How to preorder the $599 MacBook Neo, Apple's new budget MacBook

Apple finally announced its long-rumored budget MacBook today, and it's called the MacBook Neo. Its starts at just $599, or $500 less than the latest 13-inch MacBook Air, and preorders are now open. Education buyers save $100 by ordering it directly through the Apple Store.

The MacBook Neo will begin shipping on March 11 alongside a slew of other new devices, including new iPhone 17e, M4 iPad Air, M5 MacBook Airs, M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros, and Studio Displays. Apple announced them earlier this week, and their preorders also start today.

We're still waiting to get our hands on a MacBook Neo for testing, but in the meantime, let's take a closer look at its specs. They were heavily leaked ahead of time, so if you've kept up with the rumors, most of what you're about to read will sound very familiar.

Meet the MacBook Neo

The MacBook Neo is technically Apple's first dedicated budget laptop. It informally succeeds the M1 MacBook Air, which Apple sold through Walmart for around $699 from March 2024 to early this year. But instead of an M-series chip, the MacBook Neo runs on the A18 Pro chip, the same processor inside the iPhone 16 Pro. This is the first time Apple's ever put an iPhone chip inside a laptop.

The MacBook Neo has a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with a 60Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of brightness chassis. It's configurable with 256GB of storage or 512GB of storage and Touch ID; both options have 8GB of memory.

The MacBook Neo includes WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 6, two USB-C ports, a MagSafe charging port, and a headphone jack. Its aluminum chassis comes in four colors: silver, indigo, blush, and citrus.