MacBook Neo (March 11, 2026)

I’ve been thinking about getting the new MacBook Neo, which was released on March 11, 2026. To catch you up, if you haven’t been paying attention, this is Apple’s budget entry to their MacBook line. Starting at $599. There is a $699 version, which double the storage and adds a touch ID… which, to me, doesn’t sound like that extra $100 is worth it to me. For most people, including myself, I will rather save myself the Benjamin and maybe use that money to buy a portable external storage (or use one you already own).

So, I’ll state my case why I think I need the MacBook Neo. My main workhorse computer is currently a Lenovo Legion T5i 26IOB6 Gaming PC, which I bought in Nov 2022. I can play all the modern games, but it’s starting to show its age as more and more powerful GPU are being released in the market.

When I travel, especially with last year’s going back and forth between Jacksonville and Minneapolis, I have to rely on my ROG Strix G15: Electro Punk laptop, which I purchased in Sep 2020. Unfortunately, the Strix weighs in at nearly six pounds, which is not exactly hand-holding, in my opinion. The battery life is atrocious, it will shut down if it’s not plug in after one hour, if you’re lucky. Basically, this is not a portable/battery laptop.

Ideally, I would prefer to use my iPad Pro 12.9 with my Magic Keyboard (which I purchased in Oct 2022) as my travel laptop – but guess what? iPadOS, despite what Apple tells you, is not a great productive operating system due to the way it treats file management (which is to say – none!) and inability to multitask (it does now but it’s clunky). What I am trying to tell you is that you cannot replace your laptop with an iPad. People may argue you can, but I am telling you – from my usage, the iPad is very limited in what you can do and I do not recommend it as your main driving device.

The more I thought about it, in terms of travel, the MacBook Neo would replace my iPad and my Strix laptop. It has an advertised battery life of 16 hours (but we all know real life usage is probably half that number). Still, even at 8 hours, that’s a full workday and not needing to plug in is very appealing to me. Plus, it runs MacOS, which is a full operating system, giving me access to the free Affinity for photo editing or file management. The other thing that comes with MacOS is that you get Pages, Numbers, and Keynotes, so I don’t have to re-purchase any office suite (although to be honest, I might pay for Microsoft Office if the price is right).

The number one concern I have is that the chip powering the Neo is last year’s iPhone chip (A18 Pro chip)… but from everything I’ve read and heard, the chip is capable of running a full operating system. Think about it: Phone chips don’t require fans to keep it cool – so using that same chip in the Neo makes a lot of sense to me. The Neo wasn’t advertised to run games (no Apple products are advertised as game-friendly), but I’ve heard it can run Cyberpunk, which has become the benchmark in today’s computers. I’m sure the chip is about as fast (or faster) than my old Strix or iPad 12.9… but yeah, a laptop using a phone chip doesn’t exactly get me excited.

Some people think the 13” Neo screen is too small as a work computer, and sure, I’ll agree to that. But in terms of portability, I think the 13-inch screen is fine for travel. If you plan on using it for long period of time, there is an option to plug the Neo into a bigger monitor. My iPad Pro is less than 13 inches and I can work with that. I think anything smaller might really be an issue (like I probably couldn’t work with a 10-inch or 7-inch laptop – if they make them that small).

The 8GB ram is the other major concern. I think for one or two applications running at the same time, it should be fine. I am not planning on pushing the Neo to its limit, especially if I’m just using it as a travel work laptop and don’t necessary need it to be as powerful as my gaming laptop or gaming PC. I just need it to edit photos, write articles, watch YouTube, and access my documents.

My last concern is the learning curve of using MacOS and compatibility software. I’m sure learning MacOS won’t really be an issue for me, most computers work the same way and you can always export pages to word or vice-versa.

Right now, I don’t need the Neo because I’m not planning on traveling any time soon. However, if I need to go back to Minneapolis to cover, say the Yacht Club or some other major events, I will be sure to put in an order for the Neo.