Apple this week introduced the MacBook Neo, a $599 laptop that’s their most affordable laptop ever.
It’s an entry level design, which means that it shouldn’t be on your short list for a serious music-making machine.
Nevertheless, we expect the MacBook Neo to be the most consequential computer that Apple has release since the original iMac, more than 25 years ago.
The 
original iMac was considered simplistic and under-powered by many, and too weird by others. Pundits predicted that it would fail, because it had no floppy drive and used an unproven standard, USB, for peripherals.
Even the device’s name was controversial. The ‘i’ stood for ‘Internet’, because connectivity was baked in to the iMac. This was at a time when mainstream news sources like Newsweek were dismissing the Internet as a fad.
The predictions betting against Apple didn’t age well.
The iMac was a massive hit, proved to be a prescient design, and arguably saved Apple as a company.
The MacBook Neo Is First And Foremost, A MacBook For The Masses
The MacBook Neo may look like a stripped-down laptop to power-user content creators working with top-of-the-line machines.
But to the general public, the MacBook Neo is a $600 computer that not only doesn’t suck, but looks, feels and acts like a premium Mac computer.
Windows Central says that “Microsoft better be panicking”. They say that PC makers have been shipping “what can essentially be described as e-waste in this price bracket, with a few exceptions.” Ouch.
They add that – unlike cheap Chromebooks and PCs – the MacBook Neo is well-built, stylish and ‘everything your everyday Joe or Jane would ever need from a computer in 2026.’
And when they asked their readers – an audience of Windows power-users – what they thought of the Neo, 83% said that it will steal marketshare from Windows:
The influential tech site Tom’s Guide, agrees, saying that “It’s game over for cheap Windows laptops.”
Most importantly, Marques Brownlee – who’s probably now the most important pundit in computer tech – says that that the MacBook Neo is an affordable laptop that’s ‘actually good’, and that this wouldn’t have been possible if Apple had stuck with ‘Intel Inside’:
But What About Musicians?
We noted earlier that this isn’t the Mac for power users, and for most ‘content creators’. The MacBook Neo has tradeoffs in its design that will limit hardcore users. These tradeoffs include:
- 8 GB unified memory in base models. While the first-generation M1 MacBooks demonstrated that you could do serious work, including 4k video editing and music-making, with OS X and 8GB of unified memory, power users will want more.
- Limited I/O and display support. With only two USB-C ports, anyone that has lots of peripherals to connects will need adapters.
- 256GB SSD storage. Most power users would consider 512GB or 1TB a minimum for built-in storage.
- CPU limitations. The A18 Pro delivers great performance and up to 16 hours of battery life. And, it’s faster than the initial M1 Macbooks and offers four times the battery life of a cheap Windows laptop. But an entry-level MacBook Pro offers twice the memory, four times the storage and performance better suited to music making and serious content creation tasks.
So, Why Does This Matter For Musicians?
The reason that Apple’s computer line is now so competitive is that the iPhone is the most successful consumer electronics product in history. Apple has sold over 3 billion iPhones, which means that they manufacture processors at a scale that dwarfs anything in the world of traditional computers.
This led to Apple Silicon, which freed Apple from the stagnation that ‘Intel Inside’ had forced on them. As a result, Apple Silicon Macs now offer a balance of performance and battery life that’s become a major selling point for their MacBook line.
The MacBook Neo promises to be a real, mass-market computer. Apple currently has about 9-10% of the laptop market. Based on the Neo’s reception in the Windows world, it looks like it could double that market share within a few years.
Apple has captured about 23% of the global sales of smartphones, and they dominate the most profitable slice of the market. That means that they reap about 85% of the profits, worldwide, of smartphone sales.
The MacBook Neo is positioned to do the same thing in the world of laptops. This will be extremely consequential for the world of computing, and is going to be an important trend for musicians, too.
Apple already has a dominant role in music. About 70% of professional musicians use macOS. If you’re reading Synthtopia, chances are pretty good that you’re doing it on a Mac.
The MacBook Neo is going to carve out the most profitable part of the mid-tier market for laptops, dramatically expanding the number of people using Macs, and becoming the entry-level computer for many musicians.
The MacBook Neo comes with GarageBand and iMovie installed, too. This means that – for as little as $499 – more musicians are going to get a more powerful system for making music than ever before.
macOS is already the primary platform for music application developers. The MacBook Neo is going to solidify this lead. This means that Mac users are going to have access to more music applications and more peripherals than Window users. And, it’s going to accelerate the trend of multi-device music making, where you might capture a quick idea on your iPhone, develop it on the couch using an iPad, and finalize it using a Mac.
Reading The Tea Leaves
Predicting the future is always risky – so let us know what your thoughts are on the MacBook Neo. Are we ‘reading the tea leaves’ correctly? Is the Neo really the most consequential computer since the iMac? Let us know in the comments!
Don’t buy from imperialist capitalists.
Good luck with the stone tablet and chisel!
What would you suggest as an alternative, non-imperialist capitalist computer? A raspberry PI?
Ignoring the sarcasm, one could start by buying second hand; look for refurbished models; prioritise repairability; use OCLP on an older Mac; check TCO certification; de-bloat your OS; pick (and possibly contribute to) an OS that does not turn a perfectly working computer obsolete with the next forced update; request devs to support Linux distros; shun the push to inane consumerism and update-fetish. Etc.
For a beginner, there’s most likely not gonna be 100%-capitalist-free options, but there are definitely better options than a new Mac running the bloated joke that is macOS.
There are six million ways to resist. Choose one.
“There are six million ways to resist.”
Yet you fail to articulate what you’re resisting or offer any meaningful alternatives.
You seem to be ‘virtue signaling’.
Buying a used Mac increases the value of Macs, removing ‘bloatware’ doesn’t eliminate the fact that you bought a Mac, and using Linux on a Mac means that you still bought a Mac.
For those of us living in the real world, time is our most valuable commodity, and Macs let us make the most of our time,
Now this is just silly, lLarkin. I literally gave you a whole list of ways to resist.
Buying a used Mac is not profitable for Apple -> way to resist #1
You can run Linux on any old box, not just Macs -> #2
Debloating reduces system load, so less need for something new -> #3
A used 12 core Xeon 2010 Mac Pro which you could pick up for next to nothing nowadays will run a lot of proper music software without issues, and if patched with OCLP (which is 2-3 hours of work) it will even run newer macOS versions. -> #4
Etc.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy a Mac: I’m saying you don’t have to – especially if you’re only starting out. For music production specifically, these new Macs are a lot faster yes, but the older ones will do the same job perfectly fine. Also there are plenty of alternatives that allow you to not get involved with the leviathan players in big tech and still get started with modern tools – in the open source realm often even for free.
As for ‘virtue signalling’: cute, but better look that up before you use the term mate. I have no standing on Synthtopia nor a reputation to boost, yet at the same time I write this from a refurbished 2014 HP workstation running Arch Linux (btw), while there’s a OCLP patched, debloated 2009 Mac Pro running Monterey with Ableton (12) purring in the background, that has helped me churn out tunes into ‘the real world’ on a weekly basis since 2016.
Yes it can be done, these are viable alternatives and yes I practice what I preach.
This is great. I’ve never heard of OCLP before, and I’m super intrigued for the environmental impact of keeping perfectly good older hardware in use rather than constantly buying new machines with power far beyond what most of us really need.
I’ll look into it as a way to finally have a dedicated music system without breaking the bank. Thanks.
I get that you are content with your Mac, I do. What irks me is that every time there are voices that propose alternatives, there are always the same kind of weak arguments of those who seem to feel a need to internally defend their own decision for buying a new Mac by propagating the false narrative outward that there are no serious viable alternatives; that anything but going for the latest Mac will cause heaps of issues, or will take up an incredible lot of time to set up, which is simply not true.
I can say this after having set up several highly stable OCLP Mac projects and Linux systems for other artists. I’m not an IT pro, just a random bloke what is not too afraid of tech.
Yeah I know, you are thinking of your own situation and your lack of time, but let’s say there’s gonna be kids reading this article who have a lot of talent, a bit more time than you, but little money to get started. Many of them can’t afford that new Mac or expensive pro software, but they would get by perfectly using an older Mac or e.g. a Linux box running Reaper, VCV Rack, Audacity, Ardour, Plugdata or whatever, for next to no money.
Obviously there will be no one-click-purchase hype articles about it, which makes the option less visible. Still there are alternatives, that’s all I’m saying.
You can also go pc. There are a ton of great mini pcs out there from off brands right now. I just got a ryzen 7 with 16gb of ddr5 and it runs Ableton great for under $300. I have been using it as my secondary to my laptop but am considering using it live with a 10″ portable monitor I have. If it all works out I may just build an enclosure for it all and bring it live
Which neo-imperialist capitalist nation are you referring to? China or the USA?
Don’t listen to naive reactionaries
Yep, that is why I will be buying the usMac, by the comrades, for the comrades. It only comes in red though.
I’d agree with your analysis, Synthhead.
Chromebooks are garbage. The best MacBook competitor is probably the Microsoft Surface, but they’re probably twice the cost of the Neo.
If you go into Best Buy and compare the Neo to the similar Windows machines in the same price range, everybody’s going to pick the Mac unless they’re a specs nerd or they’re a long-term Windows user that’s afraid of macOS.
I could see a lot of people choosing the Neo, too, because they’re already iPhone users and get the user interface.
Apple’s been trying to go mainstream for 30 years, haven’t they?
I’m not convinced that a $600 laptop with 8GB ram is going to make a difference.
This does seem like a good ‘grandma computer’. I’ve got my grand set up with an iPad, which does everything she needs, but this looks like it would be even better.
These are on pre-order in my country for €699 which is currently $808
I honestly don’t see anyone going out of their way for one of these
I can already search amazon for twice the base spec of this machine (16gb 512 ssd) and see several machines that cost less than €700
They’ll do well with students and whatever but Apple has always done well with students because the give a huge discount with a college ID
The hyperbole is all just ranting by apple affiliated social media
I say this as a someone who’s been using apple for about 25 years now – while the hardware has absolutely become much more powerful, the user experience has fallen off a cliff
Pro tip: Go to the Apple Education Store (https://www.apple.com/us-edu/store) and order one for your kid.
It’s sort of ‘honor system’. Last time I bought a Mac, all you had to do was select the school your kid attended. lol
The title is what you call in your biz… a statement.
And the coverage has been interesting.
Here’s the thing, though: What you say about musicians isn’t necessarily about “power users” in the Apple sense.
What’s reasonable storage for someone who, say, has Komplete * Ultimate and/or a couple of sample libraries? The 8GB of RAM is an even bigger limitation, for sure. Especially with some rogue plugins out there. What I still don’t get, though, is this strong push for “sample by the pound” when we can’t get by with 1TB, let alone 256MB internal storage.
(I’m currently living on an external 2TB SSD from a “somewhat comparable to MBN yet better in multicore” MBAM1. Let’s just say it’s “living dangerously”.)
As long as you aren’t dependent on large sample libraries this could be a fairly good machine for Ableton and Bitwig style composition and has plenty of throughput for multitrack Reaper/Logic live recording. In all seriousness, plugging into a hub with a 30 channel interface and an external drive you could easily pull off live recording inexpensively though it would likely struggle with some of the sloppy “nine plugins every channel” style mixing we see too much of.
Soooo, huge Kontakt libraries and CPU hog plugins are out.
This is a good thing, IMHO
I’m guessing some musicians who already own a Mac might also feel compelled to purchase a Neo as a secondary notebook for web-related tasks or as a second screen. You know, for reading Synthtopia or watching the YouTube tutorial without disrupting the Logic Pro session.
I can see myself getting one of these just for live performances. I have my nicely spec’d Windows desktop for making music, but having one of these with my Push 2 and a couple of hardware synths would make a great and portable setup.
I bought a mac mini m4 and other than needing an external hard drive it’s been great. I am coming back to Mac after ages after upgrading to windows 11 and having errors upon errors. There is stuff I miss about PC (Apple still makes some really user unfriendly choices in not just their practices but even on some of the ways the OS works). But whereas the might be more annoying to tinker with, the trade of is that for most things creative they just work and work well. The kind of odd kinks I would run into on windows were certain connections would stubbornly refuse to work out of nowhere and require a system restart (or 5) so far have not been a problem on the Mac. I think this laptop will be great for kids just starting out. I was making music nobody listens to on pentiums. I could make the fuck out of some music no on will listen to with one of these. Also don’t sleep on the mac mini. Super impressed with it so far, until I want to change the resolution.
I feel you on this all the way. I’ve never had a Mac–decades with Windows machines, but these 6 months with Windows 11 have been a nightmare. Stuff just breaks and breaks. Every couple weeks I find I have to reinstall something or deal with some other error or unwelcome change to my settings. If not for Ableton Live investment going back many versions, I’d ditch Windows for Linux full time. As it is, I’m eyeing the Macs. Not a Neo for me, but it’s on my radar for the kids.
Now you can dismiss new digital instruments with this.
“I’d rather buy a Neo instead”
Wow how delusional
lol – let’s see how that prediction pans out.
Naysayers have been betting against Apple for 40 years, haven’t they? How’d that work out?
With over 80% of users worldwide still choosing Windows over Apple or any other OS.
So yeah sure, they’re still there, and they make a lot of money (understatement), mainly in the smartphone industry, but when people want computers, the vast majority of them buy Windows. That was the case before and after the iMac, and it will still be the case after the MacBook Neo, and to such an extent that it isn’t really a contest at all. A match with a final scoreline of 8-1 isn’t an exciting match, it’s a walkover.
I think you’re over-stating the Windows share, especially for non-corporate, and Mac sales have been growing faster than Windows for a while now even with their cheapest machines costing twice these.
Plus, Apple’s not the quirky niche company they were in the days of the first iMacs and iBooks–their products are already everywhere. I think they seem a familiar and trusted option for folks getting their first PC and some of us disillusioned by Win11 headaches.
Only time will tell.
It looks to me a very good product. My only concern is that Apple tends to adopt an accelerated planned obsolescence for entry level product. In 3 years they could make it “old” via software. At that point a standard MacBook could be an overall better option.
Not enough ram or storage, Apple is on the decline. Literally specs from 5 years ago.
While this is not something I’d approach for music myself, someone on a budget just starting out could grab this and Logic for less than a $1000. I think it’s a great product. For students & school-work, it’s perfect. I think they did a great job with this and I’m sure they’re going to sell like crazy.
There is one solid truism about both computers and synthesizers: buy upscale as far as you can. Sooner or later, you’re going to hit a wall and later is better.
In this case, RAM & storage issues limit it as a serious music computer. Smart people will find ways to make it sit up and bark some, but big business is eating chips like, well, potato chips. Finding ways to save your work will become a new market battlefield for every model, especially lower-end starters like this. I can’t second-guess every possible user, but I’d say “Save your coins and get a Mini.” Its not a cheap hobby, so plan accordingly.
Well, wow. A great move, and well-balanced to not cannibalize the pro/air lines too much — though, inevitably, some.
They’ll sell like hot donuts — keeping these in stock will be a challenge.
For anyone NOT using it for music or video, I think its a fantastic product, likely to serve them for 4 or maybe even 6 years before s/w demands exceed its capabilities and/or its OS becomes unsupported. For anyone wanting to learn computer based music. I think they will out grow its capabilities before the 4-6 years and they will start looking for a replacement.
I use a M4 24Gb RAM/512SSD and I suspect that I will be looking for a replacement within the next 4-5 years. I have come to accept the accelerated upgrade requirements Apple ‘enforces’ upon me.
The moral of the story: I think whether its a Neo or a bells and whistles M series, you are going to be looking to upgrade in a few years.
For the price it’s a dream machine to entry professional music production. Stable software and durable hardware. Can’t do 100+ tracks in Logic, but who cares? Can do 50 in REAPER and that’s fine. Can do some VFX in Davinci.
I will buy it instead of Mac mini m4 as a second computer to host virtual pianos with Kawai MP stage piano.
Should be great for music. All you wankers complaining suck at producing.
If you don’t need peripherals, you could spend about the same amount on a Mac Mini and have a better overall system.
Sigh, comments.
Not that long ago… We would have to spend $600 just to upgrade to 8GB of RAM and another $600 to get 256GB of SSD storage.
We’re very spoiled (and most modern apps are resource hogs).
It took them 20 years, but Apple finally figured out how to manufacture a Chromebook.
Well done, lads.
This will sell like hotcakes. I need a big, juice suckin’ Windows desktop and 3 monitors for production though…and for the occasional dabble w/ No Man’s Sky 😛