Ryan ParmanMar 5
John Siracusa

The A18 Pro in the MacBook Neo is 19% faster than the M2 Ultra in the Mac Pro in single-core performance (Geekbench 6).

The MacBook Neo starts at $599.

The Mac Pro, which is still for sale, starts at $6,999.

Mar 4 at 4:10pmIvory for Mac
Show threadLeonard WongMar 4
@siracusa you can buy 11 MacBook Neo and still have cash for accessories leftšŸ˜‚
Show threadKy LeggieroMar 9
@leonardwongly @siracusa hi hereā€™s my 11 MacBooks Neo and set of Mac Pro wheels that I've glued onto 4 of them
Show threadJerrod HofferthMar 4
@siracusa ā€¦and how much faster than a 2019 Intel Mac Pro?
Show threadJohn SiracusaMar 4
@jerrod Shhhhhhā€¦
Show threadOwen šŸ‡¦šŸ‡ŗMar 4
@siracusa I wonder if Apple accepts trade in of Mac Pro for a MacBook Neo? šŸ˜…
Show threadDavid CohenMar 5
@vanitalo @siracusa Sure. For $105.
Show threadJanne OjaniemiMar 4
@siracusa if you buy the MacBook Neo instead of Mac Pro wheels you would save 100 bucks.
Show threadMichael GemarMar 4
@Janne_O @siracusa Low blow.
Show threadChris PepperMar 4

@siracusa So you're buying a Neo for gaming, right? Especially all those Matrix-themed games that must exist?

ā€¦ mumble mumble screensavers ā€¦ zoom backgrounds ā€¦

Show threadsukhMar 4

@siracusa and to make you feel better this is transcript of ATP discussing the A19 Proā€¦ which is in an iPhone Air!

(Metal benchmark will be less due to binned GPU in the air vs iPhone 17 pro)

Show threadArnel Å arić Sharan Mar 4
@siracusa How is this possible, what does it even mean, and is Neo something you should buy?
Show threadJohn SiracusaMar 4
@sharan It means the Mac Pro is not something you should buy.
Show threadArnel Å arić Sharan Mar 4
@siracusa Not I intend to with that price.
Show threadSavelyMar 4
@siracusa @sharan, but have it ever been?..
Show threadArnel Å arić Sharan Mar 4
@volemo I dunno, never used mac before
Show threadSavelyMar 4
@sharan, I bet John have. :D
Show threadKingsleyMar 5
@siracusa @sharan Do we think Apple are still selling ANY Mac Pros?
Show threadArnel Å arić Sharan Mar 5
@kinghock I dont think about Apple at all. I have some old iPad from 2019 and before that I had iPod Nano. Have to say I'm not really of a fan boy. I was just interested in this.
Show threadKingsleyMar 5
@sharan I'm still getting used to Mastodon and more meant to go back to John than you. Sorry! šŸ˜…
Show threadArnel Å arić Sharan Mar 5
@kinghock No worries! šŸ™
Show threadMachielMar 4
@siracusa no need for such harsh truths on this fine day.
Show threadlucaMar 4
@siracusa Strange cuts in prices: things are getting worse than expected and they need to cash?
Show threadJohn SiracusaMar 4
@luc0x61 Apple just had the best financial results in the history of the company: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/01/apple-reports-first-quarter-results/
Apple reports first quarter results

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2026 first quarter ended December 27, 2025.

Apple Newsroom
Show threadlucaMar 4
@siracusa It couldn't be otherwise, if they keep selling at ten times the price! šŸ˜…
Show threadjamoMar 4
@siracusa 8gb ram is grim, if it could be upgraded it's the sort of thing I'd be really excited to get as a cast off around 2032 once it can run something other than MacOS.
Show threadTimo TijhofMar 4

@jamoquanty @siracusa

I believe it can't be upgraded:

> 8 GB is a limitation of the A18 Pro.

https://512pixels.net/2026/03/the-differences-between-the-macbook-neo-and-macbook-air/

Assuming that a future version of the Neo swaps A18 for A19, it might do 12 GB then.

The Technical Differences Between the MacBook Neo and MacBook Air - 512 Pixels

With a price point of $599 (or $499 for students!) Apple had to make some cuts when designing the MacBook Neo. Hereā€™s a list of what separates the MacBook Neo from the $1099 MacBook Air: No MagSafe One of the two USB-C ports is limited to USB 2.0 speeds of just 480 Mb/s No Thunderbolt [ā€¦]

512 Pixels
Show threadJeromeMar 4
@siracusa But multi-core performance is what people buy a Mac Pro for.
Still, the Neo is quite interesting and priced competitively.
Show threadJohn SiracusaMar 4
@dl2jml The $599 MacBook Neo is about half the speed of the $6,999 Mac Pro in multi-core performance.
Show threadsynlogic4242Mar 4
@siracusa Neo does look like great deal for its price. heck considering the price of memory alone
Show thread((Jann Gobble)) šŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆMar 4

Then it should beat the hell out of my M2 in my mini, right? šŸ¤¬

Gonna have to see if it has more oomph in it's GPU and associated "specialty" chips (the h264 and 265 encoder/decoders, etc) to see if it's worth the upgrade.

Then again, my Mini has 24G ram...

Show threadCrystal Huff (they/them)Mar 4
@siracusa @Binder woah.
Show thread\u1f0a1Mar 4
@siracusa To be fair, the plain m5 has 1.5x better single core performance than the m2 ultra.
Show threadPierre-Luc GagnƩMar 4
@siracusa The best advice anyone gave you is when Marco told you to buy a mid-range Mac Studio every 2-3 years instead of a kitted out Mac Pro every time our solar system completes a turn around our galaxy.
Show threadJohn SiracusaMar 4
@pl Iā€™m riding this Intel Mac until the very end! Iā€™ll miss booting into Windows to play PC games.
Show threadThomas P. MoonisMar 4
@siracusa Aye but can you put wheels on the Neo?
Show threadLee HauserMar 4
@MisterMoo @siracusa Some furniture casters from Home Depot, a little hot glue...why not?
Show threadSharlatanMar 4
@siracusa time for Frame laptop 24threads, 68gb, and just for 3000 :)
Show threadAlpacheezMar 4
@siracusa at least the M2 Ultra is still 2.5x faster in multi-threaded and ~5.9x faster in GPU. The M2 Ultra does lose in NPU performance by 17% though
Show threadFederico MartinezMar 4
@siracusa And with the education discount it starts at $499
Show threadRyan PoolosMar 4
@siracusa yea but which one has enough ram to open chrome? Will Google Docs even run in 8Gb of ram?
Show threadDavid CollantesMar 4
@ryanpoolos @siracusa who runs Chrome on macOS (or any OS) these days?! šŸ¤¦šŸ»
Show threadRyan PoolosMar 4
@david @siracusa every single student and teacher who buys the MacBook Neo to use school software that is designed not to work in any browser except Chrome.
Show threadDavid CollantesMar 4
@ryanpoolos @siracusa interesting. I work in higher education, and nothing at this university requires a specific browser, as it should be. I understand things might be different elsewhere.
Show threadPenguinMar 4
@david @ryanpoolos @siracusa I canā€™t pay my house gas bill on my M3 Max MBP without switching to Chrome. Need a Safari extension to pretend itā€™s Chrome (once had one for IE long ago). Oh well, letā€™s hope this works itself out eventually, though Iā€™m not sure how šŸ™
Show threadDavid CollantesMar 4
@PenguinToot @ryanpoolos @siracusa thatā€™s possible out of the box, but you need to ā€œShow features for web developersā€ under ā€œAdvancedā€ on ā€œSettingsā€. Then:
Show threadPenguinMar 5
@david @ryanpoolos @siracusa Thank you, Iā€™ll try that.
Show threadKingsleyMar 5
@ryanpoolos @david @siracusa I wouldn't worry about it. I speak from experience with a base model 2019 MBP (i5) with 8GB RAM and a 128GB SSD - use GDocs all the time.
Show threadZSMar 4

@david @ryanpoolos @siracusa Anyone who wants to do anything on the internet?

I mean, Safari kinda sucks for a lot of stuff, and just plain doesnā€™t work on quite a few sites.

Show threadDavid CollantesMar 4
@ZS @ryanpoolos @siracusa I have never had Safari not work, nor found it to suck, but I know ymmv.
Show threadRyan PoolosMar 4
@david @ZS @siracusa it isnā€™t safariā€™s fault but it is the reality. Most developers donā€™t test their site across browsers and only use chrome. Many frameworks donā€™t work on safari or specifically use chrome proprietary features. 2 out of 3 bank websites I visit daily only work in chrome and proudly tell me safari is not supported. I run into this constantly. Government and public education software are the worst offenders in my experience.
Show threadZSMar 4
@ryanpoolos @david @siracusa This is my experience, and what I alluded to.
Show threadRafael SchmittMar 5
@ryanpoolos I can guarantee you it will. All those other 8 GB Mac owners can too.
Show threadMieszko ŚlusarczykMar 10
@ryanpoolos @siracusa Chromebooks exist
Show threadamdMar 4
@siracusa wow. That is an amazing statistic.
Show threadBoloMKXXVIIIMar 5
@siracusa
Everyone always wants "new." Buying refurbished can get you better performance for less money, and keeps those used machines from becoming e-waste.
Show threadcolin kMar 5
@BoloMKXXVIII @siracusa I think this is an important point. I ran older systems for a number of decades outside of work. For some non trivial software projects. We should consider the environmental resources used to build the platforms that we enjoy.
Show threadStephenMar 5
@siracusa This also means that the iPhone 16 Pro is faster than an M2 Ultra which is also very impressive.
Show threadKevin R JonesMar 6
@siracusa It would be interesting to see how well, or bad, the Neo would do, compiling Hyperspace or a real app thatā€™s on the store.
Show threadBruce SteinbergMar 6
@siracusa How much was the stand for your Pro Display XDR again? ;)