Apple MacBook Neo review: Can a Mac get by with an iPhone’s processor inside?

8GB of RAM is a bummer, but this $599 laptop cuts most of the right corners.

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[tipoo]

I have more of an experiential question about how this feels. On 2 P core systems with a bunch of E core spam I've used before, yes it benchmarks high in single core, and yes it benchmarks high in multicore, but it never feels like a true 4P+ core. When it's said that single core is still important, it doesn't mean you can literally have just 1 fast core and a system would feel just as snappy, in the extreme example. I surmised that even in regular use like multitabbing and office, it's easy to push past and call for 3-4+ strong performance threads.

Are there times you can tell you're missing two P cores compared to the M4, or do Apple's stronger E cores and OS scheduling solve this well? These were Intel systems on Windows so it may well be very different, this is why I'm wondering.

 

[MachinistMark]

I'm surprised to see the statement at the end about it aging poorly, when typically cheap Windows laptops tend to last maybe 2 years before they're useless. I don't like Macs (just personal preference) but I definitely think the lifespan of this is going to extend beyond the majority of it's Windows counterparts. I know people who've used a MacBook for 8-10 years before they've outlived their usefulness.

 

[azery]

With this phone processor in a laptop (and m processors in iPads) I’m back hoping for a device I can use as full desktop by connecting it to a docking station at home and at work, and as a smart phone (or tablet) in all other cases.
I understand the trick is not just hardware, but equally or even more the os and related functionality, but one can dream….

 

[thomsirveaux]

I'm surprised to see the statement at the end about it aging poorly, when typically cheap Windows laptops tend to last maybe 2 years before they're useless. I don't like Macs (just personal preference) but I definitely think the lifespan of this is going to extend beyond the majority of it's Windows counterparts. I know people who've used a MacBook for 8-10 years before they've outlived their usefulness.

It's more about the RAM than anything else. The physical hardware feels like it'll hold up pretty well, but 8GB isn't going to get easier to live with.

 

[first_citazen]

Excellent write up and I’m in for one blush color with Touch ID

On the memory capped at 8GB, my guess is they were stuck using the chip that was designed to only have one version with no variants for additional memory.

Either way they will sell like hotcakes with prices in the industry going up across the board

 

[thomsirveaux]

I have more of an experiential question about how this feels. On 2 P core systems with a bunch of E core spam I've used before, yes it benchmarks high in single core, and yes it benchmarks high in multicore, but it never feels like a true 4P+ core. When it's said that single core is still important, it doesn't mean you can literally have just 1 fast core and a system would feel just as snappy, in the extreme example. I surmised that even in regular use like multitabbing and office, it's easy to push past and call for 3-4+ strong performance threads.

Are there times you can tell you're missing two P cores compared to the M4, or do Apple's stronger E cores and OS scheduling solve this well? These were Intel systems on Windows so it may well be very different, this is why I'm wondering.

General performance is pretty good but I noticed it more when I asked it to do slightly heavier (but still pretty normal!) things. I know this is a long review but buried in the performance bit:

"Editing the RAW photos, exporting MP3s, and slicing 3D print files all took a few beats longer than I was used to. The Zoom-with-external-monitor-connected scenario made for a video call that hiccuped a few times. I definitely noticed I was using a cheaper, slower computer."

 

[jwbaker]

The warning about 8GB of memory seems a little vague. If Activity Monitor is closed, can you tell? Or is it "subtle" i.e. you can't tell? People said this about M1 MacBook and the M1 mini, both of which worked perfectly fine.

 

[dmsilev]

Nice review. Very interesting about the throttling behavior; it is indeed surprising that Apple didn't allow the chip more thermal headroom since it's running in a case with more heat sinking ability and a bigger battery. I guess that also explains the 5ish percent difference in the Geekbench single-thread results vs the M4 Air.

But benchmarks are one thing, and how it performs and feels in everyday use is the more important other thing. RAM limits aside, this will meet the needs of a lot of people.

 

[Deleted member 543677]

An interesting question is whether Apple can alter the throttling behaviour in a software update, or if it is hardware config from the chip.

Also, have you run the tests with or without being plugged ? Does it make a difference ?

 

[Deleted member 543677]

A USB-C port that's only USB 2.0 seems like a warcrime.

Honestly, given the CPU, and the past history of the Single port MacBook, I am happy to see a second port that can be used for charging, or light accessories.

The only crime is not making it obvious to distinguish, the software notification is helpful though.

 

[thomsirveaux]

The warning about 8GB of memory seems a little vague. If Activity Monitor is closed, can you tell? Or is it "subtle" i.e. you can't tell? People said this about M1 MacBook and the M1 mini, both of which worked perfectly fine.

You can tell, Activity Monitor just makes it easier to understand what's happening. I don't want to oversell it, as you said it is often "perfectly fine," but there are a bunch of minor pauses as you wait for things to load that don't exist to the same degree on an M1/16GB MBA.

 

[tipoo]

The warning about 8GB of memory seems a little vague. If Activity Monitor is closed, can you tell? Or is it "subtle" i.e. you can't tell? People said this about M1 MacBook and the M1 mini, both of which worked perfectly fine.

Some things are true at the same time
1) Most people who don't know what RAM is will not hit this limit or notice, unless they hit a sloppy app that leaks memory, or keep everything open, go "why is this slow", and reboot once a week because of it

2) When memory pressure is high on macOS, you absolutely can notice. This is when it's telling you it's past what it can compress and it's finding it hard to maintain performance requirements from RAM, not just swapping a little bit that's not active, hence the confusing to many "memory pressure". Most times I felt a slowdown, then checked activity monitor to confirm being in the orange or red and quit something, most often Safari.

SSDs may be fast but access latencies are orders of magnitude higher than DRAM, multiply with easily hundreds of thousands of requests, a bit of swapping is hard to notice, but a lot of swapping with orange/red memory pressure is very noticeable.

 

[lwdj905]

This feels like the perfect entry model, for younger kids needing internet access for school and learning basic computer skills.
Also a good exit model, the machine you get your 86 yr old Mother-in-Law so she can email, watch church via Youtube and possibly play some basic games.

Apple is targeting the sticky services, music/video and hooking people with entry level performance hoping when the funds become available they upgrade within their garden.

 

[charltjr]

I’m fine with those compromises for the price.

This is a laptop for people who want to browse the internet and do basic productivity tasks, it’s got everything it needs and nothing it doesn’t.

One of these will probably replace my 11” 2nd generation iPad Pro soon for media consumption and browsing. That has 6Gb of memory and an A12Z. I’m not expecting to have any complaints about performance or memory use on a Neo.

Horses for courses.

 

[pitmonster]

Sounds like this is the perfect machine for people who don’t know what a virtual machine is, or don’t edit RAW photos. Which is a LOT of people. Like people who buy $500 laptops from Walmart

It’s the entry level model like the $349 iPad or the iPhone SE, it can do the basics for most people but has compromises. Which is fine because it costs so much less than the next model.

Maybe a spec bump model in 12 months time with the A19 Pro with 12GB of RAM is the one to wait for.

 

[mpat]

The default view gives you the usable space of a 1080p monitor with Retina-resolution applications, or a native 4K resolution with apps that are mostly too tiny to see and use comfortably.

Perhaps this is an obvious point to make, but it is not exactly uncommon with people using 42” TVs on their desks as 4K displays, especially if they want cheapish OLED. I imagine that such a setup would be entirely workable with the display in native mode.

 

[Taunted Happy Fun Ball]

The notifications about using the wrong USB port (espeically since the physical ports aren't distinguished in any way!) really goes against the "it-just-works" ethos that Apple has applied to Macs for so long. It's a minor thing that probably won't affect most users most of the time, but if you're used to a regular Mac, that kind of malarkey stands out.

 

[Kurenai]

Because of the current ram pricing crisis, I suspect the 8gb may be more livable over the long haul than many of us expect. In such an environment, I can see many app makers focusing on lowering memory use as great feature to advertise as memory prices are affecting everyone.

 

[big_micko]

This feels like the perfect entry model, for younger kids needing internet access for school and learning basic computer skills.
Also a good exit model, the machine you get your 86 yr old Mother-in-Law so she can email, watch church via Youtube and possibly play some basic games.

Apple is targeting the sticky services, music/video and hooking people with entry level performance hoping when the funds become available they upgrade within their garden.

It's very reminiscent of the early 2000's white iBooks we had as kids in elementary and Junior High. I could see these (and they hopefully will be) replacing the ass cake Chromebooks that have taken over.

 

[Errum]

Too critical a review given the cost. Somehow he completely missed who this is for and what the competition is.

The review is nicely written for the Ars audience, but the Ars audience has only the scantest overlap with the Neo’s intended market.

I predict that Apple will sell boatloads of the Neo, mostly to users who don’t need to know or care about external 4K monitors or editing RAW images.

 

[Findecanor]

it is indeed surprising that Apple didn't allow the chip more thermal headroom since it's running in a case with more heat sinking ability and a bigger battery.

As it was originally an iPhone SoC, I suspect that the parameters for thermal throttling have been carried over from the phone.

Hopefully that is something that Apple could improve with a firmware update.

 

[jwbaker]

It's very reminiscent of the early 2000's white iBooks we had as kids in elementary and Junior High. I could see these (and they hopefully will be) replacing the ass cake Chromebooks that have taken over.

You can't displace Chromebooks with hardware. The Chromebook succeeds in the market because of software, not hardware. If MacOS comes up with software that can be provisioned and deployed as easily as ChromeOS is, where a student can grab literally any laptop and pick up exactly where they had been within seconds, then the people who actually buy Chromebooks might consider it.

 

[Demento]

On the 8GB thing... When it came out, a lot of people found the 8GB Air to be perfectly usable for heavier tasks because an SSD-backed swap was reasonably peppy. And then a few months later there was some news about 8GB Macbooks absolutely chomping through the write life of their SSDs, much faster than usual. Did that get a resolution? Or are there a lot of older 8GB Macbooks out there with trashed SSDs that are otherwise fine?

 

[neil_w]

The unfavorable comparisons against the Air are to be expected.

I'm more interested to see comparisons (particularly performance) against typical PCs in similar price range. Presumably a big target market for these are folks who won't normally consider Macs at all because they're too expensive... those folks are going to be shopping the Neo against those budget Windows machines.

 

[Made in Hurry]

I honestly think this machine might be a really good buy. Where do you get the same build quality, the panel quality, keyboard quality in the same landscape on a Windows machine that often feel plasticy, where you still get TN or VA panels? I have not seen any Chromebook plus machines or higher in that same category that does not cost more.
Same for Windows machines that are creeping up in price, while still delivering Zen 2 CPUs.

I think as a no frills "typewriter" which is my intended use for such a machine, where i do not have to worry about build quality makes this machine a no brainer. 8GB, sure limiting, but for a writer like myself, fewer distractions and knowing that i can get 5-8 years out of this machine as Apple will make sure that Mac OS will be lean enough in the future.

Comparing it to other Mac might be unfair as that is not its intended market. I will give it serious considerations.

 

[Jeff3F]

Lots of compromises but probably okay. And folks using pre-M1 macs may mean that Neo users will be okay for a few years. And, this is v1 of the product, it’ll probably get better.

Given the recent RAM shortages, we might see software leaning on much more elegant and/or aggressive memory conservation as new machines have less RAM than they might’ve otherwise had were it cheaper.

Thanks for the review! This was informative - I wouldn’t want to get one of these but I do see the appeal of a $499 (edu pricing) laptop for some folks. I think the scrappiest users might be more likely to pick up used or refurbished macs though. I liked that the review covered this.

 

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I'm surprised to see the statement at the end about it aging poorly, when typically cheap Windows laptops tend to last maybe 2 years before they're useless. I don't like Macs (just personal preference) but I definitely think the lifespan of this is going to extend beyond the majority of it's Windows counterparts. I know people who've used a MacBook for 8-10 years before they've outlived their usefulness.

I wouldn't be surprised if it survives longer than the best buy special; but whether it ages well is basically rolling the dice on what multiple years of javascript monkeys (whether in-browser or with Electron 'apps') are going to do; and it seems fairly plausible to suspect that those guys aren't going to suddenly stop using less RAM.

 

[SuperOuss]

Given Apple’s reputation for build quality and long-term software support, this product could capture meaningful share in the entry-level Windows PC segment.

Apple is also a highly desirable brand in the eyes of the general public, which may make it more compelling than many entry-level offerings from HP, Lenovo, or Dell.

Overall, I expect macOS marketshare to grow faster because of this device, I may be wrong.

(Mac user, but used to work a long time in the Wintel space)

 

[Fred Duck]

Not being a data scientist or software programmer, I sit here, being fully productive with an 8GB M1 mini + 8GB M2 MBA combo. (Not that I can tell you how or when or if my M2 is better than my M1.)

I had mused, based on chip benchmarks, that the A18 Pro would perform similarly to an M2, albeit slightly worse graphics and multi-core but better single core. According to the charts & graphs here, it appears roughly M1 class at a fraction of the TDP, so I'm grateful that Andrew decided not to include the M2 to definitively prove my hypothesis incorrect.

Reading the comments over several MBN articles, I notice the sentiment amongst data programmers and software scientists amount to:
"No dual USB 3. Less RAM than other Macs. Lame."

 

[jwbaker]

On the 8GB thing... When it came out, a lot of people found the 8GB Air to be perfectly usable for heavier tasks because an SSD-backed swap was reasonably peppy. And then a few months later there was some news about 8GB Macbooks absolutely chomping through the write life of their SSDs, much faster than usual. Did that get a resolution? Or are there a lot of older 8GB Macbooks out there with trashed SSDs that are otherwise fine?

This was just a misreading by some blogger of some telemetry, but I guess since they wrote it and never retracted it we're stuck having this conversation forever.

 

[williamyf]

Rocking an early 2014 air. Would it have 12GB of RAM, this would be a cromulent upgrade.

Thanks to OCLP, y can hgold until (boreal) autum 2027 (even 2028) to wait for the inevitable 12GB model.

 

[wemetintheair]

Anyone else become unreasonably anxious at the big full glass next to the MacBook in the title image?

 

[Tech-Space-Cars]

You want a cheaper, budget computer? This is what it’s going to look like to make it affordable. It’s for basic day to day operations. Not rendering ten simultaneous 8k video streams or playing the latest game.

 

[Demento]

I'm surprised to see the statement at the end about it aging poorly, when typically cheap Windows laptops tend to last maybe 2 years before they're useless. I don't like Macs (just personal preference) but I definitely think the lifespan of this is going to extend beyond the majority of it's Windows counterparts. I know people who've used a MacBook for 8-10 years before they've outlived their usefulness.

While there certainly are people who trash a cheap laptop inside of 2 years, I don't believe they represent a majority, or even a sizeable minority of users. I only personally know one person who owns a laptop less than 2 years old. The rest stretch out as far as 8 years, and that's mainly because of the Win11 kerfuffle. Once SSDs became standard equipment, laptop performance didn't dive off a cliff over time as much.

 

[TwoKiloBalls]

A18 maxes out at 8GB doesn't it? Pity they didn't go with the A19 and 12GB, even if they added an extra $50 to the price. I suspect that will be next years model.