MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air (M5): Which is better?

The MacBook Air was Apple’s entry-level offering for more than a decade, but now it’s a mid-tier upgrade. In March 2026, the company announced the MacBook Neo, an all-new budget laptop that’s meant to compete with Chromebooks and cheap Windows laptops.

There’s a $600 gap between the MacBook Neo and the latest MacBook Air with the M5 chip. That accounts for some pretty big differences on their spec sheets related to performance, battery life, RAM and storage options, display quality, keyboards, and more. Let’s dive right into a MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air comparison.

MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air (M5): Pricing and specs

Apple raised its MacBook prices in June 2026 because of the global memory chip shortage, aka RAMageddon. (The AI boom has driven up the cost of components like memory and SSD storage.) For its part, the M5 MacBook Air is now $200 more expensive than it was at launch. The 13-inch base model costs $1,299, while the 15-inch version now starts at $1,499. The Apple Store’s education discount knocks $100 off for college students, their parents, and school staff.

Both sizes of the M5 MacBook Air are kitted with the following specs:

• Processor: M5 chip with a 10-core CPU and an 8-core or 10-core GPU

• Memory: 16GB, 24GB, or 32GB RAM

• Storage: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB SSD

• Display: 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display

The M5 MacBook Airs have double the starting storage of their predecessors — 512GB instead of 256GB. Their 4TB storage option is also new for this generation.

The MacBook Neo saw a $100 price hike because of RAMageddon this summer. It now starts at $699 with 256GB of storage. An upgraded model with double the storage and Touch ID costs $799. Once again, students and educators can save $100 by buying direct.

The MacBook Neo is available in one size with the following specs:

• Processor: A18 Pro chip with 6-core CPU and 5-core GPU

• Memory: 8GB RAM

• Storage: 256GB or 512GB SSD

• Display: 13-inch Liquid Retina display

The MacBook Neo’s specs are more “iPad in spirit,” to quote Mashable’s Stan Schroeder. It starts with half the memory and storage of the MacBook Air, and that RAM isn’t upgradable. It also runs on a pared-down iPhone chip. (The 2024 iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max had an A18 Pro chip with one extra GPU core.) Overall, it’s much less customizable and future-proof than the Air.

MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air (M5): Performance

We use Primate Labs’ Geekbench CPU test to measure laptops’ performance. This test produces two different scores: The single-core score reflects how fast a laptop feels in simple tasks like web browsing and word processing. The multi-core score shows how fast the laptop can run more demanding workloads like content creation. The higher these scores, the better.

The M5 MacBook Air is astonishingly fast for a mid-range laptop, earning a single-core score of 4,025 and a multi-core score of 16,099. In the former case, it has almost no real competition except for some newer Windows laptops that run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite series chips (and even then, it’s slightly better). In multi-core scenarios, the M5 Air performs on par with premium PCs and gaming laptops that cost hundreds to thousands of dollars more. It has more oomph than most people probably need on a regular basis, realistically.

The MacBook Neo is equally impressive for what it is. Its Geekbench single-core score came in at 3,484, which is amazing for two reasons. One, it still beats most of the Windows laptops we’ve tried in the past two years, including some that cost over $2,000. Secondly, it rivals the single-core score of the M4 MacBook Air, which was 3,778. That means the Neo feels just as snappy as last year’s mid-tier MacBook when you’re not working it too hard.

The Neo earned a multi-core score of 8,770, which puts it on par with the M1 MacBook Air (8,783) from 2020. It’s slightly faster than the two nicest Chromebooks we’ve tried: Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 (7,680) and the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 (7,187), which both have MediaTek’s Kompanio Ultra 910 chip.

Compared to the M5 MacBook Air, the Neo is 13 percent slower in single-core tasks and 46 percent slower in multi-core ones. They should feel equally peppy in practice, but the Air has a much higher performance ceiling to run more demanding apps. Its higher RAM capacity also makes it vastly better for multitasking; a dozen Chrome tabs won’t make it sluggish.

I’ll add that the MacBook Neo is fanless, so it should run as quietly as a MacBook Air, if not nearly as fast.

MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air (M5): Battery life

We test laptops’ stamina by having them loop a 1080p video at 50 percent volume and brightness until they die. The MacBook Air lasted 17 hours and 40 minutes in this benchmark, or almost three hours longer than the MacBook Neo, which held out for 14 hours and 50 minutes. That’s a short battery life for a MacBook, but a good one for a budget laptop: The sub-$1,000 Windows PCs and Chromebooks we’ve tested in recent years have a median battery life of just 10.5 hours.

MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air (M5): Design

The MacBook Neo and the MacBook Air look pretty similar — both have a flat, fully aluminum chassis with rounded edges — but there are a few key design differences between them. For two, the Neo has larger bezels surrounding its display and lacks a webcam notch. It also comes in different colors, including a flashy new yellow hue called “citrus”:

• MacBook Neo colors: Silver, indigo, blush, and citrus

• MacBook Air colors: Silver, starlight, midnight, and sky blue

The MacBook Neo is slightly thicker and smaller than the 13-inch Air, but they both weigh the same:

• MacBook Neo: 11.71 x 8.12 x 0.5 inches, 2.7 pounds

• 13-inch MacBook Air: 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches, 2.7 pounds

MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air (M5): Display

The MacBook Neo and the smaller MacBook Air are both classified as 13-inch laptops, but the Air’s display is a little bigger than that. It’s like how Microsoft has a 13-inch Surface Laptop and a 13.8-inch Surface Laptop.

The MacBook Neo’s display has a 2,408 x 1,506 resolution and an anti-reflective coating, while the 13-inch MacBook Air’s display has a sharper 2,560 x 1,664 resolution and a glossy finish. The MacBook Air supports a broader color gamut on top of Apple’s True Tone display technology, which adjusts its picture based on ambient lighting. This means colors look more lifelike on it.

Both MacBooks’ displays have a 60Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of brightness.

MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air (M5): Keyboard and trackpad

The MacBook Neo and the MacBook Air both have a full-sized Magic Keyboard. Touch ID comes standard on the Air, but if you want it on the Neo, you have to upgrade to the $799 model with 512GB of storage. The MacBook Air’s keyboard has backlighting; the MacBook Neo’s does not.

The MacBook Air has a Force Touch trackpad with haptic feedback, gesture controls, and input sensitivity. (It can perform different actions based on how hard you press.) The MacBook Neo has a clickier mechanical Multi-Touch trackpad with no haptics.

MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air (M5): Audio

Music and movies should sound better on the MacBook Air: It has four speakers to the Neo’s two. However, both models support Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio. The Neo just lacks dynamic head tracking support with AirPods.

The MacBook Neo has a dual-mic array, while the MacBook Air has a three-mic array.

MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air (M5): Webcam

The MacBook Air has a fantastic 12MP webcam that supports Center Stage, a tool that keeps you centered in frame, as well as Desk View, a feature that produces an overhead shot of your desktop. As mentioned above, it’s housed in an (ugly) webcam notch that juts down into the top of the screen.

The MacBook Neo has a 1080p webcam, so its picture is going to look fuzzier, but it’s located within the display’s upper bezel. No notch!

MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air (M5): Connectivity

Both new MacBooks have two USB-C ports on the upper-left sides of their bases (near their hinges), but with the Neo, you miss out on Thunderbolt 4 for faster data transfer speeds. Both models charge through those ports, though the Air has an extra dedicated MagSafe 3 charging port that frees them up for other peripherals.

One of the Neo’s USB-C ports can support a 4K external monitor while its own display is active. Conversely, the Air has open-lid support for two 4K monitors or one 8K monitor over either of its USB-C ports.

The MacBook Neo has an audio jack on the left side of its base near its trackpad. The MacBook Air’s audio jack is located on the opposite side, and it has added support for high-impedance headphones.

The Neo and the Air both support Bluetooth 6, the latest Bluetooth standard, but their WiFi standards differ. The Air supports WiFi 7, the newest, fastest WiFi standard, while the Neo supports older WiFi 6E tech.

MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air (M5): Which model is better for you?

The MacBook Neo is technically a “worse” laptop than the M5 MacBook Air in almost every way, but it’s also geared toward a very different kind of user. As someone in the r/technology subreddit observed: “If you even understand the difference between 8 vs 16 GB of RAM, you’re not the target” for the Neo. (This echoes the broader Chromebook vs. laptop debate.)

In the Neo, Apple skimps on specs so it can offer its signature premium build quality and slick, reliable operating system at a lower price point. It’s effectively a MacBook “SE” in all but name. It’s the ideal choice for casual users who don’t need a ton of power, like K-12 students and people who were already using their iPads as laptops. I could also see existing MacBook Air and Pro owners buying a Neo as a secondary laptop for travel.

The M5 MacBook Air will veer into “overkill” territory for those folks, but others will find its versatile performance, higher-end components, and extra future-proofing worth the $500 upcharge. I actually think it’s the best MacBook for most people, including business professionals and college students.

As a final note, I’ll just mention that both MacBooks are a pretty great value compared to their respective competition — even after Apple’s pesky price hikes. For more insights and analysis, read our full MacBook Neo review and M5 MacBook Air review.