Apple Raises MacBook Neo Education Price to $649

Apple has raised the MacBook Neo’s price for U.S. education customers to $649, reducing the discount from the regular price to $50 and ending the laptop’s lowest education-store price of $499 at launch. The new price applies to the base model on Apple’s U.S. education store. It is $50 higher than the previous education price of $599, which took effect in June, and $150 above the launch price in March. The standard price is now $699. The change leaves eligible students and education customers paying $649 for a laptop that launched at $499 for them. The education discount has narrowed from $100 at the earlier $599 standard price to $50 now. Apple continues to list the MacBook Neo as its least expensive laptop. Apple also raised the general price of the base MacBook Neo from $599 to $699 in June. The company has attributed this year’s product price increases to a memory-chip shortage that has raised the cost of RAM and storage. That explanation is Apple’s stated reason for broader price increases, rather than a separately established explanation for this specific education-store adjustment. The price history reported for the U.S. education store is $499 at the March launch, $599...