It’s been years since I last invested in one of the best laptops, but now my trusted Chromebook is looking a little worse for wear. For a while, I’ve been toying with the idea of replacing it with the iPad Air with M3 — until Apple unveiled the rather attractive MacBook Neo.
Apple’s first entry-level MacBook is one of three new models on the way (along with the MacBook Air M5 and MacBook Pro M5 Pro), marking Apple’s first budget MacBook starting at $599/ £599/ AU$899. Though I’ve gone my whole life without having owned an Apple laptop, the MacBook Neo has me in a trance, and I’m seriously tempted to abandon my initial plan to convert to iPad for a number of key reasons.
The MacBook Neo puts the iPad in a very vulnerable position indeed, especially since more users gravitate towards iPads over MacBooks as a simpler option, primarily because of the laptop’s high price point, which also saves them money on advanced features they know will go unused. The Neo shakes this up, not just because of its value, but because of its simple yet plentiful tools — and I like what I see.
1. iPads and its accessories are annoyingly expensive
Price-wise, the MacBook Neo is more or less the same cost as the best iPads, with the exception of the standard iPad range, which starts from a slightly lower price point ($349/ £329/ AU$599). But it adds up even more if you want all the gear, such as the Apple Pencil (starting from $79/ £79/ AU$139), or the Magic Keyboard (starting from $249/ £249/ AU$399).
2. macOS offers a better experience
As far as operating systems, macOS is a lot more flexible than iPadOS for multitasking and app availability, especially when it comes to offering full-featured versions of apps such as Adobe Creative Cloud. More often than not, iPadOS versions of popular apps aren’t as extensive in comparison, which isn’t a huge setback if you’re using an iPad as a tablet, but rings alarm bells if you want to use it like a laptop, as iPadOS is designed to be touchscreen first.
Historically, iPad has also been late to the game with rolling out its own versions of popular apps. It didn’t make its WhatsApp debut until May 2025, and its official Instagram app followed in September 2025.
3. Same size, same fun colors…
The MacBook Neo comes with the same 13-inch screen as most iPad models and, for the first time in forever, comes with a variety of fun color options, just like the standard iPad lineup. Despite the lack of a touchscreen, the MacBook Neo adopts similar design quirks — plus you don’t have to fork out more money to add a keyboard, what more could you want?
4. …and the same Liquid Retina display
Similar to the iPad Air’s screen size and color options, the MacBook Neo also packs Apple’s high-res Liquid Retina display, which could’ve easily been compromised to lower the cost even more.
5. Solid battery life that gets you by
As well as display quality, the battery life on the MacBook Neo is pretty solid for a base-level laptop. Packing an all-day battery life that can run on a single charge (it’s up to 16 hours for continuous video playback), the Neo matches the iPad Air on the battery front.
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rowan.davies@futurenet.com (Rowan Davies)
