Apple’s MacBook Neo turns out to be its most repairable lappy in 14 years
- Reference: 1773667666
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/03/16/apples_599_macbook_neo_turns/
- Source link:
In [1]a teardown published late last week , iFixit said that the recently-launched MacBook Neo is the most repairable Apple laptop in roughly 14 years, a surprising shift for a company that has spent the past decade gluing, soldering, and otherwise discouraging anyone with a screwdriver from poking around inside its hardware.
iFixit gives new Fairphone 6 top marks for repairability: 10/10 [2]READ MORE
The Neo, [3]announced earlier this month as Apple's new entry-level MacBook starting at $599, is aimed squarely at students and budget buyers. It also marks a few unusual design decisions for Cupertino, as the laptop uses Apple's A18 Pro chip – the same silicon found in the iPhone 16 Pro – rather than the company's M-series Mac processors, and arrives in bright colors clearly meant to evoke the friendly plastic Macs of long ago.
Under the hood, however, iFixit's teardown team found several choices that technicians haven't seen in a MacBook for some time. Instead of glue and rivets holding major parts together, the Neo relies heavily on screws.
The battery alone is secured with 18 screws and can be lifted out without the usual adhesive wrestling match that plagues many recent Apple laptops.
[4]
The keyboard is technically replaceable too, though technicians will need patience: iFixit counted 41 screws that have to come out before the new one goes in.
[5]Annual electronic waste footprint per person is 11.2 kg
[6]Secondhand laptop market goes 'mainstream' amid memory crunch
[7]Apple's AirPods Pro 3 are still chuck-and-buy-again specials
[8]M4 MacBook Air keeps ports modular, locks tight – still a headache to repair
Several components are also modular. Ports, speakers, and other small parts can be swapped individually rather than forcing repair shops to replace large assemblies, and Apple has published official repair documentation for the machine at launch.
All of that helped the MacBook Neo land a 6 out of 10 on iFixit's repairability scale – which might sound middling until you remember that many recent MacBooks struggled to break past four.
[9]
Still, the laptop is far from a repair utopia. Like most modern Macs, the Neo's RAM is soldered on, meaning buyers are stuck with the 8 GB it comes with. Storage is similarly fixed, and Apple still uses its trademark pentalobe screws on the case.
Even so, the teardown suggests Apple may be inching, albeit cautiously, toward designs that are at least somewhat friendlier to repair. Does this signal a genuine shift or simply reflect [10]pressure from right-to-repair advocates and regulators? Hard to say at this point. ®
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[1] https://www.ifixit.com/News/116152/macbook-neo-is-the-most-repairable-macbook-in-14-years
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/05/ifixit_gives_fairphone_10/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/04/apple_macbook_neo/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2abg3NJTKKV2qP52a8gx6FgAAAko&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/16/ted_talk_electronic_waste/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/refurbished_pcs_memory_crunch/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/02/apple_airpods_pro_3/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/17/m4_macbook_air_repair/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44abg3NJTKKV2qP52a8gx6FgAAAko&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/20/laptop_manufacturers_repairability/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
...or after fighting new regulations (USB-C) and losing, they decided not to fight "Right to Repair" this time
I personally believe it is supply chain-caused: using more modular components (a) allows a lower cost as more off-the-shelf devices can be used, and (b) the more interchangeable construction allows swapping out of suppliers with less effort allowing subassembly construction to go to the lowest bidder. I might also add increased flexibility in final assembly contractors, as well.
Pentalobe screws are easy, just use a small flat-blade and span two of the lobes. Works better than the pukka bit.
Clue
. Instead of glue and rivets holding major parts together, the Neo relies heavily on screws.
It's quite possible that this is because US oblast administration has sniffed all the glue supplies.
It looks like a very nice laptop. It should sell like hotcakes. With regard to repairability, it’s great news that it’s more repairable - this is something that should be encouraged. That said…
My 2011 MacBook Air was easy to replace the battery on. That’s the only repair it’s needed.
My 2020 M1 MacBook Air has needed no repairs at all. It only has 8GB RAM too - and it still feels as snappy as it did when new. The Neo should be even quicker. For most users (not gamers, not video editors) this is all the laptop that they’ll need - and, if I was a gambling man, will probably remain all that most people need for eight years or more.
The double sided tape on the old Macbook batteries were not hard to remove - I just pushed a plastic spudger in there a few times. Apple Macbooks never die - sometimes you just wish they would - to finally have an excuse to buy a new one.
My previous MacBook had to be consigned to the laptop in the sky as even third parties were giving up on making batteries for it.
"Apple’s MacBook Neo turns out to be its most repairable lappy in 14 years"
That is welcome news and it is better for the environment as well. That said, it will be interesting to see if other equipment launches follow the MacBook Neo's promising lead.
Chromebook replacement
Apple designed the Neo to make it attractive to school districts to replace Chromebooks. This meant that the Neo had to meet a strict cost to manufacture target and it also had to be reparable by district technicians.
Another Apple rant with zero basis?
I have one of these and also an iPhone 16e. Both of these are products that were/are ridiculed.
I'd like to give a quick comparison of them against a Windows 11 Lenovo gaming laptop I have as well as a Google Pixel.
- 8 GB of RAM is plenty to run macOS even Tahoe. My Lenovo laptop has 16 GB of RAM and a faster-on-paper CPU, and it's slower.
- Never seen a single error message on either my phone or Mac. Not true of either the Windows laptop or Pixel.
- £599 for a laptop or phone is mid range. Therefore if you consider what you're getting with the Neo or iPhone 16e isn't premium, that's correct, as it's not supposed to be.
- I've never needed to upgrade or replace any component in any Apple product ever.
- External and cloud storage is cheap. 256 GB local storage and can't cope? Sort your life out.
- The hardware looks and physically feels nice. The hardware lasts, and is usually still worth more when you trade it in.
- Loads of other reasons
In the past people bitched at Apple for not offering "affordable" devices. They then launched them and some people still didn't like it. Wow, that's a real shocker!
Basically this is a decent laptop at a reasonable price. Don't start making stupid comparisons like "it only has 8 GB of RAM" as though that's a meaningful comparison to anything. If you've used macOS for any length of time you'll understand why that - as well as many other criticisms - don't stand up.
It's more like they are heading towards something that can be made in the US to appease Trump.