MacBook Neo outperforms MacBook Air in one key area – it's clearly designed to do this one thing well

Apple MacBook Neo — (Image credit: Future)

Quick Summary

Geekbench test results for the MacBook Neo are in and it compares favourably with other Apple devices – especially if you're looking to upgrade from an older MacBook.

The single-core performance is of particular note, as this is what will drive the Neo's most used capabilities – such as video streaming, browsing and productivity.

Apple finally unveiled its MacBook Neo on Wednesday, after months of rumours and speculation, and we have to say it lives up to expectations. In look and design, anyway.

Unsurprisingly, it's nowhere near as powerful as the latest M5 MacBook Pro and Air models, and can't touch the M4 MacBook Air when it comes to certain tasks, but there are some interesting results in comparison with the M1 MacBook Air and even M3 iPad Air.

As reported by MacRumors and according to Geekbench, the MacBook Neo's single-core performance is up there with most devices – even bettering the M1 MacBook Air. That's important for what the new laptop is effectively designed for – video streaming, browsing and productivity tasks.

Its multi-core performance is also better than the six-year-old MacBook Air, and the "Metal" GPU performance is on a par. Maybe it's time to consider an upgrade?

MacBook Neo: 3,461 single-core, 8,668 multi-core, 31,286 Metal
M1 MacBook Air: 2,346 single-core, 8,342 multi-core, 33,148 Metal
M4 MacBook Air: 3,696 single-core, 14,730 multi-core, 54,630 Metal
M3 iPad Air: 3,048 single-core, 11,678 multi-core, 44,395 Metal
iPad 11: 2,587 single-core, 6,036 multi-core, 19,395 Metal
iPhone 16 Pro: 3,445 single-core, 8,624 multi-core, 32,575 Metal

Interestingly, even though the Neo uses the same A18 Pro system-on-chip (SoC) as the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, the 2024 iPhones seem to fractionally perform better for GPU intensive tasks, such as gaming. But that's because there's an additional GPU core on the handhelds.

In all other metrics, you can expect similar performance. And considering how capable the iPhone 16 Pro models have proved with gameplay and the like, you can expect the MacBook Neo to also handle lighter gaming well.

It all really comes down to price and at £599 / $599, the Neo looks to be great value – especially as an everyday all-rounder. It's not designed for video rendering or hardcore AI tasks – that's what the MacBook Pro and M5 Air are for – but as Apple's first "chuck in a bag" device since 2017's 12-inch MacBook, it looks to be the real deal.

You can pre-order the MacBook Neo from Apple.com today, with shipping to start from 11 March 2026.

TOPICS

Rik is T3’s news editor, which means he looks after the news team and the up-to-the-minute coverage of all the hottest gadgets and products you’ll definitely want to read about. And, with more than 35 years of experience in tech and entertainment journalism, including editing and writing for numerous websites, magazines, and newspapers, he’s always got an eye on the next big thing.

Rik also has extensive knowledge of AV, TV streaming and smart home kit, plus just about everything to do with games since the late 80s. Prior to T3, he spent 13 years at Pocket-lint heading up its news team, and was a TV producer and presenter on such shows as Channel 4's GamesMaster, plus Sky's Games World, Game Over, and Virtual World of Sport.

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