I think that this is a really impressive launch price of the new cheaper MacBook.
Generally the retailers seem to be a bit cheaper than the edu store price so this could be even cheaper soon.
I'm looking forward to seeing more information about this as the value seems insane. Even though it's 8gb ram.
It’s a really weird product.
I think they’ll sell heaps but they’re far less economical than a Chromebook.
Noel Leeming will be ecstatic to push their insurance on them I bet
Probably makes more sense in the US where iPhone is like 90% marketshare for youth. Chromebook's are one of the few ways kids actually use something outside the Apple ecosystem, so Apple would love to disrupt that!
decent Chromebook easily over 1k pricetag
The cheapest 8gb/256gb Laptop/Chromebook I can find on NL is an Acer with an Intel N150 chip and that's still $760 on a sale. It's got a way worse chip, display, keyboard, speakers, plastic vs aluminium on the MacBook, worse battery life, etc etc etc.
It makes a ton of sense. I've used an M1 Air for years and never really needed to upgrade for my needs. This is better performing than the M1. I'd rather spend the extra $200 on this than the Acer, cause I know for a fact that the Macs last long.
I think it's more of a question of who is spending a grand too.
It was a bit of a lower selling chunk back when I was a laptop salesperson.
Don't disagree there's not much as good that's competitive
Who isn't spending at least a grand? $1000 for a laptop isn't some extravagant spending, your bog standard Dell or HP starts at $1000.
The NZ$ has lost 30+% value vs US$ over the last decade or so. Maybe back then the prices were cheaper but the reality is today NZ$1000 isn't even US$600, barely more than what Chromebooks cost.
@Redcafej: People who don't want to give a valuable laptop to a 10 year old etc where a drop(relatively likely in 2-3 years use) could mean a $500 excess claim.
@Dunno: Yep Apple laptops are very flimsy and cannot be abused like a plastic chrome book one drop on the edge and the screen is gone $600.
@Redcafej: Thinking back about 5 years to when I sold laptops, obviously Chromebooks and cheap shit walked out the door, but outside of MacBooks on discount we didn't really move a lot in the 900-1100 sorta range.
If you're spending a grand you're probably spending more.
The same crap acer and little dell Chromebooks are still the best sellers by a pretty wide gap,
Idk it'll be an interesting one to see how it sells.
I literally just heard about these. For every day users this feels like a far better option in terms of processing power and battery life than a comparable priced Intel laptop. The Intel ones will more than likely be plastic and aluminium is harder wearing in my opinion, and never give battery life like the ARM ones. And presuming it's a standard apple track pad, no intel based laptop at this price point has ever had a trackpad of this quality. The ability to virtually never needing a mouse, and a very light power supply is super convenient.
But is it cost effective for kids, not so sure. Older Students and every day users? Yeah, but chromebook welding school kids? I dont think so.
Unless you need specific Intel based windows software most people would probably find these a beast of machine.
The trackpad in these are supposedly using actual clicks instead of the taptic engine found on the other macbooks.
But from what I can see Apple's will likely still be better.
Overall seems like a solid setup, For under 1k from the EDU store you really can't get much better, and I doubt there are any windows laptop that will compare as an overall package.
From what I can see a m1 macbook air is about the same performance that the neo will get which is plenty for most basic users. It will be an option for those that use additional light desktop apps but don't want a cheap windows laptop or an expensive chromebook.
its uses Apple A18 Pro chip same cpu used in iphone 16 + 8gb ram
so i guess it will preform as good as the iphone 16?
Slightly more performance than an M1 which are still great computers.
so the performance is greater than m1 from what ive seen.
no info on the resolution on the site but macrumors has more specs comparing to m5 air.
Anyone know if the storage is user upgradable? I'm guessing it's not, but it would be nice to be able to get the 256GB option now and upgrade later if needed.
When I clicked the link - there's a 512GB option, $200 more than the 256GB model.
Its all soldered now with macbooks.
It will be the same with macbook air SSD soldered on MB to reduce cost.
TBH soldered on does have it's advantages such as speed. it's what allows the macbooks to get away with less ram as the storage is so fast the OS can heavily depend on it.
Or buy a portable USB-C SSD, 2TB that does upto 1050MB\sec are <$300 and the SSD itself is something like 6x5x1cm in size. I've found thats more useful for me than paying silly upgrade prices.
2 x USB-C ports. But in typical Apple fashion one is at USB3 speeds, the other at USB2 speeds. Booo
oh i didnt see the usb specs.
"However, the rear USB-C port has USB 3 and DisplayPort while the second USB-C has USB 2 (without external display support).
while the ports aren’t labeled, if you plug an external display into the “wrong” port, you’ll get an on-screen notification suggesting you plug it into the other port."
https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/04/macbook-neo-will-warn-you-if-…
Better value than a iPad if you want to get into the Apple ecosystem but if was me I would be buying a M2 MacBook Air for a few hundred dollars more especially if you were gonna use it for a Monitor as well. Not to mention running a lot of software. The funny thing is a lot of people wanted macOS on iPad Pro but Apple turned around and put an iPad on a laptop with macOS.
Im hoping these will push down the prices of the older m series, m1 is 5 years old now and still retaining its value.
Sad to see it doesn’t come with a free pair of Airpod's like other mac’s, would have been one heck of a deal if it did, but with a pair of Airpods being almost a 1/3 of the cost of the laptop i can see why they didn’t.
Unfortunately, Apple has priced the M5 over $2000 now, keeping the M4 up in price. They’ve probably got quite a few sitting around in the storeroom. I noticed the retailers aren't discounting the M4 yet, which was down to $1600 a few weeks ago, and the M2 $1450. We’ve still got an M1, and the only thing that will stop it will be the battery eventually.
Can anyone advise how to avail Apple Edu Store pricing? At what point in the process do you have to prove you're a student/teacher? Seems like they run it very differently to how the Samsung Edu store works so was wondering if anyone that's purchased from Apple Edu store can advise on the process. Thanks
Sales & Refund Policy for Education Individuals
We may require evidence of your eligibility. We reserve the right to cancel some of or part of your order if we become aware that you are not a student, teacher or lecturer as set out above or if your purchases are not for your own personal, education, or research use. If we cancel your order in these circumstances, we will inform you in writing and refund any money that you may have paid.
Thank you!
8gb ram is cropping up more now due to crazy ram prices. My ram kit I bought last year is now double what I paid.