Apple unveiled the affordable MacBook Neo Wednesday — and on the same day Basic Apple Guy made a nifty set of wallpapers available for download. So if you’re not ready to buy the laptop or even wait a week or so for the wallpapers, you can still enjoy the related wallpapers — colorful and highly attainable — on your Mac and iPhone.
How to get MacBook Neo wallpapers early for iPhone and Mac
Apple unveiled MacBook Neo, a budget-friendly 13-inch laptop powered by the A18 Pro chip, starting at a cost well below that of MacBook Air. It’s a significant moment for Mac: the first time Apple has offered an entry-level MacBook at this kind of price point. And along with the hardware, it comes with something far more attainable for the rest of us — a fresh set of wallpapers.
If you’re not rushing out to pick up the new machine, you can still dress up your desktop with its aesthetic. Apple community designer Basic Apple Guy has already extracted and upscaled the official MacBook Neo wallpapers and made them available for free download.
What’s included
The MacBook Neo launches in four colors — indigo, silver, blush and citrus — and Basic Apple Guy has made a matching wallpaper available for each one. All four come in both Mac and iPhone versions, so you can coordinate your desktop and Lock Screen if you’re feeling particularly on-brand.
It’s worth noting that Basic Apple Guy extracted these from the product’s USDZ file, so they’ve been upscaled from their original 2048 × 1024 resolution. They look good on most displays right now, but sharper official versions will likely appear once Apple ships the device or releases a software update next week. Think of these as a fantastic early preview.
How to download the wallpapers
Getting the wallpapers onto your Mac or iPhone takes just a few steps:
- Head to the Basic Apple Guy MacBook Neo wallpapers page and click the color you want under the Mac or iPhone download row — Indigo, Silver, Blush, or Citrus. The image will open in a new browser tab.
- Right-click the image and select Save Image As, then save it somewhere easy to find, like your Downloads folder. Repeat for any other colors you’d like to keep.
How to set your new wallpaper on Mac
- Once you’ve saved the image, open System Settings and navigate to Wallpaper.
- Click the + button to add a new wallpaper, then choose the image you just downloaded. You can set it for your desktop, your screen saver or both.
- If you downloaded wallpapers for iPhone too, save them to your Photos app and head to Settings > Wallpaper > Add New Wallpaper, then choose Photos to find and set them.
A note on Basic Apple Guy
Basic Apple Guy is one of the most reliable sources in the Apple community for device wallpapers. He regularly extracts, upscales and freely shares wallpapers tied to new Apple product launches, before they’re officially available. If you appreciate the work, his site includes a Tip Jar that offers a nice way to say thanks for the consistent effort he puts into these releases.
Now go give your desktop a little MacBook Neo energy — no $599 required.
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
