An Ultralight MacBook and Other Apple Silicon Roads Not Taken
If I had my druthers, Apple would make a new svelte ultralight MacBook. Not instead of the Neo, but in addition to the Neo. Apple’s inconsistent use of the name “Air” makes this complicated, but the MacBook Neo is obviously akin to the iPhone 17e; the MacBook Air is akin to the iPhone 17 (the default model for most people); the MacBook Pros are akin to the iPhone 17 Pros. I wish Apple would make a MacBook that’s akin to the iPhone Air — crazy thin and surprisingly performant.
The biggest shortcoming of the decade-ago MacBook “One”, aside from the baffling decision to include just one USB-C port that was also its only means of charging, was the shitty performance of Intel’s Core M chips. Those chips were small enough and low-power enough to fit in the MacBook’s thin and fan-less enclosure, but they were slow as balls. It was a huge compromise for a laptop that carried a somewhat premium price. Today, performance, performance-per-watt, and physical chip size are all solved problems with Apple Silicon. I’d consider paying double the price of the Neo for a MacBook with similar specs (but more RAM and better I/O) that weighed 2.0 pounds or less. I’d buy such a MacBook not to replace my 14-inch MacBook Pro, but to replace my 2018 11-inch iPad Pro as my “carry around the house” secondary computer.
I want a MacBook Mini (12”). I’d be thrilled and impressed.
If you’ve been waiting for Apple to make a truly ultralight Mac, something more premium, smaller, and yes, more expensive, the Neo isn’t that machine. The Neo is about accessibility and volume. It’s the MacBook for everyone.
I want the other thing.
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The technology is ready. Apple silicon was basically designed for this. The question is whether Apple sees the market opportunity, or whether they think the Air (or whatever it becomes post-Neo) already fills that slot.
I don’t think it does.
Actually looking for ultraportable ~1Kg (or less), whatever size makes this possible (13" I guess, even maybe 12").
Among the many sins Apple committed with the 12-inch MacBook is that it was priced like a mid-range laptop, confusing the product line. If Apple were to return to this market, slotting in an ultra-portable machine in a more premium price point would avoid that confusion and let Apple go wild with what it could do with such a machine.
As someone who has known and loved the 12-inch PowerBook, 11-inch MacBook Air, and even the 12-inch MacBook, I am sadly not convinced that this is a big enough segment for Apple to target when the MacBook Air exists.
And here’s the biggest reason I think a smaller laptop may never happen: Over the last decade, everything in macOS has gotten a bit bigger—not just OS elements, but even fundamentals of app design. When I was still using an 11-inch Air, I would often discover apps that couldn’t be resized to fit on my screen. The same happened with the retina MacBook. I’m afraid that the 13-inch display in the MacBook is probably as small as modern macOS and today’s Apple will reasonably go.
She, did, however knock the MacBook Neo on one hardware feature—or lack thereof. And no, it wasn’t the two USB-C ports or that one is slower than the other. It’s the lack of a touchscreen. That’s a feature that even budget PC laptops have had for a long time, and Apple—arguably the king of touchscreens!—has refused to bring to its computer platform.
Still lacking in any of Apple’s laptops, however, are cellular options, all the more apparent as the company touts its C1X modem in recently released iPhones and iPads. Might that finally find its way into a future MacBook?
I know this is goofy thinking territory… but imagine if Apple actually wanted to make a run at the low‑price PC market
Neo could be the budget nameplate across the entire Mac lineup
Mac mini Neo: Apple TV case, A18 $299
iMac Neo: A18 Chip $899
William Gallagher and Mike Wuerthele:
Apple has all of the elements to make a “Mac Neo” Mac mini adjunct. There is proof of market demand, and proof in the company’s own historical trends.
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Save incredible rendering power for the Max and Ultra chips. A19 Pro would be just fine for most uses, and faster than the M2 mini.
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There is an argument that Apple could build a Mac Neo into the chassis of the Apple TV 4K. We’d very much like this.
How could Apple not turn the Studio Display into the next generation 27" iMac?
[W]hat’s stopping Apple from turning this into a 27-inch iMac Neo besides a little storage? It probably couldn’t support all the ports in Mac mode, but that would make the $1600 a lot more palatable if you got a Mac with it.
The MacBook Neo uses an A18 Chip that is in my iPhone Pro Max, and it runs full macOS competently in eight gigs of RAM
I want to plug my iPhone into my thunderbolt dock and run macOS X.
It doesn’t seem like it’s a technical problem anymore, now it’s organizational willpower
The cheapest iPhone (17e) is the same price as the MacBook Neo! (In the UK: both £599.) If Apple can make a laptop for that price, then surely a basic phone should be a fraction of that?
gabe:
Had a dream that Apple released a 32-inch MacBook, called the MacBook Pro Ultrawide, and it looked like this. I bought one and unlocked extreme productivity but then it wouldn’t fit into my backpack, so I had to leave it behind.
So I needed a new trash can
Previously:
- Goodbye, Mac Pro
- MacBook Neo
- Studio Display and Studio Display XDR
- iMac 2024
- Rumored Thinner Apple Devices
- The MacBook Air Gap
- Why Not a Smaller MacBook, Too?
- Apple Silicon: The Roads Not Taken
- An Ode to the 11-inch MacBook Air
- Mistake One
- The 12-inch MacBook
Update (2026-05-04): Roman Loyola:
An iMac Ultra could fill a demand for an all-in-one with a larger display. As someone who has reviewed the M1, M3, and M4 iMacs, I get a lot of reader feedback stating that the 24-inch display isn’t big enough, with some saying that if it’s not at least 30 inches, it’s not worth their time. After all, the iMac Pro was 27 inches, and that was 10 years ago, so an Ultra iMac would need to be bigger than that.
Update (2026-05-13): See also: Accidental Tech Podcast.
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Agree with Jason that a 13" screen is the smallest usable size that the current macOS and its apps will comfortably run on.
Therefore, I don't think Apple will introduce a separate 'ultralight' line, at least not one with anything less than a 13" screen.
What may happen – especially now that the MacBook Air doesn't have to be the low-cost entry point to the entire Mac ecosystem – is that it gives that product more leeway.
The MacBook Air could go a bit more upmarket, which supports a higher manufacturing and parts cost.
So perhaps in its next redesign, the new MacBook Air could have an OLED screen, become even thinner and start addressing the ultralight market better. It would then also give the Neo more scope to push perhaps a bit higher in the cost ladder too by providing additional options, like additional storage tiers.
Regarding a touchscreen: my circle mostly consists of Mac users, but I have a good friend who does math tutoring and relies heavily on being able to scribble on her screen while helping students work on problems. That's true even for in-person work, but far more so when tutoring via videoconferencing, and a Mac is not any kind of a possibility for her. I was also recently hanging out with an older family friend with reduced mobility, who had their Windows laptop on their lap and was happily scrolling through web pages via the touch screen. It was far easier and more precise for them than using the trackpad (and a mouse was not an option for someone sitting on a recliner).
I don't personally feel too bad without a touchscreen, and getting fingerprints on the screen still weirds me out some, but there are times when I'd like to be able to directly manipulate something. Given how few people I hang out with who have touchscreens, yet they rely on them a lot, I'm definitely left with a bad taste over Apple's resistance to them.
@Andrew A I am sure a touchscreen Mac prototype exists at Apple. In typical fashion, they are delaying it till they area fully satisfied with it.
Regarding cellular versions, the hassle seems to be Qualcomm. They want a percentage of the device’s retail price to allow Apple to make cellular Mac’s and Apple does not want to open that door. Given that Apple has C1X now, it’s just a matter of time before we get such a device.
Apple being Apple, they will probably make a single device that’s cellular and has a touchscreen.
An ultra-light — or probably, more accurately, an ultra-compact — MacBook would be awesome.
Still, despite many signs suggesting such a device could exist, I remain very skeptical.
MacBook Neo is not that, because of both the cost and the priorities of its target audience. It is very likely that the “next year” MacBook Neo will solve the two biggest limitations of the first model: only 8 GB of RAM (which, by the way, I do not see as a real issue) and the second port being only USB 2.
That, in turn, would also make an ultra-compact MacBook more likely. Apple would not want to simply shrink it and make it feel less budget-oriented. Having two fully functional USB 3 or even USB 4 ports would be one of the requirements. I think they might even add MagSafe 3. Add a better-quality screen, standard Touch ID, a backlit keyboard, a Force Touch trackpad, and so on. And remove the empty internal space.
I would say an A-series chip from the latest iPhone generation would be even better, but I would not count on it because of supply constraints. Then again, the potential volumes for such a device might be low enough that it could become doable 6–7 months after the release of the new iPhone.
As for screen size, I know some people would prefer it to be smaller. In the past, we had 12-inch and even 11-inch screens. But Apple seems to hate small screens, and everything keeps getting bigger, even when products remain in their “smallest” category. So I would bet on 13 inches, while personally I would hope for a 12-inch model with a Dynamic Island.
It would also be the best candidate for the first Mac with an optional cellular modem. The premium price and compact size sort of justify it.
Oh, and I would totally dig an Apple TV-sized smaller cousin of the Mac mini. The same chip as the Neo, 8 GB of RAM, even with just a single USB 3 port, an internal power supply, an audio jack, and maybe even HDMI. That feels totally doable. At $300, it would have awesome margins and would be a total boom among AI agent tinkerers and home automation enthusiasts. Yet, unfortunately, I do not see it as very likely.
