Apple Slashes Entry Price With MacBook Neo

Apple unveiled a new laptop Wednesday (March 4) that it said offers the Mac experience at a “breakthrough price” that starts at $599 for consumers and $499 for students.

The MacBook Neo features an aluminum enclosure, a 13-inch display, a 1080p camera and up to 16 hours of battery life, the company said in a Wednesday press release.

The laptop is now available for pre-order and is set to become available to customers on March 11, according to the release.

“We’re incredibly excited to introduce MacBook Neo, which delivers the magic of the Mac at a breakthrough price,” John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering at Apple, said in the release. “Built from the ground up to be more affordable for even more people, MacBook Neo is a laptop only Apple could create.”

Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the MacBook Neo costs $400 less than any previous new-generation laptop from Apple and $500 below the current $1,099 MacBook Air.

The new laptop will enable Apple to compete for budget-minded shoppers who might otherwise look at a Windows PC or a Chromebook, as well as for corporate and organizational buyers, according to the report.

Apple believes the MacBook Neo will draw new customers to its stores, allowing the company to offer them additional devices, per the report.

The unveiling of this device came two days after Apple introduced what it calls a more affordable iPhone 17, the iPhone 17e, which starts at $599.

The new phone, introduced Monday (March 2) and set to launch March 11, features the same processor as the original iPhone 17, which has a starting price of $799, though a slightly smaller screen and one camera rather than two.

“iPhone 17e combines powerful performance and features our users love at an exceptional value, making it a compelling option for customers looking to upgrade to the iPhone 17 family,” Kaiann Drance, vice president of worldwide iPhone product marketing at Apple, said at the time in a press release.

On Tuesday (March 3), Apple introduced updated versions of the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro that come with more storage and faster speed and cost from $100 to $400 more than earlier models.