Our Verdict
This obviously isn't a games machine, and was never meant to be one. Running on an iPhone processor it may well look underpowered, but there are a large number of games that will run on it, and for such a cheap machine it does very well.
For
- Well made
- Decent screen
- Nice and cheap
Against
- Lacks power, particularly in the GPU
- Confusing port selection
- No keyboard backlight
18WENKU's got your back



Casting around for something else to test, my eye falls on Civilization VI, another ten-year-old title. At 800p, the Neo can squeeze 50 fps out of this game, which isn't bad but it's hardly a graphical colossus. Just for funsies, I installed the same game on an AMD Ryzen 5 7530U mini-PC that also costs £599 (though you'll have to spring for a monitor and keyboard as well), and ran it using DirectX 12 at 820p, where it produced 34 fps. That's got to be a big win for the Neo.
So is the MacBook Neo a serious gaming device? Hell no. Is it good enough for a few rounds of Civ in between typing sessions and video conferences? Yup. The fact that this 13-incher is built to Apple's usual high standards, provides decent if decidedly low-end performance (its single-core score in Geekbench 6 is higher than that of some Ultra 9 chips, however)—and costs just $599/£599, remember—could well put the wind up some PC manufacturers.
Hopefully we'll see a spate of copycats that use the stronger integrated graphics solutions we're starting to see to make a generation of low-cost laptops that you really can play games on. Wouldn't that be nice?

1. Best overall:
Razer Blade 16 (2025)
2. Best budget:
Lenovo LOQ 15 Gen 10
3. Best 14-inch:
Razer Blade 14 (2025)
4. Best mid-range:
MSI Vector 16 HX AI
5. Best high-performance:
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10
6. Best 18-inch:
Alienware 18 Area-51
This obviously isn't a games machine, and was never meant to be one. Running on an iPhone processor it may well look underpowered, but there are a large number of games that will run on it, and for such a cheap machine it does very well.
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