The MacBook Neo was launched on Wednesday, Apple’s budget-friendly laptop priced at approximately R14,599 in South Africa, offering premium build quality, a Liquid Retina display, and powerful A18 Pro processor, making it the best value in its class. Picture: Apple
Image: Apple
This week, the local Windows and Chromebook market was taken by storm as Apple launched its new MacBook Neo.
The best thing (and worst thing for its competitors) about this laptop is the price of R11,999.
Taking into account inflation, Apple has never released a laptop anywhere close to this price before. For example, I bought my first 13” MacBook Pro back in 2010 for R10,500. Adjusted for inflation, that’s between R21,000 and R23,000 in 2026.
Though many of the similarly priced rival laptops on the market can compete in a couple of sections with the Neo, there’s no competition when it comes to the complete package.
At almost half the price of the much more expensive (R21,999) M5 MacBook Air released this week, the Neo has the same premium aluminium build. The keyboard and trackpad are better than anything you will find on Windows laptops.
It has a liquid retina display that’s just as bright, and battery life rated at 16 hours, which is just two behind the Air.
The A18 Pro chip, though it’s the same processor included in the iPhone 16 Pro, is extremely powerful and more than capable of running Mac OS.
That’s the big selling point in my opinion; macOS is much better than Windows or Android operating systems. It’s much more user-friendly and visually appealing. The thing is that Apple is primarily a software company that builds hardware accordingly, which means every device is highly optimised to run fast and smoothly.
The 8GB unified RAM and 256GB storage are perhaps the biggest sticking points, but considering this laptop is aimed at entry-level users, this is not really a compromise. That’s especially true when considering how well everything is optimised for the laptop and macOS.
This little powerhouse can handle any task that a typical office worker throws at it, from opening tons of tabs in a web browser, creating documents to light photo editing and even basic 4K video editing. There aren’t many entry-level laptops that could even attempt 4K video editing, and that again is down to software optimisation and surprisingly powerful processor.
Finally, there are the colours. While this is purely aesthetic, the citrus, blush and indigo offer striking variety you don’t get with the muted colours of the Airs and the Pros. There is even a traditional silver colour for the Neo, for those that don’t necessarily want to stand out in a coffee shop or in a similar setting.
It’s just no contest, this is my pick for the best value laptop for R12k in South Africa.