We have our first glimpse at MacBook Neo performance thanks to some benchmarks uploaded to Geekbench. Apple launched the new $599 laptop on March 4, with pre-orders available ahead of the full release date on March 11. Apple calls it its “most affordable laptop ever,” and it’s obvious that some compromises had to be made to achieve such a feat.

MacBook Neo features Apple’s A18 Pro chip, rather than the M-series silicon that features in any recent Air or Pro laptops. Before the Neo, the A18 Pro has only been present in the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, so it seems fair to call it a phone chip first, and a laptop chip second. Despite this, the A18 Pro clocks in some impressive scores – outdoing 2020’s M1 MacBook Air.

MacBook Neo benchmarks versus MacBook Air & iPhone 16 Pro

While the M1 MacBook Air still has the edge in terms of Metal benchmarks (Apple’s graphics API), the 13-inch MacBook Neo comes out on top in single-core, with 47.5% performance uplift. Multi-core, however, is much more on par at around 3.9%. Single-core performance lies somewhere between M3 and M4 – the A18 Pro is just 6-7% slower than the latter. We can see from the comparison table below that this was to be expected based on existing iPhone 16 Pro benchmarks.

The A18 Pro chip in the MacBook Neo offers 6 CPU cores, paired with a 5-core GPU, so it’s obvious why the M4 MacBook – which comes fitted with up to 16 CPU cores – easily takes the crown in this specific comparison. Way up the spectrum, Geekbench is also home to some Apple M5 Max benchmarks – so be sure to check those out too, if you’re interested in the new flagship chip. It will be available in the new MacBook Pro, along with the standard M5 and M5 Pro.

It seems suitable to say that much of the target audience for the MacBook Neo won’t be too concerned about benchmarks and scores. It’s positioned as a budget option and is one of three new $599 products Apple unveiled this week as part of its “special experience” event, along with the iPhone 17e and iPad Air M4. The Neo ships with 8GB of RAM, up to 512GB of storage, and up to 16 hours of battery life, making it a solid budget-friendly option for everyday users.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.