Apple undertook a radical departure from its typical silicon strategy to price the MacBook Neo at $599. And now, as per a new revelation, that departure extends to the budget MacBook's networking chip.
Apple MacBook Neo jettisoned Broadcom's networking chip in favor of one from MediaTek
Almost every other MacBook in recent times has either sported a networking chip from Broadcom or Apple's own N1 chip. The MacBook Neo, however, sports one from MediaTek.
As is the case with a number of aberrant design choices that Apple undertook for the MacBook Neo, its decision to opt for a MediaTek networking chip is likely to have been prompted by cost considerations.
For the benefit of those who might not be aware, the MacBook Neo features a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with a 2,408 x 1,506 resolution and 500 nits brightness, uniform bezels, Touch ID, dual-firing speakers that support Spatial Audio, a 1080p front camera, a brightly colored aluminum frame, and a color-matching keyboard.
But it does come with some compromises, including just two USB-C ports with wildly different characteristics, the A18 Pro chip, 8GB RAM, and a mechanical trackpad sans pressure-sensing capabilities.
We noted recently how the MacBook Neo delivers a 43 percent performance jump over the M1 MacBook Air, which speaks volumes as to the superiority of Apple's A18 Pro chip.
Moreover, the chip gained some additional hefty bragging rights recently, courtesy of a new single-core Geekbench 6 test that pitted the $599 MacBook Neo against the $13,000 Mac Pro that sports Intel's 28-core Xeon W chip.
In the test, the MacBook Neo outperformed the $13,000 Mac Pro by a whopping 3x. However, there is a huge catch inherent within this comparison: almost every conceivable program is multi-threaded these days, and for tasks where the single-core metric is important, the MacBook Neo's 8GB RAM would constitute a substantial bottleneck.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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