The two laptops look alike, weigh the same 1.23 kg and run the same macOS. Inside, they are built for different buyers. The MacBook Neo uses the A18 Pro phone chip with 8 GB of memory. The MacBook Air 13 (M5) uses Apple’s M5 laptop chip with 16 GB.
Key differences
- Price. The Neo lists at $699 and the Air at $1,299. Both rose in June 2026, by $100 and $200. The Air is often discounted, which narrows the gap.
- Memory. 8 GB on the Neo, with no option for more. 16 GB on the Air, with 24 GB and 32 GB available. Neither can be upgraded later. This is the biggest difference for anyone who keeps many apps open.
- Performance. Single-core speed is close enough that everyday tasks feel similar. In multi-core work the Air is about twice as fast: 17,072 against 9,140 in Geekbench 6, and 957 against 416 in Cinebench 2024 (Notebookcheck).
- Battery. The Air’s 53.8 Wh battery lasted 16 hours 11 minutes of Wi-Fi browsing at 150 nits. The Neo’s 36.5 Wh battery lasted 12 hours 51 minutes in the same test.
- Keyboard and sign-in. The Air has a backlit keyboard and Touch ID. The Neo has no backlight, and Touch ID only on the $799 model.
- Ports. The Air has two Thunderbolt 4 ports and MagSafe, and supports two external displays. The Neo has one USB 3 port, one USB 2 port and supports one external display.
- Display. Both reach about 520 nits. The Air’s screen is slightly larger (13.6 inches), covers the P3 colour range, has True Tone and higher contrast. The Neo’s covers sRGB only.
- Storage. The Air starts with 512 GB and an SSD almost twice as fast. The Neo starts with 256 GB.
Which one should you buy?
For writing, browsing, streaming and school work, the Neo does the job and saves a lot of money. Its build and keyboard feel are close to the Air’s, and both are silent.
The Air is the better long-term buy. Twice the memory and twice the multi-core speed mean it will cope with heavier apps and future macOS updates for longer, and the backlit keyboard, MagSafe and extra battery life make it nicer to live with every day. If you find the Air on sale under $1,000, the extra cost over the Neo is easy to justify.