2026-03-07 03:14:19
While the MacBook Neo starts at just $599, or an even lower $499 for college students, Apple has insisted that it did not make any design compromises.
"It's undeniably a MacBook, we're certainly not making any compromises on the design and that's really important," said Apple's vice president of industrial design Molly Anderson, in an interview with architecture and design publication Dezeen.
Anderson added that "it was important" for the MacBook Neo "to be quintessentially a MacBook."
Chiefly, the MacBook Neo is made from aluminum, not plastic.
"It wasn't just a redesign, it was starting from the beginning, and we're not using cheaper materials, it's incredible aluminium," she said.
Available in fun colors like Blush and Citrus, the MacBook Neo is meant to be distinguished from the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, according to Anderson.
"It was important to make it feel part of the family, but with its own personality," she said.
Even though the MacBook Neo is designed with premium materials, Apple did have to make compromises in other areas. For example, the MacBook Neo has only 8GB of RAM, and a Touch ID button is limited to the $699 model. Plus, there is no MagSafe, one of the USB-C ports is limited to USB 2 speeds of just 480 MB/s, and the keys are not backlit.
Despite its limitations, the MacBook Neo will likely be a hit with students and customers who need a Mac mainly for everyday tasks, like web browsing and document editing. Pre-orders began on March 4, ahead of a March 11 launch.
2026-03-07 01:29:27
It's Apple pre-order week, and we're already tracking solid discounts across every new product that was announced this week. This includes free Best Buy gift cards when ordering the new MacBook Neo, Air, and Pro, plus the first cash discounts on M4 iPad Air on Amazon.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
2026-03-07 01:27:10
We now know how much faster the new MacBook Air with the M5 chip is compared to the previous model with an M4 chip, courtesy of a Geekbench 6 result shared by TechRadar's Lance Ulanoff. However, given the 14-inch MacBook Pro and the iPad Pro were already updated with the M5 chip last year, the result is not too surprising.
Ulanoff ran Geekbench on a MacBook Air with an M5 chip, which has a 10-core CPU. The laptop achieved a score of 17,073 for multi-core CPU performance, whereas the MacBook Air with an M4 chip has an average multi-core score of 14,731, so the new model is up to 15% faster than the previous generation. This is in line with what Apple advertised when it announced the M5 chip back in October, so it was entirely expected.
With the M5 chip, the Geekbench database shows that the MacBook Air is up to 16% faster than the MacBook Pro with the M3 Pro chip from a few years ago, but it is still slower than MacBook Pro models with the M4 Pro chip and newer.
The table below provides a comparison of Geekbench 6 scores for various Macs. Each chip has the highest number of CPU cores available for it.
| Mac Model | Multi-Core CPU Score |
|---|---|
| MacBook Pro (M5 Max) | 29,233 |
| Mac Studio (M3 Ultra) | 27,726 |
| MacBook Pro (M4 Max) | 25,702 |
| MacBook Pro (M4 Pro) | 22,490 |
| MacBook Pro (M3 Max) | 20,960 |
| MacBook Air (M5) | 17,073 |
| MacBook Pro (M3 Pro) | 15,260 |
| MacBook Pro (M2 Max) | 14,740 |
| MacBook Air (M4) | 14,731 |
| MacBook Pro (M2 Pro) | 14,451 |
| MacBook Pro (M1 Max) | 12,345 |
| MacBook Pro (M1 Pro) | 12,345 |
| MacBook Air (M3) | 12,020 |
| MacBook Air (M2) | 9,709 |
| MacBook Neo (A18 Pro) | 8,668 |
| MacBook Air (M1) | 8,342 |
2026-03-07 01:13:43
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss Apple's concentrated week of announcements that saw the introduction of 10 new products.
2026-03-07 00:45:47
Amid its introduction of 10 new devices this week, Apple discontinued over a dozen of its products dating back to 2019.
Apple this week announced the iPhone 17e, refreshed iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, two new Studio Display models, and the all-new MacBook Neo. Simultaneously, these 15 products were removed from Apple's lineup to make way for the new additions:
2026-03-06 23:12:54
Amazon today is joining in on the pre-order discounts for the M4 iPad Air, introducing up to $100 off these brand new models. These exceed the discounts we tracked at Best Buy earlier in the week, with discounts available on every model of the M4 iPad Air at Amazon without the need of a membership.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Specifically, Amazon has up to $80 off the 11-inch M4 iPad Air and up to $100 off the 13-inch M4 iPad Air. All of these discounts have been automatically applied and do not require a coupon code or a Prime membership. The M4 iPad Air will officially launch on March 11.
