Why Would Anybody Buy A Non-Apple Laptop Now
With the new $599 MacBook Neo
I really keep asking myself this question. Not rhetorically.
Actually sitting with it. Looking at the laptop market in 2026 and trying to find a scenario where “buy a Windows laptop” is the right answer for most people.
It’s getting hard. Really hard.
The Price Argument Is Gone
The last real argument for Windows was price. Apple laptops were premium. You paid the Apple tax. A lot of people couldn’t or wouldn’t do that, and Windows gave you more choices at the lower end.
That’s over now.
The MacBook Neo starts at $599. For education customers, $499. That’s not a premium price. That’s a normal laptop price. A below average laptop price for decent hardware, honestly.
And definitely a below average price for Apple.
Walk into any electronics store today and try to find a Windows laptop at $599 that competes. You may find one. BUT… you’ll be looking at plastic chassis, mediocre displays, and Intel or AMD chips that use significantly more battery than the Neo’s A18 Pro. The build quality won’t be there. The software support longevity definitely won’t be there.
Apple is now competing on price, in a category it never competed in before. That changes a lot.
(I went deeper on what the MacBook Neo actually is and who it’s for in a separate piece.)
Then There’s the Windows 11 Situation
Windows 10 support ended in October 2025. Microsoft’s answer for the millions of people still on it: upgrade to Windows 11, or pay for Extended Security Updates that buy you exactly one extra year, at a cost, until October 2026.
Fine. Upgrade then. Except Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0, UEFI Secure Boot, and a supported CPU. Millions of perfectly functional laptops don’t qualify. Machines that were running just fine a year ago.
So you’re stuck. Your laptop works. The OS is going unpatched. Your options are: buy new Windows hardware, attempt sketchy workarounds Microsoft itself warns against, or leave.
A lot of people are choosing to leave. I wrote about who still uses Windows recently. The numbers are thinning.
And the Windows 11 experience itself isn’t exactly winning people over. Forced Copilot AI integrations. Constant nags. Ads in the Start menu. An OS that feels like it’s always trying to sell you something or sign you up for something. Updates that arrive at the worst possible moment.
It’s a mess. A real one. Still. Again.
Apple Covers Every Price Point Now
What makes the argument so lopsided right now, is not just the MacBook Neo.
At $599, you get the Neo. A18 Pro chip, 16-hour battery, 13-inch Liquid Retina display, aluminum build. For the vast majority of people — email, web, documents, video calls — it’s more than enough.
Step up to around $999 and you’re in MacBook Air territory. The M4 Air is one of the best laptops ever made, I believe.
No fan, 18-hour battery, stunning display, MagSafe, a genuinely excellent keyboard. It handles serious creative work, coding, multitasking with ease. More RAM options.
Go further and you’re in MacBook Pro land. M4 Pro chips, ProMotion displays, ports everywhere. For video editors, developers doing heavy lifting, anyone who needs sustained performance without compromise.
Apple basically covers the $599 to $3,000+ range with something that’s best-in-class at every tier.
In my view, there’s no Windows equivalent at any of those price points right now that’s a clear winner.
Maybe it’s not the exact same story for desktop machines. But Apple’s not bad there either with the cheap Mac Mini up to the full-fledged Mac Studios.
Microsoft should worry. A lot.
macOS vs. Windows 11
Beyond hardware, the software…
Sure, macOS isn’t perfect. And it might not be for everyone. Users coming from Windows will have to adapt.
But I mean… it’s not that tough to understand.
Also: macOS updates quietly. It doesn’t nag. It doesn’t interrupt your workflow with forced restarts. It doesn’t embed advertisements in your system menus.
Security updates come reliably for years. Apple supports hardware for a long time. The MacBook Air M1 from 2020 is still getting full macOS updates in 2026. That’s not the story Windows users hear about their 2019 laptop.
And then there’s of course the Apple ecosystem. iPhone integration, AirDrop, iMessage on the desktop, Handoff, Universal Clipboard.
If you’re already on an iPhone or iPad like many people are the Mac fits in a way no Windows laptop can match. It’s not magic. It’s just a thoughtful integration that works.
None of this is new. But the combination of it at $599 is new. And it makes the comparison more unfair than it’s ever been.
I would buy this Neo for my kids right away, for example. No way, I’d buy them a Windows laptop.
The One Remaining Reason Not to Buy Apple
I want to be fair.
There is one genuine, legitimate reason to not buy a MacBook in 2026. One.
If you want to run Linux.
Not “Linux on a Mac”. That’s possible but involves compromises, drivers that don’t always play well, and a system Apple didn’t design for it.
If Linux is your destination, buy a machine designed and tested for Linux. But that also means not buying a Windows machine.
For me, it means going real Linux.
Companies like System76 sell laptops with Linux preinstalled, built for it. Framework laptops have excellent Linux support and are repairable to a degree Apple would never allow.
If nothing else goes, then Lenovo’s ThinkPad line has had great Linux compatibility for years.
If you’re in the EU, TUXEDO makes the case for Linux-ready hardware in Europe specifically.
If that’s your path, buy one of those. Hell yeah. (I wrote about moving from macOS to Linux if you’re curious what that looks like in practice.)
But if you’re not going Linux, and you’re still looking at Windows machines… the justification is just not there anymore. In my eyes.
Not in 2026.
What About Gaming?
One more. I know.
PC gaming is a real use case and macOS gaming is still a weak point. Steam on Mac has improved, Apple Silicon runs a growing number of titles natively, and some ports are actually good now.
BUT… if your primary use case is playing the latest AAA titles with maximum settings, a Windows gaming laptop might still be the answer. Although Linux is really doubling down on that sector as well.
But yeah, that’s a legitimate carve-out. Gaming PCs exist for a reason.
For everyone else, the argument is getting very hard to make.
The Bottom Line
$599. Best-in-class build. Long software support. No OS chaos. Full iPhone integration. And that’s just the entry point. For students at $499.
Tough to beat.
Microsoft has spent years handing Apple more and more of this argument. The Windows 11 forced hardware lockouts, the AI-everywhere bloat, the ads in the OS itself.
It all adds up.
If you want a laptop today, and you don’t specifically need Linux or PC gaming, the question “why not a Mac?” is getting increasingly hard to answer with anything satisfying.
Not impossible. But hard. Right?