Thu Mar 05 2026, 08:47 PM EST · 1 minute read
MacBook Neo has an A18 Pro processor and that should be plenty for most users
Apple announced the MacBook Neo with the A18 Pro iPhone processor, and early benchmarks reveal expected results are in line with AppleInsider's previous analysis, making it an easy spec swap for the M1 MacBook Air.
The MacBook Neo is a new and somewhat controversial product in Apple's lineup. It cuts out a lot of premium features associated with modern Macs to achieve the low price.
One of the cost-saving features is the A18 Pro processor originally revealed for the iPhone 16 Pro. Early benchmarks first discovered by MacRumors show what are nearly identical specs to the iPhone 16 Pro but with a Mac identifier 17,5.
Apple built the MacBook Neo from the ground up to target its $599 price point. It is a direct replacement for the $699 MacBook Air with M1 that was being sold at Walmart at a heavy discount.
Each new iteration of Apple Silicon has led to jumps in single-core performance, so the 2024 A18 Pro is a significant jump up from the 2020 M1. The Geekbench score shows a 3,461 single-core and an 8,668 multi-core score. Compare that to the MacBook Pro with M1 single-core of 2,235 and multi-core of 7,901.
The MacBook Air with M1 Metal score barely edges out the MacBook Neo with A18 Pro. It scored 31,912 versus 31,286.
Even with the M-series GPU and 16GB of RAM, the two scored nearly identically. Users shouldn't notice a difference in performance between the two.
The MacBook Neo is available for pre-order today and ships on March 11. It costs $599 with 256GB and gets Touch ID and 512GB for an additional $100.
