{"id":771,"date":"2026-03-04T19:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/771\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T19:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:25:10","slug":"macbook-neo-versus-an-old-macbook-air-good-luck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/771\/","title":{"rendered":"MacBook Neo versus an old MacBook Air: good luck"},"content":{"rendered":"

My first thought when Apple announced the MacBook Neo today<\/a> was \u201cokay, but why not just get an older Air?\u201d If you\u2019re thinking that too, you might be right. If you can find one.<\/p>\n

The Neo starts at $599<\/a> with an A18 Pro processor, 8GB of memory, and 256GB storage, and ends at $699 with the same specs plus TouchID and 512GB of storage. It has two USB-C (not Thunderbolt) ports, a pretty basic-looking screen, a mechanical trackpad instead of haptic, and various other cost-saving measures. It\u2019s the cheapest new MacBook you can get now.<\/p>\n

The new M5 MacBook Air starts at $1,099<\/a> with 16GB of memory and 512GB of much faster storage, a bigger and brighter screen, a better webcam, better Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, more speakers, Thunderbolt 4, a faster charger, and so forth. It\u2019s $100 more than last year\u2019s model, probably because of the Neo. Or you can get an M4 MacBook Air for $1,000<\/a>, with a slightly slower processor than the M5 (but still faster than the Air), and otherwise pretty much the same specs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you could still get a new M1 Air from Walmart for $700, it\u2019d be a pretty tough call between that and the Neo. That machine came out in 2020, but is still better in most respects. Unfortunately, they\u2019ve been out of stock since last month<\/a> \u2014 probably because of the Neo \u2014 so that\u2019s the end of that. You can probably find a refurb one. Same with the M3 and M4: if you can find one for around the same price as the Neo, especially with 16GB of RAM, you should get one of those. But they\u2019re pretty thin on the ground, and I\u2019d expect them to become thinner. (Keep an eye on Apple\u2019s refurb site, though \u2014 a refurb M4 Air for $750 is pretty dang good<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The modern Air is unquestionably a better computer. The thing about $1,000 is it\u2019s a lot more money than $600. $600 is already more than most non-Mac people want to spend on a laptop, but it\u2019s a lot less than an Air, and the gap between the two is big enough that it\u2019s harder to justify the jump unless you know you\u2019re gonna need more than 8GB of RAM, if you\u2019re ever gonna use Thunderbolt, and so forth. I wouldn\u2019t buy the Neo for myself.<\/p>\n

The Neo isn\u2019t meant to compete with the Air, though. It\u2019s aiming for the first-time MacBook buyer. It\u2019s Apple trying to pick up the cheap Windows laptop crowd who are annoyed by Windows. With its $499 price for education, it\u2019s also an attempt to break the Chromebook\u2019s stranglehold on the K-12 market, to turn iPad kids into MacBook Neo teens into Air adults. Heck, when it\u2019s time for my kids to turn in their school-issued Chromebooks, and I have to choose between a Chromebook, a Windows laptop, and a MacBook Neo for them? That\u2019ll be interesting.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s how they get you!<\/p>\n

I honestly don\u2019t think the Neo versus Air debate is going to be that hard for most people, just because most people aren\u2019t spending a thousand bucks on a laptop in the first place. The processor\u2019s probably going to feel about the same as an M1 Air\u2019s, which is to say fast enough for most things. The toughest parts are going to be figuring out if you\u2019re satisfied with 8GB of RAM (rough!), if you ever really need Thunderbolt (maybe not?), and if you care about that fancy webcam (eh). If you already know the answer, you already know the answer. And you should probably grab that refurb Air while you can.<\/p>\n

A cynical part of me thinks this is Apple trying to get MacBooks onto the same upgrade cycle as its phones. If you bought the cheapest MacBook Air six years ago, it\u2019s probably still fine. If you buy the cheapest MacBook Neo today, is it going to feel fine in six years? Maybe! Or maybe you\u2019ll decide you need to spring for an Air next time. And up the funnel you go.<\/p>\n

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