In summary:
- Macworld reports that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook announced the “best launch week ever for first-time Mac customers” following the MacBook Neo launch.
- The $599 MacBook Neo appears to be driving this unprecedented success, with high demand evident from extended shipping dates on Apple’s online store.
- This momentum is attributed to “Windows fatigue” and value-seeking consumers, signaling strong potential for upcoming Mac products like the touchscreen MacBook Pro.
It’s been a couple of weeks since Apple dropped the bombshell that is the $599 MacBook Neo, and there is still a lot of buzz about it, based on the feedback we’ve seen here at Macworld. On Friday, we got a sense from Apple on what the response has been.
On X, Apple CEO Tim Cook posted a quick message, stating, “Mac just had its best launch week ever for first-time Mac customers. We love seeing the enthusiasm!”
Cook didn’t specifically say the “enthusiasm” was because of the MacBook Neo, but it’s easy to infer that it is. Cook has never posted such a message after a Mac release, although Apple often makes some sort of vague statement during its quarterly results announcements that it is encouraged by the number of first-time buyers. Apple also released a new M5 MacBook Air and the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro, so it’s possible Cook’s message includes those Macs as well. Possible, but not probable.
MacBook Neo remains difficult to get on Apple’s online store, with some colors showing a mid-April ship date. Apple stopped revealing actual units sold (as specific numbers or even in a general sense) years ago, so we may never know how many MacBook Neos are being sold.
Regardless, there seems to be genuine momentum with the laptop, thanks to Windows fatigue and a U.S. economic sentiment where people want more value for their dollar. Maybe we’ll start to see proclamations of units sold, like when we heard about the X millionth song sold on iTunes–such announcements can create a bandwagon effect to let people know that the Neo is gaining wide acceptance.
In any case, there’s new “enthusiasm” for the Mac, and we as users will hopefully benefit. We still have updates to the Mac mini and Mac Studio coming soon, and then there’s the touchscreen MacBook Pro later this year. It’s only going to get better, folks.
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Author: Roman Loyola, Senior Editor, Macworld
Roman is a Macworld Senior Editor with over 30 years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the Mac and other products in the Apple ecosystem. He is also the host of the Macworld Podcast. His career started at MacUser, where he received Apple certification as a repair technician (when Apple did that kind of thing). He's also worked for MacAddict, MacLife, and TechTV.