{"id":219944,"date":"2026-03-04T17:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/apples-budget-macbook-neo-is-cheaper-than-its-cheapest-iphone\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T17:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:35:10","slug":"apples-budget-macbook-neo-is-cheaper-than-its-cheapest-iphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/apples-budget-macbook-neo-is-cheaper-than-its-cheapest-iphone\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple&#8217;s Budget MacBook Neo is Cheaper than its Cheapest iPhone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manofmany.com\/tech\/apple-macbook-neo-revealed\">Apple&#8217;s Budget MacBook Neo is Cheaper than its Cheapest iPhone<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manofmany.com\/tech\/apple-macbook-neo-revealed\">https:\/\/manofmany.com\/tech\/apple-macbook-neo-revealed<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-03-04 17:10:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"manofmany.com\">manofmany.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-bold mb-4 lg:mb-5\"> Readtime: 6 min<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000;text-align:center;font-weight:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:14px;letter-spacing:.5px\">Every product is carefully selected by our editors and experts. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. <strong>Learn more.<\/strong> For more information on how we test products, <strong>click here<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Apple announces the new MacBook Neo starting at just A$899.<\/li>\n<li>It features the powerful A18 Pro chip and 16 hours of battery life.<\/li>\n<li>The 13-inch Liquid Retina display supports one billion vibrant colours.<\/li>\n<li>Four aluminium finishes include Blush, Indigo, Silver, and Citrus.<\/li>\n<li>Pre-orders open today with official Australian availability on March 11.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Days after launching its AUD$999 iPhone 17e, Apple has announced a new budget-friendly MacBook that\u2019s even cheaper than its cheapest iPhone. Called the <strong>MacBook Neo, it\u2019s priced from AUD$899<\/strong> (AUD$749 for Education), and pre-orders start today (March 5, 2026), with <strong>in-store purchases available from March 11, 2026<\/strong>. Here\u2019s everything you need to know about it.<\/p>\n<table class=\"has-background has-fixed-layout\" style=\"background-color:#f9f9f9\">\n<tr>\n<td\/>\n<td><strong>MacBook Neo<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>MacBook Air (M5)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Starting Price<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>from AUD$899<\/td>\n<td>from AUD$1,799 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Education Price<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>from A$749<\/td>\n<td>from AUD$1,639<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>Scroll horizontally to view full table<\/p>\n<p>   <span class=\"group mx-auto block relative\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/manofmany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MacBook-Neo-colours.jpg\" alt=\"Macbook neo colours\" class=\"wp-image-738869\" srcset=\"https:\/\/manofmany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MacBook-Neo-colours.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/manofmany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MacBook-Neo-colours-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><\/span>MacBook Neo in Silver, Blush, Citrus, and Indigo | Image: Supplied \/ Apple <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-design-and-portability\">Design and Portability<\/h2>\n<table class=\"has-background has-fixed-layout\" style=\"background-color:#f9f9f9\">\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Feature<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>MacBook Neo<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>MacBook Air (M5)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Weight<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>2.7 lbs (1.23 kg)<\/td>\n<td>2.7 lbs (1.23 kg) for the 13-inch<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Thickness<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>0.5 inches (1.27 cm)<\/td>\n<td>0.44 inches (1.13 cm)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Footprint (W x D)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>11.71\u2033 x 8.12\u2033<\/td>\n<td>11.97\u2033 x 8.46\u2033<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Design Vibe<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Soft, rounded corners, bright and playful<\/td>\n<td>Ultra-thin, sleek, and sharp professional aesthetic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Color Options<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Blush, Indigo, Silver, Citrus<\/td>\n<td>Sky Blue, Midnight, Starlight, Silver<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Cooling<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Fanless (Silent)<\/td>\n<td>Fanless (Silent)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>Scroll horizontally to view full table<\/p>\n<p>You won\u2019t mistake this for a cheaper MacBook, with the same durable aluminium enclosure with soft, rounded corners as the more expensive MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.<\/p>\n<p>Impressively, the MacBook Neo <strong>weighs the same as a MacBook Air (13-inch) at 1.23 kg (2.7 pounds)<\/strong>, and while it is technically a little thicker than the Air (0.5 inches), it has a smaller overall footprint, making it easy&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manofmany.com\/tech\/apple-macbook-neo-revealed\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apple&#8217;s Budget MacBook Neo is Cheaper than its Cheapest iPhone https:\/\/manofmany.com\/tech\/apple-macbook-neo-revealed Publish Date: 2026-03-04 17:10:00&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":219945,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/manofmany.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MacBook-Neo-citrus.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iphone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219944"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219946,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219944\/revisions\/219946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}