Apple Tested a MacBook With the A15 Chip

[IvyKing]

Computers last way longer than most people think. I find the annual upgrades from Apple a bit disgusting.

My first Mac was a 2009 MBP that I used almost daily as my portable computer for 10 years. It's replacement served me for 4 1/2 years - the advantages of the M series got too great to ignore. I don't see replacing my current laptop anytime soon.

Having said that, I also don't have an issue with Apple doing yearly updates as the year to year improvements are not large enough to upgrade every time a new crop of Macs are released.

 

[Virinprew]

My daily machine up until 2 weeks ago was a 2018 15" MBP with Touch Bar. Doesn't get the macOS upgrades anymore but it still works. 1tb and 32gb of ram.

The only reason I changed was because there was a very good deal on a 15" MBA M4 with 1tb and 32gb of ram during Black Friday week. I still use the MBP as an external screen for the MBA.

Computers last way longer than most people think. I find the annual upgrades from Apple a bit disgusting. Where's the sustainability in that I wonder?

1 TB storage and 32 GB in 2018 is hardly entry level do they?

 

[cicalinarrot]

The only thing I am worried about is that they are going to use the A chips as an excuse to close down macOS for the cheaper models and eventually for all macOS. MacOs is probably a thorn in Tims side.

Yep.
To me macOS it's the living proof that there's absolutely no reason to lock the App Store and most services for "safety reasons". macOS is absurdly safe and those who want to take risks with it, are allowed to.
It's all about that sweet money. And while you get great freeware on Macs, iOS free apps have annoying ads, limited features, expensive pro plans, thousands of trackers... it's absurd, all because you must pay Apple just to distribute your app.
Now (now that they've been forced by laws) it's slowly changing, but for most users it's still gonna be App Store only until Apple is forced to let them choose which store you want on first boot.
Meanwhile, on Macs, they've already tried fooling us with its terrible App Store and by making external apps you get from the internet feel unsafe.

 

[aliasfox]

All I’m hoping for is small. Don’t give me a 13.6” MBA with an A series chip, I’d be much more interested in a 12” rMBP with the kinks worked out. Working keyboard, MagSafe, two USB-C ports, modern camera, and small enough to comfortably use in coach - especially now that reliable Wi-Fi can be had for free on domestic flights… it’d be nice to be able to get some personal work done without contorting myself to see a bigger laptop screen that can’t be opened past 90 degrees. In fact, make a “light” version with A19 for schools in blueberry and tangerine, and a “pro” version with an M4/M5 in a cool monochrome. Just give them both at least 16gb of RAM.

 

[ksec]

I am starting to think may be this isn't a new MacBook at all. But the current MacBook Air rebranded, may be with some minor changes. The A18 Pro is a cut down version of M4, with single channel memory but potentially still up to 32GB although Apple may only limit it to 16GB.

The MacBook will be MacBook Air with A18 Pro hopefully 12GB, with official price of $799 and $999 for the 15".

The new MacBook Air should really be another page from the iPhone Air line up. It should sit between the $999 MB 15" and the $1599 M5 MacBook Pro.

If we look at iPad Pro M5 13" currently at $1299. There is no reason why the new MacBook Air with 14" OLED, screen size just like iPhone Air sitting in between iPhone and iPhone Pro cant be $1399. The iPad Pro has extra touch screen glass, dual camera, Face ID which are all expensive component compared to keyboard, trackpad and Touch ID.

 

[jeffpeng]

All I’m hoping for is small. Don’t give me a 13.6” MBA with an A series chip, I’d be much more interested in a 12” rMBP with the kinks worked out. Working keyboard, MagSafe, two USB-C ports, modern camera, and small enough to comfortably use in coach - especially now that reliable Wi-Fi can be had for free on domestic flights… it’d be nice to be able to get some personal work done without contorting myself to see a bigger laptop screen that can’t be opened past 90 degrees. In fact, make a “light” version with A19 for schools in blueberry and tangerine, and a “pro” version with an M4/M5 in a cool monochrome. Just give them both at least 16gb of RAM.

12", even 11". I really liked the 11" MBA form factor.

 

[paradox00]

There’s been zero indication this device won’t run macOS.

I didn’t say the A series MacBook won’t run MacOS (at least in this thread, I think they wish they could release iPadOS on it, but it’s still not good enough for full time mouse and keyboard use).

I said I want the option of Mac OS/Mac apps on other devices with A series chips as well. An A series MacBook running MacOS will demonstrate that Apple is holding their mobile hardware (and Vision Pro) back to create an an artificial distinction between their hardware lines so that you have to buy both.

Samsung has the DEX desktop mode on their phones. Valve also has a desktop mode on the SteamDeck. Apple could out do those easily, but they don’t.

 

[rappr]

I didn’t say the A series MacBook won’t run MacOS (at least in this thread, I think they wish they could release iPadOS on it, but it’s still not good enough for full time mouse and keyboard use).

I said I want the option of Mac OS/Mac apps on other devices with A series chips as well. An A series MacBook running MacOS will demonstrate that Apple is holding their mobile hardware (and Vision Pro) back to create an an artificial distinction between their hardware lines so that you have to buy both.

Samsung has the DEX desktop mode on their phones. Valve also has a desktop mode on the SteamDeck. Apple could out do those easily, but they don’t.

Gotcha. I think the strategy has been to make the touch apps more capable over leaning on existing macOS apps.

To be fair, Samsung Dex doesn’t run Windows apps, so they would be in the same boat, right?

 

[paradox00]

Gotcha. I think the strategy has been to make the touch apps more capable over leaning on existing macOS apps.

To be fair, Samsung Dex doesn’t run Windows apps, so they would be in the same boat, right?

Dex would be similar to what Apple does with the iPad and a monitor, yes. Apple notably doesn't even do that much with their phones though.

To be clear on Apple's strategy: it's to run all new software platforms through the app store exclusively regardless of whether they could provide a better product outside of it. It's all about the passive income of taxing all app transactions. If they could get away with closing up MacOS, they'd do it in a heartbeat. Fortunately they can't.

The iPad is 15 years old now, and Apple's own iPadOS apps still haven't reached feature parity with their MacOS counterparts. MacOS can run iPad and iOS apps natively. There's no reason Apple couldn't move at least the pro versions of these devices to a MacOS base with the springboard launcher remaining the default UI when used as a mobile device. No reason, other than milking users and devs for additional profit of course.

I came into the Apple ecosystem when it was a scrappy underdog and a far more open platform than now. Intel Macs had bootcamp and official windows drivers supplied by Apple. There are ARM versions of linux and windows, yet Apple used the ARM transition to drop that feature. iMacs used to have target display mode so that they didn't become ewaste at the end of their computing life, but that's gone. Time-machine still exists, but was never ported to iOS because it would compete with icloud. I thought target disk mode was gone, but happy to be wrong on that, it lives on in Mac sharing mode, but again is a mac only feature. The corporatization of Apple has had many consumer friendly casualties and even more paths deliberately never travelled.

 

[rappr]

Dex would be similar to what Apple does with the iPad and a monitor, yes. Apple notably doesn't even do that much with their phones though.

To be clear on Apple's strategy: it's to run all new software platforms through the app store exclusively regardless of whether they could provide a better product outside of it. It's all about the passive income of taxing all app transactions. If they could get away with closing up MacOS, they'd do it in a heartbeat. Fortunately they can't.

The iPad is 15 years old now, and Apple's own iPadOS apps still haven't reached feature parity with their MacOS counterparts. MacOS can run iPad and iOS apps natively. There's no reason Apple couldn't move at least the pro versions of these devices to a MacOS base with the springboard launcher remaining the default UI when used as a mobile device. No reason, other than milking users and devs for additional profit of course.

I came into the Apple ecosystem when it was a scrappy underdog and a far more open platform than now. Intel Macs had bootcamp and official windows drivers supplied by Apple. There are ARM versions of linux and windows, yet Apple used the ARM transition to drop that feature. iMacs used to have target display mode so that they didn't become ewaste at the end of their computing life, but that's gone. Time-machine still exists, but was never ported to iOS because it would compete with icloud. I thought target disk mode was gone, but happy to be wrong on that, it lives on in Mac sharing mode, but again is a mac only feature. The corporatization of Apple has had many consumer friendly casualties and even more paths deliberately never travelled.

You’re right, the App Store has model has worked really well for Apple, and that’s hard for them to let go of, even if some platforms (iPad) would benefit from it.

From what I remember at the time of the ARM transposition, when asked about Bootcamp support, Apple was saying that’s up to Microsoft. I don’t think they allow standalone installations of Windows on ARM the same way they do Windows on x86, but maybe that’s changed.

Anywho, I’m going off topic, so I’ll shut up. Nice debating with you!

 

[AND411]

Honest question:
Are we actually sure, that this Low-End Macbook will run a full macOS? Is there a source for that?
Or are we just inferring that from the "Macbook" name?

Why not? The A12Z in the Mac Mini developer kit could!