Apple has unveiled a new lower cost 13-inch MacBook which it says will make “the magic of the Mac” more accessible to customers around the world.
With a starting price of £599, the new MacBook Neo is almost half the cost of a MacBook Air and less than a third of the cost of a MacBook Pro.
Its price tag matches that of the Mac mini, Apple’s entry-level but powerful desktop computer, but with that device shipping without a screen, keyboard or mouse the MacBook Neo is likely to be better value for many buyers.
The new model features an aluminium enclosure in a choice of colours (blush, indigo, silver, and citrus), 8GB of RAM a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, a A18 Pro chip, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, dual mics, a claimed battery life of 16 hours, plus two USB-C ports – either of which can be used for charging – and headphone jack for wired audio.
Buyers can choose between two models offering 256GB or 512GB on-board storage priced at £599 and £699 respectively.
As with all Macs, it includes the latest version of macOS and Apple’s bundled productivity apps such as the Pages word processor and Numbers spreadsheet and supports Apple Intelligence – the firm’s artificial intelligence app.
MacBook Neo will be available from March 11th and can be pre-ordered from today.
“We’re incredibly excited to introduce MacBook Neo, which delivers the magic of the Mac at a breakthrough price,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering.
“Built from the ground up to be more affordable for even more people, MacBook Neo is a laptop only Apple could create.
“It features a durable aluminium design in four beautiful colours; a brilliant Liquid Retina display; Apple silicon-powered performance; all-day battery life; a high-quality camera, mics, and speakers; a Magic Keyboard and Multi-Touch trackpad; and the intuitive and powerful features of macOS. There is simply no other laptop like it.”