MacBook Neo comes under fire in AMD's latest marketing campaign but it's a poorly thought-out attack

Date:
Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:50:00 +0000

Description:
'Imagine if 'Macs don't game' is the best you've got, lol. I'd fire my marketing team': AMD's going after the MacBook Neo in a very confusing manner.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter AMD has a new marketing
campaign criticizing the MacBook Neo The main thrust of the argument is that the Neo fails as a gaming laptop That's a highly confusing angle to take, seeing as this isn't what MacBooks are about and especially not the budget-friendly Neo AMD appears to be getting defensive about its Windows 11 laptops and the threat posed by Apple's MacBook Neo .

Tom's Hardware noticed that AMD has a new marketing campaign that intends to take the Neo down a notch or two, promoting the benefits of Ryzen AI CPUs instead. AMD insists that: "The competition made compromises. You don't have to." It then adds that: "Everything MacBook Neo leaves out, built in with AMD Ryzen AI processors." Latest Videos From Watch full video here:

The main thrust of the compromise messaging is that the MacBook Neo isn't up to scratch for gaming. AMD notes that 15 of the top 20 PC games don't run natively on a MacBook Neo, and that you need 'workarounds' (emulation) to
play them. The games are picked by Team Red itself, although it's a fair enough selection of esports classics and more modern efforts such as
Cyberpunk 2077, Battlefield 6, and Black Ops 7.

It's not just about games, of course, but that's the lead item here. AMD also points out that Windows 11 laptops with its Ryzen AI CPUs can have touchscreens (which the MacBook Neo doesn't), and a better port selection
than the MacBook Neo's two USB-C connectors. You may like Apple's going
all-in with the MacBook Neo but Microsoft is fighting back New Windows 11 laptop looks like a true MacBook Neo rival to worry Apple I was wrong about the MacBook Neo and Im glad about it

AMD then highlights benchmarks of the Ryzen 5 220 against Apple 's A18 processor as seen in the Neo, where both laptops have 8GB of RAM, but the Ryzen is up to 57% faster for multitasking, and 38% faster for content creation as measured in Blender and Cinebench, among others. Analysis: confusion over compromises (Image credit: AMD) This is an odd one, really, because what plenty of confused people on Reddit have been saying echoing my own first thought is: "I didn't buy a Mac to play games. That's not really what they're for." Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox
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Someone else on that thread agrees : "Ok, but no one is buying a MacBook for gaming, right?"

And a further Redditor observes: "Imagine if 'Macs don't game' is the best you've got, lol. I'd fire my marketing team."

These folks are, of course, quite right. You don't buy a MacBook for gaming, and moreover, you especially don't buy a MacBook Neo for PC games. This isn't just an Apple laptop , but a low-end one with a mobile chip designed entirely around being affordable (for students, mainly) and able to cope with daily computing workloads and that's all. What to read next I put the MacBook Neo through the same tests as I did the MacBook Air M1 I think the results will surprise you Microsoft's unexpected MacBook Neo challenger might be a budget laptop you've never heard of before Can a MacBook Neo handle everyday work? I tested it and its very good news

Okay, so you might want to do a spot of casual gaming, but the MacBook Neo
can cope with that just fine. What you aren't going to be looking to do on a Neo is play the top PC games, not unless you're very misguided, and okay, probably a few people out there do fall into this category.

So why AMD has led with this gaming angle in its Ryzen AI laptop marketing, versus MacBook Neo marketing, really is a head-scratcher. It isn't like the kind of Windows 11 laptops AMD is using as comparisons to the Neo , in a similar price bracket, can run those top PC games all that well, anyway.

Of course, AMD has chosen its 'top games' very carefully, which goes without saying. But still, the Radeon 760M integrated graphics (used in the comparative benchmarking) can't come close to running some of these games
with any kind of fluidity, even with low details (at the Full HD resolution
in which the testing was conducted).

The same cherry-picking applies to the productivity and creativity
benchmarks, and the thing about the MacBook Neo is that, as we've seen at TechRadar, despite only having 8GB of RAM, it runs smoothly and responsively in everyday tasks. That's not something you can always say about a Windows 11 laptop with 8GB of RAM in the same price bracket.

Granted, Microsoft is busy working on making Windows 11 better with lower RAM loadouts, but Apple isn't standing still either, providing quite a
performance boost with the recently launched beta of macOS 27 .

AMD should've thought more about the positioning of this marketing piece, especially seeing as it's the Neo the company is going after. The truth is that, as far as gaming is concerned, you shouldn't expect much out of any budget-friendly laptop even if what you get from a Windows 11 machine is obviously a better deal, thanks to the mentioned game compatibility with no need for emulation tricks. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. The best laptops for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best laptops 1. Best overall: Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M5 2. Best budget: Apple MacBook Neo 3. Best Windows 11 laptop Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch 4. Best thin and light: Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 5. Best Ultrabook Asus Zenbook S 16



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows-laptops/macbook-neo-comes-under-fi re-in-amds-latest-marketing-campaign-but-its-a-poorly-thought-out-attack


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