At Rs 69,900, the MacBook Neo Changes What ‘Entry-Level’ Means for Apple
Apple has never been a brand associated with budget laptops. That changes now. The MacBook Neo, priced starting at Rs 69,900 in India, is the company’s most affordable laptop ever. For context, it costs less than an iPhone 17 and just Rs 5,000 more than the iPhone 17e. This number is significant. It puts a genuine Mac in the hands of students, first-time buyers, and anyone who was priced out before.
But affordability always comes with trade-offs. The question is whether Apple made the right ones.
What You are Getting
The MacBook Neo is powered by the A18 Pro chip, the same processor used in the iPhone 16 Pro lineup. It includes a 6-core CPU, a 5-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine for AI tasks. Using an iPhone chip in a Mac is unconventional. Apple has never done this before. Yet the performance numbers are hard to ignore. Apple claims the processor delivers up to 50% faster performance for everyday tasks compared to a popular Intel Core Ultra 5 powered PC, while AI workloads can run up to three times faster.
The display is a 13-inch Liquid Retina panel with a resolution of 2,408×1,506 pixels, 500 nits of brightness, and support for one billion colours. There is also an anti-reflective coating, which matters for anyone who works near a window. Battery life is rated at up to 11 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 16 hours of video streaming per charge.
The design follows Apple’s playbook closely. It comes in four colour options: blush, indigo, silver, and citrus. The aluminum build feels premium. For buyers stepping into the Mac world for the first time, the experience will feel familiar and well-made.
Where Apple Cut Corners
This is where things get honest. The MacBook Neo is the first Apple laptop in about 16 years to not feature a backlit keyboard. It is a noticeable omission at any price. There is no MagSafe port, no fast charging support, and the bundled charger is only 20W.
The port situation is particularly worth noting. One of the two USB-C ports runs at 10Gbps USB 3 speeds, while the other runs at the much slower USB 2 speeds. Compare that to the MacBook Air, which offers two Thunderbolt 4 ports. For most casual users, this will not matter. For anyone who regularly uses external drives or high-res monitors, it will.
The MacBook Neo is limited to 8GB of unified memory, with no upgrade option available. That ceiling may become a limitation as software grows more demanding over time.
Who can Buy It?
The MacBook Neo is not trying to replace the MacBook Air. It is filling a gap that Apple never addressed before. If you want more than 512GB of storage, 8GB of memory, or support for multiple external displays, the MacBook Air remains the better choice. But for students, casual users, and those who primarily browse, stream, and work on documents, the Neo is more than capable.
Pre-orders are live now, with availability starting March 11, 2026. Apple has finally built a Mac for the masses. It is not perfect. But it is a real start.
