Lenovo's $699 MacBook Neo rival offers its OLED screen only in grey and blue

In October, someone settles on radiant coral, and then finds the OLED touchscreen is not offered on that finish. According to The Verge, IPS LCD panels are standard on both the 14- and 15-inch Vibe, and the touchscreen OLED upgrade is available only on the grey and blue colourways ^[12]. That is two of the seven Pantone finishes Lenovo announced ^[3], which leaves five where the panel decision has been made for the buyer already ^[15]. Anyone who wants the screen is picking between two colours, two fewer than the four Apple ships on the Neo ^[16].

The launch coverage does not sit still on this point. 9to5Google describes the Vibe as a laptop that can be outfitted with either a 14-inch or 15-inch OLED display, with an optional touchscreen on the 15-inch ^[13], and Engadget notes support for up to 120Hz OLED panels ^[14]. Both describe an option rather than the machine that costs $699.99.

The gap between that base price and the upgrades reviewers actually recommend is where the real cost sits. Engadget, working from pre-production samples, says the base model comes with 8GB and advises leaving budget room for 16GB or more ^[17]; The Verge says Lenovo has not disclosed base memory at all, and reads the silence as a clue ^[18]. None of the three launch reports carries a price for the OLED panel or for a memory upgrade ^[11]. So the figure that matches Apple's post-hike entry price ^[2] belongs to a configuration that the reviewer who handled the hardware would not recommend.

What the Vibe genuinely holds over the Neo is serviceability and sockets. There are two USB-A and two USB-C ports, all at 5Gbps, plus HDMI 1.4, a headphone jack and a microSD reader, none of them fast by The Verge's reckoning ^[7]. Storage runs to 1TB across user-accessible dual SSD slots ^[10], and the AMD Ryzen AI 400 board takes up to 32GB of user-upgradeable dual-channel memory while the Snapdragon X version tops out at 24GB that cannot be changed ^[6]. AMD models go on sale in October, Snapdragon in November, Intel at an unstated later date ^[8].

Engadget reads the name and the palette as aimed at younger buyers who are feeling electronics prices rise during the global RAM shortage ^[19]. That is precisely the buyer for whom $699.99 means 8GB and an LCD.

A cleaner way to run the configurator is to sort every line by whether it can change after delivery. Colour and panel never can. Memory can, but only on the AMD board. Storage can at any point, because both slots are reachable. Spend at checkout on the permanent axes and defer the rest, and the order that follows is a grey or blue AMD unit with the OLED and whatever memory fits, with your own sticks going in later. The seven-colour, swappable-keycap pitch ^[9] is the part you give up. Take coral instead and you have bought a competent laptop that beats the Neo on ports and colour choice, while the display advantage stays out of reach.