Tag Archives: anandtech

MacBook Neo Deep Dive: Benchmarks, Wafer Economics, and the 8GB Gamble

Update, May 26th and May 14th, 2026 with additional CPU benchmarks and GPU benchmarks. The short version is unchanged: the MacBook Neo is VERY fast for bursty everyday use but fairly limited for sustained, memory-heavy, or pro workloads.  If you don’t have an interest in the computer industry and its history, you can probably skip everything else below. Otherwise, read on! Availability Heads Up (late May) Due to high demand, Apple has been periodically backordered on MacBook Neos lately, but

3.1GHz Quad Core System on the Cheap: $200

The need for cheap speed! Yesterday I read a nice little article over at Anandtech about unlocking the extra two cores in AMD Phenom II X2 555 CPUs. This lets you take a  dual core CPU and turn it into a quad core CPU*. *The extra two cores aren’t guaranteed to unlock and be 100% reliable, but it’s easy to stress test and see if your particular CPU can handle it. Reading other people’s experiences it looks like the success