Apple's week March 6: Neo Pokopia

There's been a lot of talk about MacBook Neo since it was revealed, and suffice it to say, they're almost all wrong. The new budget-friendly laptop is going to be a killer product for anyone that wants to access macOS.

Here's the news of the week:

• Grading Apple's week of announcements
• MacBook Neo benchmarks
• Anthropic's moral quandary is OpenAI's opportunity
• MacBook Neo probably isn't for you, but that's okay
• US Government lost a hacking toolset
• $8,000 can get you one hell of a MacBook Pro
• Pokopia is great (mild spoilers)

MacBook Neo isn't for everyone, but it's great

I am already tired of seeing "MacBook Neo sucks" or "who is this for?"

It's the normal internet discourse resulting from a lack of critical thinking. When something doesn't apply to a single individual, it's automatically deemed a failure.

What's funny is that the MacBook Neo fits a very specific set of people that want a desktop-class operating system for a price that isn't going to equate to a monthly car payment. My mother would be better off with an iPad, as would many of my nieces and nephews, but the Mac has its place too.

The lower entry price of $599 is going to be wildly lucrative for Apple. It isn't even about margins this time, even if they're there. It's more about the halo effect.

Yes, the halo effect probably hasn't been discussed in any real sense in about a decade, but I think that's exactly what the MacBook Neo is designed for. Those that grew up interacting with iPhones and iPads might want something a bit more sophisticated for a laptop, but the $1,000 MacBook Air was always just out of reach.

The MacBook Neo at $599 is an incredible price point and feature set. I understand it isn't quite what people aren't used to with Apple's laptops, but that doesn't make it any less a premium product.

I've been poking around some of the $599 range Windows and Chromebook computers, and they're all a travesty of design and performance. It's interesting what passes for a computer in 2026, because these all give me pause.

I know I'm speaking from a biased standpoint, but I can't recommend any of these computers to my family or friends. The MacBook Neo though, that's something else.

I know it's anecdotal, but the reactions from people in my life to the MacBook Neo have been surprisingly positive. People who have never considered buying a Mac are suddenly asking about the product and when it releases. It's quite the change and it all has to do with the price.

No one asked about which processor it was running or what resolution the display had – all they knew it was Apple and it cost $600. That was enough.

I don't think the nerd commentators understand the absolute killer that MacBook Neo is set up to be.

Privacy, that's iPhone

Another week, another set of reasons I'm glad to be all-in on Apple's ecosystem. Sometimes you write a story wondering if it can remain relevant, other times it's proven right within moments of publication.

In the same week, I've seen reporting that Meta's glasses share recordings for humans to review that involve nudity and sexual content. Plus, the US government created a sophisticated hacking toolset for older iPhones, lost it, and it is now being spread around the black market.

Needless to say, if you're an Apple user and running the latest operating system, you're doing well in the security and privacy area. It's quite frustrating that other ecosystems can't offer the same protections, but a decade on from Apple's commitment to privacy and there's been barely any movement beyond Apple.

Apple's most affordable ecosystem yet

The MacBook Neo didn't change much about the ecosystem beyond bringing a laptop into an affordable price range. It was already true that you could easily build an Apple ecosystem for under $2,000, but it's even more true now.

The iPhone 17e, Apple Watch SE, base iPad, MacBook Neo, and AirPods 4 can be purchased for less than the price of a single MacBook Pro. It's incredible that Apple has reached this point when it wasn't that long ago that a $1,000 iPhone and $1,000 MacBook was about all you could do.

The halo effect was a concept generated by the idea that people that bought an iPhone would want to buy an iPad or Mac. It's something that holds true today, but the difference between an older iPhone purchased at a discount and a new Mac was quite large and prohibitive.

It might sound odd, but I think the MacBook Neo might shift the public consciousness about Apple as an ultra-premium luxury company. Some might not like that, but I think it's an excellent evolution that's needed to ensure Apple can continue to grow and thrive.

Pokopia is a godsend

I didn't know I needed it, but Pokopia is everything I wanted in a video game at this exact moment. It's the perfect encapsulation of cozy gaming and gratifying time-based execution.

Nintendo knew what it was doing when it announced a Switch 2 upgrade to Animal Crossing that released just weeks before Pokopia. It made me revisit my island, clean things up, and get back to the daily routine of doing little chores to pay off some debt to a capitalistic raccoon and make my islanders happy.

When I first booted up Pokopia, my knowledge of the game was limited to two trailers I had seen beforehand and limited commentary on Bluesky. I knew it would be somewhat similar to Animal Crossing with some Pokémon flavors, but that was the extent of my knowledge.

It has proven to be a delight in the few hours I've played so far. The closest I can come to a proper comparison is my joy of playing Hey You, Pikachu on Nintendo 64.

For the uninitiated, that's a game with a primitive voice command concept where you have a microphone attached to a Nintendo 64 and yell at Pikachu to do things. Gameplay-wise, it's in its own territory, but the world it created is what I'm referencing.

It was my first exposure to Pokémon as a world you could live in. You didn't need to catch anything or battle anyone. Instead, you wake up every day in your 90s-era bedroom to the sound of Pikachu knocking on a sliding glass door, hoping to go on an adventure.

Instead of traveling across the continent to defeat an evil criminal organization and win a championship, you walked with Pikachu through your backyard and neighboring wilderness. Each Pokémon you met was a neighbor and a potential friend. A Butterfree needing you to look after some hungry Caterpie, or a Bulbasaur hoping to create the perfect picnic.

It was a cozy game in a world that barely knew what a cozy game was. It was a world I wanted to live in.

Since then, Pokémon has evolved as a franchise. Your character exists in a world filled with Pokémon, but the core tenant of the games remained the same – catch, train, and win.

Of course, there have been plenty of side games like Mystery Dungeon or Pokémon Sleep, but none have captured that cozy atmosphere provided by Hey You, Pikachu. At least, none that I'm aware of.

I'm very excited to just live and exist in this cozy little world where I get to be a Ditto with a mission to find out what happened to humans and Pokémon. With everything else going on in the world, it's the perfect distraction.