The new MacBook shouldn't be called Neo

This is a post that could age terribly in 24 hours, but "neo" just means new.

Apple loves a naming convention. Every now and then, a new one sneaks through, but almost all of the names used today were used at some point before.

MacBook Pro, M3 Ultra, iPad Air, iPhone Pro Max, Mac Studio, Apple Watch Edition, iPhone SE, iPhone 17e.

There's not exactly a predictable pattern, but everything does rhyme. When a new moniker is introduced, it's often tough to adopt. There was a Mac Plus before iPhone Plus, but even then, the Plus name was the butt of many jokes at first.

Neo, however, feels like something totally different. I won't be the first to say this and won't be the last: That's just not Apple.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but Neo feels like a word born in a different era. My first exposure to Neo wasn't the Matrix, but Pokémon. Back before the second generation launched in the United States, you could buy Japanese import Pokémon packs with "Pokémon Neo" emblazoned everywhere.

I didn't know what card sets were at the time; I was only 9 and still learning about the series. But there was something exciting about seeing those cards with "Pocket Monsters" across the backs. It was something wholly new indeed.

The budget MacBook is nothing new. If anything, we've seen its kind many times before – especially that ill-fated 12-inch MacBook.

If Apple goes with "Neo" for this product, it'll be a strange choice. I expect the "Neo" was a placeholder or even an internal code name that made it to a regulatory file by mistake.

Let's not forget Microsoft also had a Neo product, but it never launched.

It's what Apple is expected to announce Wednesday, so we'll see soon enough.