iPhone SoC is more powerful than the M1 on some benchmarkks.
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Apple's Cheap MacBook: What to Expect in 2026
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This worries me a bit. Who knows what they will do to cut costs. Perhaps they will force the RAM and SSD to be not user replaceable, limited in size, or very expensive to upgrade while ordering.
Perhaps they will make it hard to open and do maintenance on it so if something goes wrong which on other computers would only require a replacement with a relatively cheap part, here you would either have to bin it or pay a lot of money for repairs.
I would love to see a cheaper Apple computer available and I do wish they do it properly without making it simply to push people to "proper" models.
I don't have any recent computers (latest was bought 11 years ago), but I have often thought what I would buy if somehow I could afford 1500-2000 euros to buy one. I wish I could buy a good enough Windows PC and a cheap macOS Apple computer just to run Final Cut Pro. It wouldn't have to be the best at rendering or 8K editing. But certainly not something which would be completely unsuitable for it.
Perhaps they will make it hard to open and do maintenance on it so if something goes wrong which on other computers would only require a replacement with a relatively cheap part, here you would either have to bin it or pay a lot of money for repairs.
I would love to see a cheaper Apple computer available and I do wish they do it properly without making it simply to push people to "proper" models.
I don't have any recent computers (latest was bought 11 years ago), but I have often thought what I would buy if somehow I could afford 1500-2000 euros to buy one. I wish I could buy a good enough Windows PC and a cheap macOS Apple computer just to run Final Cut Pro. It wouldn't have to be the best at rendering or 8K editing. But certainly not something which would be completely unsuitable for it.
That last part right there, that’s where Apple’s marketing has you fooled. You think the letter that they name the chip with actually means something. And I cannot stress this enough, it does not. All of Apple’s silicon is the same architecture they just get a little better as you go up the ladder. The basis of your complaint is rooted in the letter that’s used. You think just because the chip name starts with M that that means the device that it lives inside of should run macOS and that couldn’t be further from the truth. When Apple was making the first Apple silicon Mac’s they decided to break their pattern and not to call it the A14X, they decided to rebrand it as M1 instead. But that’s just marketing, it’s still an A14X. The M1 is just an “iPad chip” that they put inside of a Mac and that’s still what they do to this day.
Apple creates the product and then decides which chip in their lineup is best for that product. iPhone, Apple TV, some iPads, and now a MacBook can get an A series chip, because that’s the best chip for that device, it doesn’t matter if the chip name starts with an A. But which chip it has does not determine what OS it should run, the device determines what OS it should run, and iPads run iPadOS and Mac’s run macOS, and that’s just the way it is. You say it infuriates you that you can’t run macOS on your iPad but that’s because you don’t understand what the product is.
In terms of lineup,
12 inch Macbook (I suppose it will be its name) takes a position similar to regular iPad in the iPad lineup.
Air 13/15 is similar position to iPad Air 11/13
Pro 14/16 is simlar position to iPad Pro 11/13
I would say that this is a fairly good lineup (and one which doesn't leave a breathing space much to competitors).
12 inch Macbook (I suppose it will be its name) takes a position similar to regular iPad in the iPad lineup.
Air 13/15 is similar position to iPad Air 11/13
Pro 14/16 is simlar position to iPad Pro 11/13
I would say that this is a fairly good lineup (and one which doesn't leave a breathing space much to competitors).
no subretina displays since 2016 so this time it is a Retina display. The rest is fine.
Make this thing 12”, give it at least the A19 Pro so it has 12GB memory, a 128GB SSD, and offer it in black or white plastic for $399, and sell it for education to school districts with volume discounts. Apple used to rule education! Now it’s all Chromebooks. This is the higher end of the range for Chromebooks that most districts purchase, but they would probably be built better and be a lot faster. They would have crap margins but it introduces kids to Macs at a younger age so might be worth it.
Realistically it probably will be a little nicer and $599.
Realistically it probably will be a little nicer and $599.
You’re the only one that seems confused. Do you really think there’s that big of a difference between the A chips and M chips? The base M chips have always been “iPad chips” even before the Mac’s transitioned to Apple Silicon, they just use to be called A10X, A12X etc etc. Apple just decided to rebrand the A14X to M1 but that’s just marketing, the letters don’t actually mean anything.
again this person said nothing about which 'letter' the chip is, in fact they said iphone, which has never had an M chip.
It’s all about economies of scale. If the chip in your iPhone is powerful enough to run a laptop, it’s cheaper to buy a few extra chips on the end of the iPhone production run for these cheap laptops than it is to keep manufacturing old M1 chips. And for the consumer it has many specification benefits in getting more modern tech, although how that will translate to features remains to be seen.
The packaging is different on the A* class chips VS the M* class chips, I don't think we know.
Why do you think the iPad should run macOS? What’s your reasoning for thinking that?
You’re proving my point, he said “an iPhone with a keyboard” what makes this MacBook an “iPhone”? His answer would literally be because the chip’s name starts with an A, that’s why he thinks this device is an “iPhone with a keyboard”. Everyone needs to just forget about the letter in the chip name, the letter does not determine what the device is. Plain and simple.
Even M1 struggled with 8gb of ram though. I really hope they start from 16gb, it changes the world
I currently have a Chromebook at work and it’s performance is on par with an A12 or something, but it can run all software where the A18 MacBook can’t as it doesn’t support virtualization. If you’re in (web) development your entire stack runs on virtualization these days so this won’t become an alternative even though my company may make the switch if everybody could make the switch.
what -doesnt- make it the same as any other a18 based platform? the form factor?
its a reasonable parallel. but you seem so hung up on some other point that no one is disputing.
why shouldnt it?
yes apple controls the keys, but there is no technical reason or hurdle for why it couldnt. im certain apple has builds that run on it internally.