Apple’s surprise entry into the budget laptop market has come as a shock to the Windows PC market. S. Y. Hsu, co-CEO of Asus, has reportedly described the Apple MacBook Neo as “certainly a shock to the entire market” during the company’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call but also listed the machine’s limitation when competing in the price range. Replying to an analyst’s question on the new device’s potential impact on the 2026 PC landscape, Hsu explained that shock wasn’t just about the product itself but also about the price, as per a report by Tom’s Hardware.
According to Hsu, the company had heard about the product’s shipment as early as the latter half of 2025, suggesting that PC makers knew something was coming, but did not anticipate just how aggressively Apple would price it.
Why Asus is not ‘panicking’
Despite the initial ‘shock’, Hsu was measured in his assessment of how much damage the MacBook Neo can actually do to the broader PC market. He pointed to a few specific limitations he believes will constrain its appeal when compared with the Windows PCs.
The most significant is memory. The MacBook Neo ships with 8GB of RAM, and crucially, that memory cannot be upgraded after purchase.
“For example, the memory is not upgradeable, and it only has 8GB of memory.
This may limit certain applications,” the Asus co-CEO said.
His broader point was that the MacBook Neo appears to have been designed with a specific kind of user in mind for content consuption.
“So, I think when Apple petitioned the product, it’s probably focused more on content consumption. This differs somewhat from mainstream notebook usage scenarios, because in that case, the Neo feels more like a tablet — because tablets are mostly for content consumption,” he added.
Windows loyalty ‘problem’
Beyond the hardware limitations, Hsu raised another hurdle Apple will need to clear: the fact that most laptop buyers are deeply familiar with Windows, and switching operating systems is not a decision most people take lightly – questioning whether the price tag is a compelling enough reason for a Windows user to make the switch.
“Many vendors are already looking for ways to compete with the Neo,” he said, adding: “The actual impact on the overall PC market still needs some time to resolve.”
