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| ETA Prime tested the Apple MacBook Neo with up to a 50 W thermoelectric water cooler. |
When Apple unveiled the MacBook Neo, it was positioned as the ultimate entry point into the ecosystem: a device that prioritizes affordability and simplicity. Its most controversial feature, however, was the decision to rely entirely on passive cooling.
On paper, a fanless laptop sounds like a dream. It promises dead silence, no moving parts to break, and a sleek, unibody design. But as early adopters are discovering, the MacBook Neo’s passive cooling is a double-edged sword. While the absence of internal fans guarantees a whisper-quiet experience, the hardware tells a different story under pressure. When the Apple A18 Pro processor inside the Neo heats up, the performance takes a nosedive—sometimes cutting the available power nearly in half.
We measured that during intensive stress tests, the power consumption of the Apple A18 Pro dropped from 8.8 Watts to around 5 Watts as the system throttled to protect itself. For most users scrolling through web pages or typing documents, this isn't an issue. But for anyone looking to push the Neo even slightly—such as gaming or video editing—the thermal ceiling becomes a frustrating bottleneck.
However, a new mod from popular tech YouTuber ETA Prime suggests that Apple left a significant amount of performance on the table. The solution? A simple copper plate and some thermal paste.
From 30 FPS to 60 FPS: The Copper Mod
The premise of the mod is deceptively simple. By removing the back panel and applying a copper shim—a basic passive heatsink without any fans—on top of the Apple A18 Pro SoC, ETA Prime managed to fundamentally alter the thermal dynamics of the machine.
You can watch the full breakdown of the mod and the performance testing in the video below:
Watch ETA Prime's MacBook Neo Cooling Mod on YouTube
The results were staggering. In the popular title No Man’s Sky, the MacBook Neo originally struggled to maintain a steady framerate as the internal temperatures soared to a scorching 105°C. With just the copper plate installed, the operating temperature of the SoC dropped to the mid-80s (°C). Consequently, the average frame rate jumped from a barely-playable 30 FPS to nearly 60 FPS.
This isn’t just a gaming phenomenon; it’s a systemic performance unlock. In synthetic benchmarks like Geekbench 6.6, the modded MacBook Neo saw a 9.7% increase in multi-core performance and a 15.2% increase in single-core performance compared to the stock configuration.
Pushing the Limits: Thermoelectric Water Cooling
ETA Prime didn’t stop at passive copper. To see just how much potential the Apple A18 Pro truly has, he attached a thermoelectric water cooler—an extreme cooling solution usually reserved for desktop PCs.
With this active cooling setup, the A18 Pro’s temperature in No Man’s Sky dropped further to the mid-70s (°C), with FPS consistently hovering just below 60. In Geekbench 6.6, the MacBook Neo’s performance skyrocketed, achieving total performance gains of 17.5% in single-core and 18.6% in multi-core.
While strapping a water cooler to a laptop defeats the purpose of portability, it highlights a crucial truth: the silicon inside the MacBook Neo is capable of significantly more than Apple allows it to deliver under its current thermal constraints.
Apple Could’ve Made the MacBook Neo a Whole Lot Better
The entire premise of the MacBook Neo is to serve as an affordable alternative to the MacBook Air—a device that gets the job done for the masses. In terms of price and baseline utility, the Neo undoubtedly succeeds. However, these modding experiments expose a frustrating reality.
ETA Prime’s cooling mod makes us believe that the MacBook Neo could’ve benefited massively from active cooling, or, at the very least, a simple copper heat spreader. Seeing a 2x increase in average FPS in a demanding game like No Man’s Sky is too significant a performance gap to ignore.
It raises the question: Why didn’t Apple include even a basic thermal solution? The cost of a copper plate and thermal paste is negligible in the bill of materials. By relying solely on passive dissipation, Apple created a scenario where the hardware is artificially hamstrung to maintain a "silent" marketing bullet point.
For consumers who have already purchased the Neo, mods like this are a risky but rewarding venture. For those considering the device, it’s worth noting that while it excels at everyday tasks, sustained heavy loads will cause it to stumble.
We hope Apple is looking at these results. If a YouTuber with off-the-shelf parts can double the gaming performance, a company of Apple’s engineering scale could certainly implement a refined version of this in the next iteration of the MacBook Neo.
Looking for a deal?
If you’re interested in picking up the MacBook Neo for yourself, you can check current pricing and availability here:
Buy the Apple MacBook Neo on Amazon
Source: ETA Prime on YouTube
This article was originally published on LaptopsCheck.com.
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| MacBook Neo Geekbench performance with and without water cooling. |
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| MacBook Neo Cinebench single core performance. |
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| MacBook Neo Cinebench multi core performance. |