MacBook Neo review: Is it the best value laptop?

There’s a good chance the MacBook Neo could become the most important laptop of 2026. I’ll list some reasons why.

This is the first all-new MacBook in years. That has to be celebrated. And then there’s the fact that it’s being powered by the A18 Pro, an iPhone chip. Almost the same chip you’d find in last year’s iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max (more on that later).

Finally, and most of all, it is priced more affordably than any MacBook. There’s just two variants, and with prices starting at S$849, it’s almost half the price of the MacBook Air (which now starts at S$1,599). The pricier version, which comes with double the storage (512GB), is just S$999.

It’s obvious that Apple wants to go after a new market with the MacBook Neo. And after using it for a couple of days, I think not only will they succeed, but they might also have a huge hit on their hands.

Aluminium and colours

The first thing most people will notice about the MacBook Neo is that it comes in pretty funky colours. The star colours must be Citrus and Blush. To my eyes, Citrus is an interesting mix of yellow and green – I can’t decide if it’s more yellow or more green. Blush, on the other hand, is a soft shade of pink. Those who feel Citrus and Blush are too zany can opt for the more sober colours of Silver or Indigo, which is a dark shade of blue.

What is impressive about the Neo is its build quality. Despite the price, the chassis is aluminium, and it feels solid. And if there’s any difference in the quality of the aluminium used in the Neo and the more expensive MacBooks, it is imperceptible. The ultimate praise I can lavish upon the Neo is that it doesn’t in any way feel or look like a laptop that costs less than a thousand dollars.

My sole complaint would be that it’s thicker and heavier than I expected. Given that it’s running an iPhone inside, I would have thought the Neo would be thinner and lighter. But it’s actually a tad thicker and the same weight as a 13-inch MacBook Air. And it’s not as if the battery is larger than the Air’s – it’s actually nearly a third smaller. Hopefully, someone conducts a teardown soon because I want to see what’s inside.

The details matter

There are other things that make the Neo look and feel more expensive than it is. The screen, for example, is a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with a resolution of 2408 x 1506 pixels – no pitiful Full-HD garbage, thankfully. It’s sufficiently sharp and crisp, but since I’m a stickler for details, I noticed that the text on the screen has a slight haziness about them. Still, this doesn’t detract from the fact that it’s a mostly great display that’s more than adequate for a laptop in its price category.

The speakers are a surprise. It may only have dual speakers, but they sound noticeably better than the 4-speaker system of the MacBook Air. The sound is more full-bodied, and the bass hits harder. Given that speakers need volume to sound their best, I guess this is one of the upsides of the Neo’s larger-than-expected dimensions. One downside is that because of their position, the palm rests vibrates noticeably. It’s also apparent that sound isn’t coming from the screen, which can feel a little odd when you watch your first video. Thankfully, you’ll soon get used to it.

The keyboard and trackpad are great too. The keycaps are colour-matched to the chassis, which is a nice touch. However, they do not have backlights, and that could be a problem for some when typing in dark environments. The trackpad is not haptic, but clickable. Crucially, it’s expansive, responsive, and accurate.

Ultimately, insofar as look and feel are concerned, the Neo nails what it means to be an Apple product. It feels solid and premium, and doesn’t in any way feel inferior to the Air, which is remarkable considering its price.

Trade-offs

Obviously, to get the Neo down this price, there has to be some trade-offs. I’ll list some, but luckily, none of them are dealbreakers. To start, the webcam is just 1080p. It’s not terrible, but it’s clearly not as good as the 12MP Center Stage cameras found on the pricier MacBooks.

It also only has two USB-C ports, and neither of them supports Thunderbolt. Not only that, one of them only supports USB 2.0, which means speeds of up to 480Mbps. This limits its usefulness. In fact, Apple recommends that this port only be used to connect to peripherals like keyboards and mice. Thankfully, the other USB-C port supports USB 3.0. This means speeds of up to 10Gbps, and it can also be used to connect to an external display. However, it’s also the only port you can use for charging. This probably means some sort of USB-C hub will be required.

There’s not much in the way of memory and storage options. The Neo only comes with 8GB of memory, and there’s no way to upgrade it. I’ll touch on this below. Storage options are limited to just 256GB and 512GB. This should suffice for most people, but if you need more, you’ll need to augment it with some form of external or cloud storage. It’s worth mentioning also that if you opt for the 512GB model, you’ll get Touch ID on your keyboard.

Performance & battery life

One of the reasons Apple was able to make the Neo so affordable is that it’s powered by an A-series iPhone chip, specifically the A18 Pro. This is fascinating to me because I’ve always wondered how an A-series chip would handle macOS and its apps, and now I have the answer.

It has a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU, so it isn’t quite the same as the ones found in the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max (those have 6-core CPUs and GPUs). But like the iPhones, the Neo also has just 8GB of memory, and interestingly, there’s no option to spec your Neo with 16GB of memory.

I’ll address the memory issue later, but on the whole, the A18 Pro does a commendable job. It will run all the productivity apps that you ask, and it’s perfectly adept at editing images and light editing of videos, too. It’s impressive that an iPhone chip can do all that in macOS.

And having “just” 8GB of memory didn’t seem to impact its multitasking capability. I ran Ulysses, Pixelmator Pro, Safari with over a dozen tabs opened (including YouTube), Apple Music, and Podcast, and they all ran without a hitch. Switching between apps wasn’t an issue either.

That said, it’s not perfect. It’s not as quick as an M-series chip, and you can feel the difference. Everything generally takes a little longer, but it is smooth for the most part, and it never gets to a point where the entire system bogs down, and you see the dreaded spinning beach ball. Crucially, it feels considerably snappier and more responsive than an equally-priced Windows laptop or Chromebook.

It’s also not great for gaming. It’ll run Apple Arcade games fine – I had a good time playing NBA 2K’26 – but it won’t be able to play the latest triple-A titles like Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Cyberpunk 2077 at decent frame rates. But that’s not surprising, considering the MacBook Air can barely do that as well.

The best way I can sum up the Neo’s performance is this:

Battery life is quite good. Despite having a considerably smaller battery than the Air (36.5Wh vs. 53.8Wh), I managed to eke out over 9 hours of work before the Neo decided to call it quits. And this was with the screen brightness set to around 70%, and with YouTube or music playing in the background. I don’t think most people will have an issue with battery life.

Final thoughts & buying advice

If it isn’t clear by now, the MacBook Neo offers excellent value for money. If you want to spend less than S$1,000 on a new laptop, I don’t see why you would buy anything other than a Neo. This will run rings around most Windows laptops in the same price bracket. It’s certainly built better than all of them.

The main competition for the Neo is really a used MacBook Air, specifically one that has an M3 or M2 chip. Those are going for about the same money as a brand-new Neo, and you can find refurbished units on the Apple Online Store. If it were me, I would pick a used M2 or M3 MacBook Air over a Neo, but only if it came with 16GB of memory and a warranty.

My only reservation about the Neo is its longevity. It’s plenty capable now, and I’m sure it’s going to be fine for a year or two, but beyond that will be difficult to say. Mostly it’s because the Neo only comes with 8GB of memory. Will that be enough to support features that Apple and app developers want to add in the future? But to be fair, this is a problem that plagues all laptops in this price category. And if you ask me, I prefer my chances with the Neo.

Ultimately, we should judge the Neo on the here and now, and in that respect, it is a remarkable laptop. If I only had a budget of a thousand dollars, there’s no other new laptop in the market I’d rather buy. Apple will sell these by the boatload, and Windows laptop makers will probably have many sleepless nights, so good luck to them.

Note: You can find the MacBook Neo at the Apple Online Store, and Apple’s official storefronts on Lazada and Shopee. The 256GB version is $899, while the 512GB version is S$999.