Apple March event: Live updates from the new MacBook showcase
Engadget is covering the "Apple Experience" in person, where we expect a new MacBook Neo to be on display.
Here we are in the middle of a week that's already been full of announcements from Apple, and yet there is more to come. After showing off the iPhone 17e, iPad Air M4, MacBook Air M5 and new MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips (oh, and the Studio Display XDR), the company is still hosting an "experience" today in New York, and the word on the street is that a new, lower-cost MacBook is on the agenda.
Apple is not livestreaming this event, and we honestly have no idea if a presentation is really even on the agenda. But we do have a date and a time: March 4 at 9AM ET. We also have a location that can't be disclosed to the public, and we'll be there bright and early to tell you all about what we see. This liveblog will kick off at about 6AM ET, and I expect we'll be at Apple's venue by 8AM ET, if you want something to read while you sip your morning bevvy.
In the meantime, you can catch up on everything Apple has already announced so far this week and also... Read all about the regulatory document that MacRumors spotted on Apple's website for something called a "MacBook Neo." It's quite likely that this is what we see in just a few hours, and frankly, I'm excited. Not just to see a more affordable device in this economy, but also just to chat with all our readers. See you soon!
48 Updates
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Cherlynn and Devindra have moved on to their respective deep-dive sessions on the new devices, so we're going to wrap things up here. Stay tuned to Engadget for more Apple analysis throughout the day. Follow along right here!
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One other potential dealbreaker we've discovered: The MacBook Neo's USB-C ports aren't the same. Only one of those is USB-C 3 (DisplayPort, charging and speeds up to 10Gb/s) and the other is USB-C 2 (charging and speeds up to up to 480Mb/s).
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A spread of food at the Apple event.
I would almost rather go get hands on with those sliders. But it's a tough call, because the MacBook Neo is almost as appealing...
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I'll be heading into a dedicated hands-on session with the new devices in a bit, and am currently parked at the filing center at the event space. I looked up briefly and caught sight of... more food.
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A woman cradling the yellow MacBook Neo.
While we wait for Devindra to put up better pictures of the MacBook Neo in his hands-on, here's one of me finally getting to pick one up! I look ghastly because I don't think yellow is my color. But it's certainly very fetching on the Neo!
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By the way, our home team has done some fact-checking too and confirms that the MacBook Neo's processor indeed has one fewer GPU core than the iPhone 16 Pro. They also discovered that the base model of the Neo, the $599 model, does not have Touch ID.
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The yellow MacBook Neo on a display table with a hand near it.
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For all of us who weren't there, Apple has posted a video walk-through of the new MacBook Neo.
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Devindra already has some hands-on impressions!
MacBook Neo hands-on: Apple's $599 laptop feels shockingly great
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There's no MagSafe on the MacBook Neo, just USB-C
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A closer look at the MacBook Neo's keyboard
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I just got informed by Daniel Howley from Yahoo Finance, who's done some spec-sheet peeping, that the A18 Pro chip in the MacBook Neo has a slightly different GPU setup than the iPhone 16 Pro. It has a 5-core GPU instead of the phone's 6-core GPU, he said. Let me fact-check that too...
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MacBook Neo
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MacBook Neo
Here is the full collection of Neo hues.
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Devindra is hard at work writing up his impressions of the new MacBook Neo as I write this, and I'm posting some videos to our social media accounts, where you can go to check out our first look at the new thing!
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MacBook Neo
The $599 MacBook Neo is Apple's cheapest Mac laptop yet
Someone's been rewatching The Matrix, apparently.
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A crowd of people around some MacBook Neos on display at the Apple event.
For context here's the crowd I have to fight to get these pictures!
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While we get our first look at the MacBook Neo, take a few minutes and catch up on all the Apple news this week. The company started the party on Monday with iPhone and iPad news. We've got all of the info here.
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Four MacBook Neos on stands at an event
Here we go!
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Devindra has dashed off to the other room and I'm pretty sure he'll be back with some impressions shortly. I'm heading off too so I can update this liveblog with breaking impressions of the new devices!
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Ternus comes back out quickly to thank everyone for coming and ushers everyone into the other room, where people can check out the new MacBook Neo. Everyone here gasped when the price was revealed, by the way. It's certainly not what we were expecting. For context, that's the same price as the iPhone 17e and the iPad Air M4 that were announced this week.
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"Best of all, Neo works like magic with your iPhone," per the video. It's not surprising — this is how iPhones and Macs work. That about sums up the new MacBook Neo's specs and the video is ending. The big deal though, is the price: $599.
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Of course, it will support Apple Intelligence tools and run "popular AI apps." Battery life is estimated to be up to 16 hours. It'll run macOS, not shockingly.
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MacBook Neo has been announced
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The webcam is 1080p, and there are side-firing speakers that support spatial audio with Dolby Atmos, too. "Neo comes in four colors: silver, indigo, blush and this fresh new citrus." The keyboards are color-coordinated too. MacBook Neo is, as the rumors suggested, powered by A18 Pro. This means it will "wake fast and launch apps quickly."
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It has a multi-touch trackpad and some kind of Signature keyboard. There's TouchID support via a sensor on the top right of the keyboard as well. Along the left edge are two USB-C ports and a headphone jack.
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Ternus has just announced the new MacBook Neo and we're watching a video detail its features now. It has a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, for instance.
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John Termus onstage at the Apple event.
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He's recapping everything Apple announced this week, starting with the iPhone 17e and the new iPad Air with M4.
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She's handing the stage over to John Ternus.
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Trudy of Apple's communications team has taken the stage to welcome everyone to this "safe space." She's saying "this is going to be a fun one." She also teases there's stuff "on the other side of this wall."
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The screen behind the stage has just starting playing an animated video and the music is getting more hyped. Something is happening soon, I can feel it.
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Greg Joswiak mid-turn in front of a stage with an Apple logo.
Devindra snapped this quick pic of Joz walking back to the side, and you can sort of see me plugging away at this liveblog in the bottom right corner there!
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Joz came over to Lance next to me to make a joke about how he was just about to toss a phone at Lance, which would have "made for great TV."
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A group of Apple execs, including Greg Joswiak just walked out and are waiting near the stage.
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I'm assuming that the few minutes is however long it'll take to get to 9AM ET.
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I'm told that we will only be here in front of the stage for a few minutes before going through to another area where presumably we will be allowed to check out product demos.
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A stage with an Apple logo.
We're in!
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We're waiting to be let into a different area and my anxiety is sky rocketing as it always does at these events!
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The breakfast offering at Apple's NYC event.
Of course I went straight to the food. What do you all think?
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Apple Spring 2026 event
Good morning folks! We've made it into the event and are fueling up. It's strange to go into an Apple event not knowing what to expect (aside from that rumored MacBook Neo). Will there be a presentation? Is it just a hands-on event? We'll see!
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Oh did I forget to mention? Joining me at the Apple event and on this liveblog is our resident MacBook reviewer Devindra Hardawar, who is already in line at the event. I hesitate to call him our resident MacBook expert because I think he faces some serious competition for that title in the sturdy form of our deputy editor Nate Ingraham. Nate is my MacBook emotional support animal.
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By the way, I'm known by my close friends to be ever so slightly slow on the uptake so I don't think any of them will be surprised when I realized this: it's a big Apple week of news... in the Big Apple!
It all makes sense now.
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I'm just getting ready to head out to the Apple event now, but as we all collectively brace for the landing of the anticipated MacBook Neo, here's a quick recap of everything Apple has announced this week so far. That's including things like the iPhone 17e, iPad Air M4 and MacBook Air M5.
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Even without the regulatory doc that was added to Apple's support website evidently by accident yesterday, we already saw a lot of reports that indicated a low-cost MacBook would be getting unveiled today. Seeing as most of the rumors on what to expect this week have turned out to be true, I'd consider dipping my toe into the prediction market cesspool on the low-cost MacBook Neo coming today.
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It's hard to imagine, after all the news that Apple has already announced this week, what else might be coming. But thanks to what appears to be a gaffe by some unfortunate Apple employee, we might actually be able to do more than imagine. We might actually make highly educated guesses that something called the MacBook Neo is coming today...
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We're not supposed to say where the event is, other than the city, so you won't hear from us where we are. And Apple won't be livestreaming this event either, so there's no real way to follow along in real-time (other than this liveblog, bwahaha! And other sites, I guess.) But the experience has some kind of start time, and that's in just under three hours, at 9AM ET.
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Hello and welcome to our liveblog of Apple's event in New York. We don't quite know what to call it, considering there isn't really a name, so we've gone ahead and called it what everyone else seems to be calling it — the "March event." Thanks Apple!