The toughest MacBook Neo decision is a $100 button

Apple’s new MacBook Neo costs $599/£599, but to reach that price Apple has had to make a lot of compromises and sacrifices. One of the key features missing on the entry-level $599 model is Touch ID, Apple’s biometric fingerprint system that was introduced with the iPhone 5s in 2013. However, it’s available if you’re willing to pay a little more: it’s available on the $699 model with 512GB of storage.

At this price scale, $100 is a lot, representing a 17% price increase. This is therefore not a trivial consideration for buyers. Does $699 still make this a budget laptop? Sure, but the increase is enough to make customers think and really question whether Touch ID is worth it.

If you’re not sure how Touch ID works on a Mac, there’s a small circular sensor in the upper right corner of the keyboard. When your Mac is locked, you can use Touch ID to access it instead of entering a password. And it continues throughout the Mac experience: in almost every case where you need to enter a password, you can use Touch ID instead. For example, if you sign in to an online account, you can use Touch ID to automatically enter your password, but also block access to people who aren’t you.

Touch ID as a security feature is very valuable – an overlooked aspect because its purpose is convenience. Entering usernames and passwords doesn’t take much effort, but Touch ID manages to reduce that task to a simple button. And with passwords, it gets even stronger as sites start to remove passwords altogether. If you access a lot of web tools and services, you’ll end up using Touch ID several times a day.

Foundry

This practical aspect of Touch ID is what I like the most; it improves my Mac experience. In fact, I get a feeling of dread when I encounter an instance where I can’t use it and have to type: Third-party developers have to write Touch ID support into their apps, and sometimes they don’t. I saw myself six months from now using the MacBook Neo without Touch ID and regretting my decision. The $100 is worth it to me.

On the bright side, the $100 upgrade also includes a 512GB SSD that replaces the 256GB SSD, so you also have twice the space to store your files. That softens the blow, but ultimately MacBook Neo buyers have to decide whether to spend $100 on a button. For my money, it does.