MacBook Neo: Apple Makes A Bacon, Egg And Cheese Sandwich
After today’s big announcement, we’re all feeling nervous – maybe even just a little bit betrayed – about something. So let’s address it right here at the top: the first Matrix film was actually a fantastic movie.
The sequels drove the franchise wildly, horrifyingly, off the rails. That’s an objective fact, and I know you’re still processing your feelings about it (as am I).
So here’s how to deal with any buried trauma that might be resurfacing right now: try to think of the MacBook Neo as having been named after the character from the first one. The movie that ushered in a thrilling new era of action-sci-fi storytelling.
Also, let’s all take a deep breath and remind ourselves that despite everything that was so terrible about The Matrix Revolutions (ie, everything), none of it was the fault of the Apple engineers who worked so hard and so thoughtfully to make the MacBook Neo a reality.
Let us now join hands in a prayer circle. Let us clear our minds, and intone a long, reverent “Keanu” together as a benediction upon our strength and unity that replaces all of our negative memories with feelings of light and hope, and then proceed.
(Good. I feel a lot better.)
Rumors about three different future MacBooks started gaining serious attention at the same time, about a year or more ago:
- A MacBook with a touchscreen
- A MacBook with a folding screen
- A budget-priced MacBook
And at the time, all three concepts seemed…a little bit Out There. But the budget MacBook seemed the most likely. Makers of Windows laptops have been producing midrange-priced hardware of excellent quality for years. “Can this be done?” was never in question.
Ah…but would they? Historically, Apple doesn’t get super-motivated by an idea unless they can do it in some way that they consider “exceptional.”
To explain it in breakfast terms: Apple can’t get excited about making and selling a $6 takeout bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on an English muffin. But it’ll apply an almost terrifying amount of institutional energy towards the development of a $60 hotel restaurant breakfast.
This sort of attitude is usually cited as one of Apple’s strengths. It isn’t. It frequently holds Apple back. “A strip of bacon, a scrambled egg, and a slice of American cheese on a toasted English muffin” is a straightforward and unremarkable piece of design and engineering, but:
It fills a universal need. It’s immensely popular. It’s precisely what millions of people want. It’s relevant and it’s flawlessly aligned. It can be prepared to a high standard, quickly, efficiently, and in large quantities, by an worker with little training, using the facility's existing manufacturing lines and tooling. Pricing varies, but is somehow always accessible. It can be eaten at a cozy table right there at the deli, on a bench by the park, in the car on the way to work, or even at a desk. It's delicious and satisfying, and it allows the consumer to get breakfast in as little as fifteen minutes from the ordering to the disposal of the empty foil wrapper, if necessary.
It is, manifestly, a Perfect Object.
Friends, the bacon, egg and cheese sandwich isn’t great because it’s cheap. It’s simply great, full stop. Anybody with any sense of taste and an understanding of how to design a product to purpose recognizes that fact.
(No, as it happens, I didn’t have breakfast this morning. But my argument is still valid.)
The expensive hotel restaurant breakfast?
Hey, that’s great, too!
But when the average person hears about the quality and rarity of a $60 hotel restaurant breakfast’s ingredients, and about how the preparation of every element is so delicate that everything needs to be expressly made to order, and that the thematic cohesion of the dish took its initial inspiration from the autobiographical poetry of 19th-century French poet Alphonse de Lamartine…their reaction is likely to be "Huh. Sounds neat." They'll have little interest in actually experiencing the thing because it’s $60, and it’s a two-hour time commitment, and you can only get it in Seattle. It’s wholly not aligned with their budget, their priorities, and their needs.
“An affordable MacBook with humble — but entirely practical — performance and features” was the least unlikely of those three surprising MacBook rumors. Still, I wasn’t holding my breath. Even after the rumor had progressed from unattributed gossip to a thing that was almost definitely going to be released on March 4, I was prepared to be disappointed by what price Apple considered “affordable.”
My worries intensified on Tuesday, when Apple raised the base price of the MacBook Air line by $100. $1099 isn’t unprecedented. But within the context of an upcoming lowest-list-price-ever MacBook, $1099 seemed like a possible way for Apple to put some extra distance between the 2026 MacBook Air and a new MacBook that was due to be announced the very next day at an entry-level price of, say…$799.
A $799 MacBook Neo would still have been a positive step! Like I said when I was talking about the iPhone 17e the other day, any kind of a price drop is significant. To some people, a hundred bucks may be just what they spend on a hotel breakfast (including gratuity, and a large glass or orange juice with a whole lot of gin in it to ensure a good ripstart to the workday). But to many, when something's $100 less expensive it's the difference between getting the thing they want/need, and having to forget about the whole thing.
I damned-near cheered when I refreshed my newsfeeds and saw the price. $599 is as low a figure as I had any rational right to hope for. It’s the perfect price for a high-quality, mid-range laptop. At $799, the MacBook Neo would have been interesting. At $599…it’s potentially a star.