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Apple's Low-Cost MacBook: Everything We Know So Far
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I thought that instantly, $799 seems right. Anything less will not happen directly from Apple. Now they could have a $699 Walmart or Amazon only thing like they have with the M1 MBA. However, it just makes no sense otherwise. It would eat into an all ready great price MBA. I personally would buy one if it ran MacOS and was the 12" MB reborn. I want something I can travel with that's ultra lightweight and I don't have to worry about. I have a 16" MBP M4 Max that cost me $5k and don't like traveling with it because it's heavy. And I always feel like just better off traveling with an iPad. Thought about buying a MBA for travel, but then I was like if only I could have a 12" MB like they had before and just throw in an M-series SoC or in this case A-series SoC.
Services is Apple's fastest growing business. In this context, a $650 price point could work. This is the current price of the M1 MacBook Air at Wal-Mart. If a buyer subscribes to Apple Music and iCloud+ for example, that's another $144 with the potential to recur for many years.
Also, I predict that many people will buy this as a second Mac, including those who have a MacBook Pro. It sounds like a great machine for outdoor use and travel.
Also, I predict that many people will buy this as a second Mac, including those who have a MacBook Pro. It sounds like a great machine for outdoor use and travel.
Well I can see the difference and you will see it in heavy tasks lol… This low cost MacBook will be a great Chromebook killer but won’t replace the MacBook Air or pro
$600, possibly $700 sounds about right for a product like this. Apple essentially sells this same thing right now at Walmart for $600. I'd be willing to bet due to the "boringness" of the upcoming M5 Macs, they will launch those along side this, meaning MBP, MBA, and a MacBook/ MacBook SE or whatever they end up calling it.
This definitely could serve as a good transitional product especially for children. Believe it or not the vast majority of children 15 or under have never used Windows or used it rarely, use mostly Chromebooks that they absolutely hate, while using Apple products at home. Apple has definitely lost ground in K-12 setting the past 15 years to Chromebooks with the key factor being sadly, schools losing funding, and the affordability of Chromebooks, and even then when schools used desktops usually, they were losing ground to the likes of Dell and HP.
This definitely could serve as a good transitional product especially for children. Believe it or not the vast majority of children 15 or under have never used Windows or used it rarely, use mostly Chromebooks that they absolutely hate, while using Apple products at home. Apple has definitely lost ground in K-12 setting the past 15 years to Chromebooks with the key factor being sadly, schools losing funding, and the affordability of Chromebooks, and even then when schools used desktops usually, they were losing ground to the likes of Dell and HP.
Bootcamp only existed because Mac’s used all of the same hardware as windows pcs
That is no longer the case and is unlikely to ever be the case again
Apple would have to write windows drivers for Apple silicon. Hard to imagine them using resources on that
Nah, this would replace that $600-$700 product at Wal-Mart, but would more likely retail at Apple for $800, or $700 edu.
Guys, stop being ridiculous.
They are obviously going to release their new 6502 Max Pro Ultra SE 2.
if this thing comes in at rumored price and in a nice saturated shade of blue it’s a day 1 buy for me.
ATP podcast had a good discussion on this a few days ago. Upgrade did too. One thing Marco brought up is Apple not wanting to lose corporate buyers of the Air so this will probably be gimped in a way that would make it undesirable for corporations.
I think a given is margins. Apple isn’t giving up its margins so this product will be designed around that. I also think Apple does not want to cannibalize MacBook Air sales. Rather than treating this as the successor to the M1 Air being sold at Walmart I’m more inclined to believe Apple thinks the current M4 Air is too good of a deal. Plus there’s a $600 difference between the starting price of the Air and the Pro. I would not be surprised at all if this new so-called ‘low cost’ MacBook is just a way to create an entry point so they can raise the price of the Air by $100 or $200. I don’t think there’s any way Apple could make a $699 laptop keeping the margins they want/demand. To do that it would have to be a really crappy product and they won’t do that. If my theory is correct, what would they add to the Air to justify a price increase? Or would they just attribute it to tariffs?
I think a given is margins. Apple isn’t giving up its margins so this product will be designed around that. I also think Apple does not want to cannibalize MacBook Air sales. Rather than treating this as the successor to the M1 Air being sold at Walmart I’m more inclined to believe Apple thinks the current M4 Air is too good of a deal. Plus there’s a $600 difference between the starting price of the Air and the Pro. I would not be surprised at all if this new so-called ‘low cost’ MacBook is just a way to create an entry point so they can raise the price of the Air by $100 or $200. I don’t think there’s any way Apple could make a $699 laptop keeping the margins they want/demand. To do that it would have to be a really crappy product and they won’t do that. If my theory is correct, what would they add to the Air to justify a price increase? Or would they just attribute it to tariffs?
We don’t even know if it exists. We certainly don’t know who the target market is.
When has Apple ever given up margin? I suppose they might let places like Amazon and Best Buy put it on sale frequently (like they currently do with the Apple Watch). The first Chromebook shipped in 2011. If Apple felt they needed to go after this market with Mac laptops (as opposed to iPads) I think they would have done so long before now.I feel like they are going to put an A18 Pro in the old MBA M1 with a few other small upgrades (likely Wifi 6E and hopefully 16 GB of ram) and sell it for $799. You’ll probably be able to find it on sale at out retailers for $699 after a couple months though.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it uses the M1 Air chassis. Though if it’s more expensive than everyone thinks (which aside from the original iPad is usually the case) I could see it being similar to the 12” MacBook (hopefully with 2 USB-C ports).
What it will be: MacBook Air M1 design with A18 Pro, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD, priced at $649. Aside from the color, not at all configurable.
What it could be: MacBook Air M2 design with A18 Pro, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD, priced at $699. Optional 16GB RAM ($200) and 512GB ($200), making it only $100 cheaper than a comparably configured MacBook Air M4.
What it should be: 12-inch MacBook design with MagSafe, A18 Pro, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD, priced at $599, for $200 cheaper than a comparably equipped MacBook Air M4. With iMac/iPad (entry level)-style colors.
What it could be: MacBook Air M2 design with A18 Pro, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD, priced at $699. Optional 16GB RAM ($200) and 512GB ($200), making it only $100 cheaper than a comparably configured MacBook Air M4.
What it should be: 12-inch MacBook design with MagSafe, A18 Pro, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD, priced at $599, for $200 cheaper than a comparably equipped MacBook Air M4. With iMac/iPad (entry level)-style colors.
When? It was 2017. Apple decided to enter the low-cost tablet market. Apple bifurcated the iPad line by creating a $329 base iPad using an "iPhone" processor. Before, the cheapest was iPad Air at $499. That's a 35% price decrease. A laminated display and A-X processor do not cost $170 extra. Clearly, profit margins shrunk for the $329 iPad.
We're literally seeing the same thing with low-cost MacBook. Apple will use an "iPhone" processor. They will downgrade the display. They will use an old chassis. Look for a 30-35% price cut.
Chromebooks didn't get enough traction and 1:1 technology in schools didn't happen until 2020. Apple doesn't want to give up margin until they have to.
Because of the lackluster sales of iPhone 16's due to their own Siri lies. They now embarrassingly bring back the manufacturing line of the 12" Macbook to empty their A18 Pro pilestock. When the stock is gone they will obsolete this product...again.
My guess is when the Air gets OLED in then next few years they will tack on a couple of hundred as you predict. This thing will then sit under the Air as the entry level.
I do like the idea of the $599 price point (maybe $649), but I imagine to hit that price, we're looking at requirements like (in rough order of likelihood:
- A18 Pro
- smaller battery
- no Rosetta 2
- M1 MBA's web cam
- one external display
- 2x 10Gbps USB-C
- headphone jack
- two speakers
- 256GB SSD (1 chip)
- 12GB RAM (maybe 16)
- sub-retina screen
- non-backlit keyboard
- no charger
- plastic case (maybe M1's chassis)
... but it seems more likely it will have higher specs, and probably cost closer to $749, if not $859.
- A18 Pro
- smaller battery
- no Rosetta 2
- M1 MBA's web cam
- one external display
- 2x 10Gbps USB-C
- headphone jack
- two speakers
- 256GB SSD (1 chip)
- 12GB RAM (maybe 16)
- sub-retina screen
- non-backlit keyboard
- no charger
- plastic case (maybe M1's chassis)
... but it seems more likely it will have higher specs, and probably cost closer to $749, if not $859.
How many corporate buyers do you think are scooping up Walmart M1 Air today? Corporate buyers aren't cheapskates. They won't procure something that performs like M1 in multicore performance. A18 Pro has great single core, but multicore is much slower than M2.
When this low-cost MacBook arrives, the M5 MacBook Air will have launched.
This is no different than being afraid of corporate buyers picking up the $349 iPad.
Yeah sounds accurate and at $799 why not just buy an M-series iPad? If someone just needs a device for school or email/web browsing, you could save a fair amount of money by going for an M3 iPad Air ($599).
