Cheap Mac or the proper Air

The Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M5 is the better laptop, and the Apple MacBook Neois the better buy only for light, browser-first work. The MacBook Air M5 doubles the MacBook Neo's memory to 16GB, doubles its storage to 512GB, roughly doubles its multi-core speed and adds a backlit keyboard, Touch ID, MagSafe and two Thunderbolt 4 ports. Both laptops weigh 1.23 kg. The MacBook Neo costs £699 at Apple UK; the MacBook Air M5 costs £1,187.97 on Amazon UK at the time of writing (September 2026), against Apple's £1,299 list price.

The deciding question is memory. The MacBook Neo ships with 8GB of unified memory that can never be upgraded. For email, Google Docs, Microsoft 365, lecture notes and Netflix, 8GB is fine in 2026. For video, code, big spreadsheets or local AI tools, the 16GB MacBook Air M5 is the safer purchase, and at Amazon's price it is actually cheaper per gigabyte of memory than the MacBook Neo.

How much slower is the A18 Pro than the M5?

The Apple A18 Pro is roughly half as fast as the Apple M5 in multi-core work and around 17% slower in single-core tasks. The A18 Pro is the chip from the iPhone 16 Pro: a 6-core CPU with 2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, plus a 5-core GPU. The M5 in the MacBook Air has a 10-core CPU with 4 performance ("super") cores and 6 efficiency cores, plus an 8-core GPU.

Digital Trends recorded Geekbench 6 scores of 3,461 single-core and 8,668 multi-core for the MacBook Neo. MacRumors reported a Geekbench 6 multi-core score of 17,073 for the MacBook Air M5, and published M5 single-core results sit around 4,195. On those numbers the MacBook Air M5 is 97% faster across all cores. Published Geekbench 6 Metal results put the M5's 8-core GPU at roughly 2.5 times the A18 Pro's 5-core GPU.

Single-core speed decides how snappy apps feel, and there the gap is small. Opening Safari, scrolling a PDF or typing in Pages feels much the same on both machines. Multi-core and GPU speed decide how long exports and builds take, and there the gap is large. Adam Talks Tech timed a 500-photo Lightroom export at 8 minutes 8 seconds on the MacBook Air M5 and 15 minutes 52 seconds on the MacBook Neo. Neither laptop has a fan, so both stay silent under load.

How Apple silicon compares with Intel, AMD and Snapdragon chips is covered in Laptop CPUs explained.

Is 8GB of RAM enough in 2026?

8GB of unified memory is enough for light work in 2026 and not enough for a laptop expected to last five years of heavier use. macOS swaps to the SSD when memory runs short, which keeps apps open but slows them down, and the MacBook Neo's 256GB SSD leaves limited room for that swap once photos and apps fill it.

• Fine on 8GB: Safari or Chrome with a dozen tabs, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Zoom and Teams calls, Spotify, streaming, and photo edits in the Photos app.
• Tight on 8GB: 4K video editing in Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve, Xcode and Android Studio projects, Docker, large Lightroom catalogues, and dozens of browser tabs alongside creative apps.
• Better on 16GB: local AI models, which load their weights into memory. A small language model can take 4GB to 8GB on its own, which leaves the MacBook Neo nothing to spare.

Apple Intelligence runs on the MacBook Neo, since the A18 Pro powers the same features on the iPhone 16 Pro. For anything more ambitious with on-device AI, see Should you switch to a Mac laptop to run AI?

Apple MacBook Neo - the £699 Mac

The Apple MacBook Neo is the cheapest new MacBook Apple has sold, and it keeps the parts buyers see every day: an aluminium body, a 13-inch 2408x1506 Liquid Retina display at 500 nits, and a fanless design. Apple rates the MacBook Neo at 16 hours of video streaming from a 36.5 Wh battery. It comes in Silver, Blush, Citrus and Indigo, each with a colour-matched keyboard.

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M5 - the all-rounder

The Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M5 is the default Mac for most buyers. The base model carries 16GB of unified memory, a 512GB SSD, a 13.6-inch 2560x1664 display with the P3 wide colour gamut, a 12 MP Center Stage camera and Wi-Fi 7. Apple rates the MacBook Air M5 at 18 hours of video streaming and 15 hours of wireless web use. It weighs 1.23 kg, exactly the same as the MacBook Neo.

Which has the better screen and battery?

The MacBook Air M5 has the better screen and the better battery, but the margins are smaller than the price gap. Both displays reach 500 nits. The MacBook Neo's 13.0-inch panel runs at 2408x1506 and 219 pixels per inch; the MacBook Air M5's 13.6-inch panel runs at 2560x1664 and 224 pixels per inch, so text looks equally sharp on both.

The real screen differences are colour and comfort. The MacBook Air M5 covers the P3 wide colour gamut and adjusts its white balance with True Tone; the MacBook Neo is limited to sRGB and has no ambient light sensor, so brightness has to be set by hand. For photo editing or design coursework, P3 matters. For reading and writing, sRGB is fine.

Battery life

Apple rates the MacBook Air M5 at 18 hours of video streaming and 15 hours of wireless web use. Apple rates the MacBook Neo at 16 hours and 11 hours. The four-hour gap in web browsing is the one that shows up in a real day, because most work happens in a browser. The MacBook Neo also lacks fast charging, so a flat battery takes longer to recover between lectures or meetings. Neither laptop includes a power adapter in the UK; each ships with a USB-C cable only.

What do you give up with the MacBook Neo?

The MacBook Neo gives up memory, ports and a set of small comforts that the MacBook Air has had for years. None of them stops the MacBook Neo working; several change how it feels to use.

• No backlit keyboard. The MacBook Neo is the first Apple laptop without a keyboard backlight in more than 15 years, which matters in a dim lecture hall or on a night train.
• Slower, fewer ports. One USB-C port runs at USB 3 speed and the other at USB 2 speed of 480 Mb/s. There is no MagSafe, so charging occupies one of the two ports, and no Thunderbolt.
• One external display. The MacBook Neo drives a single external monitor at up to 4K 60 Hz. The MacBook Air M5 drives two.
• A mechanical trackpad. The MacBook Neo uses a conventional clicking trackpad with no Force Touch haptics.
• Touch ID costs £100 extra. The 256GB MacBook Neo has a lock key; Touch ID arrives only on the £799 512GB model.
• A plainer camera.The MacBook Neo has a 1080p FaceTime HD camera without Center Stage framing, against the MacBook Air M5's 12 MP Center Stage camera.

Who should skip the MacBook Neo

• Anyone planning to keep it five years or more. 8GB of soldered memory is the part most likely to date the MacBook Neo, and it cannot be fixed later.
• Video editors and developers.The A18 Pro's 5-core GPU and 8GB of memory roughly halve export and build throughput against the M5.
• Desk users with a big monitor.A single 4K 60 Hz output and no Thunderbolt rule out docks that drive two screens and Apple's own high-resolution displays.
• People who work in the dark. No keyboard backlight is a daily irritation for late-night writing.

For these buyers a discounted MacBook Air M5, or a refurbished MacBook Air with 16GB, is the better use of the money.

What does the extra money buy?

The extra £488.97 buys twice the memory, twice the storage, roughly twice the multi-core speed and four more hours of rated web browsing. That is the gap between the MacBook Neo at Apple's £699 and the MacBook Air M5 at £1,187.97 on Amazon UK at the time of writing (September 2026). At Apple's own £1,299 list price for the MacBook Air M5 the gap is £600. Apple's £699 is the fair reference point for the MacBook Neo.

Price per GB of memory and storage

The MacBook Air M5 is cheaper per gigabyte of memory than either MacBook Neo. Dividing each price by its memory and storage gives the figures below. The MacBook Neo costs £87.38 per GB of memory; the MacBook Air M5 costs £74.25 per GB at Amazon UK's price and £81.19 per GB at Apple's list price. The 512GB MacBook Neo is the cheapest per GB of storage at £1.56, but it is also the most expensive per GB of memory at £99.88, because Apple charges £100 for Touch ID and extra storage while leaving memory at 8GB.

The takeaway: the £799 MacBook Neo is the weakest buy in the range. A buyer ready to spend £799 on a MacBook Neo is better off stretching to a discounted MacBook Air M5 than paying £100 for Touch ID and storage on an 8GB machine.

Which is best for students?

The MacBook Neo is the best Mac for students on a tight budget whose course runs in a browser, and the MacBook Air M5 is the best Mac for everyone else. Humanities, law, social science and most business students write, read and research; the MacBook Neo's A18 Pro, 1.23 kg weight and 16 hours of rated video playback cover that comfortably.

Computer science, design, architecture and media students should buy the MacBook Air M5. Its 16GB of memory handles Xcode, Figma, Adobe apps and video projects that push 8GB into swap, and its P3 display matters for colour work. Engineering students who need SolidWorks or other Windows-only software need neither Mac; the options are in Best student laptop UK 2026.

Apple's UK education store sold the MacBook Neo at £499 at launch, £100 below the £599 retail price, and Apple's back-to-school offer adds an Apple Gift Card with eligible Macs between 13 August and 22 October 2026. Check the education price against Amazon UK before buying, because Amazon discounts on the MacBook Air M5 have undercut Apple's list price since the June 2026 rise.

MacBook Neo vs MacBook Air M5 spec sheet

Verdict

The Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M5 is the MacBook to buy if the budget stretches to it. It doubles the MacBook Neo's memory, storage and multi-core speed, adds four hours of rated web browsing, and costs less per GB of memory at Amazon UK's £1,187.97. The Apple MacBook Neo at £699 is the right Mac for light, browser-first work and for buyers who would otherwise buy a Chromebook or a budget Windows laptop. Skip the £799 MacBook Neo: its extra £100 buys Touch ID and storage, not the memory that decides how long a Mac stays useful.

For more options at every price, see Best laptop UK 2026, and for the step above the Air, see MacBook Pro M4 Pro vs M5 Pro.