In this video I’m looking at the newly announced MacBook Neo and asking the obvious question: if Apple is finally doing a “budget” laptop at $600–$700, what can you get on the Windows side for the same money (or less) that just flat-out makes more sense? I break down the Neo’s weird spec decisions: it’s running an A18 Pro-class chip (iPhone/iPad territory), it’s fanless, it has only 8GB of LPDDR5X that you can’t upgrade, and the base model’s 256GB storage is also non-expandable. And yes, the I/O situation is exactly as meme-worthy as you’ve seen: two USB‑C ports plus an audio jack, with one USB‑C being fast and the other being painfully slow. From there I shop the $500–$700 range and highlight a couple of Windows laptops that “crush” the Neo in the practical stuff that matters day-to-day: RAM and storage capacity, upgradeability, and especially ports. I also dig into the Neo’s display specs (IPS, 60Hz, 500 nits) and compare that to what you can find on machines like the Acer Aspire Vero, which brings a 2560×1600 panel plus way better I/O (dual Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, USB‑A). The takeaway is simple: the Neo is interesting, but at this price, not having upgrade paths and forcing dongle life is a rough sell.