💻 The new MacBook Neo is Apple's most affordable laptop. Its price is $599, the same as the iPhone 17e. For teachers and students, it's even more affordable at $499.

💻 To offer a Mac at such a low price, Apple had to make some compromises, and the MacBook Neo lacks some features found in the next most expensive Mac laptop — the MacBook Air.

▶️ Processor

Chip A18 Pro — In the Neo, Apple uses an A-series chip instead of an M-series chip. It features the A18 Pro chip, which Apple introduced in the iPhone 16 Pro, but this is a simplified version. It has a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU, while the iPhone 16 Pro chip has a 6-core CPU and a 6-core GPU.

RAM — The MacBook Neo comes with 8 GB of RAM with no option to upgrade. All other Mac models come with 16 GB of RAM. It still supports Apple Intelligence because that requires a minimum of 8 GB.

Memory bandwidth — Apple chips use unified memory accessible to both the CPU and GPU. The memory bandwidth in the Neo is 60 GB/s, half that of the MacBook Air.

Storage — The MacBook Neo comes with 256 GB of built-in storage, with an option to upgrade to 512 GB. Other Mac computers support much larger SSDs.
Wi-Fi — The MacBook Neo has Wi-Fi 6E but lacks Wi-Fi 7, as Apple did not include the new N1 network chip.


▶️ Battery and Charging

Battery capacity — The MacBook Neo is nearly the same size as the MacBook Air, but its battery life is shorter. It lasts up to 16 hours for streaming video, while the MacBook Air lasts up to 18 hours. The battery capacity is 36.5 watt-hours, compared to 53.8 watt-hours for the MacBook Air.

Battery size — Since the MacBook Neo is thicker than the MacBook Air, it has more space for a battery, but Apple did not increase battery life, likely due to cost savings. Apple uses older battery manufacturing technology or smaller batteries. Theoretically, battery life should be even longer since the A18 Pro chip consumes less power than the M5.
No MagSafe — The MacBook Neo only supports USB-C charging and does not have a MagSafe port.
No fast charging — Apple ships the MacBook Neo with a 20W power adapter, and there is no mention of fast charging support.

▶️ Ports

USB-C — There are two USB-C ports: one with USB 3 support, the other with USB 2 support. The USB 3 port supports DisplayPort 1.4 and data transfer speeds up to 10 Gbps, while the USB 2 port supports up to 480 Mbps.

Display support — The MacBook Neo supports only one external display at 4K 60Hz, though another can be connected via a third-party DisplayPort adapter.
No Thunderbolt — The MacBook Neo lacks Thunderbolt ports because the technology is not supported.

No Studio Display — Since the Neo lacks Thunderbolt and only supports displays up to 4K, it is not compatible with the Studio Display.

▶️ Design

Display size — The MacBook Neo has a 13-inch display, making it Apple's smallest Mac laptop. The MacBook Air has a 13.6-inch display.
Bezels — The Neo does not have a notch, but it has thick bezels in the style of an iPad at the top, bottom, and sides of the display. The bezel hides the FaceTime camera.
Thickness — The Neo is slightly smaller than the MacBook Air in length and width but thicker — 0.50 inches (versus 0.44 inches for the MacBook Air).

▶️ Display

No True Tone — The MacBook Neo does not support True Tone, which adjusts the white balance to match ambient lighting to reduce eye strain.

No P3 wide color gamut — It supports sRGB but not the P3 wide color gamut, so colors on the MacBook Neo will not be as vivid as on other Mac laptops.

No ProMotion.

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