Amazon UK cuts MacBook Neo to £609.97 in rare discount, but stock is limited
Amazon UK cuts MacBook Neo to £609.97 from £699, a rare discount with limited stock, though still above its record low.
The deal brings the MacBook Neo to its lowest price since June, according to TechRadar, but it remains about £50 above the previous record-low price. TechRadar reported that another discount of that size is unlikely because Apple raised the laptop's price earlier this year. It added that a return to £549 or less would probably require a rare event such as this year's Black Friday sales.
The MacBook Neo has a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, an A18 Pro chip, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and up to 16 hours of battery life. TechRadar said the machine is an excellent value buy at around £600 for home use, college and university, for buyers who want a reasonably powerful entry-level MacBook at a lower price.
At that price, TechRadar said, the MacBook Neo competes more directly with devices such as the Dell XPS 13 and several newer Snapdragon-powered machines, which offer similar levels of power, performance and battery life. It also lowers the cost of entering Apple's ecosystem for buyers who prefer a Mac laptop.
TechRadar's review of the MacBook Neo praised Apple's newest device and called it "the best budget laptop you can buy." The publication said the recommendation became harder after the price increase, but discounts such as the Amazon offer bring the laptop back into the mid-to-entry-level price range where it performs best.
The publication said buyers do not get the raw power of the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro with the A18 Pro chip, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It said the Neo is not designed for advanced creative and productivity workloads handled by the more expensive MacBooks, and is instead aimed at general use and students who prefer the Apple ecosystem.