MacBook Neo Launches Apple Into a Cooler Era (With a Mascot?)

Seven new products landed in Apple stores this week, but all the attention is on the $600 MacBook Neo. The 13-inch computer, available in shades of yellow, blue and pink, is the cheapest laptop the company has ever made, and reviews across the web are praising its performance.

Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. I picked up the new Neo “blush” at the Apple store on Fifth Avenue. Pink was also the model of choice for the two other early bird customers I met (both of whom took advantage of the discounted student rate, which starts at $500).

In this week’s episode of One More Thing, which you can watch above, I take you with me to Neo’s launch day. Along with my first impressions, I explain why this laptop will be so disruptive. (One CEO called the Neo a “shock” for the PC industry.)

But something else seems different. There’s a new attitude to Apple’s social media marketing. The company began posting short, naughty clips on TikTok and launched a new Instagram account. One video included a cute little cartoon character with a Mac “Finder” face. And now there’s already fan art made about it as Apple’s squishy mascot. (But no official word from Apple on the future of this little Finder guy yet.)

Apple also released a note this week to kick off its 50th anniversary celebrations. It’s refreshing to see this new energy and social media enthusiasm around the Neo, because it taps into something I felt at Apple in the early 2000s. It was a time when silhouettes danced with iPods, and it was a reminder that technology, sometimes, is just about having fun.

For more one more thingSubscribe to our YouTube page to see Bridget Carey break down the latest Apple news and issues every Friday.