This was the announcement this week that I was most curious about. Would the new MacBook replace the MacBook Adorable, a Mac I used for a number of years at work? It was not the fastest Mac I’ve used by a mile, and it suffered some pretty serious limitations, but its size? It was perfect.

The Neo is a great release, and I can’t wait to see one in person. I’m disappointed that it still has a 13” display, because the Adorable’s screen, while small, created a uniquely portable device whose size limitations were, of course, addressed at your desk with an external display. On the other hand, it is a 13” display, while the Air–the next smallest MacBook–is 13.6.” It’s a bit thicker than the Air, but weighs the same, and offers both smaller length and width . The Neo won’t support the use of an external monitor at all–for that, you need to step up to a MacBook Air or better.

The colors are great, too.

The Adorable was not the cheapest Mac in the lineup by a stretch, so while the Neo (barely) offers the smallest overall footprint of Apple’s MacBook lineup, it’s not a successor to the Adorable. Alas.

The Neo does, however, place the Air back into its role in the lineup as the mid-tier Apple portable–the Air was initially an aspirational device, a more expensive option for those craving the smallest possible MacBook, with some tradeoffs. The Adorable assumed this spot when the Air shifted to the lowest-end Mac for a time, offering a featherweight MacBook (true, there was an 11″ Air at the time) and a better screen than the air–but at a price.