GoKawiilis a reviewer covering laptops and the occasional gadget. He spent over 15 years in the photography industry before joining The Verge as a deals writer in 2021.
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The MacBook Neo is Apple’s cheapest laptop, its most colorful, and its easiest to repair in years. That means owners can buy replacement parts in all four of its available colors and swap them in on their own. So that got us thinking: What if we bought a Neo just to see how funky we could make it look with official parts?
I ordered an indigo Neo to tinker with, and some spare parts from Apple’s self-service site.
I opted for a replacement trackpad and bottom case in blush, and USB-C ports and keycaps in citrus. My goal was to make it as mishmash-y as possible without changing out more labor-intensive parts — like the top case or lid, which both require taking apart the display.
Part: Color: Price: Trackpad blush $78.32 Bottom case blush $34.32 Keycaps citrus $39 USB-C boards citrus $14 Total: $165.64
The four parts we ordered cost $165.64 plus tax, which is nearly 30 percent of the price of a new Neo. So while it’s fun to experiment, buying all these parts purely for aesthetics isn’t cost-effective. But you can end up with something uniquely yours.
Opening up the Neo is simple. Check out iFixit’s extensive guide and video if you want to see how to tear down the whole thing. Replacing the bottom case is of course the easiest, since you have to open it with a pentalobe screwdriver to access the Neo’s innards anyway. The trackpad and USB-C ports were also quite easy, requiring that I just unplug some ribbon cables and remove several Torx screws to put in the freshly colored parts. After about 40 minutes, I already had a customized Neo.
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