20+ MacBook Neo Compromises: What You Can Give Up With Apple’s Cheapest Mac

The new MacBook Neo is Apple’s most affordable Mac notebook, and at $599, it’s about the same price as the iPhone 17e. For teachers and college students, it’s a bargain at $499.

To offer a Mac at such a low price, Apple had to make some compromises, and there are some features that the MacBook Neo lacks when compared to the most expensive Mac notebook, the MacBook Air.

The processor

• A18 Pro Chip – Apple uses an A-series chip instead of an M-series chip in the Neo. It has the A18 Pro chip that Apple used in the iPhone 16 Pro, but it’s a stripped down 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 – MacBook Neo has 8GB RAM with no option to pay more. All other Macs start at 16GB. It still supports Apple Intelligence, because 8GB is its minimum.
• Memory bandwidth – Apple chips use integrated memory found in the CPU and GPU. Memory bandwidth on the Neo is 60GB/s, less than half of the MacBook Air.
• Storage – MacBook Neo starts with 256GB of storage, and there is a single upgrade to 512GB. Some Macs support much higher capacity SSDs.
• Wi-Fi – MacBook Neo has Wi-Fi 6E, but not Wi-Fi 7 because Apple did not include its new N1 network chip.

Battery and charger

• Battery capacity – The MacBook Neo is about the same size as the MacBook Air, but has a shorter battery life. It lasts up to 16 hours when streaming video, while the MacBook Air lasts up to 18 hours. The battery has a capacity of 36.5-watt-hours, while the MacBook Air has a battery of 53.8 hours.
• Battery size – Since the MacBook Neo is thicker than the MacBook Air, it has more battery space, but Apple did not succeed in battery life, which is probably a cost-cutting measure. Apple uses old battery technology or a small battery. Battery life should be even longer because the A18 Pro chip doesn’t draw as much power as the M5.
• No MagSafe – The MacBook Neo is limited to USB-C charging, and does not include 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 USB 3 and one USB 2. The USB3 port supports DisplayPort 1.4 and a transfer speed of up to 10Gb/s, but the USB 2 port is limited to 480Mb/s.
• Show support – MacBook Neo only supports one external display at 4K 60Hz, although it may be possible to connect another with a third-party DisplayPort adapter.
• No Thunderbolt – There are no Thunderbolt ports on the MacBook Neo because Thunderbolt is not supported.
• No Studio Shows – Since the Neo does not have Thunderbolt and is limited to 4K displays, it is not compatible with the Studio display.

Design

• Display size – MacBook Neo has a display size of 13-inch, so it is Apple’s smallest Mac notebook. The MacBook Air has a 13.6-inch display.
• Bezels – There is no notch on the Neo, but it does have thick iPad-style bezels on the top, bottom, and sides of the display. The bezel hides the FaceTime camera.
• Size – The Neo is much smaller than the MacBook Air in terms of height and width, but it is 0.50 inches thicker (vs. 0.44 inches for the MacBook Air).

Show

• No True Tone – MacBook Neo does not support True Tone, which is a white balance feature that adjusts the temperature of the display to match the ambient light in the room, making it easier on the eyes.
• There is no wide color P3 – sRGB is supported, but P3 Wide color is not, so the MacBook Neo will not have true-to-life colors like other Mac notebooks.
• No Promotion – Surprisingly, the MacBook Neo is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and does not support ProMotion.

Trackpad and keyboard

• Backlighting – No keyboard backlight.
• Touch ID – Touch ID is not included in the 256GB base model, but you can get it by paying an extra $100 for the 512GB model.
• Trackpad There is no Force Touch trackpad, Apple has instead adopted a more complex Multi-Touch visual trackpad. The button on the trackpad is a physical button, rather than a physical button with haptic feedback. There is no pressure-sensitive feature, force-click, or pressure-sensitive drawing option.

Speakers and camera

• FaceTime camera – The MacBook Neo has a FaceTime HD 1080p camera like older Macs rather than the new 12-megapixel Center Stage camera that Apple has been adding to its new models. No Center Stage or Desk View.
• Camera light – There is no small light to alert you when the MacBook Neo’s camera is on, Apple instead displays a warning in the menu bar.
• Speakers – MacBook Neo has a two-speaker audio system with speakers on the outer sides of the device. The MacBook Air has a four-speaker sound system with rich sound, but both the Neo and Air support surround sound.
• Microphone – There are only two microphones, but Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum are still supported for better call clarity.
• Headphone jack – There is a 3.5mm headphone jack, but it lacks support for high-impedance headphones.

MacBook Neo Pros

Even though the MacBook Neo has a simplified feature set compared to other Mac models, the price can’t be beat. $599 for a Mac is an amazing deal, and the A18 Pro’s chip is more than enough for everyday use and the kind of work students do.

It’s not the best choice for 3D rendering, using local AI models, video editing, or similar creative tasks, but it will do those things at a basic level. It’s the perfect MacBook for anyone who doesn’t need more than a web browser and other simple work, and it’ll do everything an iPhone can do. These days, that’s very rare.

To find out more about the differences between MacBook Neo and MacBook Air, we have a dedicated comparison guide.

The MacBook Neo is available for pre-order now, and will be launched on Wednesday, March 11.