With a starting price of $599, Apple’s newly launched MacBook Neo is a solid option for first-time Mac users, students, or anyone looking for an inexpensive laptop for basic tasks. The company has made some compromises to keep the price in check, but one that many users may overlook is the laptop’s thermal design.
In their latest YouTube video, ETA Prime highlighted the same issue when they stressed their MacBook Neo by running No Man’s Sky. The game didn’t perform that well — around 30 frames per second at an awkward resolution of 1408 x 881 — and temperatures reaching 105 C. While he MacBook Neo is not really meant for gaming, with some hardware modifications the YouTuber managed to substantially improve thermals and squeeze some extra juice out of the laptop.
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The first modification involves adding a custom copper heatsink paired with an Arctic TP-3 thermal pad to cover the entire mainboard, including the CPU. After removing the bottom cover, the YouTuber carefully removes the stock graphene sheet using a heat gun, exposing the components on the compact mainboard. The graphene sheet is then reapplied over most of the components, with the CPU covered with some Noctua thermal paste, followed by the copper strip. A thermal pad is placed on top to ensure proper contact with the bottom cover, which is made of aluminum and helps spread heat faster.
This modification led to a drop in temperatures by over 20°C with No Man’s Sky now running around 58 FPS. The CPU was also able to draw more power and maintain higher clock speeds. This also resulted in improvements in benchmarks; On Geekbench 6, the A18 Pro SoC performed 9.7% better in multi-core and around 15.2% in single-core tests.
Taking things up a notch, ETA Prime used a thermoelectric liquid cooler to further reduce temperatures on the SoC. Originally designed for smartphones, the YouTuber explains that this unique cooler features a Peltier-style cold plate which is capable of handling up to 50W. The cold plate attaches magnetically and snaps directly onto the bottom metal cover, right above where the CPU is located.
After installing and running the cooler for about two minutes, idle temperatures on the MacBook Neo dropped to around 23 C. Running No Man’s Sky once again, temperatures averaged at 74 C with similar frame rates of just under 60 FPS. Since the SoC gained some extra headroom, it resulted in even better GeekBench 6 scores with an improvement of 18.60% in multi-core and 17.52% in single-core tests.
This experiment shows just how much untapped performance the MacBook Neo is leaving on the table. Apple's decision to rely on passive cooling does help in keeping costs and noise down (and may increase battery life), but even a slightly more robust heatsink could have delivered noticeably better results and sustained performance without dramatically increasing the price.
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