Apr 10, 2026

MacBook Neo – One Week Later: Honest Review (YouTube)

A week with the $600 MacBook Neo – we test apps, games, battery life and see if it lives up to the hype.

Reference video

The Youtuber spent the past week using the MacBook Neo as the primary machine – no backup Mac, just the $600 laptop for everyday work and play.

In this video they walk through real‑world usage: design work in Figma, light photo editing, video calls, streaming and a handful of casual games.

Below we distill the key findings, list the apps and games that run smoothly, and point out where the Neo falls short. All claims are tied to timestamps in the video so you can verify them yourself.

Workflow workarounds used

Close extra browser tabs – with only 8 GB RAM Chrome will start reloading background tabs after a few minutes.
Prefer Safari for better battery life; Chrome can shave off an hour of runtime.
Keep screen brightness between 70‑80 % for 7‑9 h mixed usage; at 100 % expect 5‑6 h.
Avoid running Photoshop and Lightroom simultaneously – RAM becomes a bottleneck.
Use built‑in FaceTime/Zoom instead of browser‑based calls to reduce CPU load.
Stick to light photo edits; the display lacks the wide P3 gamut of higher‑end Macs.
Use the left USB‑C port for fast 10 Gbps transfers; the right port is USB 2.0 only.
Terminal + Xcode work well for light development – a clear advantage over iPad for students.

Real‑world app and workflow performance

App / workflow	Run mode	Performance	Settings / notes	Video
Web browsing (Safari, 5‑7 tabs)	native	Buttery smooth, feels as fast as any MacBook Air	Standard usage — No performance issues at all. This is where the Neo feels premium.	0:45
Web browsing (Chrome, 15+ tabs)	native	Background tabs reload frequently due to 8 GB RAM limit	Heavy multitasking — Tabs refresh after 10‑15 min, showing the RAM compromise.	1:38
Figma (design work, multiple artboards)	native	Works surprisingly well, no major lag on typical design files	Mid‑size design projects — Handles daily design work competently; very large files can stutter.	2:36
Adobe Photoshop (light photo editing)	native	Usable for basic edits, but battery drains noticeably faster	Standard photo retouching — Fans kick in under load; not ideal for long sessions.	3:09
Adobe Creative Cloud (multiple apps open)	native	Struggles with heavy multitasking, noticeable slowdowns	Photoshop + Lightroom simultaneously — 8 GB RAM becomes the bottleneck; close other apps for smoother experience.	3:34
Zoom / Google Meet (video calls)	native	Works perfectly, 1080p webcam exceeds expectations	Standard video conferencing — Webcam quality is a pleasant surprise at this price point.	4:27
Terminal + Xcode (light development)	native	Handles small projects well; large builds take longer	iOS/macOS development — Full desktop dev tools run, something iPad can’t do.	4:58
Netflix / YouTube streaming (1080p‑4K)	native	Flawless playback, display looks sharp and bright at 500 nits	Media consumption — Resolution (2408×1506) is plenty sharp for streaming.	5:34
Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)	native	Word and PowerPoint work great; large Excel datasets lag	Standard productivity work — Perfect for docs and presentations; complex macros are slower.	6:18
Light gaming (casual titles)	native	A18 Pro handles casual games, but battery drains quickly	Low‑medium settings — Gaming works but kills battery fast – not a gaming laptop.	7:01
Video rendering (4K timeline, short clips)	native	Possible but painfully slow compared to M‑series chips	Final Cut Pro / DaVinci Resolve — Single‑core speed is okay; sustained workloads lag behind.	7:47
Battery life (real‑world mixed usage)	native	7‑9 h with web, messaging, Figma, light Adobe at 70‑80 % brightness	Mixed productivity workload — Heavy apps + 100 % brightness cut it to 5‑6 h; Chrome drains faster than Safari.	8:43

Workflow workarounds used

Real‑world app and workflow performance

Sources