The MacBook Neo was big news when Apple announced it in March. Not only was it the cheapest MacBook the company had ever offered, but it also came in several colour options, had an aluminium build, and featured lovely touches like a colour-matched keyboard and software menus. It isn’t without fault, though. It could do with a few extra ports; the processor struggles with more intensive tasks; there’s no keyboard backlight; and the price recently jumped from the original $599/£599 to $699/£699, which sucks.
What it did well, however, was shake up the budget end of the laptop market. There is no need to settle for a cheap-looking plastic laptop anymore. Instead, you could have a colourful aluminium one that offers a similar experience to laptops twice the price. It’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that the PC world had to up its game a little, but Lenovo’s IdeaPad Vibe certainly does that.
Launching at the consumer electronics show IFA, the IdeaPad Vibe really does bring a vibe, with a premium aluminium body and a colour range that goes well beyond the MacBook Neo’s four options, offering a solid seven. Those colours were developed in collaboration with the Pantone Institute, so they have some weird and wacky names, from Zen Green and Spicy Gold to Dreamy Violet and Radiant Coral. You get the idea – none are boring black.
It has a couple of other neat tricks up its sleeve that a Neo successor could do well to note, though. Said to be aimed at families and students, the IdeaPad Vibe is available in 14-inch and 15-inch configurations, with a weight starting at 1.3kg. To put that into context, the MacBook Neo is only available as a 13-inch laptop, so it’s a fraction smaller, which unsurprisingly makes it a little lighter than the Vibe at 1.2kg, but you lose the extra inch of display for that weight reduction. The 15-inch IdeaPad Vibe weighs 1.5kg, putting it into MacBook Air territory.
The Vibe’s standard IPS LCD display also offers a 120Hz refresh rate, which is more than can be said for the MacBook Neo’s 60Hz screen, while the camera above the display also has a privacy shutter. It gets better, though. The Vibe’s keyboard can be customised, which might be my favourite part of this whole story. Customisable keycaps will be available so you can add a touch of colour to the whole keyboard, or maybe just a couple of your favourite keys – the letters of your name, maybe. You can also choose whether you want your keyboard backlit or not – something the MacBook Neo doesn’t offer, though in its defence, the Magic Keyboard delivers a great typing experience, and the colour-matched finish is a nice touch.
But it’s not just about size. There’s also the option to upgrade the Vibe’s display to OLED (assuming you don’t mind one of the more muted colour options, because apparently OLED and Spicy Gold aren’t friends), and you can choose between touch and non-touch. I welcome the day Apple offers a touchscreen on a MacBook, though even if it does, it’s unlikely the Neo will get anywhere near it as an option.
Inside the IdeaPad Vibe, things get even more customisable. Initially, you’ll be able to choose between Qualcomm and AMD processors, with Intel following at a later date. The Qualcomm Snapdragon X model has up to 24GB of memory and up to 1TB of storage, with storage upgradable after purchase. For the AMD Ryzen 400 Series model, you’ll get up to 32GB of memory and up to 1TB of storage, and both memory and storage are upgradeable. You can also choose between a fully metal build and a metal-and-polymer bottom for the AMD model, with a choice of 50Whr or 65Whr batteries. The Qualcomm model has a 50Whr battery.
Sometimes you can have too much choice, sure, but for those looking for a colourful, premium-looking laptop with a few more options than Apple’s MacBook Neo, the Lenovo IdeaPad Vibe is a solid place to start. It looks and feels great, with plenty of ports, including USB-A, two USB-C ports, an HDMI port, and a microSD card reader, while the colour options add plenty of fun. The IdeaPad Vibe was announced alongside several other launches, including an all-in-one colour desktop, the IdeaCentre AIO.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Vibe will be available in October with a starting price of $699 – the same as the MacBook Neo. Naturally, the touchscreen, additional memory, storage, and customisable keys will all cost extra, but the options are great and abundant for this colourful contender.
Read more: Lenovo’s Project Swan spreads its wings to a full 17in, and I want it to be more than a concept
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