The MacBook Neo is one of Apple's most intriguing products in years. The company took an iPhone 16 Pro chip, put it inside a colorful chassis, installed macOS, and presto: You have a brand-new MacBook for only $599 ($499 with an education discount). It's a no-brainer for anyone looking for a basic Mac at a great price, but to get it to that price, Apple had to cut some serious corners. As such, you can't buy a MacBook Neo and expect the exact same experience you'd get with a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro—though that doesn't mean you can't make some improvements on your own.

The Neo might be a stripped-down Mac, but it's still a computer, and all computers can be pushed beyond their defaults. To that end, I've compiled a list of 10 hacks all MacBook Neo owners should know about—adjustments and strategies you can take to make your Neo run longer, perform better, and get a bit closer to the flagship MacBook experience.

MacBook Neo (256 GB)

$599.00

at Amazon

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$599.00

at Amazon

Give your Mac more "RAM" by optimizing your storage

This is an important consideration no matter what Mac you have, but it's especially important when your hard drive is as small as the base MacBook Neo. While you might think you have the flexibility to fill that 256GB of storage to the brim, you have far less of it than you think. Part of that is because macOS takes up a certain amount of storage on its own (the OS takes up roughly 35GB on my MacBook, for example), but even the free space you can use, you really shouldn't.

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See, your Mac has 8GB of RAM. That's not a lot. When macOS runs out of RAM to work with, however, it won't just stop working; instead, it'll start using your SSD for additional memory, a process known as "swap." That said, if you don't have enough available storage, you'll start to run into issues: macOS will slow down, apps will be less responsive, and the system may even warn you you're dangerously close to running out of space.

So, one of the best things you can do to make the most of your Neo's limited RAM is by limiting how much storage you're using. Audit your current SSD situation by going to System Settings > General > Storage. You'll be able to see a full breakdown of your Macintosh HD, plus some tips from macOS to optimize your storage: e.g. "Store in iCloud," if you have enough cloud space, or "Empty Trash automatically" if you tend to keep large files in the trash.

You can go deeper if you click on the (i) next to any of the file types listed below. For example, I have 226.43 GB of "Documents" on my MacBook. I can see which files are the largest, and delete any I no longer need.

Pick up an external SSD to expand your storage

If you're struggling to make due with your limited storage, pick up an external SSD. You can buy these devices in any number of configurations, adding 1TB, 2TB, even 4TB of storage space to your setup. While it's less convenient than keeping files on your MacBook locally, it'll help you keep the available space on your Neo for everything to run properly. Plus, they're small, and many connect via a single USB-C cable, so there's no need for additional power cables or dongles.

Pair your Apple Watch for easy unlocking and authentication

For years, Apple has included Touch ID buttons on its MacBooks. It's a fast way to unlock your laptop and it beats having to type your password in every time. While the Neo does have an option that comes with Touch ID, the base model sadly doesn't. If you have an Apple, however, it doesn't actually matter.

You can pair your Apple Watch with your MacBook, so that when you're wearing the watch, it automatically unlocks your Mac—just like Touch ID would. To set it up, head to System Settings, then search for "Apple Watch." Choose "Allow Apple Watch to unlock your Mac," then tap the toggle next to your watch. Note that both the watch and your MacBook need to be connected to the same Apple Account.

Use Activity Monitor to kill demanding apps and processes

As someone who obsesses over their Mac's performance, Activity Monitor is my best friend. It's about to be yours, too. This utility lets you see all the apps and processes currently running on your Mac, and how demanding they are on its CPU, memory, energy, disk, and the network. While it may seem particularly technical, don't worry: The easiest way to use Activity Monitor is to see if any app is unexpectedly using too much energy, memory, or CPU performance. If Messages, for example, is at the top of the list, and is using far more energy than any other app around it, you can guess something's up. From here, you can Force Quit the app, or click the app name from the list and hit the (X) stop button in Activity Monitor to get things working again.

Use your iPhone as an improved webcam

The MacBook Neo's built-in webcam is actually pretty solid—especially for a laptop at this price point. But it's not quite as good as the ones you'll f

10 Hacks Every MacBook Neo Owner Should Know