Apple's cheapest laptop doesn't run a Mac chip at all. The MacBook Neo, which launched in March 2026 at $700, is built around the A18 Pro, the processor Apple first put in the iPhone 16 Pro back in 2024. It's a strange pairing on paper. In practice, according to an Engadget review of the machine, it mostly works.
The Neo's version of the A18 Pro isn't even the full chip. The iPhone 16 Pro ships with a six-core CPU and a six-core GPU, but the laptop drops to five GPU cores, trading some graphics performance for cost. That's a notable cutback given the Neo has to drive a 13-inch display, a bigger and more demanding screen than any iPhone.
And yet Engadget's testing found the shortfall rarely shows up in daily use. The laptop reportedly juggled multiple browser windows, a streaming video, photo editing in Pixelmator Pro and the game Oceanhorn 3 without serious strain, a sign of just how much headroom Apple's phone chips have carried for years.
Where the compromises show up
The cracks appear under heavier loads. The Neo ships with 8GB of RAM, which Engadget's review says is enough for basic 4K video editing but chokes once special effects enter the mix. A growing list of apps, including Assassin's Creed Shadows, lists an M1 chip or better as the minimum requirement, and Apple's own AI push in macOS 27 is already demanding M3 silicon and 12GB of RAM for some features.
Ports are the other obvious cut. The Neo gets one 10Gbps USB 3 port, a 480Mbps USB 2 port and a headphone jack. It can drive a single 4K, 60Hz monitor over that USB 3 port, but there's no Thunderbolt and no daisy-chaining accessories. The MacBook Air, by comparison, has moved to 40Gbps USB 4 with Thunderbolt 4 and keeps its dedicated MagSafe charging port.
The Air got more expensive, not the Neo
The timing matters. Three months after the Neo arrived, Apple raised the MacBook Air's starting price by $200, to $1,300, a move widely tied to tariffs and rising memory costs. The Neo's $700 price held, which makes it look less like a stripped-down afterthought and more like Apple hedging against exactly this kind of price pressure.
A second generation is reportedly already lined up. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has reported that a 2027 refresh will move the Neo to the A19 Pro, the chip inside the iPhone 17 Pro, along with a bump to 12GB of RAM. That's still short of the 16GB now common on higher-end laptops, but it could ease some of the bottlenecks the current model runs into.
For anyone who needs a Mac right now, the current MacBook Neo should hold up fine for apps that already run on it. RAM can't be upgraded after purchase on any current MacBook, so buyers weighing the Neo against a wait for 2027 silicon are really deciding how much headroom they'll need years from now, not just today.
CDFiled by The Computing Desk
Laptops, desktops, processors, graphics cards and the operating systems that run on them.
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