Mar 11, 2026 Apple

I'd like the less capable, more expensive computer, please

A $499 MacBook Neo with the brains of a couple-year-old iPhone can run Xcode, Photoshop, Blender, Terminal, and pretty much everything else you can think of, yet your $3,200 iPad Pro, with a desktop-class chip, cannot 😑

What are we doing here?

I've been wrestling with similar thoughts over the past week since the MacBook Neo's announcement, and I'm sure later today when mine arrives, the feeling will hit even harder. How is it possible that this new laptop, which costs half as much as my iPad Pro, is more capable for me in basically every way?

Let me put this another way. Without even having the laptop in hand, I can already tell you that I will absolutely be able to do my day job, all of my side projects, including web development, app development, video editing, and podcasting, all from this new device. Meanwhile, I have a more powerful iPad Pro sitting next to me that literally cannot do most of those things, or if it can, it does many of them in a hacky workaround way that would be inconvenient at best.

I won't re-litigate this whole debate here, but I'm a product manager by day, and there is absolutely no way even a maxed-out iPad Pro would be as functional for me as even the cheapest, slowest Mac money can buy. Not video editing, not development, just a normal job that happens at a computer.

Not exactly new for Apple fans

Of course, this isn't necessarily a new phenomenon for Apple fans. In the early days of my time with the Mac, which was the mid-90s, I think it's pretty fair to say that Macs could do fewer things than Windows computers, and that's certainly something that I felt as a young person who wanted to play games and use music-sharing apps. But people liked the Mac because of the experience and some of the specific software that they got to run on it. They were happy to spend a bit more to get something that didn't necessarily win the feature checklist battle.

From that perspective, I certainly don't have any ill will towards people who choose to use the iPad and who prefer it over the Mac. I have been you! Further, I was literally you from about 2017-2021, my iPad-only era, if you will.

The price squeeze

I wrote about this in a members post over the weekend, but I really wanted to reiterate it here: choosing to buy an iPad as your main computer is hella expensive, and with the MacBook Neo, choosing to buy an iPad as a computer is now also choosing to spend way more money. Let's play this out…

I'm a parent looking to buy a computer for my teenage child. I want them to be able to use this for schoolwork, I want them to be able to use it for entertainment, and I want them to be curious about computers and experiment with what they find interesting. When I was a kid, using a computer lit up my brain in a way few other things did, and it got me going down the path that I'm on now. I'd want to allow my child to have that sort of opportunity as well. I don't need to get them a powerhouse of a device, but I'd like it to last a little while and be flexible. Looking at Apple's current offerings, the devices that stand out to me would be the MacBook Neo and the iPad Air. Technically, the base iPad could be in the conversation as well, but that's really low-end and doesn't really work as well as a laptop sort of device.

Pricing out a MacBook Neo

I will get the education discount here, so the MacBook Neo could cost me $499, but I'm going to spring for the upgraded model with 512 GB storage and Touch ID because they'll like that. This is a clamshell notebook, so obviously the screen, keyboard, and trackpad are all bundled together.

All in, I'm spending $599.

Pricing out an iPad Air

Again, browsing the education store. The iPad Air starts at $549, but I'm making some real sacrifices compared to the Neo: 1/4 as much storage, a smaller display, no keyboard or trackpad. In terms of advantages, I do get a faster processor and a nicer screen that supports touch, but yeah, some of those things aren't going to fly. Let's spec up to the 13" screen, 512GB storage, and I'll add a Magic Keyboard so they can write on it.

Lord have mercy, I'm spending $1,348, so more than 2.5x as much as the Neo.

Surprise! Pricing out a MacBook Air

Suddenly, a MacBook Air enters the conversation. 13" screen and 512GB storage, all for $999.

Second surprise! Pricing out a base iPad

At this point, I'm flailing. My most expensive option is the iPad Air, which is $350 more expensive than an even faster and more capable MacBook Air. Let's explore the low end of the iPad.

We'll have to make several sacrifices here. This device is fundamentally slower with a several generations older chip. It also has nothing beyond a 10-inch display, and we're only going to upgrade to 256 gigabytes of storage this time. Also, the compatible keyboard isn't as good, but what are you going to do? We're skimping on this thing to save money, so what's the damage?

$658 to get a much worse, smaller screen, worse performance, half the storage, a worse keyboard and trackpad, and a less powerful OS. And all that's still more expensive than the MacBook Neo.

iPads are still a deal as a "middle device"

When Steve Jobs originally presented the iPad, he showed it off explicitly as a device that could live in between someone's desktop computer and their smartphone. As people have enjoyed the product, and as Apple has explicitly changed their marketing over the years to encourage more people to at least attempt to use iPads as their primary computers as well. And what we're seeing now is that, yeah, an iPad spec'd out as a primary computer is a pretty expensive investment, often more expensive now than even the equivalent MacBook in the lineup.

But if you do treat the iPad as a third device, then I think the pricing is much more compelling. You could get a base iPad Air for watching videos and doing web browsing, and you could more easily get by without a Magic Keyboard or the extra storage. And because it has an M4, which likely has way more power than you need today, you'll be able to go many years without even thinking about upgrading it. That's awesome.

But yeah, if you're looking for a primary computer in 2026, as odd as it sounds, you need to really want the iPad because you're going to pay extra for it.