Five budget laptops under $800 stand out for different reasons, from OLED displays and 16GB RAM to long battery life and premium portable designs.
The post Best Budget Laptops for 2026: 5 Picks Under $800 appeared first on TechRepublic.
ASUS packs in an OLED display, more ports, and optional 16GB RAM, while Apple keeps the MacBook Neo cheaper, sharper, fanless, and tightly tied to macOS.
The post ASUS Zenbook 14 vs MacBook Neo: Which Affordable Laptop Is Better? appeared first on TechRepublic.
Lenovo’s $700 IdeaPad Vibe rivals the MacBook Neo with more ports, chip choices, and upgrade options, but the base 8GB RAM model has limits.
The post Lenovo’s $700 IdeaPad Vibe Takes Aim at the MacBook Neo appeared first on TechRepublic.
In another time, the MacBook Neo could have caused a substantial realignment of the lowish-end laptop business. Sure, it has shortcomings compared to the MacBook Air, but it could have at least encouraged PC makers to start shipping consistently decent keyboards, screens, and build quality in the Neo's $599 price window.
The PC makers did start responding, thanks in part to Intel's actually new non-Ultra Core Series 3 processors (codenamed Wildcat Lake). Intel has resisted its usual compunction to serve the budget market with aging, re-labeled silicon and has created a lower-end, lower-performance processor with the same building blocks (and the same manufacturing processes) as this year's high-end, high-performance models.
The likes of Dell, Acer, Asus, and Lenovo began hopping on the Wildcat Lake train fairly quickly, announcing would-be Neo competitors. But it felt like most of them were having trouble matching the Neo's barebones specs, let alone undercutting them. Dell's XPS 13 started at $599, but only for students. It would be $699 for everyone else. Acer's Swift Air 14 was announced at $699, too. Sure, sometimes these offered features the Neo didn't have. But the point of the Neo is that it eschews frills and frippery in favor of nailing the basics.
© Andrew Cunningham
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