Benchmarks for the new MacBook Neo surfaced today, and unsurprisingly, CPU performance is almost identical to the iPhone 16 Pro. The ‌MacBook Neo‌ uses the same 6-core A18 Pro chip that was first introduced in the iPhone 16 Pro, but it has one fewer GPU core.


The ‌MacBook Neo‌ earned a single-core score of 3461 and a multi-core score of 8668, along with a Metal score of 31286.

Here's how the Neo's scores compare to ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro and other devices that make apt comparisons:

• iPhone 16 Pro - 3445 single-core, 8624 multi-core, 32575 Metal


• M1 MacBook Air - 2346 single-core, 8342 multi-core, 33148 Metal


• M4 MacBook Air - 3696 single-core, 14730 multi-core, 54630 Metal


• M3 iPad Air - 3048 single-core, 11678 multi-core, 44395 Metal


• iPad 11 - 2587 single-core, 6036 multi-core, 19395 Metal

Since the ‌MacBook Neo‌ has one fewer GPU core than the ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro, it makes sense to see a slightly lower Metal score.

When comparing the ‌MacBook Neo‌'s performance to existing Macs, the A18 Pro's multi-core performance is on par with the M1 chip in the MacBook Air, but single-core performance is much higher than it was with the ‌M1‌. It's closer to the M3 or M4 chip.

High single-core performance is a good fit for the ‌MacBook Neo‌ audience, because single-core speeds are important for activities like web browsing, using document apps, and streaming video. The ‌MacBook Neo‌ isn't really built for video editing, music creation, 3D modeling, and similar tasks where multi-core performance makes more of a difference.

Apple does not compare ‌MacBook Neo‌ performance to other Macs, iPads, or iPhones. The company's low-cost MacBook focuses on competing with similar-priced Windows PCs and Chromebooks. In its marketing materials, Apple says the A18 Pro is up to 50 percent faster for "everyday tasks" than the bestselling PC with the latest shipping Intel Core Ultra 5. It's also up to 3x faster for on-device AI workloads and up to 2x faster for photo editing.

We're only seeing one benchmark result so far, so averages could be slightly different when more Neo machines are benchmarked, but the scores are right in line with what's expected.

The ‌MacBook Neo‌ is priced starting at $599, and it is available for preorder now. It is set to launch on March 11.
This article, "First MacBook Neo Benchmarks Are In: Here's How It Compares to the M1 MacBook Air" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

The first Geekbench 6 result for a 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 Max chip surfaced today, and Apple has achieved record-breaking performance.


In this unconfirmed result, the M5 Max with an 18-core CPU achieved a score of 29,233 for multi-core CPU performance, which tops the 27,726 score achieved by the Mac Studio's M3 Ultra chip with a 32-core CPU. M5 Max is now the fastest Apple silicon chip ever, and it even topped every other consumer PC processor in the Geekbench database.

In terms of multi-core CPU performance, the M5 Max is up to 5% faster than the M3 Ultra, and up to 14% to 15% faster than the M4 Max chip with a 16-core CPU.

Here is a comparison of the multi-core CPU results:

• 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max (18-core CPU): 29,233 (one result)


• Mac Studio with M3 Ultra (32-core CPU): 27,726 (average of all results)


• Mac Studio with M4 Max (16-core CPU): 26,166 (average of all results)


• 16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Max (16-core CPU): 25,702 (average of all results)

As for single-core CPU performance, the M5 Max with an 18-core CPU achieved a score of 4,268 in this single Geekbench result, which is line with the regular M5 chip in the base model 14-inch MacBook Pro released back in October. This is the highest single-core score of any consumer PC processor ever, topping the AMD Ryzen 9 series.

As for graphics, the M5 Max with a 40-core GPU achieved impressive Metal scores of 218,772 in one result and 232,718 in another. These scores are anywhere from 5% to 10% lower than the highest-end M3 Ultra's average Metal score of 245,053, and a little more than 20% higher than the highest-end M4 Max's average Metal score of 191,600.

All in all, the M5 Max offers up to 15% faster CPU performance and up to 20% faster GPU performance compared to the M4 Max, in line with Apple's advertised figures.

MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max are available to pre-order now, and they will begin arriving to customers and launch in stores on March 11.
This article, "Apple's M5 Max Chip Achieves a New Record in First Benchmark Result" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums