The MacBook Neo may be Apple’s cheapest laptop, but it is also turning into one of the weirdest fun DIY projects the company has enabled (accidentally) in years.
As Macworld points out, Apple has opened up MacBook Neo parts through its Self Service Repair program, and the way the store works seems to leave room for some creative color mixing. The store apparently does not limit replacement part purchases by the original color of your machine. In other words, you can order something like a Citrus bottom case for a silver MacBook Neo, or Indigo keycaps for a blush-colored model.
How to DIY customize your MacBook Neo
All you need is the repair manual ID and the know-how to do the work yourself. Apple’s own Self Service Repair page says customers can buy genuine parts, tools, and repair manuals for supported devices. But it also stresses that this is intended for people with the knowledge and experience to handle electronics repairs. So the company requires users to start with the repair manual, and Apple says you need the manual’s repair ID before ordering the parts.
But once you get past this hurdle, you can get your hands on components such as the keys, bottom case, battery, display, trackpad, logic keyboard, and much more. This is what makes the Neo so distinct, because Apple has not historically made its laptops feel friendly for DIY part swapping.
How much does this cost?
Apple’s US parts prices for the MacBook Neo include a battery at $111.75, a display at $219.12, a keyboard at $113.52, a trackpad at $78.32, and a bottom case at $34.32, with separate Indigo keyboard caps listed at $39. The report also notes that this is the first MacBook where replacing the keyboard does not require buying the entire top case assembly, which makes the cosmetic swap much less ridiculous.
For a company that usually keeps cosmetic customization tightly controlled, the MacBook Neo’s repair ecosystem has accidentally opened the door to something pretty rare, which is DIY color remix.