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Apple Planning to Launch Low-Cost MacBook Powered By iPhone Chip
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Seeing a lot of "can an A-series chip run macOS?" and "an A-series chip won't be fast enough" comments
A-series can absolutely run macOS just fine.
Something like an A18 or A18 Pro is more than enough. It has all the same building blocks as an M-chip just scaled down a bit.
An A18/A18 Pro would be within 10% of an M4 in terms of single-thread performance (e.g. web browsing, system responsiveness etc.), it would be practically indistinguishable.
A18/A18 Pro will be faster than the M1 for the majority of tasks and faster than most of the slop shipped in PCs in this price range 😅
Connectivity is the only real downside, but I don't think lacking Thunderbolt and >2 monitor support is a big deal here.
Edit: just to add, I think people put too much weight into the chip branding here. Remember, the M1 was an A14X in all but name. If it had been called A14X, I'm sure we would've had people claiming "macOS shouldn't run on an iPad chip!" and such 😉
A-series can absolutely run macOS just fine.
Something like an A18 or A18 Pro is more than enough. It has all the same building blocks as an M-chip just scaled down a bit.
An A18/A18 Pro would be within 10% of an M4 in terms of single-thread performance (e.g. web browsing, system responsiveness etc.), it would be practically indistinguishable.
A18/A18 Pro will be faster than the M1 for the majority of tasks and faster than most of the slop shipped in PCs in this price range 😅
Connectivity is the only real downside, but I don't think lacking Thunderbolt and >2 monitor support is a big deal here.
Edit: just to add, I think people put too much weight into the chip branding here. Remember, the M1 was an A14X in all but name. If it had been called A14X, I'm sure we would've had people claiming "macOS shouldn't run on an iPad chip!" and such 😉
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I'd bet this would be akin to the base iPad which has the same kind of A series/M series split between the Air. I'd expect a not quite as good display (especially if newer Airs finally get ProMotion), lower base storage (hopefully that means Airs start with more, finally) or some other downgrade we haven't thought of yet that'll keep most of us off of it. It may give the Air more room to get better, although then that might start overlapping more with the non-pro chip MacBook Pro which seems to exist just for the better display, cooling, and bigger battery.
Yeah, most Chromebooks have the power of an abacus and the screen of a Nintendo Game & Watch. But man, they are ruthlessly cheap, so it'll be interesting to see how well these do in schools. Already thinking of getting them for my kids, though...
Let's be honest -- a ton of people using Macs/iPads could get by just fine with an ATV running a browser (with KB/Pointing device support).
I'd love a Dex-Like iPhone, but Apple wouldn't make it as they want to sell everyone multiple devices instead.
I went from a 16" MBP to a 14" and absolutely love the portability but I agree with you, anything smaller is for young eyes, which sounds like the demographic they're targeting.
Already multiple 13" options. Would be better as a 12".
I'd pay Macbook Pro prices for a 12"...
I'd pay Macbook Pro prices for a 12"...
I think this is about form factor not performance - it lines up with earlier reports that MacBook pros were going ultra slim, similar to the Air’ thickness. So this phone chip laptop will be the new air or whatever they want to call it.
The Air will get upgrades and fill the void left by the Pro when the OLED Pro becomes more expensive.
also, what is the power consumption of A vs M chips? It could be for battery life too
It’s good that they upgraded support to ten years instead of five but my local schools already moved on to iPads because of it.
A product like this probably won’t be a huge hit with institutions given their already strained and mismanaged budgets but can help fill the gap for customers between a base iPad + Keyboard and a base MacBook Air; ~$560 and $900 with education pricing, respectively. So something like this around $599-$699 might just have a good reason to exist, especially if the performance and battery life is there in a way that any other computer for the price simply cannot match.
Also I feel like this isn’t a product to bring back the 12” MacBook design which was more of a fashionably sleek, premium device. Something like this could probably go for the softer iMac style; plentiful dual-tone colors with white keys and bezel, to further differentiate it.
Nobody wants a touchscreen Mac.
How do we know?
Apple says so ... as do vociferous defenders of anything Apple does.
Don’t worry. You won’t be in a bind. Article says 13” display….not 12”.
The M1 is still physically larger and hotter with more cores and older die shrinks, needing more battery and a larger, more complex and costly motherboard. The biggest difference between the A series and M series has been core count and I/O like thunderbolt and multiple display controllers, and A18 cores are at the point where in most cases the fewer, faster cores would match or beat the slower but more cores in the M1. Combined with smaller batteries and motherboard design it probably comes out to costing less than churning out M1 Airs forever.
The qualitatively worse non-laminated display on the base iPad shows how a display on this could be downgraded without a hit in resolution. That means a thicker, heavier display so this might not be as thin as the Air unless it's matched by a smaller battery (hopefully smaller from a wedge shape a lot of people miss). Maybe newer Airs finally get ProMotion (probably once the MacBook Pros get OLED) and this gets stuck at 60 Hz. The iPad Magic Keyboards aside from the latest Pro one seem to get by without haptics, so I'd expect that could still be an option for this.
Edit: More bezel on the top instead of a notch for the camera seems like an obvious downgrade too, although some might consider that an improvement.
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I could definitely see this getting named just MacBook to match the low end iPad. For everyone wanting/expecting something as small and light as the 12" MacBook, though, that extra thinness wasn't exactly cheap, with the 12" costing more than the Air. Lower cost probably will mean something thicker for parts like the display. Maybe the return of a wedge shape to make up for that?