MacBook Neo Has Up to 8× Slower SSD Speeds Compared to New MacBook Pro

[MacRumors]

While the MacBook Neo achieves a breakthrough $599 starting price, that of course comes with some compromises, and one of them is slower SSD speeds.

The Verge today showed the MacBook Neo had up to 8× slower sustained SSD read and write speeds in a benchmark test compared to the new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. The site did not mention which tool it used to measure SSD speeds, but it was likely Blackmagic's Disk Speed Test or AmorphousDiskMark.

Here is a comparison of sustained SSD speeds, according to The Verge.

Mac (Chip/Capacity)	Read Speeds	Write Speeds
MacBook Neo (A18 Pro/256GB)	1,735 MB/s	1,684 MB/s
MacBook Air (M1/512GB)	3,422 MB/s	3,274 MB/s
MacBook Air (M5/1TB)	7,049 MB/s	7,480 MB/s
MacBook Pro (M5 Max/4TB)	13.6 GB/s	17.8 GB/s

The speeds for the M5 Max model came from The Verge's separate MacBook Pro review, and unfortunately storage capacities are not equal across the board.

With slower SSD speeds, transferring files to and from the MacBook Neo will take longer, but this is a non-issue for many customers. Even with a large 100 GB file, a transfer may take up to a minute with a MacBook Neo, rather than around 30 seconds with the latest MacBook Air, or 7-8 seconds with the latest MacBook Pro.

A slower SSD can also impact overall performance, since apps boot from the SSD, and because the MacBook Neo will temporarily use SSD space as virtual memory when the laptop's actual 8GB of RAM is fully used. But, the first MacBook Neo reviews have largely indicated that the laptop's performance is quite good nonetheless.

The average customer purchasing a MacBook Neo is probably not thinking about SSD speeds to begin with, and they will likely never notice any impact, but we have highlighted this information for customers who do care about this sort of thing.

MacBook Neo launches this Wednesday.

Article Link: MacBook Neo Has Up to 8× Slower SSD Speeds Compared to New MacBook Pro

 

[MayaUser]

Also 4x the price

 

[turbineseaplane]

Otherwise known as "dog slow" for 2026 and beyond.
🐶

 

[imac_g4_1702]

Virtual memory or swap memory has been effective since the hard drive era (~300 MBps). 1700 MBps is still very acceptable given the target audience.

 

[joshwithachance]

I’m actually SHOCKED that Apple put a somewhat decent SSD in the base model. Write speeds are half of the M4 Air, but read speeds are pretty comparable…👀

Where these lower speeds could become an issue however, is in memory swap. As the 8GB of RAM is VERY slow compared to the 16GB+ in every other Mac.

 

[rosegoldoli]

what’s the point of comparing the base budget macbook to the premium high end macbook? like this is expected

 

[KeepCalmPeople]

8x slower - does that mean 1/8th as fast? How slow is a MacBook Pro?

 

[jz0309]

and for the target audience - it doesn't matter.
get the right tool for the job.

 

[ignatius345]

How many different little tech specs do we have to dig up that are of interest not one bit to people who just want a MacBook that works for $600. Nobody cares. This just feels like a ragebait story TBH.

 

[turbineseaplane]

what’s the point of comparing the base budget macbook to the premium high end macbook? like this is expected

It's also half the speed of a 6 year old 13" MBA

 

[God of Biscuits]

What a crap comparison. the Verge sucks in so many ways.

that high-end MacBook Pro can cost MORE than 10x the Neo.

 

[tonmischa]

LOL. 1.6 GByte/sec write speed is still impressive and still 3 times faster than any SATA SSD drive.

EDIT: Seriously. Writing at 1.6 GByte/sec requires also a SOURCE that delivers at least 1.6 GByte/sec. That's a USB3.2 NVMe drive. If you can afford that, you don't buy a Neo.
However, a slower internal SSD can lead to slower swapping times. But then again: People who care about swapping times, do not buy a Neo.

 

[turbineseaplane]

How many different little tech specs do we have to dig up that are of interest not one bit to people who just want a MacBook that works for $600. Nobody cares. This just feels like a ragebait story TBH.

The Gimpbook has half the SSD speed of a 6 year old MBA.
It's not "ragebait" -- it's quite informative actually.

 

[delsoul]

A story post that deserves a thumbs down. Not sure the reason for comparison. A Yugo is slower than a Model S Plaid. The speeds on the new pro SSD are among the fastest of any computer in the industry. And much higher in price. The storage in the Neo is absolutely fine for its intended audience

 

[Howard2k]

Silly comparison is silly.

Why are you not comparing the same capacity devices? I realize that there is not a direct overlap in all cases, but we KNOW that capacity can have a significant impact on performance.


This is either intentionally misleading, or just accidentally misleading.

 

[orangeadrenaline]

I expect we’ll continue to see hidden corners cut.

 

[JPack]

At this point, it's like MHz myth.

Show me the real world difference. Who the heck is running DaVinci on these things?

 

[Howard2k]

The Gimpbook has half the SSD speed of a 6 year old MBA.
It's not "ragebait" -- it's quite informative actually.

why not compare the 512GB Neo to the 512GB M1? Or the 256GB Neo to the 256GB M1?

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

this is very slow tbh. but hey, the comparison with mbp isn't fair at all

 

[Howard2k]

I expect we’ll continue to see hidden corners cut.

Not cut, just asymmetrically rounded.

 

[Rychiar]

just a few years ago we had 100mb/s hdds that had to spin up.. I think anyone will be just fine at 1735....

 

[xiJulian_]

The cheapest MacBook is slower than the most expensive MacBook. Groundbreaking.

 

[coachgq]

Waaaaait a Hot Dang minute. I thought Apple said no compromises were made…

 

[Jarman74]

Even with a large 100 GB file, a transfer may take up to a minute with a MacBook Neo, rather than around 30 seconds with the latest MacBook Air, or 7-8 seconds with the latest MacBook Pro.

Pretty sure the target audience is going to be totally cool with that.

 

[Kar98]

Between that, the Mediatek wireless chip and the 8 GB RAM, this thing is landfill ready shovelware and it’s not even out yet.