Deal | This LG laptop is much cheaper than MacBook Neo with 2x RAM and longer battery

It would be an understatement to say that the MacBook Neo has disrupted the affordable laptop market. With a high-end metal build, a 100% sRGB display, and solid performance, the MacBook Neo is a good value at $599 and a downright amazing one at $499. Naturally, this has spooked Windows laptop OEMs who are now heavily discounting their laptops to stay relevant. The latest example of this is LG cutting the price of the LG UltraPC 16 to just $400 at Staples (linked at the end).

Launched in 2023, the LG UltraPC 16 is an affordable Windows laptop powered by a 6-core Ryzen 5 7530U AMD APU, 16 GB of RAM, and 512 GB of storage. So, the LG UltraPC has double the RAM and double the storage of the base MacBook Neo which retails for $599 without the $100 student discount.

Moreover, the LG UltraPC 16 also has a full-sized keyboard with backlighting, something which the MacBook Neo lacks, as well as user-upgradable storage through a spare M.2 slot. The LG UltraPC 16 also packs a large 72 Wh battery. Battery life is one of MacBook Neo’s weakest parts, as the small 36.5 Wh cell doesn’t last as long as we’ve come to expect from Apple MacBooks.

In our review of the 2022 LG UltraPC 16 with a 72 Wh battery, we measured a excellent 17 hours of WLAN runtime. The MacBook Neo could only last for 12 hours and 51 minutes in the same test.

Finally, the LG UltraPC 16 incorporates:

• Two Type-A ports
• One Type-C port
• One 3.5 mm audio jack
• An HDMI out
• A microSD card slot

So, if you want the maximum bang for your buck, the LG UltraPC 16 is clearly the better choice over the MacBook Neo. Not only are you getting more RAM, more storage, better battery life, and more ports, but you are getting it for $200 less. Naturally, this machine won't be silent in use as it has active cooling.

MacBook Neo has its advantages

The MacBook Neo is a clearly better option if you value display quality and pure performance. While the LG UltraPC 16 features a good 1200p IPS panel for a budget Windows laptop, the MacBook Neo punches above its weight with 500 nits of max brightness and 100% sRGB.

Similarly, the Apple A18 Pro powering the MacBook Neo is much faster than the Ryzen 5 7530U in workloads like web browsing that prioritize per-thread performance. The Ryzen 5 7530U is no slouch, however. It is more than fast enough for day-to-day office and college work.

Buy the LG UltraPC 16 to just $400 at Staples | MacBook Neo on Amazon

Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.