True, but talk of MBA getting OLED around these parts is promise to no one, and may be a few years away yet.
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Apple Launching Budget MacBook in 2026
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Yes, I think so. As a professor at a large state university, I see plenty of students using very cheap laptops and getting by with cloud storage. Major software they can get for free with the university site license. A few use MacBook Airs and Pros, but not many. When students ask me for recommendations, although I lecture using my MacBook Pro, I hesitate to recommend MacBooks because of the price. At a state school with tuition through the roof, every penny counts, so a significantly cheaper machine that can compete with the price of PCs will be very useful. SSD size is not a factor as they have access to free cloud storage. And the internet speed on campus is very fast (compared to being at home). When they get their real jobs, corporate will issue them with a decent laptop. If they have extra money, and they are used to having a mac, I bet they buy a mac for home use. This should be Apple's play.
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A new battery on a new manufacturing production line and new testing isn't necessarily cheaper. It probably isn't going to be the case that they can just re-use an old iPad battery.
As for less weight, folks on a very tight budget probably don't care as much as cost.
Rosetta is being downsized, not completely terminated.
" ... macOS releases – through macOS 27 – as a general-purpose tool for Intel apps to help developers complete the migration of their apps. Beyond this timeframe, we will keep a subset of Rosetta functionality aimed at supporting older unmaintained gaming titles, that rely on Intel-based frameworks. ..."
About the Rosetta translation environment | Apple Developer Documentation
Learn how Rosetta translates executables, and understand what Rosetta can’t translate.
If this was only being released after macOS 27. At this point the A18/19 Pro dies are bigger than the plan A1/19 dies. So it isn't going to be hard to put extremely slightly more functionality onto the die.
Crossover also depends upon Rosetta core underlying layer , but doesn't depend upon "high level" macOS on Intel libraries. What is likely being dumped is the "glue" for the macOS libraries.
Rosetta is also used for Linux binaries. Again no macOS library code maintenance really needed. So if other folks want to spend money on their libraries, it seems Apple is open to that.
The basic icons and GUI design that Apple uses now presumes 'Retina' at this point. the basic experience isn't going to look good dropping Retina.
kneecapping the ports is more Apple's style. They could just strip "Air" off the name and leave it Macbook. Backslide a port to 10Gb/s ( and perhaps a second port to far worse).
Restarting production on a panel that Apple hasn't bought in 8-10 years would cost money. I'm not sure there is very high volume, generic PC market panel that matches up with Apple's display resolution presumptions. Apple has used their own ecosystem to drive economies of scale for their own resolution selections.
The Tim Cook defenders defend him for every anti-consumer decision he allows, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they defend him if a MacBook was sold without a screen. These are the same people who defend him for selling iPhones without a charger, and even worse, for selling the Pro Display XDR for $4,999… without a stand! The display cannot even be used without a stand, and the stand costs and additional $999.
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I agree with you…it should be a device that’s more than sufficient to handle It’s purpose….i see some people moaning about storage…Storage shouldn’t be an issue. Even in grad school, 90%+ of everything was cloud based services that we used through Canvas, Microsoft, various text publishers, Google, etc. The only things that I ever needed storage for was saving my personal documents or keeping copies of projects. I simply put them on an external drive for safe keeping and later access if I needed them. I’d imagine regular schooling would be the same way these days with using cloud based services for homework, testing, etc.
I would've loved a smaller - 11-12” - MacBook.
But I bought the M3 MacBook Air 13’6 , 16GB, 500GB, 2024 - so I’m good for some time with it.
A really great machine, even though it’s a little bigger than I really wanted, it’s very light - so I’m Ok with it.
But I bought the M3 MacBook Air 13’6 , 16GB, 500GB, 2024 - so I’m good for some time with it.
A really great machine, even though it’s a little bigger than I really wanted, it’s very light - so I’m Ok with it.
Not everyone carries external HD or uses cloud services to store their data.
It doesn't matter what the base model will have, they should also offer 512GB or even 1TB of storage as option, as well as at least 16GB RAM.
I don't have a need for this new device, but surely it needs to be called the phoneBook, even if just non-officially.
This is Apple. The colors will be terrible (especially for guys), so if you want something that looks good, you'll pay the Apple color tax.
would be cool if the product was less brand new computer, more phone dock with storage that could launch full macos
If someone can afford a computer, especially an Apple, but can’t fork out $10 for a thumb drive, that’s just laziness at this point. Storage options galore exist for every price point.
Actually I think this will be equally appealing to corporates. Most staff don’t need powerful machines to do contract negotiations or other clerical stuffs and can access to files on the servers within the company network or at client’s site.
I just can’t see the real reason why Apple will make a new chassis and logic board for the A chips. They could just reduce the price of m1 MacBook Air or m2 to save cost on production line, especially that m1 MacBook Air has always been selling for USD599 in the States already.
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Because the M1 and M2 are made using outdated processes. It would be better for Apple to use a 3nm chip.
How about the production cost? Better performance does not necessarily mean lower cost to Apple, no?
We users of course want better performance with lower prices. For Apple they want to capitalise as much as they can, and introducing a new macbook lineup with a "new chip" would then need a new logic board and stuffs, right?
The rumored chips (A18 Pro or A19 Pro) are already in use so those components already exist or won’t take much effort and expense to produce. We’re talking off-the-shelf parts here. Apple has either already stopped making M2 and M3 chips or needs to stop very soon. The M4 chip is based on the A18 and the M5 is based on the A19. Apple can save money by limiting production to the latest 3nm processes.
The chip is readily available, no doubt, but not the logic board. Unless Apple can tweak the Ipad Mini one for Mac, otherwise a new one has to be designed and produced.
On the other hand, if they just keep on producing M2 / M3 MacBook Air and sell them at an entry price, no new R&D and production cost will incur
Or, they put higher price for Air and slightly lower price for this one.
There are just too many unknowns to be confident in this.
Apple is a very big company and is very good at the math for when it invests in the product overhead of building a new computer/chassis/motherboard/battery/etc...
Apple likely would never bother making this laptop if it didn't feel it would sell in numbers to cover its development overhead.
Apple doesn't exist in a void. The computer making industry knows how to do this, and much much smaller companies can design and get motherboards made.
We can make guesses, but Apple is definitely not limited to any one option here.
Honestly I was hyped with this rumour but then I saw someone saying that M1 Macbook Air is still available in Walmart for USD599. I'm not from the States so I didn't know. Then I thought why would Apple open up a new production line to produce something similar to an older model. If they do really want to target the "low-end" market, they could just do a sales on older models.
12” is perfect. And so is 900 grams. I am personally not assuming this will be the form factor but I really really hope that it will be. There is nothing light or thin or even sexy about any of the current laptops Apple is offering imo..
Sure but I would bet the M1 MBA only has ~3 more new OS releases left in it.
I still expect this A18 MacBook could come with 12GB of RAM, and generally have better performance.
We really have no idea how many of the M1 MB parts are still in production.
Apple does sell older devices in the Certified Refurbished store, so we already have that today.
Getting new lower-priced hardware, that will eventually be sold on sale or in the Certified Refurbished store... that's new. What was once a $999 laptop is now being sold for $599... well how little will a $599 laptop eventually be sold for?
Take a look at the price point of ipad mini and I think $599 for 12gb ram is too good to be true.
The XDR/stand thing is an absolute disgrace and something to be truly ashamed of. As is the price of the Studio Displays but that's a different matter.
As a European who's been into Apple for almost 2 decades I have no issue with the charger thing. I'm into darts, so I bought a soft tip electronic dartboard. Came without charger, which is no issue because I have plenty lying around. I'd be more than happy to buy a new laptop without charger. Why pay for something I already have?
Nothing to do with defending Tim Cook in my case. Just common sense.
I don't think competition is forcing this, I think it's more they see a real opportunity right now since they have a powerful chipset that works great at low power (the A18 Pro apparently tops out around 10W TDP?) so should be easier to put in a lightweight frame with a small battery, and they see a lot more people of modest means in the market to buy new computers soon, due to their old ones no longer being supported.
They're already showing a lot more revenue than they used to on services, so giving up some up-front revenue from people who will likely grow those recurring revenue streams may be an easier choice than they've been willing to make for a while. It definitely helps if the educational system finds these more appealing than Chromebooks for the kids who aren't on iPads, just from a future consumer standpoint.
It's probably not a very popular idea, but I'd be fine with them dropping the camera entirely. Might make it an easier win in the educational market, actually, since there will be one less child safety issue for schools to deal with. If they offered a cheap external USB camera for those who want it, they could also make the same camera work with the next Apple TV, too, instead of the rumored plans to build one with it built-in.
I'm sure we've all had situations where what we've wanted is more than what we need or can actually use. Better that you change your mind now while you're hopefully still within the store's exchange and return policy. Maybe at least go see if you can trade it back for a 13 inch Air and a refund of the difference? (Maybe actually sit in front of a 13 inch, first, to be sure.) Remember, we don't know yet what the new unannounced device's limitations are, so you may find an Air is the better product for you, regardless.