Apple's Low-Cost Colorful MacBook: All the Rumors

[Tagbert]

My guess is three years of OS upgrades and then abandoned.

Why? Apple doesn't do anything like that for any of its other Mac lines? Most get 6+ years of direct support and then security fixes after that.

 

[Yr Blues]

Apple is obsessed, absolutely addicted to the Notch… secondarily to the Dynamic Island.

Yes I know it’s the components placed in this area that gives them a reason to justify it.

However what many people are unaware of or deny is the fact that the Notch is also a clever Styling Cue, making the device instantly recognizable as an Apple product.

It is intrusive as currently implemented and quite annoying.

The notch, IMHO, is the worst solution for the problem they made up for themselves. All of my digital devices are notch/island free. Which is why I still use an iPhone SE 3.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Why? Apple doesn't do anything like that for any of its other Mac lines? Most get 6+ years of direct support and then security fixes after that.

It isn't a normal Mac line, it's one for the poors, and according to Apple philosophy, they need to pay the price with reduced longevity. Hopefully, ChromeOS Flex can be installed once they reach EOL in 5-6 years.

 

[antonrg]

I think this machine being relatively average when it comes to design just like what we have in the iPad lineup would make a lot of sense. This should probably be thicker than the Air, and really nothing impressive. Just good enough for it to be an Apple MacBook. The approach of 2016 model would make no sense here. That machine had a very forward thinking design=more expensive than the Air models. This time around, I think Apple will go the iPad route and release something basic that’s definitely not as good as the Air.

 

[antonrg]

And how many Mac’s that you personally own that you base this on? I’m not talking about irrelevant specs that you read but actual personal experience… because after owning numerous Mac’s and iPhones these past few years, and doing real work on them not just complaining on MR I disagree 100%. I can do work on the Mac’s that I would never contemplate on my phone.

The MacBooks have been EXCELLENT since the latest redesign.

 

[Adora]

Why? it will be faster than the M1 MBA and that does not struggle with Tahoe.

Even my M4 Pro mac Mini with 64 GB had many struggles with Tahoe and I haven't even used it with much heavier workloads than just watching YouTube videos most of the time.

But it seems 26.4 Beta 1 finally is running as smooth as Sequoia again. Not sure how an M1 or A18 Pro with much less RAM and slower flash storage will do.

I am still thinking about downgrading because of this ugly and more screen space consuming UI.

 

[Tagbert]

Even my M4 Pro mac Mini with 64 GB had many struggles with Tahoe and I haven't even used it with much heavier workloads than just watching YouTube videos most of the time.

But it seems 26.4 Beta 1 finally is running as smooth as Sequoia again. Not sure how an M1 or A18 Pro with much less RAM and slower flash storage will do.

I am still thinking about downgrading because of this ugly and more screen space consuming UI.

I'm running 26.4 on an M1 and it's fine.

 

[Le0M]

It all comes down to the RAM mainly - I couldn't care less about Apple "Intelligence", but any 8GB machine running MacOS is not going to age well. My Mac runs around 10GB usage before I've even started any apps. If the chip is comparable to M1 type pf performance, that should be enough for basic usage for a while. My mum still runs an M1 16GB Air, and it works perfectly fine for what she needs.

Bro, if you see a 10GB ram usage without opening apps, then you must have some background activity going on. You should really check cuz it doesn't sound good at all.

I've got an M1 8GB, macOS Tahoe, and the system rarely uses more than 2GB of ram.

 

[MayaUser]

Only 128GB storage? There would barely be anything left with the OS.

This “low cost” will quickly balloon with storage and RAM upgrades to make it useable.

That is for sure an false statement
This will start from 256 for sure

 

[MayaUser]

It isn't a normal Mac line, it's one for the poors, and according to Apple philosophy, they need to pay the price with reduced longevity. Hopefully, ChromeOS Flex can be installed once they reach EOL in 5-6 years.

Whats Apple philosophy? Even the iphones apple watch and ipads for poor has more than 3 years..you contradict yourself

 

[loby]

Yes definitely agree with you, but since those times, social media, the internet and peoples obsession with instant gratification has changed everything especially how fast information moves around.

"instant gratification", I think you hit it exactly.
People cannot wait for anything anymore. I don't think we will ever get a total surprise from Apple anymore. It takes too much effort to keep everything secret now-a-days.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Also guessing, no MagSafe, no TouchSafeID, and no backlit keyboard. I hope the poors enjoy their awful Apple experience.

 

[yabeweb]

And there’s very likely a lot of truth in that.
The A18 can do basic 4K video editing no problem, pretty much anyone currently using an M1, M1Pro or M2 *could* get all of their work done just fine on this new MB, just like how pretty much anyone who has an iPad Pro would get by just fine with an iPad 11 or anyone with an iPhone 17 Pro Max can get by just fine with a 16e…


And who cares? Let them use whatever makes them happy, no need to kill someone’s buzz.

I don't think he is killing anyone buzz, just making fun on how to works for influencers, new gadget, the best ever, review as if it was the only device they will ever use, then shut down the camera and never use it again.

Influencers are glorified commercials most of the time.

Is a cheap low end laptop a good thing? sure, but for it's target audience, would I recommend to someone doing 4k video? surely not even if it can be done, unless they do it very occasionally.

But influencers bragging they could use only a low end machine while they know they cannot is called false advertising.

 

[BBCWatcher]

My 2026 MacBook guesses:

• At least 12GB base RAM, hopefully 16GB. Might be non-unified memory (with macOS tweaks to accommodate). Optional RAM upgrade(s) available.
• 256GB flash storage (single chip design, like the M2 MacBook Air). Optional storage upgrade(s) available (possibly only single chip).
• 3 color choices (probably blue, green, and yellow); possibly a 4th “office” color (silver or gray) exclusive to upgraded configurations
• 2.2 pounds/1 Kg (999 grams) unit weight
• 2 USB-C ports (no MagSafe); only 1 of the ports supports an external display
• no keyboard backlighting
• Wi-Fi 6 or 6E
• Bluetooth 5.3 or higher
• no 3.5 mm headphone jack
• 12MP Webcam (same camera as the base iPad)
• 60 Hz display (duh), possibly the same as the 12.9 inch iPad Air’s, sans touch
• +$150 Apple C1 cellular modem upgrade option (“radical” idea I know, but Apple needs a quasi-beta platform for Mac cellular options; here it is)
• no bundled cable or power supply (except in countries where legally required)
• $649 starting U.S. list price (or $699 if 16GB RAM is base); $70 discount for education

Apple Pay will be supported somehow. I don’t think there will be full Touch ID or Face ID. Rosetta 2 will be supported for as long as macOS supports it.

 

[marinersaptcomplex]

I absolutely loved my 12” MacBook I bought in 2016. It got me through my final year of high school and all 4 years of university. Perfect essay writing machine (which occasionally ran JASP well enough.)

Would I use its equivalent now? Probably not…If my employer handed it to me would I think the company may be in trouble? Potentially…But would I recommend it to any student that isn’t in video, photography, or coding? Absolutely

 

[veroguru]

North Korean Apple rumor specialist Ahn Chai-hong is not uncertain that the recently leaked codes MB742, MB743, MB744, and MB745 are more likely than not for the new Apple Polishing Cloths in yellow, silver, blue, and pink designed specifically for the new MacBook. They could be made from a thicker and less luxurious material than the existing MM6F3. It is also not yet clear if they are compatible with any other Apple devices.​

 

[Jamie0003]

I wonder how this will compare to the OG 12” retina MacBook in terms of specs. I loved owning that thing but it wasn’t great performance wise.

having said that, it still did most of what I needed, even then I’d still be using it had the battery not died and I attempted to repair it myself… (yeah it was a failure haha)

Or, how about compared to chromebooks and netbooks back in the day

 

[unregbaron]

$799 🔥🔥🔥

Yes if that price would sell well.

 

[Basic75]

At least 12GB base RAM, hopefully 16GB. Might be non-unified memory (with macOS tweaks to accommodate). Optional RAM upgrade(s) available.

The "non-unified memory" does not make any sense at all. That would mean what, a discrete GPU? That's a high-end feature for laptops that need the fastest GPUs. And Apple and macOS have been going in the direction of completely dropping dGPU support once they're done with x86.

 

[Proji]

If this ships with just 128GB of storage running full macOS then I’ll be severely disappointed as that was carried on way too long as it is. Surely it should be 256GB. It would be nice to see the M series macs get a base of 512GB.

 

[Proji]

I think it is likely to have 12GB RAM, the biggest currently available in an A-series chip. It doesn't make sense for a Mac to have less RAM than an iPhone.

I also think the device will be quite slim through having a smaller battery. Smaller means cheaper, and not having the cheapest MacBook outlasting the more expensive models because the lower chip won't use as much power.

I agree, 12GB seems like a good compromise position. Also on the battery, I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe 12 hours of battery life would be a great position as the Air and Pros go a lot longer than that

 

[burgman]

Amazing! I can't wait to purchase a phony macbook powered by an iPhone processor aka "CLAMSHELL IPAD" 😂

Sounds great to me depending on price point

 

[BBCWatcher]

The "non-unified memory" does not make any sense at all. That would mean what, a discrete GPU?

No. "Non-unified memory" in this context means a combination of on-processor die RAM and off-die (discrete) RAM. Presumably Apple would tweak macOS so that on-die RAM would be preferred. A non-unified memory design might help Apple meet tight cost, margin, and functionality objectives while delivering "acceptable" performance, but that's speculation.

Conceivably Apple could also implement hardware memory compression at least for off-die RAM. With hardware memory compression the memory controller compresses data written from cache to RAM — and decompresses when fetching from RAM to cache. This technique improves effective memory performance and capacity.

I'm only contemplating these design possibilities, not necessarily predicting them.

 

[Ceecephous]

Please don't be sluggish on Tahoe.

 

[JPack]

No. "Non-unified memory" in this context means a combination of on-processor die RAM and off-die (discrete) RAM. Presumably Apple would tweak macOS so that on-die RAM would be preferred. A non-unified memory design might help Apple meet tight cost, margin, and functionality objectives while delivering "acceptable" performance, but that's speculation.

Conceivably Apple could also implement hardware memory compression at least for off-die RAM. With hardware memory compression the memory controller compresses data written from cache to RAM — and decompresses when fetching from RAM to cache. This technique improves effective memory performance and capacity.

I'm only contemplating these design possibilities, not necessarily predicting them.

There is no “on-processor die” RAM. DRAM is fabbed on an entirely different process, so it’s never on-die. The memory resides on the package. There is no cost benefit to having discrete DRAM.