Apple toys with the competition - MacBook Neo offers more single-core performance than any mobile processor from AMD, Intel or Qualcomm

[Redaktion]

Apple's new MacBook Neo is powered by the A18 Pro smartphone processor and offers excellent single-core performance, which beats every mobile processor from AMD, Intel and Qualcomm. And Apple does not even have to use the latest A19 Pro from the iPhone 17 Pro.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-toys-with-the-competition-MacBook-Neo-offers-more-single-core-performance-than-any-mobile-processor-from-AMD-Intel-or-Qualcomm.1248134.0.html

[Johannes K]

How about in Cinebench 2026?

[Jean du Toit]

Even if the Apple Neo has blazingly fast processing performance, it is Limited to 8GB RAM. Talk about building a Lamborghini with bicycle tyres.

[Lmaowinblowz]

TrashBook - Super optimized... for running benchmarks *yawn* those iFans really need to up their glazing game since no one would fall for this bullcrap anymore but themselves. Those benchmarks are useless for cross-platform comparison - even its creators said so, so keep coping with those high score while running like sh*t in any program that Apple hasn't paid billions to make the Windows version worse.

And once again the TrashBook gets a free pass for all the fouls that x86 laptops would be ripped apart if they dare to make: absolutely unrepairable soldered RAM and *SSD* (the worst of Windows laptops nowadays still has repairable M.2 storage), miserable port selection, no keyboard backlight (in the big '26), garbage prehistoric quality webcam, etcetera and etcetera. This is the reason why the laptop industry has zero innovation for the last 5 years. Thank you GlazeMacbookCheck for making the tech industry miserable and all of us consumer to suffer.

Yeah man totally I can't wait to pick up my plastic crapware $400 PC that will stutter and poop itself if I breathe on it wrong.

For the target audience - students; old people; casual users - this is a great little laptop.

"It is limited to 8gb." Yes, yes it is. Oh noes the mobile-chip-powered laptop can't edit 4k video AND import raw photos simultaneously as fast as the $2000 laptop?

Lmao.

[Plum]

I mean..if someone is dead set on getting apple.. and they were thinking of getting an iPad. I think it would make sense spending a little more and getting this instead. At least you get a proper OS here and not ipadOS.

The people this is aimed at wouldn't run many tabs though and don't upgrade often. They also aren't the audience who are into installing Linux or upgrading ram/SSD. It's for grandma's and 7-10 year olds.

I don't get why people are getting mad over more choices? It is available in any apple retail store for someone to checkout for themselves if they like or not vs the rest of the windows budget competition.

You might not consider this a real choice but when the head of another OEM is stating how many others are watching this closely and internally discussing how to respond to it, obviously others don't feel the same or share the same sentiment.

[davidm]

PC enthusiasts are their own worst enemies. They refuse to see the obvious leaps Apple is making since their M chips. It would be great if PC hardware was actually as good as those enthusiasts think, but in efficiency, memory bandwidth, and many real and benchmark values, PC has been in the dust for a long time. I'm not saying this as an Apple consumer, I'm saying this as a PC (Linux) consumer who wants better options.

[Citizen_not_Consumer]

There are much better laptops for less or equal money you can get:

-OLED screen
-more RAM (12gb or 16gb)
-touchscreen with pen support
-convertible
-glass trackpad
-Fanless with 17 hours battery
-same multicore performance
-runs ChromeOS, Linux, and Android apps

for $479 (IPS touch screen):
chromeunboxed.com/the-acer-chromebook-plus-spin-514-just-hit-a-new-all-time-low-price-of-479/

for $649 (OLED touch screen):
chromeunboxed.com/yes-the-lenovo-chromebook-14-is-the-best-chromebook-ive-ever-used/

Both laptops are better in every respect than the MacBook Neo.

[Sunsmasher]

There are much better laptops for less or equal money you can get:

-OLED screen
-more RAM (12gb or 16gb)
-touchscreen with pen support
-convertible
-glass trackpad
-Fanless with 17 hours battery
-same multicore performance
-runs ChromeOS, Linux, and Android apps

for $479 (IPS touch screen):
chromeunboxed.com/the-acer-chromebook-plus-spin-514-just-hit-a-new-all-time-low-price-of-479/

for $649 (OLED touch screen):
chromeunboxed.com/yes-the-lenovo-chromebook-14-is-the-best-chromebook-ive-ever-used/

Both laptops are better in every respect than the MacBook Neo.

Well then, just buy a Chromebook, ok?

[Consumers_are_citizen]

True, Chromebooks are amazing. Just wish they came with something better than mali. Like exynos 2600.

Yeh, I agree unless you absolutely need some apple specific app, it's better.

[chrome OS vs real OS]

Citizen_not_Consumer, the Neo is using the full fledged iOS, can the same be said about the ACER Chromebook Plus Spin 514? (as far as I know, a Chromebook is using a limited Windows OS)

for just $479 for a massive $220 off the standard $699 MSRP.

Also it's a discount, not normal price, so might not be available at this price.

[Citizen_not_Consumer]

Citizen_not_Consumer, the Neo is using the full fledged iOS, can the same be said about the ACER Chromebook Plus Spin 514?

ChromeOs has Linux native environment, and I can run massive scientific numerical models compiled with open source GCC and GFortran compilers. In contrast, the black box macOS is limited to what Apple allows you to install. (no native open source Linux is supported on Mac hardware).

So for me ChromeOS is more "real" and open OS than the limited "blackbox" macOS.

[chrome OS vs real OS]

Citizen_not_Consumer, the Neo is using the full fledged iOS, can the same be said about the ACER Chromebook Plus Spin 514?

ChromeOs has Linux native environment, and I can run massive scientific numerical models compiled with open source GCC and GFortran compilers. In contrast, the black box macOS is limited to what Apple allows you to install. (no native open source Linux is supported on Mac hardware).

So for me ChromeOS is more "real" and open OS than the limited "blackbox" macOS.

I see, so Apple has a white-list (=only the ones they approve) approach when it comes to installing applications? I guessed it was bad but that bad? Guess it also has advantages when it comes to security.

[No whitelist]

Citizen_not_Consumer, the Neo is using the full fledged iOS, can the same be said about the ACER Chromebook Plus Spin 514?

ChromeOs has Linux native environment, and I can run massive scientific numerical models compiled with open source GCC and GFortran compilers. In contrast, the black box macOS is limited to what Apple allows you to install. (no native open source Linux is supported on Mac hardware).

So for me ChromeOS is more "real" and open OS than the limited "blackbox" macOS.

I see, so Apple has a white-list (=only the ones they approve) approach when it comes to installing applications? I guessed it was bad but that bad? Guess it also has advantages when it comes to security.

No, no whitelist. Apple doesn't provide drivers or even hardware references for Linux, that's about it. You're still free to install whatever OS or application you want on Macs, it's just that Linux support is being slowly developed by a bunch of volunteers.

MacOS is also Unix based, so there's nothing stopping you from installing gcc, though by default it uses clang when you install XCode, the native dev toolkit for MacOS and iOS.

[Julian M]

Yeah man totally I can't wait to pick up my plastic crapware $400 PC that will stutter and poop itself if I breathe on it wrong.

For the target audience - students; old people; casual users - this is a great little laptop.

"It is limited to 8gb." Yes, yes it is. Oh noes the mobile-chip-powered laptop can't edit 4k video AND import raw photos simultaneously as fast as the $2000 laptop?

Lmao.

I can get behind the idea that 8GB is enough for light use and web browsing and what not - but that would be forgetting how everybody mocked (Mac users included) the low base amount of RAM Apple sold its baseline models with just two years ago - which pressured them into going with 16GB as their new baseline (supposedly for their AI features, but not just that).

That said, yeah the chip is impressive for what it's positioned to do at that price point, and 8 GB is ok but not great - it's safe to say Apple will likely bump that to 12GB in a future revision.

What I'm personally finding hilarious right now is how all tech enthusiasts are jumping on this and validating this even though they are not the target audience. It's a toy to these folks, but Apple is precisely counting on them to praise the product to would-be buyers - setting very weird and misplaced expectations regarding long-term use, gaming, and the like because those praising it are using it as a sideline rather than a primary computer.

It's also putting the non-pro iPad line in a weird spot, but that's Apple's problem - they did this to themselves.

So anyway, it's mostly positive, it's not a bad product, but people should know what they're buying instead of blindly trusting reviewers/influencers' spin on it.

[Citizen_not_Consumer]

You're still free to install whatever OS or application you want on Macs

No you are not. since Apple introduced the T2 security chip on the boot system unless the OS is approved and signed by Apple you can't install it. At least without special hacks.

Basically you can only run whatever apps are ported to macOS, nothing else (natively).

And if you are like to play games. The chromebooks I linked can run smoothly literally million of Android games. MacBook Neo I doubt it can run even the very few games that are ported for the bigger Macs. Not smoothly at least.