The $599 MacBook Neo is Apple’s long-awaited colorful, lower-cost MacBook

Most of Apple’s announcements this week have been fairly straightforward internal updates to existing products, give or take some big architectural changes to its high-end processors.

But Apple has saved its most interesting announcement for today: The MacBook Neo is a brand-new lower-cost member of Apple’s laptop family and will take over for the 13-inch MacBook Air as the company’s entry-level laptop. The new laptop starts at $599, the same as the M1 MacBook Air that Apple has been selling through Wal-Mart in the US, and much lower than the $1,099 starting price for the new M5 MacBook Air.

The new MacBook will go up for preorder today and will be available on March 11, and you’ll be able to buy it directly through Apple’s website and retail stores in addition to third-party retailers. It’s available in four colors: silver, indigo, a pink-ish ...