MacBook Neo (A18 Pro, 2026)

The MacBook Neo, announced March 4 and released March 11, 2026, is one of the stranger and more consequential moves in the Mac's history: the first Mac ever built around an A-series chip lifted directly from the iPhone lineup rather than one of Apple's own Mac-specific M-series processors. Powered by the A18 Pro, the same silicon found in recent iPhone Pro models, the Neo undercuts the entire existing MacBook Air lineup on price, launching at just $599 (with a $499 education price), making it comfortably the least expensive Mac Apple has ever sold at retail. Getting there meant real compromises: a fixed 8GB of unified memory with no upgrade path at any price, a 60Hz display in an Apple lineup that had otherwise standardized on ProMotion, and just two USB-C ports, positioning the Neo unambiguously as a budget machine for students, casual users, and light Apple Intelligence tasks rather than a general-purpose laptop for power users. Despite the ultra-budget positioning, the Neo's 13-inch notchless Liquid Retina display, available in cheerful Silver, Blush, Citrus, and Indigo colorways, and its A18 Pro chip's Neural Engine gave it surprisingly credible on-device Apple Intelligence performance for its price class, comfortably outperforming the original M1 MacBook Air in Geekbench benchmarks despite using phone silicon rather than a full Mac-class chip. Reviewers were largely positive about the value proposition while flagging the fixed memory and mid-tier display as real limitations for anyone doing more than web browsing, email, and light productivity work, and the $100 price increase Apple imposed in June 2026 amid a broader industry memory shortage took some shine off the initial value story without derailing it entirely. Whether the Neo represents a one-off budget experiment or the start of a genuine A-series Mac sub-lineup remained an open question industry watchers were still debating months after launch.