Early benchmarks of Apple’s MacBook Neo budget laptop show impressive performance results, despite its reliance on an Apple A18 Pro chip designed for smartphones. In fact, according to tech site Notebookcheck’s measurements, this processor beats Intel and AMD’s mobile CPUs in single-core benchmarks, as well as finishing ahead of Qualcomm chips.
Following the MacBook Neo launch, many wondered if its smartphone-class CPU would have enough power to drive a computer operating system and apps. However, according to Notebookcheck, the A18 Pro outperforms AMD’s flagship Ryzen 9 9950X3D by 3%, Intel’s top-of-the-line Core Ultra 9 285HX by 9%, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite X1E‑84‑100 by 16%, in the Cinebench 2024 single-core benchmark.
Even the desktop Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D weren’t safe from its might. The only chips that were faster in this test were Apple’s M4 and M5, which are used in the Apple MacBook Air.
Note that these benchmarks weren’t just short burst tests that could allow the A18 Pro to win simply by boosting to a higher frequency – they take around ten minutes to complete, since Cinebench is designed to stress powerful desktop and workstation processors. This is impressive considering that the A18 Pro scored 147 points, while consuming between 3.5 and 4 watts.
The use of this chip also allows Apple to ditch all the fans, relying solely on the MacBook’s passive cooling capacity. It looks like a silent, efficient, well-built, and affordable laptop.
It must be said that multi-threaded performance doesn’t scale that well, though, due to the A18 Pro’s basic design with two P-cores and four E-cores. According to Notebookcheck’s testing, the A18 Pro scores 416 points in Cinebench 2024’s multi-threaded test, which puts it at the level of an Apple M1 or Intel Core i5-11400H. Clubic found even worse results, where the MacBook Neo scored just 327 points.
However, since many everyday workloads – such as web browsing – still rely heavily on single-thread performance, the A18 Pro should deliver a very responsive experience in general use, even if it can’t handle heavy multi-threaded rendering loads particularly well.
By using the A18 Pro, Apple has proved that laptops can be powered by ever smaller chips, enabling an efficient setup that doesn’t destroy single-threaded performance. Combined with its in-house stack of software, which can be specifically optimised for these chips, Apple has an advantage over its competition. Perhaps an A19 Pro-powered MacBook Neo Max could be on the horizon next.
