Apple surprised no one (and surprised us all at the same time) with the MacBook Neo announcement.This low-priced laptop is a showcase of modern tech prowess though, in ways you probably didn’t realize.The MacBook Neo is powered by the same processor in your iPhone 16 Pro.
Yes, that’s right, Apple took an iPhone chip, slapped it in a laptop casing, and shipped it as a MacBook.It’s pretty crazy when you think about it, but it really just goes to show just how far mobile chips have come.Yes, an iPhone chip is now powerful enough to run a MacBook Apple has been holding out on us The A18 Pro powering the MacBook Neo isn’t a new chip—it was released over a year ago.
The A18 Pro is what Apple used to power the iPhone 16 Pro that was released in 2024.Yes, an iPhone chip is now running a MacBook.Apple said that the A18 Pro is based on Apple Silicon, which is the company’s in-house processor architecture.
The A18 Pro that you’re getting in the MacBook Neo is identical to the one from the iPhone 16 Pro.The USB limitation, the 8GB of RAM limitation, every feature (or limitation) that the MacBook Neo has is identical to the iPhone 16 Pro.Speaking of USB limitations, I do want to point out that the MacBook Neo does have some drawbacks compared to the more powerful (and more expensive) MacBook Air.
For starters, there’s only one USB 3.1 USB-C port.The other port is USB 2.0.This is definitely due to a limitation on the A18 Pro.
The other limitation is there’s only one RAM option, and this also comes down to the choice of the A18 Pro.Since the A18 Pro was originally designed to just run in a smartphone, it was made with only one RAM option—8GB.Of course, Apple could have re-tooled the system to put more RAM in it, but that would have added cost, and I don’t think most people will need more than 8GB of RAM for normal tasks, especially not on a laptop this cheap.
You get the full macOS experience for under $600 And it even has a built-in battery! I think what really blows my mind is that Apple took an iPhone chip, put it in a laptop form-factor, then installed macOS.This is just one more nail in the coffin that Apple can absolutely make a touchscreen MacBook, but they just choose not to.I know that’s common knowledge, but it’s still frustrating to me that Apple’s more portable devices don’t run macOS even though they can.
The MacBook Neo doesn’t run a cut-down version of macOS, it runs the same version of macOS that all the other MacBooks run, just with fewer resources.The A18 pro inside of the MacBook Neo features a 6-core CPU with two performance cores and four efficiency cores, a 5-core GPU, hardware accelerated ray tracing, and even a 16-core neural engine.Add to this the 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM that comes baked into the chip, and you have a pretty solid system to run macOS.
The crazy part is: the MacBook Neo starts at $599, and is $499 for education shoppers like students and teachers.That’s nearly half the cost of the iPhone 16 Pro that featured the same SoC, something that Apple users have been waiting for for a long time.The MacBook Neo can even handle video editing This mobile chip is surprisingly capable Something that Apple didn’t originally tout about the A18 Pro is its video capabilities.
The MacBook Neo has a full suite of media engines that make this one of, if not the most powerful mobile video editing system for the money.The A18 Pro packs hardware-accelerated H.264, H.265 (HEVC), ProRes, and ProRes RAW support.There’s also a dedicated video decoding and encoding engine, as well as ProRes encoding and decoding engines.
I was also surprised to see AV1 decoding baked into the chip, too.If all of that is Greek to you, let me explain what it means: the MacBook Neo will be a force to be reckoned with as a video editing system.The M1 MacBook Air was touted as a fantastic video editing system, even for its base model.
The M1 MacBook Air shipped with 8GB of RAM as a base—the same as the MacBook Neo.Newsletter: Deeper MacBook Neo insights and buying context Subscribe to our newsletter for expanded coverage of the MacBook Neo's chip, performance trade-offs, and media-engine capabilities—concise analysis and comparisons that deepen understanding of this laptop and related consumer tech.Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
You can unsubscribe anytime.However, the MacBook Air lacked the ProRes encoding and decoding engines, the AV1 decoding engine, and hardware-accelerated ProRes and ProRes RAW support—all of which the MacBook Neo has.Whether you’re just wanting to edit some family videos together or create full-blown documentaries or YouTube videos, the MacBook Neo offers incredible capabilities for a sub-$600 laptop.
MacBook Neo (A18 Pro) Operating System macOS CPU A18 Pro The MacBook Neo with the A18 Pro chip is Apple's most affordable laptop yet, with all-day battery life and buttery-smooth performance in a thin and light profile.$599 at Amazon $599 at Apple $599 at Best Buy Expand Collapse The MacBook Neo is the product I think we’ve all been waiting for The MacBook Neo’s A18 Pro chip might sound underwhelming—as it’s just an iPhone chip.But, I think it’s going to surprise everyone with just how much power it brings to the table.
The native media engines that it supports alone are fantastic, but the fact that it runs full macOS is even better.At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a mid-range priced laptop to handle your day-to-day tasks as a student, educator, or just a normal person, I think the MacBook Neo will be hard to beat—even if it does just use a few year old iPhone chip.
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