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Apple's 2026 Low-Cost A18 Pro MacBook: What We Know So Far

Warped9 said:
The thinking is the new entry level MacBook will be $599-$699 US. That translates to about $829-$949 CAN. Thats not budget territory, not in Canada. I’m hoping it will price $799-$899 CAN, but I won’t hold my breath. But even it were $999 thats still $400 more affordable than the $1399 MacBook Air and will be really appealing and tempting to those looking for an alternative to $600-$1000 Windows laptops, particularly those with elevated prices for very mediocre hardware specs.
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Same in Belgium. If I look at the price for the cheapest 13” MacBook Air, and deduct €300 from that price to land at an “affordable” MacBook … that is still not an affordable computer.

You can probably buy a budget 17” Windows laptop for half the price of that “affordable” MacBook. It’ll be ugly and probably rubbish, but if that is all that someone’s budget allows then that is what they’ll buy.

I’m not buying into the entire education thing. If anything, I’d say this is more catered to people already invested in Apple who want an extra device that is light and portable.

I’m sure Apple doesn’t care who buys them, as long as it becomes another profitable product line.
 
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^^ In the store we have an HP as well as a Gateway laptop with decent specs (for a PC) for $999 and $899 respectively. They’re among the better Windows laptops we have. Black Friday and Boxing Day sales were knocking about $250-$300 off that. Even so an $899 or $999 “affordable” MacBook would be all over them in terms of everday performance, thats assuming M1-M3 equivalent performance.

But the simple matter that a MacBook would now be an option in that price bracket,where it did not exist before. is definitely going to sway some people.
 
Warped9 said:
Apple’s laptops not having a touchscreen hasn’t really hurt them. Laptops with touchscreens are largely meh begause it’s not as intuitive or comfortable to keep reaching your arm out to touch the display. It’s even worse if you’re using a desktop OS like Windows and MacOS. And touchscreen laptops aren’t as popular as they were about five or so years ago. Back then they were seemingly everywhere, but now not so much. People figured out using a laptop isn’t like using a tablet—it’s just different. Some like it, but most don’t care for it on a laptop.

Now we have to talk about what constitutes “budget.” In Canada the mainstream general purpose laptop market is in $500-$1000 range. Some Chromebooks creep up into the $500-$600 bracket, but the vast majority of Chromebooks and Cloudbooks are under $500 ($200-$500). Those are budget devices in Canada. This is whats bought when you’re either really cheap, cynical or simply can’t afford more. The new MacBook isn’t playing in this bottom dwelling sandbox.

The current MacBook Air is $1399 CAN. You might call it a mainstream general purpose laptop, but it smokes pretty much anything priced near it and absolutely everything priced under it. Up here this is a premium device, and unlike MacBook Airs before Apple Silicon it really is premium and delivers the goods.

The thinking is the new entry level MacBook will be $599-$699 US. That translates to about $829-$949 CAN. Thats not budget territory, not in Canada. I’m hoping it will price $799-$899 CAN, but I won’t hold my breath. But even it were $999 thats still $400 more affordable than the $1399 MacBook Air and will be really appealing and tempting to those looking for an alternative to $600-$1000 Windows laptops, particularly those with elevated prices for very mediocre hardware specs.
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So when Apple release any macOS device with a touchscreen in the foreseeable future, what will the reasoning be?
 
code-m said:
So when Apple release any macOS device with a touchscreen in the foreseeable future, what will the reasoning be?
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Good question. If I had to guess it could be partly because MacOS might become more iPadOS like. We also know, or we hear, the M6 MacBook Pro will be a redesign so adding a touchscreen could be part of that redsign. If it pans out then that feature could likely filter down to the lower tier devices.
 
code-m said:
Well either it’s an extension of the mobile A series chip as some believe it to be or it’s something completely different. Can one have it both ways?
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Why cant it be both? The M4 family of chips includes mobile, desktop, and workstation chips all based on the same cores, etc. It’s not any different from x86 having workstation/server and desktop variants in the same family, you’re just not used to that including mobile since there have been very few suitably low TDP performant x86 chips made in that category
 
Warped9 said:
Good question. If I had to guess it could be partly because MacOS might become more iPadOS like. We also know, or we hear, the M6 MacBook Pro will be a redesign so adding a touchscreen could be part of that redsign. If it pans out then that feature could likely filter down to the lower tier devices.
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Wouldn’t be the first time Apple went back on its words, let’s not fool ourselves here.
 
writing this on still my m7 12-inch MacBook (2016).
still waiting for a good computer to replace it.
MBP = too thick and heavy
MBA = still 60hz, storage upgrade is extortionate, design not as pretty as the sleek 12-inch.
MacBook budget = we will see. still probably not good enough, but could be a temporary machine for a few years for basic office works and YouTube watching.
 
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Reminds me of Steve Jobs dunking on Netbooks, watch YouTube clip. Although power and OS are solved, it will still be a weird new category. Sitting right between the iPad and MacBook Air. To me it seems that the MacBook line-up needs a revamp. This new product sounds like a MacBook Air. The MacBook Air needs to be MacBook, the default. And then there is still the MacBook Pro's for the Pro's.
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This is interesting and could do some big numbers. I think there is definitely a lot of people who would want an Apple laptop but can't stretch to the Macbook Air.

Will be very interesting to see how they position it though and what product decisions are made to save on cost.
 
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I just checked a leak from past year, posted here on MR and coming from a relatively trustable source, that said this MacBook was coming with an A19 SoC. Let’s hope it is the A19 Pro chip we can find on the iPhone 17 Pro, with a 6 core GPU and 12GB of RAM. Those specs would make it really appealing to those who don’t need the great CPU power and spectacular GPU performance of an M5 chip.

As for myself, what I value the most is weight, but I already have an iPad Pro (which weighs only 480g) which so far it already covers my mobility needs, so I’ll probably keep waiting for an M5 Mac mini. Also I can configure the mini with much more RAM, and the lifespan of the M5 will be longer and better overall.

But I have to admit that if it would come with an A19 Pro chip, 6 core GPU and 12GB of RAM, even I would consider it…
 
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Mac sales are gonna go through the roof when this drops.

Personally I feel Mac’s are the best computers (windows is digging it owns grave with 11)

Apples biggest issue has always been price.

Someone’s mam, dad or grandparents aren’t gonna want a machine that starts at £999 to watch Netflix, check email and do socials.

I actually think everyone I know would benefit from this model being out.
 
Seems like people forget that Apple sell th iPad for £329 in basic configuration with A16. It's not going to cost them £400 to attach a keyboard on it. We're talking a quite basic computer here.
 
Jerus said:
Seems like people forget that Apple sell th iPad for £329 in basic configuration with A16. It's not going to cost them £400 to attach a keyboard on it. We're talking a quite basic computer here.
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Some of us want such a device, BUT one that runs MacOS. This rumored device is just that.

The iPad is $349 and the Magic Keyboard Folio is $199, so if this comes in around $599 (even if just when on sale at Amazon), I'd be all over it.
 
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“the A18 Pro offers single-core CPU performance scores at the level of the M3 Ultra”

Coincidentally it also offers single-core CPU performance scores at the level of the M3. The base M3 has the same CPU cores as the M3 Ultra. Comparing to the M3 Ultra does sound more impressive but gives the impression of more performance than is justified.
 
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I am kind of confused about where this 13" low cost MacBook sits in the line-up. It would make more sense to offer a 12" 2LBs MacBook with an A18 chip for those that want ultra portability and do typical school/office work on the go. If they offer a larger form factor, it seems to me Apple will be competing with the 13.6" MBA, which is their most popular laptop. Whereas, there may be an unfilled market for folks that want to have MacOS on an extremely portable and affordable laptop.
 
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