The initial reaction to the MacBook Neo was absurd: it is powered by an iPhone chip, therefore it must suck. But the reality is different.
MacBook Neo Costs Just $599, But Delivers Top-Notch Performance Thanks to the Power and Efficiency of Apple Silicon
I am typing this blog post on the M1 iMac, the one with the 7-core GPU, the slowest Apple silicon iMac to date. I use this Mac for everything that I do, and never once has it slowed down or failed me, even with just 8GB of RAM.
From Pixelmator Pro to Final Cut Pro, this iMac hasn’t ever dropped a frame, and I consider myself a very average user too.
Interestingly, this iMac is slower than the A18 Pro-powered MacBook Neo, yet everyone who has used the M1 Mac in 2026 say the Neo won’t survive a single day in the wild.
From absurd claims to how the Neo will stutter in macOS to how it won’t be able to edit photos or 4K video in real time, I’m going to leave you with two videos that will ultimately prove how wrong everyone is.
The first video is from Tyler Stalman, who is a professional photographer and videographer putting the MacBook Neo to the test:
The second video is from Patrick Tomasso, and in his short 5-minute video, you can see how the Neo absolutely crushes 4K video editing while doing several other things at the same time. This is absolutely unreal:
Do keep one thing in mind, the MacBook Neo is not marketed for heavy workloads, but it does it anyway, thanks to the efficiency of Apple silicon, as demoed in the videos above.
The point I’m trying to make is simple: the 8GB-RAM-is-too-little thing is a very Windows problem, and has nothing to do with iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Apple’s devices are far more efficient, and if that point hasn’t gotten across already, then it’s best not to try at all.
