Apple has long positioned itself as a premium brand for laptops, and that premium status has come with a premium price. This means there is a big leap of faith for first-time Apple consumers because even the most entry-level laptop has not been a small investment. That is, until now, with the MacBook Neo. Built to provide an Apple experience at a price point few would have imagined before, the MacBook Neo may be the perfect entry point into Apple’s ecosystem.
The MacBook Neo is a 13-inch laptop that is only half an inch thick and weighs 2.7 pounds, making it a great option for use on the go. It comes in four colours: Silver, Blush, Indigo and Citrus, the colour we were provided. The surface does a decent job of hiding fingerprints, which is a useful quality-of-life feature.
There are two USB-C ports on the MacBook Neo. One offers 10 Gbps speeds, and the other offers USB 2 speeds (480 MBps). There is also a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The USB-C port closest to the rear of the laptop is the faster one, which I used to connect it to the Apple Studio Display that I was reviewing at the same time. If you use the laptop without a monitor, however, you might wish the slower port were toward the back for charging so the faster port could be used for data transfer.
“The MacBook Neo may be the perfect entry point into Apple’s ecosystem.”
The MacBook Neo’s display is a 2408-by-1506-pixel Liquid Retina display with 500 nits of brightness and supports more than a billion colours. To make this a more affordable MacBook, the Neo supports the sRGB colour space instead of the P3 colour gamut. It also does not offer True Tone, which removes the dynamic adjustment of the screen’s colour temperature, and it has much thicker bezels than other MacBooks on the market. Despite what it is missing, it still offers a quality picture. You would be hard-pressed to find a prettier display in this price range.
The MacBook Neo comes with dual side speakers and a 1080p FaceTime HD camera. These are downgrades from other laptop models that offer as many as six speakers and a Center Stage camera with more dynamic features. A backlit keyboard is also not included, which may matter to users who value that feature. Touch ID is sometimes missing as well. It is offered only on the 512 GB version of the MacBook Neo. The 256 GB version replaces it with a lock key.
Security and storage are the key differences between the two versions. Both offer 8 GB of unified memory. The laptop also has a dedicated media engine that supports H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes Raw. While the laptop could theoretically run streaming post-production software for content creators, I would not recommend it. The processing power available in other MacBooks, even the MacBook Air I currently use, is not on the same level as the MacBook Neo and will not meet the demands of most creators.
“Because everyday tasks are the Neo’s main focus, the choice to use the A18 Pro chip becomes clear.”
Many key features remain available on the MacBook Neo, including the ability to set it up with a secondary Apple device, making the setup process seamless and fast. It offers iPhone Mirroring and Handoff, which let you start browsing or taking notes on one device and continue on another. It also includes AirDrop, which, for those who may not know, is a useful file-transfer utility.
The MacBook Neo runs on an A18 Pro chip. For those unfamiliar with it, this is the same chip used in the iPhone 16 series. At first, it was not clear why Apple would choose a mobile chip instead of an older M-series chip. After some research, the decision makes more sense. The A18 Pro aligns with the goals of the MacBook Neo, offering lower costs and strong everyday performance.
What does that performance look like on a laptop? Running several benchmarks showed that the multi-core performance is relatively low. On Geekbench 6, the multi-core score was slightly above that of the iPad Air with an M1 chip and below that of any device running an M2 chip. Its GPU performance ranked similarly among Apple’s M-series chips. However, its single-core score was higher than that of the MacBook Air with an M3 chip. Because everyday tasks are the Neo’s main focus, the choice to use the A18 Pro chip becomes clear.
Geekbench 6 Scores:
CPU (Single-Core) – 3423
CPU (Multi-Core) – 8425
GPU (OpenCL) – 19544
Cinebench Scores:
CPU (Single-Core) – 522
CPU (Multi-Core) – 1518
GPU – N/A (A-series chips don’t meet the specs)
The MacBook Neo promises up to 16 hours of battery life, including up to 11 hours of wireless web browsing. I spent most of my time testing the Neo while it was powered through the Studio Display, but I had no problem taking the laptop on the go and felt confident it would last through the day without needing to charge it. The laptop comes with a 20 W charging block and a USB-C cable, but it does not offer MagSafe. For some users, that may be inconvenient. I prefer using a more widely available cable because it means I do not need to carry a specific cable for one device.
The MacBook Neo starts at $599 US for the 256 GB version and $699 US for the 512 GB version. That is an impressive price for any Apple device. It matches the iPhone 17e’s price, tying for the lowest among the company’s current-generation products. The price-to-performance ratio, compared with other MacBooks, is excellent. I would lean toward the 512 GB version. The extra storage will help prevent the machine from slowing down too early, and the added security features are a strong value for an extra $100.
So who is the MacBook Neo for? It is clearly not designed for serious Mac users. It is a good option for students who need something portable and simple, but still more capable than a Chromebook. It can also serve as an entry-level laptop for families that are already deep in Apple’s ecosystem and want younger members to stay within it once they are ready for a laptop. It is not a novelty device that could be considered “baby’s first laptop.” The colours are bright, and the laptop is small, but it is still a machine that can handle real work.
