5 Features The MacBook Air Has That The MacBook Neo Doesn’t
5 Features The MacBook Air Has That The MacBook Neo Doesn’t
https://www.slashgear.com/2184779/features-macbook-air-has-neo-doesnt/
Publish Date: 2026-06-07 08:30:00
Source Domain: www.slashgear.com
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The internet has been abuzz after the release of Apple’s new budget laptop, the MacBook Neo. Buzz that’s both positive and negative. On the positive side, the value is undeniable for a thin, fanless aluminum-body chassis and an efficient iPhone chip that still packs enough power for AAA games when needed. On the negative side, the 8GB of RAM doesn’t seem like enough in 2026 when that’s how much RAM the average browser seems to use alone. In response to the Neo, some have said “just get a MacBook Air.” Alrighty then, what does the MacBook Air have that the MacBook Neo does not?
We’ll skip the areas where the Air is obviously better — a more powerful M-series chip, more RAM, better screen — and instead focus on specific features that the Neo lacks. Not things the Neo “does worse,” but things it cannot do at all. We’ll be comparing it to the latest MacBook Air M5 released in 2026. Spoiler alert: despite a chasm in pricing, the list is much smaller than you might think.
Force Touch trackpad
Force Touch trackpads debuted on MacBooks in 2015, and even over a decade later it feels like a downgrade to use anything else. Unlike most trackpads that rely on mechanical movement to produce a click, Apple’s Force Touch trackpads trick your fingers with haptic vibrations. Haptics ensure consistent clicks anywhere — not just on the bottom half as “diving board” trackpads typically work. It also enables really cool features like Force Click, where pressing down a bit harder triggers special actions like looking up words or previewing files….
