Macbook Neo Review: Better than you Think!

Quick Overview

The custom-colored MacBook Neo, running on an A18 Pro chip, is surprisingly powerful for its budget price, scoring similarly to the M1 MacBook Air in multi-core benchmarks and excelling in single-core performance, making it a very capable machine for general use, students, writers, and even moderate photo/video editing, though it lacks features like a backlit keyboard and a better display for high-end creative work.

Key Points: The custom MacBook Neo, featuring the A18 Pro chip, scored 8,519 in Geekbench 6 Multi Core, putting it slightly ahead of the M1 MacBook Air's 8,365. Single-core performance for the Neo (3,483) is stronger than the M1 Air (2,349) and is close to the M3 chip performance level. The laptop handles basic tasks like web browsing, music, email, and even 4K video editing in Final Cut Pro smoothly, but 8GB of RAM can fill up when multitasking heavily. The design is highly customizable with various color options (like the reviewer's lime green/citrus) and matching nostalgic rainbow Apple logos on the lid. Drawbacks include the lack of a backlit keyboard and a display that does not cover the full P3 color space or use a high refresh rate OLED panel. The SSD read/write speeds are around 1,500 MB/s, which is fast but slower than higher-end M-series machines. The device is rated highly for students (A+), writers (A), and casual gamers (D+), suggesting it excels at everyday productivity tasks.

Context: The video reviews a conceptual or custom-built laptop called the 'MacBook Neo,' running on a hypothetical 'Apple A18 Pro' chip, which is positioned as a budget-friendly alternative to Apple's standard MacBook lineup. The reviewer compares its performance against existing Apple Silicon Macs like the M1 MacBook Air and a 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4) using Geekbench 6 scores, and assesses its suitability for various user groups, including students, writers, coders, and gamers, while highlighting its unique, colorful design reminiscent of older Macintosh aesthetics.