Apple MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air: What’s the Difference?

This spring, Apple completely surprised users by announcing the MacBook Neo – a brand-new lineup of its laptops that will compete with the MacBook Air. The Neo lineup focuses on affordable prices, while the MacBook Air targets noticeably more advanced specs. Below, we explain the difference point by point.

Quick Comparison: MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air

Before we break down each point in detail, here is a visual comparison of the new budget-friendly MacBook Neo and the current-generation MacBook Air powered by the M5 chip:

Below, we will explain all the points mentioned above and highlight several other unexpected differences.

Price Differences

The biggest surprise of the MacBook Neo is its price, which starts at $600 in the US. It’s been a very long time since Apple offered such an affordable laptop. For the past few years, the company’s cheapest laptops were the MacBook Air models, starting at $1000.

Specifically, in 2026, the pricing breakdown looks like this:

• MacBook Neo 13.0″ – from $600 – A18 Pro chip, 8/256 GB
• MacBook Air 13.6″ – from $1100 – M5 chip, 16/512 GB
• MacBook Air 15.3″ – from $1300 – M5 chip, 16/512 GB

MacBook Neo and MacBook Air. The Air has thinner bezels, but the Neo doesn’t have the polarizing notch. Photo: Tom’s Guide.

We listed US prices, but in other countries, they might be significantly higher than a direct dollar-to-local-currency conversion. Unfortunately, this is always the case with Apple hardware.

You can also still find last year’s slightly more affordable MacBook Air with the M4 chip on sale. However, Apple has officially discontinued its production, meaning the M4 MacBook Air will become increasingly rare in stores.

Meanwhile, the new M5 MacBook Air models were announced on the same day as the MacBook Neo. While the Air versions offer a choice between 13″ and 15″ screens, the Neo only comes with a 13″ display, which is slightly smaller than the 13″ MacBook Air.

Additionally, the Air uses Apple’s powerful M-series processors, while the MacBook Neo relies on the A-series chips typically used in iPhones and entry-level iPads. Moving forward, we will mostly compare the Neo to the new M5 Air, but we will occasionally bring the M4 MacBook Air into the comparison where relevant.

MacBook Neo and MacBook Air. The dimensions are very close, and the weight is identical. Photo: Tom’s Guide.

Display Differences: Similar but Not the Same

The MacBook Neo features a solid IPS display. Apple calls it “Liquid Retina,” just like the screen on the MacBook Air. Still, the Neo slightly lags behind the 13″ MacBook Air in both size and picture quality.

Screen Size:

• MacBook Neo – 13.0″
• MacBook Air – 13.6″

Factoring in the aspect ratio, even a 0.6″ difference makes the Air’s screen roughly 9.5% larger in total area than the Neo’s.

There are also differences in display quality:

• MacBook Neo – sRGB color gamut
• MacBook Air – P3 color gamut + True Tone technology

sRGB and P3 are color gamuts. P3 is better, offering a color space roughly 25% wider than sRGB. However, the average user’s eye is unlikely to notice the difference. Color gamuts are mostly important for professionals, so while the 25% figure sounds impressive, you probably won’t see a real-world difference.

MacBook Neo. Photo: The Verge.

However, the lack of True Tone technology on the MacBook Neo is a slightly more noticeable compromise. This feature automatically adjusts the screen’s color temperature to match ambient lighting. This makes the screen look more natural in its environment and, most importantly, reduces eye strain.

On the other hand, you can’t really call True Tone a must-have feature either. Many users turn it off because they don’t want their screen “living its own life,” while others might not even notice when the feature is toggled on or off. At the end of the day, you can always adjust display settings manually if needed.

By the way, regarding display brightness, the MacBook Neo and MacBook Air are almost identical. Apple claims 500 nits of brightness for both devices. An independent test by Tom’s Guide actually found a marginal advantage for the MacBook Neo.

Specifically, in HDR mode, the Neo’s screen reached 480 nits of full-screen brightness, while the MacBook Air hit 474 nits.

MacBook Neo display. Photo: CNET.

Processor Comparison: Is an iPhone Chip Really That Bad?

The processor is one of the most stark and obvious differences between the two types of Apple laptops:

• MacBook Neo (A18 Pro) – 6 CPU cores up to 4.05 GHz, GPU up to 2.3 TFlops
• MacBook Air (M5) – 10 CPU cores up to 4.61 GHz, GPU up to 5.1 TFlops

The heart of the MacBook Neo is the A18 Pro processor, which previously served as the foundation for the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. Meanwhile, the 2026 MacBook Air relies on another proprietary Apple processor – the M5. This is a powerful chip that significantly outperforms the A18 Pro in CPU cores and absolutely crushes it in graphics performance (GPU).

Here are the results for the A18 Pro, as well as the M4 and M5 chips used in the past and current generations of the MacBook Air, in the AnTuTu 10 benchmark:

• MacBook Neo – 1,965,000
• MacBook Air (M4) – 2,964,000 (+51%)
• MacBook Air (M5) – 3,464,000 (+76%)

Important caveat: these numbers are a rough estimate based on what these processors score in iPhones and iPads respectively. Inside a laptop, they can perform noticeably better. Moreover, we are specifically citing AnTuTu data because it tests all key subsystems of the chip, not just the CPU cores.

According to Apple’s official ads, the MacBook Neo should handle simple games just fine.

Thanks to AnTuTu’s comprehensive evaluation, we can also gauge specific types of performance. For instance, the difference in CPU cores (crucial for everyday tasks) between the A18 Pro and M5 is about 54%.

But the difference in the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), which is vital for gaming, is much more substantial in AnTuTu, standing at 136%. This is even higher than the theoretical TFlops calculation we mentioned earlier.

Undoubtedly, these numbers might seem intimidating and quite disappointing for anyone eyeing the budget-friendly MacBook Neo. And frankly, the idea of an iPhone chip inside a laptop sounds off-putting on paper.

Yet, you shouldn’t rely solely on synthetic benchmark numbers. In the real world, the A18 Pro’s performance should be more than enough for the lion’s share of an average user’s daily tasks. Moreover, it will handle these tasks swiftly.

If our numbers aren’t enough, here are the GeekBench results from The Verge, who tested the MacBook Neo alongside the old M1 and the current Air M5.

Overall, the A18 Pro is a robust chip with tens of billions of transistors and top CPU core frequencies exceeding 4 GHz. Additionally, inside a laptop, it is no longer constrained by the tiny, passive cooling system of a smartphone.

So, in regular use, a user is unlikely to notice a severe or even substantial difference. Most apps and web pages should open and run quickly. The vast majority of them simply don’t need excessive amounts of cores and teraflops. The A18 Pro will also offer plenty of performance for simple, casual gaming.

However, in demanding games or the heaviest software, the gap between the MacBook Neo and MacBook Air will, of course, become much more noticeable. Then again, a small laptop—especially one running macOS—is clearly not meant to be a gaming rig.

Different Memory and Storage Configurations

One of the specs that allowed Apple to make the MacBook Neo significantly cheaper than the MacBook Air is the amount of RAM (Unified Memory):

• MacBook Neo – 8 GB, with no upgrade options
• MacBook Air – 16 GB + options for 24 and 32 GB RAM

Certainly, a twofold difference in memory capacity is significant, but for an undemanding, everyday user, 8 GB should be quite enough. A reviewer from WIRED who tested the laptop noted that 8 GB is still a viable option if the user is rational and keeps an eye on background processes.

Several apps and a browser with multiple tabs open on the MacBook Neo. Photo: Tom’s Guide.

Keep in mind that just a few years ago, not only the MacBook Air but also the much more expensive MacBook Pro models were sold with 8 GB of RAM in their base configurations. And generally speaking, it remains a “workable” amount today. 8 GB is precisely where relatively comfortable multitasking with several open apps and multiple browser tabs begins.

As for storage, the laptops offer the following capacities:

• MacBook Neo – 256 GB + a 512 GB option
• MacBook Air (M4) – 256 GB + options for 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB
• MacBook Air (M5) – 512 GB + options for 1, 2, and 4 TB

Thus, the budget MacBook offers the same base storage as the previous-generation M4 MacBook Air released in 2025. Meanwhile, the current 2026 MacBook Air with the M5 chip now offers 512 GB as standard. What the MacBook Neo completely lacks, however, are options with terabytes of storage.

Battery Life Comparison

Let’s look at the battery capacity that Apple claims for the MacBook Neo and MacBook Air. For your convenience, we’ve converted these metrics into more familiar smartphone-like mAh figures (based on a 3.8V voltage):

• MacBook Neo – 36.5 Wh ≈ 9,500 mAh
• MacBook Air – 53.8 Wh ≈ 14,000 mAh

In other words, the MacBook Air’s battery capacity is 47% larger than the Neo’s.

The four main color options for the MacBook Neo.

Apple clearly cut costs heavily on the battery. Still, the actual battery life might not be so bad.

Thanks to the smaller screen and, most importantly, the significantly less power-hungry A18 Pro chip, the MacBook Neo can partially offset its smaller battery. This is evident from the official data for the Neo and the comparison with the Air provided on Apple’s website.

Battery life for web browsing:

• MacBook Neo – up to 11 hours
• MacBook Air M4 and M5 – up to 15 hours

Battery life for video playback:

• MacBook Neo – up to 16 hours
• MacBook Air M4 and M5 – up to 18 hours

The latter test clearly confirms that in certain scenarios, the highly power-efficient iPhone Pro processor smooths over the gap in battery capacities.

Watching a video on the MacBook Neo. Photo: Tom’s Guide.

However, those are Apple’s own tests. Testing by Tom’s Guide also confirmed that the difference in battery life between the MacBook Neo and Air (13″, M5) isn’t overly dramatic. In a series of comprehensive tests, the results were as follows:

• MacBook Neo – 13 hours, 28 minutes
• MacBook Air – 15 hours, 28 minutes

The authors at Tom’s Guide also noted that 13.5 hours is an excellent result for a budget laptop. For comparison, in the same test, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 lasted only about 8.5 hours.

Other Important Differences Between the Neo and Air You Need to Know

Let’s quickly run through the other differences between the MacBook Neo and MacBook Air. We can describe them in just a few sentences, though that doesn’t diminish their importance.

• Keyboard Backlight: MacBook Air – Yes. MacBook Neo – No.
• Trackpad: MacBook Air – Force Touch (pressure-sensitive). Neo – Regular (sensitive to touch only).
• Webcam: MacBook Air – 12MP with Center Stage, which tracks the user’s movements. MacBook Neo comes with a lower-resolution camera (not specified on the official site) with a narrower field of view and no extra features.
• Touch ID (Fingerprint Sensor): MacBook Air – On all versions. MacBook Neo – Only on the 512GB version.

Instead of a fingerprint sensor, the 256GB MacBook Neo features a standard lock button next to the F12 key. Photo: The Verge.

• Speakers: MacBook Air – Four speakers. Neo – Two speakers.
• Microphones: MacBook Air – Three-mic array. Neo – Two microphones.
• Wi-Fi: MacBook Air – Wi-Fi 7 (be). MacBook Neo – Wi-Fi 6E (ax).
• Ports: Both laptops are equipped with USB-C ports. But on the MacBook Air, these are two ultra-fast Thunderbolt 4 ports. On the Neo, it’s one USB 3 and one USB 2.
• MagSafe Charging: MacBook Air – Features the convenient magnetic connector (MagSafe). MacBook Neo – No MagSafe; the laptop charges via USB-C, occupying one of the two available ports.
• 3.5 mm Jack: MacBook Air – Supports high-impedance headphones. Neo – Standard 3.5 mm jack for headphones and other audio devices.
• Charging Speed: MacBook Air – 40W or higher. MacBook Neo – 20W.

That covers the official information. A few more differences have come to light thanks to early reviews of the device from tech journalists.

For instance, the SSD drive in the MacBook Neo is significantly slower. According to The Verge, both read and write speeds on the Neo are several times slower than on the current M5 MacBook Air. However, don’t overestimate the importance of these numbers: for everyday tasks, the average user might not even notice the difference or feel it at all.

The Verge’s comparison of SSD read and write speeds between the MacBook Neo, different generations of the MacBook Air, and Windows competitors.

Meanwhile, writers at CNET generally praised the laptop, highlighting its all-metal chassis, which remained intact despite the heavily reduced price tag compared to the Air. However, they also noted that even the charging cable for the Neo is about 50 centimeters shorter than the one for the MacBook Air.

Finally, according to unconfirmed rumors, the wireless Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections in the Neo are supposedly handled by a budget MediaTek chip. Apple’s more expensive laptops use its proprietary N1 chip.

Overall, most of the differences in the list above are self-explanatory. We should perhaps clarify the trackpad pressure sensitivity, which Apple calls Force Touch. This has been a long-standing feature of Apple laptops, but it’s missing in the Neo.

On a MacBook Air, pressing down harder on the trackpad allows you to bring up special context menus or fast-forward through pages or media players. Force Touch also enables quick previews of files and links.

Not only does the MacBook Neo lack MagSafe, but the charging cable itself is shorter than the Air’s. Photo: CNET.

A couple more explanations are needed regarding Wi-Fi and ports. Wi-Fi 7, which the Neo lacks, can theoretically be 4 to 5 times faster than Wi-Fi 6/6E. However, to reap this benefit, it’s not enough for your laptop to support Wi-Fi 7. You also need a router or access point capable of delivering Wi-Fi 7 standards and speeds.

As for the ports, both the MacBook Air and MacBook Neo have two USB-C ports. But technically, they are entirely different. The MacBook Air offers two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports. They are incredibly fast and transfer massive files in a flash. In contrast, the Neo has one USB-C port based on USB 3 technology and one slow USB-C port based on USB 2.

Maximum speeds vary drastically (these figures specifically apply to current MacBooks):

• Thunderbolt 4 (the Air has two) – 40 Gbps
• USB 3 (the fast one on the Neo) – 10 Gbps
• USB 2 (the slow one on the Neo) – 0.5 Gbps

Note that iPhone Pro models currently use USB-C based on USB 3, while base iPhone models still rely on that same slow USB-C/USB 2 standard.

The fast USB port on the MacBook Neo is located closer to the edge of the laptop. Photo: Tom’s Guide.

When discussing the advantages of the MacBook Neo over the MacBook Air, there aren’t many besides the price. The laptop does feature unique color options, including yellow and pink, which aren’t available for the MacBook Air. The MacBook Neo also skips the display “notch,” relying on thicker bezels instead. Some users might actually prefer this look.

Another point: the MacBook Neo is somewhat easier to repair than any other Apple laptop. This was reported by experts at iFixit. For example, the Neo’s battery is secured with screws rather than being glued to the chassis like in other MacBooks, making extraction much simpler.

Finally, we should note that the MacBook Neo supports Bluetooth 6.0. The current M5 MacBook Air models also support this technology, but last year’s M4 MacBook Air only featured Bluetooth 5.3. Version 6.0 is more precise, consumes less energy, and reduces latency during file and audio transfers.

MacBook Neo (left) and MacBook Air 13″ M5. Photo: CNN Underscored.

Verdict, Pros, and Cons

“Look at how much they removed and downgraded,” the reader might think with frustration. That’s partially true: to achieve a $600 price tag instead of the $1100 starting price of the MacBook Air, Apple made a lot of clever moves. They saved money on the little things like the number of speakers and microphones, the Wi-Fi module, and slightly downgrading the 3.5 mm jack.

And yet, we think it was worth it. The price dropped massively, the screen size shrank only slightly, and the proprietary operating system, solid metal chassis, and tight integration with other Apple devices remained intact. Add to that the unique colors, Bluetooth 6.0 support, and the lack of that polarizing display notch.

All the other numerous compromises Apple made are unfortunate, but most of them can hardly be called deal-breakers. In fact, an average user might not even notice some of the specific hardware downgrades.

MacBook Neo in everyday use. Photo: The Verge.

In our opinion, a $600 MacBook is a win for consumers and a highly unusual move for Apple. Historically, the company has rarely made anything so much cheaper than before.

So the relatively affordable MacBook Neo, despite its basic specs, is genuinely exciting—it’s a sign that Apple still sees itself as a mainstream brand, rather than a company making gadgets solely for the elite.

Finally, here are the key pros and cons of the MacBook Neo—not just compared to the MacBook Air, but as a standalone product:

P.S. Just a couple of months after the MacBook Neo went on sale, it became incredibly hard to find in stores, especially the entry-level 256GB configuration. The reason? Apple drastically underestimated the demand for the device.

Tech publication 9to5Mac reports that the company initially expected to sell around 5 million MacBook Neos, but consumers showed such enthusiasm that plans had to be adjusted on the fly. According to new estimates, at least 10 million units will be sold, so the company is currently rushing to order new components.