Everything is a bit different! Extremely affordable MacBook surprises with raw performance

The most affordable MacBook in Apple’s history hasn’t even hit stores yet, and we already know the essentials about it. The first results of the MacBook Neo with the A18 Pro chip have appeared on Geekbench, revealing an interesting picture: the phone processor in a laptop body hasn’t been lost. On the contrary – in some disciplines, it performs better than you’d expect from a machine costing 16 990 Kč.

A phone chip that outperforms the MacBook Air M1

Let’s get straight to the numbers. The MacBook Neo achieved 3 461 points in the single-core test and 8 668 points in the multi-core test in Geekbench 6. The Metal graphics benchmark then showed 31 286 points. What does this mean in practice? Single-core performance is almost 50% higher than that of a six-year-old MacBook Air with an M1 chip, which measured 2 346 points. In multi-core performance, both machines are practically at the same level – the Neo has 8 668 points compared to 8 342 for the M1 Air.

However, looking higher up is more interesting. In the single-core test, the Neo came within sight of the MacBook Air with M4, which scored 3 696 points. A difference of just 6% is surprisingly small, considering that the M4 Air costs from 24 990 Kč in the Czech Republic. However, in multi-core and graphics performance, the M4 Air pulls far ahead: 14 730 points in multi-core and 54 630 in Metal.

A18 Pro in a laptop: same chip, different conditions

The MacBook Neo is powered by the A18 Pro, which Apple deployed in the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max in 2024. However, in the laptop, it has one less GPU core – five instead of six. This is reflected in the Metal graphics test, where the iPhone 16 Pro achieves 32 575 points compared to 31 286 for the Neo.

However, in terms of processor performance, the Neo practically matches the iPhone. It measured 3 461 points in single-core against 3 445 for the iPhone 16 Pro, and 8 668 vs. 8 624 in multi-core. The performance is therefore almost identical, which makes sense – it’s the same architecture with a six-core CPU (2 performance + 4 efficiency cores) and a 16-core Neural Engine.

Benchmark Overview: Neo in the Context of the Apple Family

For better orientation, here is a comparison of Geekbench 6 results:

MacBook Neo (A18 Pro): 3 461 single-core / 8 668 multi-core / 31 286 Metal
MacBook Air M1: 2 346 / 8 342 / 33 148
MacBook Air M4: 3 696 / 14 730 / 54 630
iPad Air M3: 3 048 / 11 678 / 44 395
iPad 11: 2 587 / 6 036 / 19 395
iPhone 16 Pro: 3 445 / 8 624 / 32 575

The table clearly shows that the Neo falls in the range between the iPad 11 and the MacBook Air M1 – with the caveat that it surpasses both in single-core performance. Practically, this means that the Neo will be perfectly sufficient for web browsing, office work, streaming, and basic photo editing. These are tasks that primarily depend on single-core performance.

Where the limits are and why they matter

Multi-core performance and graphics are areas where the Neo stays at M1 levels or slightly below. This won’t be a problem for the average user, but as soon as you want to edit video, work on larger projects in Photoshop, or render 3D graphics, you’ll hit a wall. And not just because of the processor – 8 GB RAM with no expansion option is quite a hard limit in 2026. With the M4 Air, you get at least 16 GB, which is a crucial difference for multitasking.

Additional compromises include: a non-backlit keyboard, a mechanical trackpad instead of a haptic Force Touch, missing MagSafe (charging occupies one of the two USB-C ports), a display without P3 color space and without True Tone, Wi-Fi 6E instead of 7, and most importantly – the base model for 16 990 Kč doesn’t even have Touch ID. You only get that with the version for 19 990 Kč with 512GB storage.

Neo’s real adversary isn’t the Air, but a used MacBook

A debate immediately erupted online about why one should buy the Neo when the MacBook Air M1 still works great. And that’s precisely the intention. Neo isn’t targeting customers who can afford a new Air for 30 thousand. It targets those who would otherwise buy a five-year-old MacBook Air from a second-hand market for a similar price – and that’s where Apple needed an alternative.

For 16 990 Kč, you get full macOS, Apple Intelligence support, all-day battery life (Apple promises up to 16 hours of video playback), an aluminum body weighing 1.23 kg, and a 13″ Liquid Retina display with a resolution of 2 408 × 1 506 pixels. Students can also take advantage of a student discount and get the Neo for as little as 14 290 Kč.

Pre-orders are open, sales start March 11

You can pre-order the MacBook Neo now, with deliveries starting on March 11, 2026. In the Czech market, it is available in four colors: silver, blush, indigo, and citrus yellow. The colors are a signature of the Neo – the color scheme extends to the keyboard, reminiscent of the iconic iBooks from the turn of the millennium.

Benchmarks confirm what Apple indicated: the Neo is not a stripped-down laptop, but a machine specifically designed for a particular group of users. Anyone looking for their first Mac, working primarily in a browser, and not needing to render videos, will get a surprisingly capable device for their money. However, anyone planning anything more demanding should look into a MacBook Air – ideally during a sale, where older generations with M-chips can sometimes be acquired at very reasonable prices.

What do you think of the new MacBook Neo?

Source: notebookcheck