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Five hundred bucks. That's the price difference between the MacBook Neo and the MacBook Air. Having spent a lot of time testing and using both laptops in the MacBook lineup, I can say that there's a clear demographic for both of these devices.

As a longtime laptop tester, my goal here is twofold. I want to make sure that you buy the right MacBook, and I also want to make sure you don't overpay or underbuy. Deciding isn't actually as difficult as you might think. Don't think you want a MacBook after all? Don't forget to check out our guides to the Best Windows Laptops, the Best Chromebooks, or the Best Linux Laptops.

The Easy Way to Decide

Photograph: Luke Larsen

There's one easy question to answer if you're stuck between the Neo and the Air. Is this for a job that you will use full-time? Because if you're sitting in front of this laptop for eight hours a day, don't bother considering the MacBook Neo. You'll likely be tempted by the price, but it's compromises are just too many. Trust me.

On the other hand, if you answered “No” to that question, you can likely save some cash by buying the MacBook Neo without being bothered by some of its deficiencies. For example, a lot of people have a work PC or laptop at the office, but then need something for weeknights, weekends, or to travel with. It also works perfectly for a student, whether in high school or college.

I know that's an oversimplified way of thinking about it, but it's a good place to start.

Design, Size, and Aesthetics

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Apple

MacBook Neo

$599 Amazon

$599 Best Buy

$599 Apple

There's a small difference in size, but it isn't as significant as you might assume. The MacBook Neo's screen is 13 inches, measured diagonally, which is over half an inch smaller than the 13.6-inch MacBook Air. As someone who frequently works on a MacBook Air, I found it pretty easy to switch to the slightly smaller Neo. You can also upgrade to the 15-inch MacBook Air, which gives you a significantly bigger canvas to work on. But that also costs an extra $200. In terms of portability, the MacBook Air is 0.44 inches versus the 0.50 inches of the Neo. Again, not a huge difference—especially since they're identical in weight.

The MacBook Neo does depart from the MacBook formula in terms of design in a few key ways. It's a bit more playful than other MacBooks, using rounder edges, white keycaps, and some more brighter color options. They're nowhere near as daring as the iMac colors, but you get to choose between Silver, Blush, Citrus, and Indigo. Silver and Blush are more subtle, while Citrus and Indigo are the bolder options. My favorite aspect of the MacBook Neo is the lack of a notch, though. Don't get me wrong: I want thin bezels on my laptop like everyone else, but I've always found the notch to be an ugly solution.

Photograph: Luke Larsen

All that to say, both the MacBook Air and MacBook Neo are beautiful laptops that share more in common than not. The keyboards are nearly identical in terms of the typing experience, including the spacing on the keys and the layout. The one difference is that only the upgraded version of the MacBook Neo (which starts at $699) gets you Touch ID built into the power button. That's a shame because that means you'll be typing in your password a lot on the base version of the Neo.

The MacBook Air has a better trackpad. It's larger and has a haptic feedback system rather than a mechanical click. That gives a quieter and more consistent clicking surface across the whole trackpad, even along the edges. The MacBook Neo's trackpad is still high-quality, but I just don't like how loud the physical click it is.

Performance Differences

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Apple

MacBook Air (M5, 2026)

$1,099 $949 (14% off) Amazon

$1,099 Best Buy

$1,099 Apple

Rather than an M4 or M5, the MacBook Neo uses an iPhone chip, the A18 Pro. That's enough to raise an eyebrow, but it's actually not the most important aspect of this laptop's performance. (As it turns out, the A18 Pro is a pretty solid MacBook chip, landing somewhere between the M1 and M2.) The bigger problem is the 8 GB of memory. There's no option to upgrade to 16 GB, while the MacBook Air starts with that much.

I observed that macOS itself eats up around 6 GB of RAM at idle, largely thanks to all the background AI tasks that now run in the background. Getting the system to actually slow down requires loading up dozens of Chrome tabs, some YouTube streams, and a few open applications—but it is possible. It's the kind of situation you could accidentally find yourself in if you aren't considering just how much you're piling on. If you'r

MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air: Which One Should You Buy? | WIRED