Apple finally released the long-rumored $599 MacBook, the MacBook Neo. But how does it compare to the new $1099 M5 MacBook Air? And what exactly does the extra $500 get you? Let’s find out.
Outside
On the outside, the MacBook Neo comes in several colors, including Silver, Indigo, Blush, and Citrus. The MacBook Air is less colorful, but still has 4 colors in Silver, Midnight, Starlight, and Sky Blue.
Screens
The Macbook Neo comes in a single screen size, 13 inches, with a resolution of 2408×1506, which is a 16:10 aspect ratio with a PPI of 218, and sRGB colors. The MacBook Air comes in either a 13.6” size with 2560 x 1664 resolution, which is a slightly taller 14:9 aspect ratio and a slightly higher PPI of 225, or a 15.3” size with 2880 x 1864 resolution, which has almost the same aspect ratio and only slightly less PPI of 224.
There’s no notch on the Neo’s display, while there is on the Air, so it’s good that its slightly taller.
The MacBook Air displays also offers about 25% more colors with wide color support, as well as True Tone tech, which changes the screen colors to match ambient lighting to appear more natural, something lacking on the MacBook Neo.
For external displays, the MacBook Neo supports only 1, up to 4K at 60 Hz, while the MacBook Airs support either 2 displays at up to 6K at 60 Hz or 4K at 144 Hz, or a single display at up to 8K at 60 Hz or 5K at 120 Hz or 4K at 240 Hz.
Chips
Powering the MacBook Neo is the A18 Pro, a chip first introduced with the iPhone 16 Pro. The Neo version has a 6 core CPU with 2 performance and 4 efficiency cores, while the MacBook Air uses the M5 chip with 10 cores, 4 “super cores” and 6 efficiency cores. While “super core” is a term unique to the M5 generation, it doesn’t really make much distinction here until we start to compare the M5 Pro and Max chips, which have “performance” cores as well.
Existing benchmarks for these chips shows that performance appears to be about 23% faster in favor of the M5 in single core, and 105% faster in multi-core.
For graphics, the MacBook Neo’s A18 Pro chip has 5 GPU cores, compared to the 8 cores in the base 13” Air or the 10 cores if you pay $100 extra in the 13” or get the base 15” model. Accordingly, there should be a corresponding difference in GPU performance, as this benchmark shows the M5 with 10 GPU cores being 133% faster. If we extrapolate to the 8 core model, it should be around 86% faster.
For AI, the Macbook Neo’s A18 Pro chip is rated to deliver 35 trillion operations per second of performance. On the other hand, the MacBook Air’s M5 chip has neural accelerators built into its GPU cores, on top of the 16 core neural engine, giving it a rated capacity of 133 TOPS, which is 280% faster than the A18 Pro.
Finally, the memory bandwidth on the MacBook Neo is 60 GB/s compared to the MacBook Airs’ 153 GB/s, which is 155% faster.
Memory and Storage
When it comes to memory, the MacBook Neo has only 1 configuration: 8GB. This is actually one of the most important differentiators and why the Neo is a budget option. Nowadays, 8GB is barely meeting the minimum, and could result in slowdowns beyond basic usage.
Thankfully, the MacBook Air starts at 16 GB, and has options to go up with 24GB for $200 more, or 32GB for $400, keeping the consistent $200 / 8 GB upgrade price.
For storage, the base MacBook Neo starts at 256 GB, and you can upgrade to 512 GB for only $100, which also includes an upgrade to Touch ID for the keyboard. I would say this is well worth it, and the 512GB with Touch ID option should be the Neo model to consider unless your budget is extremely tight.
The MacBook Air starts at 512 GB, but the price is also $100 higher than last year’s M4 models, which means the storage upgrade pricing is actually built-in now. This actually isn’t a terrible thing, as 256 GB is quite low these days, and previously you would have had to pay $200 to bump it up to 512 GB, so it could be considered a price cut if you planned to get at least that much.
On the Airs, you can still opt to move up to 1 TB for $200 more, or 2 TB for $600 more, again giving a consistent, though still high, upgrade price of $400 per terabyte. But if you go up to 4 TB, the upgrade price is “only” $343 per terabyte.
Camera
For the webcams, the MacBook Neo has a basic 1080p camera, while the Airs have a 12 MP camera, which is almost 6 times as many pixels as the 2 megapixels in 1920×1080, though the video recorded is still 1080p. The Airs’ also support Desk View, allowing you to show what’s on the desk in front of the computer.
Audio
For sound, the MacBook Neo has 2 speakers on the side and 2 microphones, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack. The MacBook Airs feature a 4 speaker system for the 13” model or a 6 speaker system with woofers for the 15” model, 3 microphones, a 3.5mm headphone jack with advanced support for high-impedance headphones, and spatial audio support with certain AirPods.
This area seems like a big win for the MacBook Airs, though I’m not sure how much difference the side positioning of the Neo’s can improve sound quality.
Keyboard and Trackpad
For the keyboard, as mentioned before, the MacBook Neo’s base model doesn’t include Touch ID, unless you opt for the $100 upgrade to gives you both Touch ID and 512 GB of storage. But the other difference is that the Air keyboard has backlighting so its easier to see in the dark, along with the ambient light sensor so it knows when turn on.
The trackpad is also different, with the Neo’s trackpad not supporting Force Touch like the Airs’, which can react differently depending on how heavy you press down.
Wireless and Bluetooth
When it comes to connectivity, the MacBook Neo has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 6, while the MacBook Air has Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. For most people looking for a budget laptop, that difference probably won’t matter too much.
Ports
For the ports, on the surface, it seems like the Neo and Air are identical. However, The 2 USB-C ports on the Neo are actually different from each other, with only 1 being USB 3 offering 10 Gbps speed and DisplayPort support, while the other is USB 2, which maxes out at 480 Mbps transfer speed.
The MacBook Airs’ two USB-C style ports are both Thunderbolt 4, rated at 40 Gbps and with DisplayPort support.
Both the Neo and Air have 3.5mm headphone jacks, though as mentioned before, the Air’s headphone jack has better support for high-impedance headphones.
Finally, the MacBook Air has a dedicated MagSafe 3 charging port, which the Neo does not.
Battery Life and Charging
When it comes to power, the MacBook Neo has a 36.5 watt-hour battery that Apple says gives up to 11 hours of web use or 16 hours of video. The 13” Air has a 53.8 watt-hour battery while the 15” Air has a 66.5 watt-hour battery, but both are rated at 15 hours of web (36% more) and 18 hours of video (12% more). Let’s average that out to about 24% more battery life for the Airs.
The Neo comes with a 20 watt power adapter, while the Airs come with a 40 watt dynamic power adapter that can boost to 60 watts max. Optionally, you can choose to pay $20 more for a 35 watt dual usb-c adapter that can charge 2 devices at once, or a 70 watt adapter that can fast charge to 50% in 30 minutes.
Size and Weight
And finally, the dimensions of the the MacBook Neo with the smallest screen are naturally smaller in length and width, but is actually 11-14% thicker than the MacBook Airs.
And the MacBook Neo weighs the same as the 13” MacBook Air despite having a slightly smaller screen, while the 15” Air is 22% heavier.
Value Comparison
Alright, let’s summarize the pricing of each base model to see exactly what you get for your money.
The MacBook Neo costs $599 to start, while the 13” MacBook Air costs $1099. The extra $500 gets you:
- A 5% larger, slightly taller display with a notch and slightly higher PPI, 25% more colors, and True Tone support
- Support for up to 2 external displays of higher resolution and refresh rate vs. just 1 lower res and slower display
- M5 chip that is 20% to 100% faster in CPU, 86% faster in GPU, almost 3 times as fast in AI workloads, and 1.5 times faster memory bandwidth than the A18 Pro
- 16 GB vs 8 GB of memory, and the option to go up to 32 GB
- 512 GB vs 256 GB of storage, and the option to go up to 4 TB
- 12 MP vs 1080p webcam with Desk View support
- 4 speakers vs 2 side firing speakers, 3 mics vs 2, the 3.5mm audio jack supports high-impedance headphones, and support for spatial audio
- Keyboard with Touch ID and Backlighting, and trackpad with Force Touch
- Wi-Fi 7 vs 6E
- 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports vs 1 USB 3 and 1 USB 2 port, and a MagSafe Charging connector
- 12-36% more battery life and the included power adapter is 2-3 times as fast
- And a slight thinner computer with the same weight
That’s quite a lot of benefits, although if you are just looking for a basic web browsing machine, those benefits aren’t necessary. However, if you plan to do more versatile things on this computer, I’d seriously consider going for the Air for a much more well-rounded experience and specs that won’t slow you down.
If you compare the 13” and 15” MacBook Air models, paying an extra $200 gets you:
- A 13% larger screen with similar PPI
- 25% or 2 extra GPU cores and potential extra performance
- 6 speakers instead of just 4, and with force-cancelling woofers as well
- A 24% larger battery but with the same rated battery life
- An extra hundredth of an inch thickness
- And a 22% heavier weight
The 15” model is priced pretty well in comparison. If you prefer the larger size, the extra GPU power and better speakers make the screen size upgrade a pretty good deal. If I were to choose, I’d go for the 15” MacBook Air personally.
And I’d avoid the MacBook Neo, as it simply cuts too many corners, especially with the 8 GB of memory. If you like the Neo’s price point, consider looking at used M3 or M4 MacBook Airs as an alternative.
