If I’m being honest, I’m not surprised. I set out to see if the new MacBook Neo, a sub-$600 laptop running a smartphone CPU, could get through one or more of my workdays, and the results were even better than I expected.
When I announced the test on social media last week, I got a lot of feedback. Many were excited to see how Apple‘s first new MacBook model in more than a decade performed. Others questioned my use of the word “everyday”. What kind of work did I mean? Basically, I was talking about my average workday.
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Nope, just nope
My confidence aside, I attracted some serious skeptics online.
“Why? Dumb. It’s a toy, 8GB RAM and tiny screen with huge bezels. This laptop is for my Grandmother,” wrote Bob in MI on X (formerly Twitter).
Bob’s right, the MacBook only ships with 8GB of RAM. There is no option for 16GB, and nothing can slow down a system more than a RAM shortage. Even my 512GB test unit (the base model ships with 256GB of storage) has just 8GB. Bob also accurately noted the larger bezels around the smaller screen (13 inches compared to the MacBook Air’s 13.6-inch).
But he also exaggerated. The bezels are not huge, and the screen is far from tiny. Also, why pick on his grandmother? I don’t know the lady, but I think she might love this Citrus-colored portable.
Amidst the naysayers and curiosity seekers, there were more than a few people reporting they had already been using the MacBook Neo for a few weeks. Not one person who owned one reported any degradation, even when doing image editing, running Spotify, and using Microsoft‘s Office Suite.
My MacBook Neo diary
What followed were days of normal work and some note-taking about my MacBook Neo experience. My goal was never to push the system to its limits. I just wanted to get my job done without any slowdowns or tech issues.
Turns out I couldn’t jump right into work because the MacBook Neo wasn’t set up for my typical workday.
I started by opening Chrome (most of my company’s software and systems require us to use Google‘s browser) and logging into my corporate Google account, which gives me access to Gmail, Slack, Google Docs, accounting systems, and more.
I already had Adobe Photoshop 2026 — my go-to image editing software — installed from previous MacBook Neo tests.
As you probably already know, I’m an active social media user and often post directly from my laptop. So I logged into X, BlueSky, and Threads. This also helped me track reactions to my adventure (and my messy workdesk).
As I start working, I keep admiring the color; Citrus is so bright and cheerful. Not everyone is a fan. My wife noticed I had switched to the MacBook Neo for work, and when I asked her about the cute color, she made a face, “Not my favorite.” I assured her it came in other fun colors like Blush and Indigo.
Not only do I like the color, which can make a dreary day a bit more cheerful, but I also appreciate how the colors bleed through to the keyboard and software elements. It’s a nice touch.
Attack of the tabs
Much of my writing and editing is spent within our company’s proprietary publishing system, but I also open up other browser tabs for research. Add those to my Gmail, Slack, Feedly, the TechRadar homepage, and all those social media platforms, and the browser tabs start to add up.
In fact, I usually have a significant tab problem. I constantly open new ones as I research a story, and then I sometimes forget I opened them, or lose track of an entire window of open tabs. This can seriously stress even a Pro-level system, so I adopted a slightly different strategy with the MacBook Neo.
I tried to be far more intentional in my tab use. If I opened one, I’d complete my work with it, copy the data I needed — often in Notes — and then close the tab (even so, I currently have 17 tabs open). Look, I’m no fool; I know 8GB is only going to get me so far.
Things I noticed and things I miss
On the first day, I chose to work with the MacBook Neo connected to power. As I plugged in a USB-C cable, I did, for a moment, miss the MagSafe charge port, but I also quickly forgot about it.
I also used the remaining USB-C port to plug in my Targus port adapter and connect the MacBook Neo to a second HD display.
The MacBook Neo did make me realize how I take the MacBook Air’s backlit keyboard for granted. No matter how the light changes at home, at work, or on the train, the MacBook Air keyboard is consistently visible. The MacBook Neo keyboard, by contrast, is at the mercy of external light, and I couldn’t help but notice the shadows from my hands, and how, when the light shifts in the room, suddenly half the keyboard looks darker. Again, minor issue.
I spent much of that first morning editing and then writing a post. As is often the case, I needed art. I opened Photoshop, which had been quietly running in the background, downloaded a high-resolution image from Getty, and then edited and exported the photo.
I usually save these images to OneDrive (yes, I still run the Office suite, including Word and Excel), but I decided not to add OneDrive to the MacBook Neo because I knew that mirroring my cloud storage might eat half of the system’s 512GB drive. I do worry about people who buy the $599 / £599 / AU$899 base model with just 256GB of storage. That does seem a bit limited for anyone’s storage needs.
Streaming history
While I’ve been running my small and insignificant test on the ground, NASA Artemis II astronauts rocketed into space and are flying toward the moon. Naturally, I had to track every moment of the mission, so I opened YouTube and left the stream running throughout the day (it’s running right now).
Later, I used Photoshop on the MacBook Neo to turn one of the astronaut’s photos into wallpaper. Doing so required running Firefly, Adobe’s cloud-based Generative AI system. It all worked perfectly.
This $699 / £699 / AU$1099 system also ships with TouchID, an upgrade I appreciate for how it makes unlocking the system a fingerprint away and for how I often used it to log in to my personal Gmail with a passkey.
As the day wore on, I started to notice the difference between a Force Touch TrackPad and a Multi-Touch trackpad. One uses haptics to trick your fingers and mind into thinking the platform is moving. The MacBook Neo’s highly responsive trackpad actually moves, and that means you need to apply a tiny bit more pressure to use it. It’s not like it tired me out, but I did notice the cumulative difference after a day of use.
My new commute buddy
I usually work on my commute home, and I wasn’t going to spare the MacBook Neo. I connected the laptop to my iPhone 17 Pro Max’s Personal Hotspot and worked for about an hour as the train rolled from the city to my neighborhood. The 2.7-pound laptop felt comfortable on my lap, and I continued editing, writing, and doing some image editing (and tracking the Artemis II mission).
I was surprised to see that at the end of the hour, the Neo’s battery had dropped to 59%.
A new day and a new plan
The next day, I decided to run the MacBook Neo on battery power. After recharging the laptop overnight, I unplugged it at 7 AM ET.
As at work, I had the MacBook Neo connected to a port adapter and another HD display to extend the desktop.
I also decided to push the laptop a little harder, leaving a few more browser tabs open than I had the day before. I started noting just a small bit of hesitation. After I got my first spinning pinwheel, I pulled back and closed a few browser tabs. Smooth operation resumed.
By 8:41 AM ET, and with numerous tabs and Photoshop open, battery power had plummeted to 59%.
I continued working, and by 10:05 AM ET, I was down to 22%. It’s worth noting that I did not adjust the screen brightness or switch to low-power mode; I just kept working.
I got a warning at 10% battery life, and by 10:54 AM ET, the MacBook Neo ran out of juice and shut down. I plugged it in, and it took about 5 minutes for the laptop to get enough power to wake up.
My work day continued until about 5 PM without issue. A couple of days later, I was back at work and, to be honest, kind of forgot about the test. I mean, I forgot I was working on a MacBook Neo and not my typical MacBook Air.
My point is that this system I’m using right now is more than adequate for everyday work. It’s an accomplished system that I would recommend to almost anyone who is not doing Pro-grade content creation.
Yes, I was a little disappointed at the unplugged battery life, but I do think I couldn’t have extended my battery performance by hours had I used low-power mode (something I often employ on the MacBook Air).
Once again, the affordable MacBook Air proves itself a fantastic value that I would happily recommend to almost anybody.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
