Tim Cook says Apple had its best launch week for first-time Mac customers with the MacBook Neo — entry-level device now out of stock, with orders taking two to three weeks to ship

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the Apple Mac had its best launch week ever for new customers, and if you check out a MacBook Neo at the Apple Store right now, the website says it will ship in about two to three weeks. It seems that the affordable MacBook is on its way to becoming a massive hit for Apple, especially at a time when rising RAM and SSD costs are killing the entry-level PC market.

Cupertino officially announced the MacBook Neo on March 4, 2026, with deliveries beginning on March 11. The laptop had its first full week on sale by March 18, with Cook saying on X, “Mac just had its best launch week ever for first-time Mac customers. We love seeing the enthusiasm!” While Apple hasn’t released official sales figures, it seems that the company is seeing much more demand than anticipated for the affordable device. But unlike the OpenClaw-driven shortage of high-performance Macs and MacBooks, demand for the Neo seems to be coming from new customers switching from Windows to macOS.

Many enthusiasts snubbed the MacBook Neo because it’s lacking in specs — especially its A18 Pro SoC and measly 8GB of Unified Memory. But because this device is designed for students and casual users (and priced accordingly), it does not really need that much performance. Instead, Apple focused on what the average consumer likely wants: a good experience for day-to-day tasks, such as media consumption and basic productivity, and an excellent build that does not feel cheap. And despite its apparent lack of power, the MacBook Neo has been proven to run Cyberpunk 2077 at over 30 FPS.

Asus co-CEO S.Y. Hsu said that it was a shock to the entire PC market, especially as many manufacturers didn’t think Apple would launch such an affordable device. Still, he compared the Neo to a tablet, calling it a content-consumption device.

This would make the MacBook Neo a major threat to Microsoft’s dominance in the sub-$600 laptop market, especially since it fits the budget of many looking for an entry-level device. Furthermore, Apple’s education pricing offers a $100 discount on the laptop, bringing the price to less than $500 and making it attractive to many students and their parents.

Windows still offers a few advantages that Apple cannot match. But as the MacBook becomes more popular and gains market share over Microsoft, that would entice more developers to build for macOS, making it an attractive alternative, especially if you already have an iPhone. PC manufacturers need to step up their game and offer an alternative that could match the MacBook Neo in both price and quality if they want to compete against Apple, but the ongoing memory and storage chip shortage will certainly make that challenge.

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