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Apple MacBook Neo in Citrus colour.
80

MacBook Neo review

Apple's cheap laptop struggles to rise to the occasion, but remains an impressive little machine.

(Image: © Future)

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

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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?

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Best gaming laptop 2026

1. Best overall:
Razer Blade 16 (2025)

2. Best budget:
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3. Best 14-inch:
Razer Blade 14 (2025)

4. Best mid-range:
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5. Best high-performance:
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6. Best 18-inch:
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👉Check out our full gaming laptop guide👈

The Verdict
MacBook Neo

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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