In news that will strike a chill to the heart of competing PC makers , Apple has effectively confirmed that demand for its new MacBook Neo is massively exceeding expectations. “Mac just had its best launch week ever for first-time Mac customers,” Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote on X . “We love seeing the enthusiasm!” Apple also introduced new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro configurations this month. My early testing of both Macs (coming soon) proves how performant they are, with M5 Max models already proving themselves to be the best laptops on the market for 3D work . Cook wasn’t specifically referring to the MacBook Neo in his post, but it’s not terribly hard to figure that out. At its price, it’s reasonable to think the strongest sales by unit will be for the most affordable device. Are people interested in the Mac? That’s assuming there is enough interest in the new Macs, which Cook suggests. Does this stand up to scrutiny? Anecdotally, these new Macs have sparked high levels of curiosity among potential customers who have never owned an Apple notebook before, as I’ve already had non-tech people asking me about them. People know what I do, so it’s significant when they ask about hardware like this, as it usually reflects an Apple product breaking into mainstream thought. This is the kind of curiosity you saw with the iMac and the iPad, albeit` at a smaller scale. It’s also the kind of interest you need to generate if you want to successfully tempt switchers to make a change. Google Trends data also suggests big interest in the Neo. That, my own anecdotal experience, Cook’s assertion of demand from first-time Mac customers, and a steady buzz of industry and analyst excitement lead me to believe the Neo is driving an important new conversation about the Mac. What evidence is there? If that’s true, you’d expect to see evidence of a rush in the shops — and from what I can tell, that’ going on. Apple’s own online store in the US shows ever extending shipping dates, while a variety of reports tell us popular color options like Citrus and Blush have already sold out at third-party retailers . Amazon is another weather vane for consumer interest, so it matters that the Neo became the biggest seller in Amazon’s US computer category pretty much from the get-go. During an availability check today at Amazon in the US, I found every MacBook Neo model marked as “Temporarily Out of Stock.”  The latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro machines remain available. MacRumors suggests consumers are preferring to spend an extra $100 on the 512GB models equipped with Touch ID when they can. That’s certainly what I recommended in my review of the product; that extra storage and Touch ID will come in useful. Switchers won’t be disappointed if they do choose to go Mac. One report this week showed that a standard $599 MacBook Neo beats an $1,119 Dell notebook on Windows 11 benchmarks, thanks to Apple’s excellence in silicon design. It’s also important to consider the value locked into the system. Asymco analyst Horace Dediu drew a surprising conclusion earlier this week when he estimated that in terms of TCO, length of use, and everything else , “the average PC is more than twice the cost of the MacBook Neo.” When will we know more? We won’t know for a while yet exactly what Apple has achieved with the MacBook Neo. Apple itself won’t report its next set of quarterly results until early May, though the quarter closes at the end of this month, which means Mac sales will reflect initial interest. Moving forward, Statcounter’s OS market share data might also give us a little insight into what Apple achieves — as will future PC market share data. All the same, while we wait for more concrete data, the fact that Cook made his comments at all suggests Apple is delighted. As the circumstantial evidence accumulates, it might yet be time to ask whether the introduction of the Neo has brought about an iPhone moment for the Mac. Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe. Also, now on Mastodon .