TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Asus plans to introduce products aimed at competing with Apple after the tech giant unveiled its budget laptop, the MacBook Neo.

Apple last week introduced the laptop on its official website with a starting price of NT$19,900 for 256GB, making it the most affordable MacBook the company has released. Asus co-CEO Hsu Hsien-yueh (許先越) said Tuesday the lower price could have a noticeable impact on the broader personal computer market, according to CNA.

He said the company began preparing internally in the second half of last year after learning of the upcoming device. While the launch revealed hardware limitations, Hsu said the product is still being taken seriously across the PC industry, from upstream to downstream.

The MacBook Neo features Apple’s A18 Pro chip, the same processor used in the iPhone 16 Pro, along with a 13-inch Liquid Retina display and up to 16 hours of battery life. It comes with 8GB of RAM — working memory for active tasks rather than long-term storage — that cannot be upgraded.

Hsu said that configuration suggests the device may be geared more toward content consumption, similar to a tablet, rather than the broader range of tasks typically handled by mainstream laptops.

Asus’s current Zenbook and Vivobook PCs range in price from NT$12,999 to over NT$100,000. Its Vivobook 15, priced at NT$19,999 for 512GB, roughly the same price as the MacBook Neo, features a 13th Gen Intel Core processor and a 15.6-inch LED display.

The laptop supports fast charging, reaching 60% battery in 49 minutes. It comes with RAM that can be upgraded to double the standard memory offered in the Neo.

Hsu added that customers in Apple’s ecosystem and those using traditional Wintel systems — Windows operating systems paired with Intel processors — tend to be distinct. Whether the lower price will prompt consumers to switch ecosystems remains uncertain and will require further observation.