The MacBook Neo is a winner

On The Vergecast: Apple’s newest and next gadgets, the next Xbox is a PC, and the Big Tech space race.

by David Pierce

Mar 13, 2026, 1:13 PM UTC

David Pierce is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.

It was a little surprising to see Apple decide to leap fully into the affordable laptop market, to try and compete with devices the company typically prefers to just look down its nose at. It was also a little surprising to see Apple basically nail it on the first try.

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On this episode of The Vergecast, Nilay and David get into the weeds on the MacBook Neo, the $599 laptop that appears to tick just about all the boxes of the average $599 laptop buyer. Both David and Nilay bought a Neo this week, so they compare notes on their early tests, briefly get very upset about MacOS Tahoe, and then spend some time wondering why no PC maker seems willing or able to make a laptop this good at this price. After that, they round out the week of Apple reviews — and Nilay comes very close to buying a Studio Display XDR he absolutely doesn’t need.

After that, the hosts discuss some of the week’s Xbox news, including the coming Project Helix device and the fact that the new Xbox plan sounds an awful lot like the old Xbox plan. Microsoft is meshing console games and PC games, bringing Xbox to Windows and Windows to Xbox — so is everything an Xbox, or not? We have some questions.

Finally, in the lightning round, it’s time for another round of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, the latest on the Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros., Grammarly’s sloppelganger scandal, Gemini’s task automation features, and more.