Summary

John Gruber reviews the MacBook Neo, a $600 laptop powered by the A18 Pro chip, framing it as the culmination of a decade-long trajectory he first noticed when the iPhone 6S benchmarked comparably to a MacBook Air. He argues Apple waited until the A-series chips were so powerful that the value proposition is simply overwhelming — no x86 competitor matches it on any metric at this price. After six days of real-world use, his only meaningful complaint is the lack of an ambient light sensor requiring manual brightness adjustment. The piece ends with Gruber declaring he may be done with iPads entirely, positioning the Neo as both a great first Mac and an excellent secondary device for longtime Mac users.

Key Insight

The MacBook Neo is the payoff of Apple's decade-long silicon bet — a $600 laptop that beats everything at its price on every metric, and may finally make the iPad redundant for the people who never needed it to be a computer.

Spicy Quotes (click to share)

• 8

  You cannot buy an x86 PC laptop in the $600–700 price range that competes with the MacBook Neo on any metric — performance, display quality, audio quality, or build quality. And certainly not software quality.

• 7

  Two decades is a long time in the computer industry, and nothing proves that more than Apple's 'phone chips' overtaking Intel's x86 platform in every measurable metric — they're faster, cooler, smaller, and perhaps even cost less.

• 3

  It's a cheaper trackpad that doesn't feel at all cheap. Bravo!

• 2

  I expected this to go well, but in fact, the experience has vastly exceeded my expectations.

• 6

  The Neo crystallizes the post-Jony Ive Apple... emphasizing practicality above all else. It's just a goddamn lovely tool, and fun too.

• 8

  I'll just say it: I think I'm done with iPads. Why bother when Apple is now making a crackerjack Mac laptop that starts at just $600?

• 4

  That's a crazily short list. One item, and it's only a mild annoyance.

Tone

enthusiastic, opinionated, reflective