimise every part of the design to enable the bigger picture goal,” says Goldberg.

What's in a name?

While the product itself might not have been a big surprise, its name definitely was. Rather than just ‘MacBook’ to follow the iPad convention, or ‘MacBook e’, to follow the iPhone, Apple introduced a new name for this model as the Neo. “We felt that it was very apropos for the product itself: Neo, new, it's fun, it's friendly, it's approachable. It goes well with Air and Pro, three letters, Neo, Air, Pro,” says Boger.

It’s certainly a name that grows on you and feels unique. In the same way as we’ve seen the Air and Pro designations used across iPhone and iPad, I wonder if Neo will expand beyond the MacBook and also be used as the new entry-level terminology across the board.

Talking iPad, Apple launched its latest iPad Air M4 the same week as the Neo at an identical price of £599 / $599. According to Bogen, the two devices are in no danger of competing with each other. “One of the misconceptions whenever we talk about iPad and Mac is that … there was an assumption that the two competed, and it's actually never been that way,” says Bogen.

The iPad, of course, is a tablet with a touchscreen, allowing for direct interaction on screen using a finger or an Apple Pencil. The Mac has always been an indirect device, requiring a trackpad, mouse or keyboard to interact with it. “The reality is that while some people use one or the other, the majority of people own and use both. And they use them in different parts of their day to do different things,” adds Bogen.

The current pricing means it's more affordable than ever to own both. You could pick up a MacBook Neo and the base-level iPad for under £1000 / $1000. Even if you opted for the new iPad Air, you’re looking at just under £1200 / $1200 for both. Then there’s the new iPhone 17e, also at £599 / $599 – which means you could pick an iPhone and a Neo, or an iPhone and an iPad Air for the same price, or all three for under £1800 / $1800, which isn’t much more than the starting price of a MacBook Pro.

Apple is often credited with some ingenious product launches, but the launch of the Neo could be its cleverest yet. It offers an entry point into a part of its ecosystem that has previously been out of reach for some iPhone and iPad users, or an affordable upgrade for those on older MacBooks. It’s the perfect machine for students and families, and while not for everyone, it’s difficult to deny it’s an impressive piece of kit.