Apple MacBook Neo 13" Citrus Review

It's a pretty trap. The MacBook Neo's gorgeous design and great battery life are overshadowed by its pathetic 8GB of RAM, making it a bad choice for anyone doing real work.

The MacBook Neo is Apple's attempt to make a colorful, entry-level laptop that's 'built for AI.' The one thing you need to know? It's a beautiful, compact machine that's crippled by its 8GB of RAM. That spec is a glaring, unforgivable weakness in 2024, especially for a laptop touting AI features. Everything else about it is solid for basic tasks, but that memory ceiling is going to hit you sooner than you think.

The performance story here is a mixed bag, and the biggest surprise is how underwhelming the A18 Pro chip actually is in this context. Our database shows its CPU and GPU scores land in the mediocre and disappointing ranges respectively, which means it's not the powerhouse Apple's marketing suggests. It'll handle your spreadsheets and photo edits fine, but it's middle-of-the-pack at best. The real standout is its compactness and reliability, which are both best-in-class. It feels great and will probably last forever, but it won't blow you away with speed.

At $699, the value proposition hinges entirely on how much you value Apple's ecosystem and design over raw capability. For that price, you're getting a best-in-class compact body and great reliability, but you're accepting a CPU that's mediocre, a GPU that lags behind, and a RAM configuration that's one of the worst we've seen. If you're an Apple loyalist who just needs a pretty web browser, it's okay. For anyone else, it's a tough sell.

This sits in a weird spot. The 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4 Max) is the obvious Apple upgrade, offering professional-level performance for a much higher price. The more relevant competitors are the ASUS ProArt PX13 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop Copilot+ PC. The ASUS demolishes the Neo in specs (32GB RAM, RTX 4050, OLED screen) and is built for actual creative work. The Surface Laptop is a more direct style competitor with better port selection and similar AI hype, but likely with more modern specs. The Neo loses on hardware to both.

If you're looking for a capable laptop for real work, multitasking, or future-proofing, this isn't it. Go get the ASUS ProArt PX13 or a base model MacBook Pro instead. If you just want a beautiful, ultra-portable Apple accessory for checking email on the couch, then the Neo might fit, but even then, you'll wish you had more memory.

We can't recommend the MacBook Neo to most people. The 8GB RAM is a fatal flaw for a modern machine, especially one advertising AI capabilities. It's a beautifully built laptop that's perfect for someone who wants the smallest, most reliable Apple computer and does nothing beyond web browsing, email, and very light document work. For students, business users, or anyone thinking about 'powering through spreadsheets' or using AI tools, you'll feel the limits immediately. Skip this and look at the competition.