Apple has launched its cheapest MacBook yet, and as previous leaks suggested, it’s called the MacBook Neo. Priced at just $599, it costs almost half as much as the latest M5 MacBook Air.
But the big question is: Did Apple cut too many corners to reach this price, and would you be better off opting for the MacBook Air instead? Let’s find out.
The price – the part that really interests everyone
Let’s get this out of the way first. The MacBook Neo starts at $599 for 256GB of storage, or $699 if you want to upgrade to 512GB and have Touch ID on the keyboard. Students get it even cheaper at $499, which is truly remarkable.
The MacBook Air with M5 chip starts at $1,099 and comes with 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM. That’s a $500 difference from the base price. But as we’ll see, the price you pay for that $500 adds up quickly.
The brains of the operation: A18 Pro vs. Apple M5
This is where the comparison gets interesting. The MacBook Neo is powered by the A18 Pro. It’s the same chip that powers the iPhone 16 Pro, which isn’t a bad thing in itself.
It is a 6-core CPU with a 5-core GPU and a memory bandwidth of 60 GB/s. In Geekbench 6 it achieved around 3,358 points in single-core and 8,184 points in multi-core. For comparison, these single-core numbers are competitive with high-end desktop chips from Intel and AMD and good enough for a budget laptop.
However, the MacBook Air M5 is a different animal. The M5 is a proper laptop chip with a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU, and 153GB/s of memory bandwidth. In Geekbench 6 it achieved around 4,227 points in single-core and up to 17,862 points in multi-core. The single-core advantage is around 26% in favor of the M5, but the multi-core advantage is huge.
For everyday use, including web browsing, note-taking, video calling and writing, the A18 Pro is more than fast enough. What is the biggest bottleneck? It is due to the slower memory bandwidth and 8GB RAM which cannot be upgraded.
Memory bandwidth determines how quickly data can be transferred between RAM and the processor. With 60GB/s of memory bandwidth and just 8GB of RAM, the A18 Pro can struggle with heavy multitasking, especially when running memory-hungry applications.
Two Liquid Retina screens, a small disadvantage
Both screens are Liquid Retina panels and both reach 500 nits of brightness. On paper they look almost identical. In reality, the differences are small but real.
The MacBook Neo has a 13-inch display with a resolution of 2408 × 1506, but it lacks True Tone. In comparison, the MacBook Air M5 offers a slightly larger 13.6-inch display with a resolution of 2560×1664 and features True Tone, which automatically adjusts the screen’s white balance based on ambient lighting.
When it comes to cutting costs, the display isn’t where Apple has set the tone. In my opinion, the display is perfectly fine and isn’t a major downgrade from the MacBook Air’s display.
All-day battery with somewhat inconvenient charging
The MacBook Neo is designed for a battery life of up to 16 hours. That’s impressive for a $599 laptop, and most users should be able to get through a full day without having to reach for a charger.
But here’s the catch. The MacBook Neo has two USB-C ports, but doesn’t have MagSafe charging. Therefore, one of the USB-C ports has to handle both data and charging, which can be a minor inconvenience.
Another disadvantage is the included charger, which can only deliver 20W of power. This means that charging the MacBook Neo’s battery will likely take quite a while.
Although the MacBook Air offers 18 hours of battery life and comes with a 40W adapter, the MacBook Neo’s battery isn’t enough to force an upgrade.
Ports: This is where things fail
While the battery and display are fine, it’s the ports and connectivity options that might sway you towards the M5 MacBook Air.
Both laptops have two USB-C ports, but they are not the same. Since the A18 Pro doesn’t have Thunderbolt support, you won’t get high data transfer speeds. The MacBook Neo has two USB-C ports, one supporting USB 3 speeds and the other limited to USB 2 speeds. Putting a USB 2 port on a laptop, no matter how affordable, should be a crime. This also means that only one external display is supported.
The MacBook Air M5 features full Thunderbolt 4 ports, meaning you get fast external storage, support for multiple external displays, and compatibility with a much wider range of accessories and docks.
The little things Apple cut corners on
It’s the little details where Apple has made the most cost savings. The MacBook Neo has a 1080p FaceTime camera, which is good but not great. The MacBook Air M5 has a 12MP center stage camera that can track you throughout the frame during video calls.
Neo features a dual stereo speaker setup with spatial audio. The MacBook Air M5 has a four-speaker system that produces significantly richer and fuller sound. The base model of the Neo also doesn’t have Touch ID on the keyboard.
That’s what you get with the $699 model. Perhaps the most surprising cost-cutting decision Apple made with the MacBook Neo is the lack of a backlit keyboard, a strange omission that’s difficult to understand.
So should you buy the MacBook Neo or MacBook Air?
My main concern in recommending the MacBook Neo is its 8GB of RAM, which could make the device seem outdated in just two to three years. Combined with last-gen USB-C ports, the lack of a backlit keyboard, and a slower 60GB/s storage bandwidth, it becomes difficult to recommend the MacBook Neo.
That being said, I can’t deny that the price is hard to ignore. If you’re a student, buying a Mac for the first time, upgrading from a budget Windows or Chromebook, or a parent buying a laptop for a child, the MacBook Neo might make sense.
The A18 Pro is fast enough for anything a student or casual user throws at it, the $499 education price is exceptional, and the colors make it a fun purchase.
However, if you work, create content, or want to keep your laptop for five years or more, the MacBook Air M5 is a better investment.
The M5 chip is significantly more powerful under continuous load, the 16GB base RAM ages much better, Thunderbolt ports give you real flexibility, MagSafe is really practical and the 12MP camera is noticeably better.
The $500 price difference may seem significant at first glance, but when you consider durability, it becomes easier to justify. Better yet, you can get the last-generation M3 or M4 MacBook Air for around $700 to $800, which is a far better deal than the MacBook Neo. But whether this price difference is worth it depends entirely on what you’re buying the laptop for.
