The A18 Pro processor was good enough for the iPhone 16 Pro, but not good enough for the iPhone 17 Pro released in fall of last year. Despite this, Apple decided it was good enough for a MacBook. They even introduced a special version of the chip that has one fewer graphics core, making it weaker than the iPhone processor it once was, now expected to power a MacBook. This week, Apple introduced the MacBook Neo, the first Apple laptop to feature fun colors since the iBook. I want to love it. But an outdated binned iPhone processor? Is it vaporware out of the box?
The MacBook Neo is Apple’s latest new MacBook, and it’s probably their best looking MacBook since at least when the Apple logo lit up on the back of them. However, Apple jammed an outdated iPhone processor, a paltry 8GB of RAM, and just 256-512GB of storage into a computer. That’s barely enough for a phone, let alone a Mac.
I should hate it. I’m struggling to do so though. Because while it’s obviously underpowered hardware, it’s still a great design at a great price. The new MacBook Neo starts at just $599, or $499 for students. It might just have enough power to carry you through most everyday tasks. Let’s take a look at Apple’s newest Mac and decide whether or not it’s actually worth even that $599. Who’s this for?
Underperforming
When rumors of the MacBook Neo were getting closer to its release, we heard it could contain either the A18 Pro or A19 Pro. The latter would at least be the most recent iPhone chip. However, that could reduce iPhone production for this year, and Apple wouldn’t want to endanger their iPhone lineup. It also may be more expensive to produce.
Sometimes, during chip production, a chip has a defect in one of the cores. Companies will simply turn off this core and sell it as a less powerful chip. We call this a “binned” chip. The A18 Pro in the MacBook Neo isn’t just an old iPhone chip, it’s an old iPhone chip that’s lacking one of the graphics cores, a binned chip. The 13-inch screen of the MacBook Neo obviously has more screen real estate to drive than the much smaller (though still huge) iPhone 16 Pro screen. It needs more power than the iPhone, and instead gets less. This won’t be a device you get for gaming. It may be able to play some simple games that would play just fine on an iPhone, but certainly not something you’d expect to be a Mac exclusive.
Single core use looks good. This will push you through everyday tasks in a single app. But multi core is middling, suggesting poor multitasking, and Metal support is abysmal, so it won’t be a gaming powerhouse.
Benchmarks place the A18 Pro chip in a surprising place. The chip is an iPhone chip, so it was made to excel with single threaded tasks, rather than multi threaded tasks. The latter is more important for large tasks that can be broken down and multitasking, neither of which is overtly important on an iPhone. On a Mac, it’s more typical, but if you’re being conservative with your usage of this laptop, focusing on one task at a time, it may even feel snappy. That’s because it seems to outperform some M-series processors in single threaded tasks. It even out-performs my 2019 I9 MacBook Pro in some apps, though fails miserably when it comes to graphics performance. Graphics cards routinely are doing more than just graphics, including computations, which is part of the reason my 2019 MacBook Pro still feels fast. It’s the last MacBook that could use an eGPU, and, as such, 7 years later, it still beats a number of Apple’s best laptops, including the M4 MacBook Air.
But benchmarks don’t tell the whole story. For example, my MacBook Pro has 64GB of RAM. That’s enough memory to have dozens of tabs open, building apps, editing photos, and doing everything at once without it slowing down even a little. I love my ancient beast of a laptop that is still relevant so many years later. The MacBook Neo won’t enjoy such longevity or multitasking capabilities. It has only 8GB of RAM. That’s due to a limitation with the iPhone chip Apple used. The memory is part of the chip, and not upgradeable in any way. 8GB might work for an iPhone, but macOS uses 4GB of memory just to run. That leaves you very little space for actual tasks. Expect to use a lot of storage as memory, which is going to slow this machine down considerably. The processor may be powerful enough to give you a decent experience, but unless you’re careful not to multitask too much, the memory will slow your MacBook Neo down to a crawl.
But that Price!
It has never been easier to get a Mac. My MacBook for college was around $1,500. I loved it, and it served me for all four years of school before I got a MacBook Pro after graduation. School is expensive, but now it’s cheaper than ever to get a laptop that can last you through your time at school. Even if you decide after two years that you want a better laptop, you can trade this in for a newer model, having spent less than $1,000 for laptops over your school years. That’s an incredible deal, and less than I paid an unmentionable number of years ago. With the price of school and books, getting a break like that could make all the difference to a student.
As Cute as Can Be
The Neo does feel a little less vibrant than expected, and Apple only released two bright colors, the neon greenish yellow color “citrus,” and the light pink color, “blush.” The other color is a dark blue that’s almost black and a boring silver color. The market seems to agree. The citrus and blush colors are backordered by weeks, while the silver model was, at last glance, still available. The indigo blue version was only delayed by one week a few days ago, but shipping has now slipped back to the 24th as well.
The people crave color! Will Apple finally let their entire lineup be colorful?
I wish there were more colors available. Red, purple, and orange would be great options. Maybe even a more green color and a slightly more yellow citrus color. I’d have had a hard time selecting between those! Maybe future models will add more color. Maybe the MacBook Pro will even come in more color options now that they’ve seen how popular they can be?
Should You Buy It?
I did. This one, specifically
Truth be told, before the Neo even came out, I considered getting one. I thought it might make a good laptop to take while traveling, when I only expect to do some writing and communicating. Basically what I use my iPad Air for, but with a more capable operating system. That’s kind of what this laptop is, the iPad of Macs. Not quite a full Mac, but running the OS of one. I could use it more like an iOS device that operates like a Mac, if I need it too. I could also use it to run Nightshade on the images I upload across the web, so I could poison AI datasets. That certainly excites me. They steal our creations, they deserve the poison we lace them with. Nightshade only works on Apple Silicon Macs, and I’ve still refused to “upgrade” from my perfectly capable I9 MacBook Pro with an eGPU. A cheap and portable laptop, especially one that actually looks cool, unlike any Apple laptops have since the original MacBooks, could be just what I needed.
But I had thought it might be powered by a binned M2 or perhaps an A19 Pro, at worst. Certainly not an iPhone processor that’s a year and a half old. What, Apple just had a bunch of these lying around from underwhelming iPhone 16 sales and decided to make a Mac of one? That’s a bad practice, they’re going to have to support this laptop for years now. macOS is stuck requiring just 8GB of RAM for at least 5 more years. But that does mean it should be at least usable for a few of those.
I’m still conflicted, but I can see plenty of uses for the MacBook Neo. For the person who needs just the power of the iPad or their iPhone, but needs a more capable OS than the mess Apple’s made of iPadOS in its latest version. It might be perfect as a second laptop or a laptop for a student who intends to primarily use it for notes. Maybe even some professionals who only need to send emails and access Jira boards. Or maybe people who will use it for writing on the go, a guest computer, or one to poison AI datasets.
I’m still disappointed in what Apple delivered. I would have loved to see more color options. A real red color, purple, a real green, perhaps the full rainbow of colors. I’m so tired of muted colors on aluminum. I’d prefer plastic construction as long as Apple ensured the material would be recycled, which is rare for plastics. I would have really liked to see a more modern processor and at least 12GB of memory, minimum. But the MacBook Neo doesn’t look too bad. It might even be right for you. I decided to see if it was right for me. I ordered one myself and should have a review of it posted by next month.