MacBook Neo vs MacBook Pro: Which should you get?

https://www.trustedreviews.com/versus/apple-macbook-neo-vs-macbook-pro

Publish Date: 2026-03-10 08:10:00

As Apple has recently unveiled its long-awaited budget-friendly MacBook, we’re intrigued to see how it compares to its more premium option.

Considering there’s an eye-watering £1100 separating the MacBook Neo to the standard MacBook Pro M5, what are the real differences between the two?

We’ve compared the specs of the MacBook Neo to the MacBook Pro M5 series and have given our two cents on which model you should go for, depending on your personal usage.

If you’re sold on the MacBook Pro, but aren’t sure which chip will suit you best, then make sure you visit our MacBook Pro M5 Pro vs M5 Max comparison. Or, visit our list of the best laptops, best budget laptops and best student laptops to see our current favourite models.

Price and Availability

At the time of writing, the MacBook Neo is available for pre-order and will launch officially on March 11th. With a starting price of just £599/$599, the MacBook Neo is the most affordable option in Apple’s MacBook line-up.

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In comparison, the MacBook Pro is considerably more expensive than the MacBook Neo and starts at £1699/$1699 for the M5 chip. Apple also recently announced the MacBook Pro M5 Pro and M5 Max chips too, which start at £2199/$2199 and £3599/$3599 respectively.

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MacBook Pro runs on Apple’s M5 chip series

As touched upon earlier, the MacBook Pro comes with a choice between three chips: the M5, M5 Pro and M5 Max. Although all three are desktop-level chips, and are Apple’s current flagships, the M5 Pro and M5 Max are hailed as “the world’s most advanced chips for pro laptops”. Apple explains the M5 Pro and M5 Max feature an advanced CPU, next-generation GPU and higher unified memory for bandwidth too.

This isn’t to say the standard M5 chip is a slouch by any means, as it’s promised to offer faster overall and specifically AI…

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