Apple just introduced the MacBook Neo as its most affordable laptop at $500. This is a Mac designed to reach people who might otherwise buy a Chromebook or a cheaper Windows laptop.
And at first glance, it’s really captivating. It has an aluminum chassis, weighs just 1.23kg, and comes in four bright colors. The laptop features a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, dual speakers with Dolby Atmos, a 1080p webcam, and up to 16 hours of battery life.
But once you look past the bright colors and the relatively low price, the compromises start to show. To reach this price point, Apple has trimmed back several features that users might expect from a modern MacBook. Some of those changes may not matter much for casual users, but others stand out when compared with the company’s more expensive laptops.
Here are five limitations of the MacBook Neo that you must know before buying Apple’s new entry-level laptop.
It doesn’t use a full-power laptop chip
One of the most unusual aspects of the MacBook Neo is its processor.
Instead of using one of Apple’s laptop-focused chips, like those found in the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, Apple chose the A18 Pro, the same chip it used in the iPhone 16 Pro.
This choice alone makes it clear where Apple sees the Neo in its lineup. A-series chips are typically designed for iPhones and iPads, not laptops. While they’re powerful and efficient, they aren’t built with the same thermal headroom or performance expectations as Apple’s M-series processors.
The version of the chip used in the MacBook Neo is also slightly reduced. The iPhone version features a 6-core CPU and a 6-core GPU, while the MacBook Neo ships with a 6-core CPU but only a 5-core GPU.
For basic tasks like browsing, document editing, or streaming, the chip should still be more than capable. Apple is also using a fanless design, which means the laptop operates completely silently. But for heavier workloads like video editing, the Neo may fall short compared with laptops powered by Apple’s M-series chips.
Limited memory and slower memory bandwidth
Memory is another area where Apple has made clear compromises. The MacBook Neo comes with 8GB of RAM, and unlike many other Apple computers, users cannot upgrade it when ordering the device. That means buyers are locked into the base configuration.
By comparison, newer Mac models now start with 16GB of RAM, including updated versions of the MacBook Air.
Because Apple uses unified memory architecture — where the CPU and GPU share the same memory pool — the amount of RAM can affect multiple parts of the system at once. Lower memory limits may become noticeable when running many browser tabs, multitasking across apps, or working with large files.
There’s also a difference in memory bandwidth. The MacBook Neo offers 60GB/s, which is less than half of what the MacBook Air provides.
The display loses several premium features
Apple is still calling the screen on the MacBook Neo a Liquid Retina display, but it’s not the same type of panel used in the company’s other laptops.
The 13-inch display has a resolution of 2408 × 1506, supports 1 billion colors, and reaches 500 nits of brightness, which matches the brightness level of the MacBook Air. However, there are several missing features.
First, the display only covers the sRGB color gamut, rather than the wider P3 color space supported by the MacBook Air since it switched to Apple silicon in 2020.
The display also does not support True Tone, Apple’s technology that automatically adjusts color temperature based on ambient lighting.
And perhaps more surprisingly, the MacBook Neo doesn’t include an ambient light sensor at all. That means the system cannot automatically adjust screen brightness depending on the environment.
No Magnetic Charging
Finally, the MacBook Neo removes a few physical hardware features that are common on other MacBooks.
One of the biggest differences is charging. Unlike the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, the Neo does not include a MagSafe magnetic charging port.
Instead, it relies on two USB-C ports, both located on the left side of the laptop. One of these ports supports USB 3 speeds up to 10Gb/s, while the other is limited to USB 2 speeds up to 480Mb/s.
Using USB-C for charging is not unusual, but MagSafe has become a popular feature because it detaches easily if someone trips over the charging cable. Also, it clears the USB-C port for other tasks.
Keyboard without backlight
Last but not least, there are compromises in keyboard and trackpad, too.
The keyboard does not include backlighting. It been a standard for MacBooks to include a backlit keyboard, but Neo is an exception.
Meanwhile, the trackpad is a simpler physical multi-touch trackpad instead of Apple’s Force Touch design. That means it lacks pressure sensitivity, force click features, and pressure-sensitive drawing.
Even Touch ID is optional. The base 256GB model doesn’t include it, though it is available if users upgrade to the 512GB version.
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The post 5 reasons the MacBook Neo isn’t a typical MacBook appeared first on Gizmochina.