Afterpay Day has delivered the first real MacBook Neo discount — save AU$50 on all 4 colours

When I wrote about the Apple Mac mini M4 being the best deal in computing, I didn’t think Apple would one up itself less than two weeks later by launching the MacBook Neo, a laptop not only cheaper than the Mac mini, but also with much of the premium materials that MacBooks are known for.

Our MacBook Neo review called it the “best budget laptop you can buy”, thanks to its build quality, design, display and performance that are all “leagues ahead” of its Windows and Chromebook competitors — while also offering the full MacOS experience.

Apple achieves the low-for-a-Macbook AU$899 price point by using the A18 Pro processor — the same chip found in the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max — instead of its M-series silicon found in the higher-end MacBooks. It also only comes in a base configuration of 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. You ...