MacBook Neo: It's Cheap, But Is It Worth It?

Summary

The Neo is Apple’s new budget laptop that comes in fun colors, only has 8GB of RAM, and its processor is a slightly cut down version of the A18 Pro found in their iPhone 16 Pro. It has one less graphics core. This level of performance is going to be very basic, and likely only viable for those doing web browsing and simple office work. On the bright side, the same types of buyers who may have previously been forced into buying a low quality Chromebook now have a much nicer option in their budget. Better build quality and a higher resolution screen in this price range is a huge upgrade. For traditional laptop buyers, though? These may not cut it.

8GB of RAM & Slower Speeds

8GB of RAM is very limiting. 4GB of that will be taken up by MacOS alone, and Chrome tabs can take up to half a Gig or more! This is fine for some folks, but absolutely unusable for others. Not to mention the memory bandwidth is slower than the 2020 M1. Its storage speeds are also much slower than other MacBooks. With 8GB of slower RAM you will be feeling that a lot more because the laptop needs to read and write from the disk more often.

A18 Pro Processor

In benchmarks, the A18 Pro's Multi-Core performance is only about as powerful as the M1 chip from 2020. It's still a great chip, but not the modern levels of performance buyers may have become used to. On the other hand, it will have fantastic Single Core performance, which could make it snappy enough for the casual users who would be interested in it.

Should You Pre-Order One?

Currently, we would say no (unless your other option was a Chromebook). We just don't know how they'll perform, even for basic use, until we get one in. So, we'd advise you to wait until you start seeing in-depth reviews from us and other reviewers, and theno decide whether the Neo is right for you.