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As hardware prices make heads spin, Apple of all companies has just announced a new MacBook laptop for only $599

The MacBook Neo in yellow, held aloft.
(Image credit: Apple)

Even if you've sufficiently managed your expectations and aren't going for the flashiest bit of kit, hardware is still expensive. Full desktop rigs are bad enough, but even mid-range gaming laptops can come at an eye-watering premium—and don't even get me started on just how much an Apple alternative would set you back by.

MacBooks are expensive and their gaming performance still isn't what you'd want, right? Well, for one thing Apple is a better PC gaming platform than people give it credit for, and now the just announced MacBook Neo is presenting an affordable inroad to its very shiny walled garden, for only $599.

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The very competitive phone-like pricing does little to argue against that notion either. For $599, I wouldn't be surprised if this became the student device of choice over, say, an iPad or a similar tablet device—the fun colours certainly help.

That said, someone on a student budget could potentially still net something with a little more grunt. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge enjoys the power of the Snapdragon X chip and 16 GB of RAM for close to $700—or you could scoop up the same chip and generous helping of RAM in the Asus Vivobook 14 for only $500. If you're deadset on Apple, there's also the very reasonably priced Mac Mini (the M4 Pro chip inside makes it a decent gaming option).

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