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If you’re looking for me to download the new MacBook Neo… this isn’t it. By default, I’ll choose the “it’s fantastic for $599” position for the sake of simplicity.
Instead, I want to talk about the gaslighting Apple has done here and how the tech media, as usual, just follows it without even realizing it, which disturbs me. (And don’t get me started on how no one in the tech press reviews low-end Windows PCs, but now they suddenly care about the category.)
The truth about the iPad
For more than a decade, Apple insisted that the iPad was the future of mainstream computing. Not a partner. It is not a tablet. A replacement. The company spent years telling students, families, and budget-conscious shoppers that a $599 Windows laptop was unnecessary because the iPad was lighter, faster, more modern, and (if you believed the ads) simply a better computer. “What is a computer?” It wasn’t just a slogan. It was a thesis statement.
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And then Apple launched the MacBook Neo.
Suddenly, the same company that tried to convince the world that keyboards were optional and trackpads were relics is now selling a $599 laptop with a real operating system, real ports (well, sort of), and real productivity features (to a point). It’s a turn so sharp that it borders on whiplash.
But it’s also the clearest admission Apple has made in years: the iPad was never the laptop replacement Apple wanted it to be.
The change did not happen overnight. You could see the cracks forming. iPadOS continued to absorb laptop features, for example trackpad support, desktop Safari, Stage Manager, and yet it still felt like a tablet OS trying to disguise itself as macOS. Meanwhile, the iPad lineup skyrocketed into a confusing ladder of overlapping prices and capabilities. The basic iPad was too limited unless you upgraded. The iPad Air moved to the price of laptops. The iPad Pro became a luxury item.
Suddenly, the same company that tried to convince the world that keyboards were optional and trackpads were relics is now selling a $599 laptop with a real operating system, real ports, and real productivity features.
And the accessories? They turned the entire value proposition on its head.
Once you add a Magic Keyboard for 13-inch iPad Air (awesome, at $319!), the iPad stops being a budget alternative and becomes a more expensive, less capable laptop.
Of course, we all knew this. And Apple knows it. The Neo is the correction.
Yes, the Neo makes a lot of sense for Apple
It’s not just about value. macOS is simply better suited for the $599 buyer than iPadOS. Students need to do multiple tasks that don’t feel like a puzzle. Office workers need applications that behave consistently. Families need a device that doesn’t require a $299 keyboard to feel complete. Neo solves all that without asking users to reconsider what a computer is. It’s familiar, predictable and, crucially, priced to compete with the Windows machines that Apple spent years discarding.
I’m even ironic asked someone in X why they want Neo for their kid and not an iPad (which is what Apple would have said a year ago), and they responded, “Honestly, I don’t love iPads. His(sp) is getting old and for the price, better to just upgrade to a laptop when he starts doing more homework, etc., etc.”
It’s a simple fact: iPads have never been suitable for serious workdespite Apple’s claims.
Don’t you believe me? Search X for all the people talking about how great Neo will be for students this fall. They are falling over themselves! What happened to iPads in response? Silence. Probably some embarrassment.
There is also a broader strategic angle. Apple wants to increase Mac market share, especially in education and the low-end PC segment, where Chromebooks have dominated (and where Google will try again). later this year with its new Android operating system for PC). The iPad was supposed to be Apple’s Trojan horse in schools, but it never displaced cheap laptops. Teachers did not want to retrain workflows. The students did not want to fight with file management. Administrators did not want to buy keyboards for all devices. And let’s not mention the lack of repairability.
The Neo is Apple’s first real attempt to fight that battle on the proper battlefield.
Analysts have already considered the Neo a turning point. IDC called it a “change in Mac history.” which in analyst parlance means “Apple finally admitted that the iPad wasn’t getting the job done.” Even Apple’s pricing strategy gives it away. The company that once treated the Mac as an exclusive product now sells a $599 model with aggressive positioning. This is simply a course correction, not an experiment.
Has anyone called Apple directly? Not in the way you would expect. Tech journalists rarely openly accuse Apple of hypocrisy, but the subtext is everywhere. Critics openly say that the Neo makes the iPad look like a bad deal. Analysts point out that the Neo targets the exact market that the iPad failed to win. Education writers note that the Neo “changed the rules of the game overnight.” It’s all there, just wrapped in polite industry language.
But consumers don’t need the translation. You can see the change. Apple spent years telling them that the iPad was the future of computing. Now Apple is selling them a MacBook that does everything the iPad was supposed to do. It is better, cheaper and without accessories that cost half the price of the device.
The iPad was a bold idea that never fully aligned with how people actually work. The MacBook Neo is Apple finally acknowledging that the laptop isn’t going anywhere.
So here’s the deal: Apple didn’t just pivot. He corrected course. The iPad was a bold idea that never fully aligned with how people actually work. The MacBook Neo is Apple finally acknowledging that the laptop isn’t going anywhere and that the company’s future in the mainstream computing market depends on accepting that reality rather than trying to reinvent it.
But the iPad will continue to evolve and continue to be great at what it’s really great at: playing games, streaming Netflix, and serving as a guilt-relieving digital babysitter for parents who swear they’d never do that (you sure wouldn’t).
Apple finally acknowledges the iPad myth
Over the past decade, iPad shipments have steadily declined from their 2013-2014 peak, settling into a long period of demand ranging from stagnation to contraction with only a brief pandemic hit to break the trend. The tablet market matured, the hype cooled, and the iPad went from “the future of computing” to a stable but shrinking product line that no longer drives growth. It’s still 100% a big deal, but the trajectory has been clear for years with slow erosion, not expansion, which is exactly why Apple needed something like the MacBook Neo to re-enter the low-end laptop fray.
Yes, the Neo marks the end of an era, as the moment when Apple finally stopped pretending that laptops were obsolete and rejoined the category it spent a decade discarding.
And honestly, it’s about time.
Because the next step is the real magic trick: later this year, Apple launch a touchscreen MacBook and act like you invented the idea. After 15 years of Windows laptops doing it, Apple will come in, shake its hair, and watch the tech press swoon, while conveniently forgetting that Steve Jobs called laptops touchscreen. “ergonomically terrible” Tim Cook 2012 “toaster-refrigerator” mockeryand the years Apple spent mocking Windows OEMs for pursuing a “gimmick.”
And yes, Apple will get a pass. Again. The industry will not blink. The amnesia will be instantaneous.
But the receipts are there. And this time people are paying attention. Or at least I am.
🗣️So are we pretending Apple didn’t say all that?
For years, Apple told us that the iPad was the future of computing. Now he’s selling a $599 MacBook and hopes no one remembers. The Neo is a quiet confession that the iPad never lived up to it.
So what do you think? Is Apple finally being honest or just rewriting history again? Leave your thoughts in the comments, especially if you’ve ever tried to replace a laptop with an iPad and lived to regret it.
Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your ideas and discuss our latest news, reviews and more.
