Think it will be announced only in April 2026. Expecting to see some colors for the new lower priced MacBook. Think the price will be $699 and $599 for education/students.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Could Apple's Rumored Budget MacBook Still Debut Before Year's End?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
A18 pro only makes sense if they’re launching it now as Apple would be able to continue manufacturing it without needing to make iPhone 16 pros.
Only having 8Gb ram might be an issue though.
A19 pro sounds more realistic if they plan to launch in q2 26 avoiding the Christmas rush this year.
iPhone 17 pro production could be ramping down but they may have plans to use A19 pro in next year’s iPhone 18 like they did for earlier phones like the 13.
The A19 pro SoC having 12gb ram would be a better fit for a macOS machine especially as Apple just bumped up every Mac to 16gb ram as standard.
It doesn’t stop iPad Pro m5 from having 12gb or 16gb ram configurations depending on storage though so there could be a precedent to have an a18 pro or a19 pro with 16gb ram though.
By the same token Apple should consider dropping an a19 pro into the next Apple tv - unless some a18 variant is fine by them.
As it happens, suddenly there are A19 Pro chips available from the iPhone Air production line for a new laptop.
Apple has been steadily increasing base model iPhone from $399 to $429 and now $599.
The 2015 initial 12" model did suffer in performance tests (I could see the writing on the wall and waited for the much improved 2016 model). No reviews have shown any overheating, but it wasn't designed for power users (also why only one port in keeping with thin and light). Mine is on for 8 hours a day, no overheating and gets merely warm. The other possibility is thermal paste was incorrectly applied to the CPU in your case and n=1 overheating resulted.
I think Apple is going to fumble the pricing, like with 16e. They'll leave it just a bit too high.
It's a bit strange to have a laptop with iPhone chips and an iPad with Mac chips... also a smaller screen size (11-12”) would be a better choice for a new ultraportable device.
As for the price, since a base MBA cost €1099, this rumored laptop should cost a max €799 with the same RAM/storage, more than that and it's not worth it.
As for the price, since a base MBA cost €1099, this rumored laptop should cost a max €799 with the same RAM/storage, more than that and it's not worth it.
Such segmentation is arbitrary and doesn't really matter. All the Apple ARM chips at their base model are designed to run in a very low thermal envelope device.
People still use MagSafe? Everyone I've seen, they left the MagSafe cable in the box. Why use MagSafe when USB-C charging is so ubiquitous? It made sense 15 years ago before USB-C, but not today.
At home I use MagSafe because it frees up both USB-C ports. On the road I'll use USB-C.
Actually a machine not labeled PRO would make it all less arbitrary.
Air and Pro iPads and Laptops get M chips.
The others get A chips. This would make the Base M5 MBP make more sense. Ms are premium chips.
The mini/iMac/studio/macpro line is its own mess that Apple isn’t that keen on focusing on.
It’s not going to be anywhere remotely close to $599.
At best, it will be $100 off the regular MacBook Air.
I have six kids who are tripping hazards and USB-C is way less forgiving than MagSafe.
Do you know, or are you just speculating?
Here's the thing I believe you're missing. Apple is facing severe competition from Chromebooks in the EDU space.
Due to the nature of the EDU-business, and the public tendering process involved, the choice of vendor will always come down to price and ability. The only way that Apple is currently able to compete with Chromebooks/PC is with a Base iPad + Keyboard combo. I can only imagine it hasn't been very successful...
That's why this rumor makes a lot of sense. They do need a $599 MacBook. It's of course possible that it will be a EDU-specific option only, but I think it's happening.
Sure. If they price it above a MacBook Air it’s sales will be lacklustre.
But the whole point is that it is going to be cheaper.
iPhone Air failed because it’s more expensive than the iPhone but with less features.
The keyboard does seem to controversial. Not sure how much of that is just overblown comments online where folks like to pile onto the smallest things. I've had no issues with well actually anything with my 2016 12" MacBook in 9 years and would be happy to replace with an identical one with a newer processor to run current MacOS. Not interested in budget, I'd happily pay $1,500.
Personally, I would love to have the butterfly keyboard back. Much prefer the feel of those keyboards to the current mushy/cheap feeling scissor keyboards. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I used a 2017 13" MacBook Pro with a butterfly keyboard 8 hours a day for 4 years and loved it. Those snappy keys were 👨🍳😘.
The only issues I had with Apple laptops of that era stemmed from the dog 💩 Intel CPUs 😅
There were very real issues with the first gen butterfly keyboards. If I remember correctly it had to do with dirt and dust getting under the keys. My 2018 model had the latest revision of the butterfly keyboard and only now has the spacebar started acting up, often adding 2 spaces instead of 1.
Never really like the feel of those butterfly keyboards. Kind of glad that the old keyboard and magsafe are back. Apple took a long detour and ended up where they started.
The “could” makes this sound like someone’s poking the tumbleweed. All the hype back in August by every rumour site and clickbaiter on YouTube, then …. silence.
At this point, Apple have missed the boat. This should have come out before October 14th when a lot of disgruntled Windows 10 owners, who found themselves having to buy new machines, might have come looking at Apple for an affordable alternative.
Given their focus on the non-Pro M5 Pro MBP as the “ready for Christmas” impulse-buy MacBook, it’s looking like the only people who think this budget MacBook is a thing are those who originally rumoured it/hyped about it.
Could it come out before Year’s End? Sure. And Apple *could* have put the charger in the box with the M5 MacBook for European purchasers. They didn’t. They’re not interested in the budget end of the market, only in how much more profit they can make.