In the noughties, Microsoft ruled the world. Even servers across the internet ran Windows Server with ISS (Internet Information Services). macOS only appealed to hipsters, the education market, and designers.
Macs were expensive and PCs relatively cheap and still well-made. Crap, but well-made.
Inflation and the push for cheaper prices had two effects. CPUs and RAM got cheaper, while materials and labour got more expensive.
In the 2010s, cheap laptops became considerably faster, but build quality got worse. Weak hinges and plastics so thin that the laptop would flex with a finger. Far cry from the high-quality thick plastics from the noughties.
Keeping prices down also meant cheaper laptops got stuck with crappy 768p screen with horrible colours (worse than my Acer Aspire 3630 from 2006) until last year (cheapest models still use 768p panels).
Since 2020, Chromebooks have filled the sub-£500 category. Cheap and crappy laptops often with 4GB RAM, 64GB eMMC and a quad-core Celeron. Crappy, but at £200, cheap enough.
For Windows, manufacturers pay Microsoft to licence Windows. For example, for selected computers from Dell, selecting Ubuntu saves £101.40 over the same laptop with Windows 11.
Lenovo offers computers without an operating system for £30 to £50 less. Windows adds costs.
That (plus inflation and RAM shortages) pushes up costs for Windows PC manufacturers. Copilot+ PC programme requiring 16GB RAM. Many of which are c. £500 sale price. Not to mention the enshittification of Windows.
Apple Silicon and MacBook Neo
In early 2026, Apple announced a £/$599 (£/$499 student price) budget MacBook. Powered by A18 Pro (binned 5 GPU cores), 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, 256GB SSD and a 13″ 500nit screen.
8GB RAM is a letdown, but enough for normal laptop tasks (and lighter video editing) as macOS is efficient at memory management. The iPhone chip (A18 Pro) is just as powerful as the M1, used in the 2020 MacBook Air.
All with the same (or better) build quality expected from premium MacBook models. Fully metal body with no flex. Even including the one-finger lift hinge. MacBook Neo doesn’t feel like a budget laptop.
A big problem for rival Windows-based laptop manufacturers whose crappy, flimsy plastic laptops will feel like a joke compared to the MacBook Neo in stores.
A direct attack on Windows. Something Microsoft has no answer for. Enabled by Apple developing its own silicon, allowing it to control its own prices (phone chips are cheaper to fab).
I suspect John Ternus had input in the MacBook Neo project. Makes sense to make less money on hardware to get people buying software from the App Store or subscribing to Apple services.
Impressive for Apple.
Published: 23rd March 2026