Is the MacBook Neo a good thing for the Air?

[TSE]

I wonder if the introduction of the killer value that is the Neo is a sign for good things to come for the Air.

Apple makes money by upselling; it's basic economics. They are going to potentially leave money on the table if potential Air buyers opt for the Neo instead. Right now, it's arguable that the Neo is 80-90% of the Air at roughly 50% of the cost.

I wonder if Apple's goal with the next MacBook Air redesign is to push potential Neo customers to the Air.

Some potential features that could do that:

-Promotion display
-Touchscreen display
-Mini-LED display (with the Pro going OLED)
-Smaller bezels & footprint over the existing design (especially the bottom bezel)
-Removal of notch
-Make the Air lighter than the Neo
-Even thinner than it is today
-5G connectivity options
-Increased battery capacity (Sodium-ion?)


What do you all think?

 

[JPack]

The Neo is in a completely different category compared to the Air. There is a clear difference in features, specs, and performance.

The bulk of the global notebook volumes are in the $400-700 range. Apple is finally relenting and going after this price band after seeing Mac sales stagnate. The Air has always been in the premium category which is why Mac market share has never really taken off, even with the advent of M1. Tech enthusiasts seem to think M1 shook the world, but in market share, Mac hasn't taken off.

 

[edubfromktown]

Apple is looking for more marketshare and may get there. With such low end specs, it is not even a blip on my radar screen to acquire for myself or recommend to direct/extended family members, current/former colleagues, etc.

 

[Isamilis]

Neo will have many intersections with iPad (base/Air) + Magic Keyboard. Apple has positioned Air as higher class than before (by adding Retina display).

 

[mblm85]

I think the only thing the Neo does for future Airs is that it takes away the pressure for them to be the sub-$1000 entry-level MacBook. That's already happened with the M5 Air pricing.

Maybe in future years, a small percentage of Neo users will look to upgrade to an Air, but I wouldn't expect it to be many of them.

 

[KPOM]

For most existing Mac owners I think the Air is still the sweet spot. Apple likely won’t cut corners with the Air now that it no longer needs to be the most affordable Mac, which we saw with the M5 model going up to $1099 but getting a bigger base SSD. Maybe the next redesign in a year or two brings it back below 2.5 lbs to make it a more appealing upsell to all the new Mac owners the Neo is trying to appeal to.

 

[KPOM]

Maybe in future years, a small percentage of Neo users will look to upgrade to an Air, but I wouldn't expect it to be many of them.

I think it will be more than a small percentage. Apple is making the biggest push for “switchers” since the “Hi, I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” ads almost 15 years ago. Part of the appeal of the Neo is that potential switchers not willing to pay $1100 for a Mac that they aren’t sure they are going to like can instead get the Neo for $600, and likely $500 around the holidays. Meaning it’s a lower financial risk. Those who like the experience may be more willing to step up to the Air when it’s time to buy a new device.

 

[JPack]

I think the only thing the Neo does for future Airs is that it takes away the pressure for them to be the sub-$1000 entry-level MacBook. That's already happened with the M5 Air pricing.

Maybe in future years, a small percentage of Neo users will look to upgrade to an Air, but I wouldn't expect it to be many of them.

I don't think there was ever any pressure. If you recall, the 2018 MacBook Air was $1,199, so was M2 in 2022. The price varies and tracks with demand and component costs. There will probably be fewer fire sale deals with MBA going down to $7XX.

 

[Bazza1]

The Air used to be the de facto Mac for students, road warriors and the cafe crowd. Lightweight, capable and (comparatively) inexpensive, but Apple priced them out of that market. Only time will tell to see how capable the Neo is for doing what the Air was known for - or if the various limitations Apple has built into it only offers the more elementary (in every aspect) experience.
Meanwhile, the Air has become the Air Pro Lite, with everything that implies.

 

[4sallypat]

I wonder if the introduction of the killer value that is the Neo is a sign for good things to come for the Air.

Apple makes money by upselling; it's basic economics. They are going to potentially leave money on the table if potential Air buyers opt for the Neo instead. ......

Neo is for new business - not current users who use the Air and Pro lines.

Apple is very smart by pulling those PC and Chromebook users as well as those that just have an iPhone into the Apple ecosystem. Apple knows there are some that will be upsold to MBA, MBP, Mini, Studio, etc for their needs.

My co worker looked at the Neo to replace one of his aging MBP. He chose a M5 MBA because it had what he needed for meme and graphics use.

I am getting the Neo to replace my travel laptop that I had been using for over 10 years (12" rMB i5).

Knowing it's limitations, I know that my M2 MBA 15", M2 MBP 13.6", M1 Studio Max and M4 iMac will not be outdone / replaced anytime soon.

 

[Hicksmat1976]

I think this is basically a budget/kid friendly line that we are seeing, and Apple have shown as much in the advertising.

"e" model phone
"neo" model laptop
"standard iPad" model tablet
"air pods" current/previous generation

thats quite an easier route to get into the apple ecosystem as a child/teenager.

as a parent myself, each one of those items above could be an xmas/birthday present, so within 24 months my kid could have all of that stuff and that would see her through school/college.

of course its less of a sell if the parent also has apple devices and upgrades them semi-regular which happens in our house, so my kid gets all my old kit.

 

[4sallypat]

I think this is basically a budget/kid friendly line that we are seeing, and Apple have shown as much in the advertising.

"e" model phone
"neo" model laptop
"standard iPad" model tablet
"air pods" current/previous generation

thats quite an easier route to get into the apple ecosystem as a child/teenager.

as a parent myself, each one of those items above could be an xmas/birthday present, so within 24 months my kid could have all of that stuff and that would see her through school/college.

of course its less of a sell if the parent also has apple devices and upgrades them semi-regular which happens in our house, so my kid gets all my old kit.

Yes correct - it's for the EDU market.

Our public K-12 school district will be ordering around 1000 of these new Neos for staff/faculty.

If approved by the teaching staff, we will buy for the students and use carts in class.

 

[Hicksmat1976]

Yes correct - it's for the EDU market.

Our public K-12 school district will be ordering around 1000 of these new Neos for staff/faculty.

If approved by the teaching staff, we will buy for the students and use carts in class.

in the UK pricing for education is £499 (non Touch ID) model.

that is high. I dont think these would work in the university market, I expect the PRO's to still be the device universities want to buy for students and staff.

schools/colleges might go for the Neo - but - £499 is expensive for a school, and in the UK most schools tend to go for the Chromebook - for a few reasons - including price and manageability (google MDM etc). I think for the Neo to get into that market apple needs their own MDM (problem 1) thats easy for a teachers/school to use (problem 2), and currently apple does not have that.

 

[4sallypat]

in the UK pricing for education is £499 (non Touch ID) model.

that is high. I dont think these would work in the university market, I expect the PRO's to still be the device universities want to buy for students and staff.

schools/colleges might go for the Neo - but - £499 is expensive for a school, and in the UK most schools tend to go for the Chromebook - for a few reasons - including price and manageability (google MDM etc). I think for the Neo to get into that market apple needs their own MDM (problem 1) thats easy for a teachers/school to use (problem 2), and currently apple does not have that.

Funny, in the US, the EDU Neo price point beats out our current K-12 grade devices issued to students.

We currently use the HP G11 Chromebooks with Google licensing and HP extended repair warranties for $589.

Since the Chromebooks are lucky to last 4 years, we feel the Macbook Neo will last almost twice as long and fit better with our teaching staff that uses i7 Macbook Pros currently and they will be getting refreshed with the Neos first.

 

[Hicksmat1976]

Funny, in the US, the EDU Neo price point beats out our current K-12 grade devices issued to students.

We currently use the HP G11 Chromebooks with Google licensing and HP extended repair warranties for $589.

Since the Chromebooks are lucky to last 4 years, we feel the Macbook Neo will last almost twice as long and fit better with our teaching staff that uses i7 Macbook Pros currently and they will be getting refreshed with the Neos first.

I cant wait to hear about the uproar when you attempt to replace staff MacBook pro's with the Neo.

you must come back to us and let us know what the reaction was......

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Maybe, but I think the Neo is focusing on a totally different demographic.. mainly students and schools, with everyone else being a very, very, distant second.

Then there are people, like my sister, who absolutely will never pay $999+ for a computer, no matter what the features or specs. She isn't in the market for one, but would have bought this if she was.

 

[4sallypat]

I cant wait to hear about the uproar when you attempt to replace staff MacBook pro's with the Neo.

you must come back to us and let us know what the reaction was......

Oh you have no idea how angry our staff is when we gave them 2020 INTEL i7 MBP.

The awful heating, spinning beach balls, short battery life, unable to run multiple tabs on Chrome, and outright slow performance on our Wifi 6e 10Gbps network.

We know Apple Silicon will be a hit - we have bought some M1 and M2 MBP for some Intel replacements and the staff that got them replaced out love them and now they are demanding AS.

The Neo will be perfect for the staff - guaranteed!

 

[August West]

The Air used to be the de facto Mac for students, road warriors and the cafe crowd. Lightweight, capable and (comparatively) inexpensive, but Apple priced them out of that market.

I don't buy into the price aspect of this argument.

In Nov 2017 I purchased the cheapest 13" MBA (i5, 8GB Ram, 128 GB) for $849 on sale when my old MBP died unexpectedly. Plug that into the inflation calculator and it comes out to $1,119.47 in Jan 2026 dollars.

Looking at the price history of the 13" M4 MBA, the base model (16GB, 256GB) could easily be had for $799 last year and was $749 in Nov/Dec. Even today's regular price on Amazon is $899.

And the M4 MBA is a far, far superior machine compared to the 2017 model.

 

[Bazza1]

I don't buy into the price aspect of this argument.

In Nov 2017 I purchased the cheapest 13" MBA (i5, 8GB Ram, 128 GB) for $849 on sale when my old MBP died unexpectedly. Plug that into the inflation calculator and it comes out to $1,119.47 in Jan 2026 dollars.

Looking at the price history of the 13" M4 MBA, the base model (16GB, 256GB) could easily be had for $799 last year and was $749 in Nov/Dec. Even today's regular price on Amazon is $899.

And the M4 MBA is a far, far superior machine compared to the 2017 model.

Yes, but you didn't buy it with 2026 dollars, but 2017 ones. And you were buying what was considered pretty cutting edge tech then. You were buying the Air available in 2017. Not the 2026 device. Now goodness knows income has rarely kept up with inflation, and while $849 may have still felt expensive then, it was still significantly cheaper and lighter than a full-blown MacBook of the time. Hence its popularity.

The price difference between a base MacBook Air M5 and base MacBook Pro M5 (the MacBook now gone) is still substantial, but also starts at a higher price. And personal income may not have kept up with Apple's best hopes.

Hence the Neo.

 

[kiranmk2]

I think the only thing the Neo does for future Airs is that it takes away the pressure for them to be the sub-$1000 entry-level MacBook. That's already happened with the M5 Air pricing.

Maybe in future years, a small percentage of Neo users will look to upgrade to an Air, but I wouldn't expect it to be many of them.

Sadly, this is likely. With a $599 Neo available, Apple can likely let the price of the Air drift upwards.

 

[kiranmk2]

I don't think there was ever any pressure. If you recall, the 2018 MacBook Air was $1,199, so was M2 in 2022. The price varies and tracks with demand and component costs. There will probably be fewer fire sale deals with MBA going down to $7XX.

If there was no price pressure then the Air would have stayed at $1,199. The $999 barrier is highly sought after for psychological reasons - the "left digit effect" and charm pricing effect.

 

[Tyrannosaurs]

Having seen the Neo in the flesh for the first time yesterday, I honestly think Apple's biggest issue with it is going to be people who might have bought an Air buying a Neo.

It is *lovely*. The build quality feels as good as the Air. If all you want is a bit of browsing and mail, a few spreadsheets and so on, the Neo is a great machine for that at nearly half the price. My kids have got Airs. If the Neo had been available two years ago when I bought them, I think they'd have Neos.

 

[maflynn]

The Neo is in a completely different category compared to the Air. There is a clear difference in features, specs, and performance.

That may be true, but if the posts and threads in the NEO forum are any indicator, then I'd say that people are opting for the NEO over other Mac laptops.

 

[Tyrannosaurs]

That may be true, but if the posts and threads in the NEO forum are any indicator, then I'd say that people are opting for the NEO over other Mac laptops.

Interesting piece by Steve Sinofsky - former head of Windows - saying that he's just dumped everything on a new Neo and as far as he's concerned it's a MacBook Air killer (that's what he was using before).

I think the gap between the Air and the Pro wasn't that big before, and now the Air and the Neo isn't that big. I have a feeling that there will only be two MacBooks in the future - a Neo (which will continue to improve over time but remain at a bulk price point) and a Pro (which will take the top end of the Air market). I think that's a few years off but having just bought an Air and toyed with the Pro, and now thinking the Neo looks a pretty great machine, I'm really not convinced the space is big enough for three models.

 

[JPack]

I think the gap between the Air and the Pro wasn't that big before, and now the Air and the Neo isn't that big. I have a feeling that there will only be two MacBooks in the future - a Neo (which will continue to improve over time but remain at a bulk price point) and a Pro (which will take the top end of the Air market). I think that's a few years off but having just bought an Air and toyed with the Pro, and now thinking the Neo looks a pretty great machine, I'm really not convinced the space is big enough for three models.

You really think Apple will delete the Air and create a huge gap between $599 and $1,699?

The difference between Neo, Air, and Pro remain the same. It's performance, display, and ports. There's very noticeable differences between the three.