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In early 2026, Apple shook up the budget laptop market with the MacBook Neo, reviewed here by BGR. First available for $599 – or $499 for students – this computer featured an all-aluminum body, Apple’s A18 Pro chip, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. For $100 more, customers could get a keyboard with Touch ID and 512GB of storage. Using the capabilities of an M1 to M2 computer, Apple was able to develop a budget-friendly laptop for students and everyday users, but with quality not seen before in this category.
Now, if macOS isn’t 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 line of affordable laptops – or as affordable as the memory crisis allows businesses – with great capabilities for everyday use. Galaxy Book6 prices start at $799.
It is interesting to note that Samsung has bet on the same strategy as Apple, because with the MacBook Neo users benefit from an integrated experience between their iPhone, the Mac, in addition to AirPods, Apple Watch, etc. With the Korean company, Samsung is also highlighting connected Galaxy experiences such as finding information across devices, moving content and working on different screens, quick sharing, multi-control, and AI-assisted features such as AI Select, which works similar to Circle to Search. You can use AI Cut Out, which removes backgrounds from images with a single tap, and Note Assist, summarizing notes and key information as you browse the Internet, while using the laptop.
Getting to know the Samsung Galaxy Book6
The new Samsung Galaxy Book series comes with a 14-inch screen and up to 25 hours of battery life. The company focuses this laptop on everyday customers and tasks like video calling, web browsing, document editing, and streaming video. With this, Samsung claims that customers can work, study or enjoy their favorite content throughout the day, while a 45W fast charging power supply can charge the computer by 33% in 30 minutes. With Intel Core Series 3 processors, with Intel Core 3 and Intel Core 5 options, customers can choose a chip that suits their needs.
Like the MacBook Neo, Samsung has decided to go for at least one fun color with a Violet Silver option to contrast with the classic gray. Although it is a 14-inch device, it is 15.7mm thick and weighs 1.35kg, which is comfortable enough to carry around. To make this device more interesting, Samsung offers an anti-glare finish – something the Apple 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 this, Samsung customers do not need to spend more 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 much higher for these upgrades, making this version more affordable.
Other Budget Laptops to Consider
Although the memory crisis has driven up prices, there are excellent laptop alternatives for those who don’t like macOS and want better specs at a similar price. For example, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim has an OLED display, three USB-C ports, and an Intel Ultra 5 processor. With 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, this laptop is in a similar price range as the MacBook Neo, but with some added benefits that aren’t available in Apple’s offering. This laptop comes with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 support and a nice Luna Gray option.
Another budget-friendly 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 laptop is aimed at customers who want to operate in a laptop-like environment, but don’t want to spend too much on fancy features or lots of power, and just want something simple to get through a meeting, document editing, or web browsing. Since it uses ChromeOS, this device can run everything pretty quickly since Chromebooks focus on online experiences.
Finally, HP offers the 15.6-inch Victus laptop with 8 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage and a dedicated GPU for gaming with AMD Ryzen 5 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050. With this configuration, HP brings an excellent gaming experience to an entry-level device, which can also perform perfectly for daily tasks. Although the MacBook Neo helped shake up the industry, customers have a wide range of options to choose from.
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