MacBook Neo Not For You? Consider This New Budget Samsung Laptop Instead

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Early in 2026, Apple shook up the low-budget laptop market with the MacBook Neo, reviewed here by BGR. First available at $599 – or $499 for those in education — this computer featured a full aluminum body, Apple's A18 Pro chip, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. For $100 extra, customers could get a keyboard with Touch ID and 512GB of storage. With the capabilities of an M1 to M2 computer, Apple was able to develop a budget laptop for students and everyday users, but with a quality that was unseen in that category. 

Now, if macOS is not your cup of tea, or you want more than the pre-selected options Apple offers, Samsung has joined the party with a new Galaxy Book6 lineup of affordable laptops — or as affordable as the memory crisis allows companies to be — with great capabilities for everyday usage. Prices for the Galaxy Book6 start at $799. 

Interestingly enough, Samsung has bet on the same strategy as Apple, as with the MacBook Neo users have an integrated experience between their iPhone, the Mac, in addition to AirPods, Apple Watch, and more. With the Korean company, Samsung also highlights connected Galaxy experiences such as finding information in different devices, moving content and work across different screens, Quick Share, multi control, and AI-assisted features, such as AI Select, which works similarly to Circle to Search. You can use AI cut out, which removes image backgrounds with just a tap, and Note Assist, summarizing notes and key information when browsing the internet, while using the laptop.

The new Samsung Galaxy Book series comes with a 14-inch display and up to 25 hours of battery life. The company focuses this laptop on everyday customers and tasks such as video calls, browsing the web, editing documents, and streaming videos. With that, Samsung says customers can work, study, or enjoy their favorite content throughout the day, while a 45W fast charging power brick can charge the computer by 33 percent in 30 minutes. With Intel Core Series 3 processors, with Intel Core 3 and Intel Core 5 options, customers can choose a chip that makes sense for their needs.

Like the MacBook Neo, Samsung decided to bet on at least one fun color with a Violet Silver option to make a contrast against the classic Gray. Despite being a 14-inch device, it's 15.7mm thin and weighs 1.35kg, which is comfortable enough to be carried around. To make this device more interesting, Samsung offers an anti-glare finish — which Apple's option doesn't have — and two proper USB-C ports, in addition to two USB-A, an HDMI, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. With that, Samsung customers don't need to spend extra money on dongles as they can connect a wide range of accessories.

The Galaxy Book6 comes with Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4, and starts with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Customers can also opt for a 16GB version with up to 1TB of storage. Still, prices can get a lot higher for these upgrades, killing the affordability of this release.

While the memory crisis has been pushing prices up, there are great laptop alternatives for those who don't like macOS and want better specs at a similar price point. For example, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim features an OLED display, triple USB-C ports, and an Intel Ultra 5 processor. With 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, this laptop is at a similar price range as the MacBook Neo, but with some extra perks that are not available on Apple's offering. This laptop comes with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 support and a pretty Luna Grey option.

Another budget option is CTL's Chromebook Plus, which is a touchscreen laptop with an Intel i3 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. With up to 10 hours of battery life, this notebook is focused on customers who want a laptop-like environment to work, but don't want to overspend on fancy features, or a lot of horsepower, and actually just want something simple to get through a meeting, a document edit, or browsing the web. Since it uses ChromeOS, this device can run everything pretty fast, as Chromebooks have a focus on online experiences.

Last but not least, HP has the 15.6-inch Victus laptop with 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a dedicated GPU for games with AMD Ryzen 5 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 graphics. With this configuration, HP brings a great gaming experience to an entry level device, which can perfectly work for everyday tasks as well. While the MacBook Neo helped shake up the industry, customers have a wide range of options to choose from.