Apple's budget MacBook Neo is already surpassing the M1 MacBook Air in initial tests.
The $599 MacBook Neo is quicker than you might anticipate
Apple’s newest MacBook Neo is intended as an entry-level model, yet initial benchmark outcomes indicate it may be more powerful than many anticipated. Powered by the Apple A18 Pro chip, this laptop has surprisingly outperformed older MacBook Air models and even matched some in synthetic performance tests.
MacBook Neo impresses in early benchmarks
The first Geekbench results for the MacBook Neo have surfaced online, providing an initial glimpse into the performance of Apple’s new budget Mac. According to the benchmark data, the laptop achieved 3,461 points in single-core tests and 8,668 points in multi-core tests. It also earned a Metal score of 31,286 points in graphics benchmarks.
It accomplishes this with the A18 Pro chip, which also powers the previous iPhone 16 Pro models. While the MacBook Neo features a 6-core CPU configuration, it has one less GPU core than its iPhone counterpart. Notably, these preliminary numbers reveal that the Neo's single-core and multi-core performance surpasses that of the original M1 MacBook Air, which marked the beginning of Apple’s shift to its custom silicon in 2020. While overtaking a 6-year-old laptop may not seem remarkable, it's noteworthy that this smartphone chip is outperforming a laptop-grade processor.
For comparison, the M1 MacBook Air achieved scores of 2,346 in single-core and 8,342 in multi-core performance, along with a Metal score of 33,148. Although the M1 still leads in graphics performance, there is a significant improvement in single-core performance. Even when compared to the M3 iPad Air, the MacBook Neo excels in single-core tests, though the M3 maintains an advantage in multi-core and Metal scores.
It’s important to remember that these are preliminary benchmark results, and real-world performance may vary based on workloads, thermal conditions, and software optimization. Nonetheless, the figures suggest that the MacBook Neo could provide surprisingly strong performance for everyday usage.
Tech journalist and product reviewer with a focus on consumer electronics. Sean has written extensively on flagship products…
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Apple's budget MacBook Neo is already surpassing the M1 MacBook Air in initial tests.
Initial benchmarks for the MacBook Neo indicate that Apple's most affordable laptop is performing comparably to the M1 MacBook Air in various assessments.
