Apple is widening its laptop lineup to cover more budgets, and the newly announced MacBook Neo is quickly becoming the model people are comparing against a fan favorite: the original M1 MacBook Air from late 2020. It’s an understandable matchup—both target buyers who want a capable, everyday Mac without paying premium MacBook prices.
But when you look at early performance numbers, the MacBook Neo makes a strong case that the “older M1 is the better value” argument is starting to fall apart, especially for everyday tasks that lean heavily on CPU speed.
Big CPU jump where it counts most for daily use
In Geekbench 6 CPU testing, the MacBook Neo posts a sizable lead in single-core performance—the kind of performance that affects how fast apps open, how responsive the system feels, and how well the laptop handles lighter workloads like browsing, office work, and general multitasking.
Based on the results provided, the MacBook Neo is 43.2 percent faster than the M1 MacBook Air in single-core tests. Multi-core performance, however, is essentially a draw, with both machines landing in the same range.
Here are the listed scores:
MacBook Neo
Single-core: 3,450
Multi-core: 8,702
Metal (GPU): 31,286
M1 MacBook Air
Single-core: 2,410
Multi-core: 8,803
Metal (GPU): 35,194
Where the M1 MacBook Air still wins: GPU performance
There is one area where Apple’s first M-series Air still comes out ahead: graphics. In Geekbench 6’s Metal benchmark, the M1 MacBook Air is 12.5 percent faster than the MacBook Neo.
A key detail here is that the MacBook Neo uses a 5-core GPU version of the A18 Pro instead of the 6-core configuration found in higher-end implementations, so some difference in graphics-heavy tasks is expected. If the MacBook Neo had the non-binned version, that gap could have been smaller.
What this means for buyers
If your day-to-day work is focused on CPU-driven responsiveness—productivity, web apps, writing, spreadsheets, schoolwork, and general use—the MacBook Neo’s large single-core advantage is likely to be more noticeable than the M1’s GPU edge. If you’re doing lighter creative work or anything that relies more on GPU horsepower, the M1 MacBook Air still has something to offer, but it’s not the clear-cut value champion it once was.
Price and configurations
The MacBook Neo is positioned aggressively at $599, with 8GB of unified memory and a 256GB SSD. A 512GB version is listed at $699. With those prices, plus the performance uplift shown in CPU testing, the MacBook Neo is shaping up to be the more compelling budget Mac choice for many buyers comparing it to the M1 MacBook Air.
