The Apple MacBook Neo compared with five Windows laptops sold in the UK between £450 and £950. Specifications are from manufacturers; prices were verified at UK retailers on 27 September 2026. The Neo's price rose from £599 to £699 on 25 June 2026 (Hoxton Macs; Which?). Every figure links to its source. The table can be re-ordered by price, memory, storage, battery claim, weight or rating.
At-a-glance comparison
Ordered by verified price, low to high. The highlighted row is the top of the column in use. Click Price, RAM, SSD, Battery, Weight or Rating to re-order.
† Fewer than 50 reviews; treat as indicative. ‡ Retailer listings give 2880×1800; ASUS's UK specification page does not confirm the panel for this model code. "Not verified" means no manufacturer battery-life claim in hours could be read for that model. Other verified prices on 27 September 2026, including Apple UK Education at £599, are listed under Other verified prices below.
How to choose
Top three on the verified figures for each priority. Prices verified 27 September 2026.
Lightest laptop for commuting
- Zenbook A14 UX3407QA 0.98 kg
- MacBook Neo 13" 1.23 kg
- MacBook Neo 13" with Touch ID 1.23 kg
Most memory and storage for the money
- Zenbook A14 UX3407QA 16 GB / 1 TB at £599.99
- Aspire 14 AI A14-11M 16 GB / 1 TB at £649.99
- Vivobook 14 X1407QA 16 GB / 512 GB at £499
Spending less than the MacBook Neo
- Vivobook 14 X1407QA £499, £200 less
- Zenbook A14 UX3407QA £599.99, £99.01 less
- Aspire 14 AI A14-11M £649.99, £49.01 less
Strengths and limitations by product
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Apple MacBook Neo 13"
Strengths (from specifications and aggregate reviews):
- Rated 4.6 / 5 across 144 Amazon UK reviews, the highest count in this comparison; John Lewis customers rate it 4.8 / 5 across 34 reviews and Argos customers 5.0 / 5 across 49.
- Fanless design; Apple claims up to 16 hours of video streaming and 11 hours of wireless web.
- Highest-resolution display in the set at 2408×1506 with 500 nits, except where the Zenbook 14 OLED's retailer-listed 2880×1800 applies.
Limitations (from specifications and aggregate reviews):
- 8 GB unified memory and 256 GB SSD at the entry tier, against 16 GB and 512 GB or more on every Windows laptop here.
- A six-month review reports no performance wall for coding, browsing, writing and video, but the reviewer avoided video editing because of the 8 GB memory.
- Power adapter sold separately; two USB-C ports, one at USB 2 speed.
ASUS Vivobook 14 X1407QA
Strengths:
- Lowest verified price in the comparison at £499 on 27 September 2026 with 16 GB and 512 GB.
- Rated 4.2 / 5 across 69 Amazon UK reviews; Which? named it among the cheaper rivals to the Neo on 30 August 2026.
Limitations:
- Heaviest in the set at 1.49 kg.
- 300-nit IPS panel, the lowest brightness figure here.
- The Amazon UK listing was unavailable on the verification date; the John Lewis listing was no longer available online.
ASUS Zenbook A14 UX3407QA
Strengths:
- 0.98 kg, the only laptop here under 1 kg.
- 1 TB SSD and an OLED panel for £599.99 on 27 September 2026; ASUS claims up to 32 hours of 1080p video playback, tested on the 32 GB configuration.
- John Lewis customers rate it 4.7 / 5 across 39 reviews.
Limitations:
- Amazon UK rating rests on 6 reviews.
- Same Snapdragon X X1-26-100 as the Vivobook, which was £200 less on 27 September 2026; the Amazon listing title describes it as Snapdragon X Plus, which the manufacturer's specification does not support.
- £749 at Currys and £749.99 at John Lewis on 27 September 2026: the £599.99 price was Amazon-only on that date.
Acer Aspire 14 AI
Strengths:
- 1 TB SSD and a 120 Hz panel for £649.99 on 27 September 2026.
- 1.26 kg, within 30 g of the MacBook Neo.
- John Lewis includes its 2-year guarantee on top of Acer's 1-year warranty.
Limitations:
- No Amazon UK listing for this configuration on the verification date, so no aggregate rating is shown.
- No manufacturer battery-life claim in hours; Acer states a 65 Wh battery.
- John Lewis's listing calls the chip "Snapdragon X Elite"; Acer's specification gives the Snapdragon X X1-26-100.
ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405CA
Strengths:
- The only x86 machine in the comparison, on an Intel Core Ultra 5 225H.
- OLED touchscreen at the same £699 as the MacBook Neo on 27 September 2026.
Limitations:
- 3.7 / 5 across 27 Amazon UK reviews, the lowest score here, from a small sample.
- Display resolution for this model code is not confirmed by the manufacturer (see ‡ above).
- No manufacturer battery-life claim in hours for this configuration; ASUS states a 75 Wh battery.
HP OmniBook X 14
Strengths:
- 2240×1400 panel, the highest resolution among the IPS machines.
- Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100, a higher tier than the X1-26-100 in the Vivobook, Zenbook A14 and Aspire.
- Currys customers rate it 4.8 / 5 across 34 reviews.
Limitations:
- Highest price in the set at £764.97 on 27 September 2026, £65.97 above the Neo.
- Amazon UK listing unavailable on the verification date, so no aggregate rating is shown; Currys was the only major retailer listing found.
- Specifications are taken from the retailer because HP's UK product page could not be read; no battery-life claim in hours was available.
Other verified prices
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Other verified prices on 27 September 2026: the MacBook Neo was also listed at £699 at Apple UK, £699 at Currys, £699 at Argos and £699 at John Lewis (pre-order, delivery from 14 October 2026), and at £599 at the Apple UK Education Store for eligible students and educators. The Zenbook A14 was £749 at Currys and £749.99 at John Lewis (grey colour, same configuration). The Aspire 14 AI was £749 at Argos. The Zenbook 14 OLED was £709 at Argos.
Frequently asked questions
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Is the MacBook Neo's 8 GB of memory enough for hybrid work in 2026?
The entry MacBook Neo ships with 8 GB of unified memory and a 256 GB SSD at £699 (verified 27 September 2026). A six-month review published in September 2026 reports no performance wall for coding, browsing, writing and watching video, but the reviewer avoided video editing because of the memory limit. Apple's memory is shared between the A18 Pro's CPU and GPU, with 60 GB/s of bandwidth; Apple publishes no like-for-like comparison with Windows laptops, and none is made here. What can be stated is the specification gap: every Windows laptop in this comparison ships with 16 GB of RAM and at least 512 GB of storage, at verified prices from £499 to £764.97. Whether 8 GB is enough depends on whether the workload resembles the reviewer's, which is office documents, browser tabs and video calls, or exceeds it.
Which laptops compete most directly with the MacBook Neo in the UK now that it costs £699?
Apple raised the MacBook Neo's UK starting price from £599 to £699 on 25 June 2026, a change Which? reported on 30 August 2026. On prices verified at UK retailers on 27 September 2026, the three closest 14-inch Windows laptops by price are the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405CA at £699, an Intel Core Ultra 5 machine with 16 GB, 512 GB and an OLED touchscreen at the same price; the Acer Aspire 14 AI at £649.99, a Snapdragon X laptop with 16 GB, 1 TB and a 120 Hz screen weighing 1.26 kg; and the ASUS Zenbook A14 UX3407QA at £599.99, a Snapdragon X laptop with 16 GB, 1 TB and an OLED screen weighing 0.98 kg. Each offers double the Neo's memory; the Neo offers the largest verified review base and Apple's 16-hour battery claim.
Where can the MacBook Neo be bought for the lowest price in the UK?
On 27 September 2026 the 256 GB MacBook Neo was listed at £699 at Apple UK, Amazon UK, Currys, Argos and John Lewis, where it was on pre-order for delivery from 14 October 2026. No major UK retailer undercut Apple's price, and no listing below £699 was found at Amazon UK, Currys, Argos or John Lewis for the 256 GB model; third-party marketplace sellers were not checked. The Apple UK Education Store listed it at £599 for eligible students, parents of students and educators. Two differences beyond price: John Lewis includes a 2-year guarantee where Apple's standard cover is a 1-year limited warranty, and the power adapter is sold separately whichever retailer is used; John Lewis and Argos each listed Apple's 20W adapter at £19 on the same date. The price rose from £599 to £699 on 25 June 2026, so listings that predate that change no longer apply.
Sources and methodology
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This page contains no affiliate links; every retailer link goes directly to the retailer's own listing. This comparison was compiled from publicly available manufacturer specifications, current UK retailer pricing and product review data from Amazon UK and named UK retailers. Prices are re-verified on a rolling schedule. The "Last verified" stamp below reflects the most recent full re-check. Products are listed by verified price, lowest first, and the reader can re-order the table by price, memory, storage, battery claim, weight or rating; the highlighted row is the top of the column in use. Ivettly does not rank products by rating in its own ordering. Amazon UK ratings with fewer than 50 reviews are shown with a † marker and are not used to order or characterise products.
Sources referenced on this page:
- Apple UK — MacBook Neo technical specifications — chip, memory, storage, display, battery claim, weight, warranty
- Apple UK — Buy MacBook Neo — price
- Apple UK Education Store — MacBook Neo — education price
- Amazon UK — MacBook Neo — price, rating
- Currys — MacBook Neo — price
- Argos — MacBook Neo — price, retailer reviews
- John Lewis — MacBook Neo — price, guarantee, retailer reviews
- John Lewis — MacBook Neo with Touch ID, 512 GB — price (28 September 2026)
- Argos — MacBook Neo with Touch ID, 512 GB — price (28 September 2026)
- ASUS — Vivobook 14 X1407QA technical specifications and product page — specifications, battery claim
- Currys — Vivobook 14 X1407QA — price, warranty
- Amazon UK — Vivobook 14 X1407QA — rating
- ASUS UK — Zenbook A14 UX3407 technical specifications and product page — specifications, battery claim
- Amazon UK — Zenbook A14 UX3407QA — price, rating
- Currys — Zenbook A14 UX3407QA — price, warranty
- John Lewis — Zenbook A14 — price, retailer reviews
- Acer UK — Aspire 14 AI (Snapdragon) specifications — specifications
- Acer UK — standard warranty — warranty
- John Lewis — Aspire 14 AI — price, storage, guarantee
- Argos — Aspire 14 AI — price
- ASUS UK — Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405 technical specifications — specifications
- Amazon UK — Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405CA — price, rating, display listing
- Argos — Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405CA — price, warranty
- Currys — HP OmniBook X 14 — price, specifications, warranty, retailer reviews
- Amazon UK — HP OmniBook X 14 — listing status
- Hoxton Macs — Apple UK price rises 2026 — date and size of the price rise
- Which? — The MacBook Neo now costs £699, 30 August 2026 — price rise, rival named
- MacBook Neo Review – 6 Months Later, September 2026 — long-term use findings
Last verified: 27 September 2026