Хоёр өөр платформын анхан шатны зөөврийн компьютерүүдийн харьцуулсан туршилтаар зарим талаар гэнэтийн үр дүн гаржээ.
PhoneBuff-ийн бие даасан туршилтаар Microsoft Word баримт бичгийг нээхэд MacBook Neo нь Dell XPS 13 загвараас хамаагүй хурдан болох нь тогтоогджээ. Тухайлбал, 500 хуудастай Word файлыг MacBook Neo 7 гаруй секундийн дотор нээсэн бол ижил түвшний үзүүлэлттэй Dell XPS 13 загварт 12 секунд шаардлагтай болсон байна. Сонирхолтой нь, MacBook Neo нь Apple-ийн M цуврал чипийн оронд ухаалаг гар утсанд ашиглагддаг A18 Pro чипээр тоноглогдсон хэдий ч Microsoft-ын өөрийн үйлдлийн систем дэх аппликейшнийг илүү хурдан ажиллуулжээ.
Гэсэн хэдий ч төхөөрөмжүүдийг асаах болон бусад үзүүлэлтээр Dell XPS 13 илүү хурдан байв. Тухайлбал, Dell XPS 13 нь 24 секундийн дотор desktop руу орох багтаамжтай байхад MacBook Neo-д 40 секунд зарцуулагджээ. Мөн Cyberpunk 2077 тоглоомыг ачаалах явцад MacBook Neo 41 хүрэхгүй секундэд ачаалсан бол Dell XPS 13 55 секунд зарцуулсан байна. Гэвч тоглоомын явцад хоёр төхөөрөмж хоёулаа хэвийн тоглоход хангалтгүй буюу MacBook Neo дунджаар 20 fps, Dell XPS 13 ердөө 16 fps үзүүлэлттэй гарчээ.
Техник хангамжийн хувьд Dell XPS 13 нь OLED мэдрэгчтэй дэлгэцтэй бөгөөд P3 өнгөний гамма болон 120 Hz сэргээх давтамжтайгаараа MacBook Neo-гоос илүү давуу талтай юм. Гэсэн хэдий ч эдгээр төхөөрөмжүүд нь хүнд тоглоом тоглоход тохиромжгүй бөгөөд инди төрлийн тоглоом болон энгийн хэрэглээнд илүү тохирох ажээ.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Remember those ‘I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC’ ad spots from years ago? Such platform rivalry feels like old, mouldering hat these days (especially to a console-gaming interloper like me). That said, we live in a world where both the MacBook Neo and the Dell XPS 13, two notebooks alike in dignity, are vying for the crown of ‘most affordable entry-level notebook’ at $699 a piece.
The rivalry is old news, though a fresh twist in the tale is that apparently large Microsoft Word files actually open faster on the MacBook Neo. Independent testing carried out by PhoneBuff found that the Neo opened a 500-page Word document in a hair over 7 seconds, whereas a similarly specced Dell XPS 13 took 12 seconds (via Windows Latest).
It’s quite the upset—you’d think that after all these years, Microsoft would offer the optimum Word Doc experience within Windows. To add insult to injury, the MacBook Neo doesn’t even have Apple’s speedy M-series silicon, but instead features what is essentially a repurposed phone chip in the A18 Pro. Though, to be fair, this ‘mere’ phone chip is still comparable to older M-series chips.
Notebooks like this can handle more than just note-taking. The Dell XPS 13 features an Intel Core 5 320 (a stripped-down version of the Panther Lake chips we like a lot), which should offer plenty of other opportunities to shine throughout PhoneBuff’s testing. For instance, on startup the Dell XPS 13 races to the desktop in 24 seconds. The MacBook Neo takes very nearly twice as long, clocking in at 40 seconds. Mind you, that may not really be an, ahem, apples to apples comparsion as the notebooks are running two different operating systems.
But as both of the laptops tested were configured with only 8 GB of RAM, you’d perhaps expect this to be a closer run thing. PhoneBuff’s battery efficiency and creative workload tests are a lot more variable, but there’s only one thing that I’m interested in here: gaming performance.
Cyberpunk 2077 on a notebook? It’s more likely than you think—though with some caveats, obviously. The MacBook Neo loaded up CD Projekt Red’s techno dystopia in a hair under 41 seconds, whereas the Dell XPS 13 managed it in 55. When it comes to the game benchmark, though, you can’t even attempt to run it at ultra settings on the Dell XPS 13.
Otherwise, when running fullscreen, the XPS 13 averages 16 fps in the benchmark, whereas the MacBook Neo averages almost 20 fps. Now, the MacBook Neo outperforming the Dell was not something I was expecting. Though I also wouldn’t necessarily call 20 fps ‘playable,’ let alone ‘enjoyable’.
Our Ian managed to get the MacBook Neo to run Cyberpunk 2077 at 30 FPS in his own testing earlier this year. He writes in his review, “The downside is that to get this, you need to dip below Steam Deck settings, using the Low graphics profile, with the resolution at 720p, and with MetalFX upscaling in performance mode. That’s not great, and looks a little soft thanks to all the upscaling going on, but at least it is technically playable.”
Personally, I think I’ll be sticking with my rig for Cyberpunk 2077—though either notebook might still get a look in for less hardware-intensive indie releases and visual novels.
If you manage your gaming expectations accordingly, then the XPS 13’s 13-inch OLED touch display is nothing to sneeze at. The XPS 13’s OLED also enjoys P3 colour gamut, meaning it supports a slightly wider range of colours than the MacBook Neo. Furthermore, its 120 Hz refresh rate is twice that of the MacBook Neo’s screen—at the very least, scrolling through a webpage will feel a smidge smoother on the Dell, even if its Intel Core 5 320 chip will struggle to keep up with your competitive favourites.
