Lenovo's $699 IdeaPad Vibe Is the First Real Answer to the MacBook Neo

Six months ago Apple put a $599 MacBook on the table and every Windows laptop maker got the same homework assignment. Lenovo handed its in at IFA in Berlin last week.

The IdeaPad Vibe, announced September 3, is a 14-inch or 15-inch laptop in seven colors with names like Spicy Gold and Radiant Coral, swappable keycaps sold separately, and a US starting price that Engadget and Android Authority both report as $699 (Lenovo's own release quotes 799 euros for Europe). AMD versions ship in October, Snapdragon X versions in November.

Nobody at Lenovo said the words "MacBook Neo" on stage. Nobody needed to.

What the Vibe brings that the Neo doesn't

Start with ports, because this is where the two laptops are least alike. Lenovo's spec sheet lists two USB-C ports with DisplayPort and Power Delivery, two USB-A ports, full-size HDMI 1.4, a microSD reader and a headphone jack. Six connections. Apple's MacBook Neo spec page lists one USB 3 port, one USB 2 port (both USB-C) and a headphone jack. If you own a wired mouse, a camera with an SD card or a projector with an HDMI cable, the Vibe plugs into your life without a dongle. The Neo needs a hub before the box is empty.

Then there's memory. The Neo ships with 8GB and that's the only option on Apple's spec page. Lenovo's AMD Ryzen AI 400 models go up to 32GB, and the memory is upgradeable, which is a phrase you rarely see attached to a thin consumer laptop in 2026. The Snapdragon X versions top out at 24GB soldered. Storage is up to 1TB on either chip, with a second SSD slot free.

Screens are a matter of taste. The Neo has one display, a 13-inch 2408x1506 IPS panel at 500 nits. The Vibe offers OLED at 1200p on the 14-inch and 2.1K on the 15-inch, both covering 100% of DCI-P3, or an IPS panel at 120Hz with 100% sRGB. Lenovo hasn't published brightness figures for the OLED options in its release, so I can't tell you whether they match Apple's 500 nits. Touch is optional on the Vibe. It isn't available on the Neo at all.

Weight: 2.87 lb (1.3 kg) for the 14-inch Vibe against the Neo's 2.7 lb (1.23 kg). Close enough that your bag won't notice.

What the Neo still does better

Battery is the obvious one. Apple claims up to 16 hours of video streaming and 11 hours of wireless web on the Neo. Lenovo's release gives capacities (50Wh on Snapdragon and the 14-inch AMD model, 65Wh on the 15-inch AMD) but no runtime claims, and I'm not going to invent one. The Snapdragon X version should be the efficiency pick, based on how that platform has behaved in other laptops this year, but nobody has run the Vibe on a battery test yet.

The other Neo advantage is that Apple sells one configuration at one price and you know exactly what you're getting. Lenovo's "starting at" is doing real work here.

The catch: the $699 model isn't the one in the photos

Lenovo's spec sheet labels the Vibe a "Copilot+ PC (selected models with 16GB memory)". Read that twice. The AI-badge configurations start at 16GB, which means the base model ships with less. Tech Times reports the entry configuration at 8GB, and since Microsoft's Copilot+ rules require 16GB regardless of how many TOPS the NPU has, the cheapest Vibe gets none of the Copilot+ features even though its silicon is capable of them.

That matters less than the marketing suggests. Most people never touch Recall or Windows Studio Effects. It matters more because it tells you the $699 Vibe and the $599 Neo are closer siblings than the spec comparison above implies: both are 8GB machines at the entry price, and the Vibe's memory advantage costs extra. The upgrade path is still the Vibe's to claim, since you can open the AMD model and add RAM later, but the sticker-price comparison is between two 8GB laptops separated by $100 and an operating system.

One more thing to know before you get excited about that HDMI port: it's HDMI 1.4, which caps out at 4K 30Hz. Fine for a 1080p or 1440p monitor. Not fine if you want a 4K display running smoothly over HDMI, in which case you'll be using one of the USB-C ports with DisplayPort anyway.

Who should wait for which

If you're buying for a student or a browser-and-Office household and you want the machine to be the same machine in three years, the Neo's single configuration and macOS's long support tail are a safe bet. If you have a drawer of USB-A accessories, want a bigger screen, or like the idea of adding memory yourself instead of paying the manufacturer's price for it up front, the Vibe is the more interesting laptop, and the 15-inch AMD model with the 65Wh battery is the configuration I'd want to see reviewed first.

Lenovo wasn't alone in Berlin. Acer's Swift Blade 14 turned up at 1.76 lb (799 g) with carbon fiber covers and Intel's Core 7 350, but it doesn't reach Europe until December, North America until early 2027, and there's no price yet. The Vibe is the one you can actually buy this fall.

Based on specs and press materials, not hands-on use. We'll revisit once review units are out.

Specifications and pricing sourced from Lenovo's September 3, 2026 press release, Apple's MacBook Neo specifications page and the reports linked above, as of September 9, 2026. Prices and configurations may change after publication.