When this is released, it’s going to be a huge success. Right now, many people buy the MacBook Air because it’s the most affordable option, even though they don’t need everything it offers. And many users of cheap Windows laptops can stop criticizing Apple for being “overpriced,” when the real issue has often been that it simply wasn’t within their budget, and that frustration showed. Soon, they’ll be able to buy a Mac too.
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For most people, the new low-cost MacBook will be more than enough
- Thread starter Sami13496
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Bigwaff
Contributor
Looks like Apple trying to get some of the K-12 edu market to me. Put a dent in Chromebook sales.
4sallypat
macrumors 603
100% correct from a K-12 education IT dept.
Our school district uses Chromebooks (12,000+ students & 1000+ staff/faculty) and we were tasked with looking for staff/faculty replacements options as they aged.
Staff & faculty along with all of us in the IT dept were used to test out various high end Chromebooks with touch screens, Macbook Airs, and various tablets like iPad Pros along with Microsoft surface pros.
After all the testing with education apps, network accessibility, SSO, MDM, and printer/copier access - we ruled out: PC and Chromebooks.
We chose Mac as the superior platform, but the price point for a MBA was around $900 each w/ 3 year AppleCare+ pricing.
When we heard of the new A18 Macbook - we are all in.
Waiting for our Apple Engineer (education sales manager) to let us know when we can order 1000 new Macbooks as soon as it releases.
as far as i can see, based on rumours if its 799 and not 699 with all of those limitations...i dont think it will outsell the Macbook air. I mean not to have an backlit keyboard in 2026 is not an option..so it depends on what the device will has to offer
I hope it will start 799 and have a good, Mba quality display and good enough ssd performance and so on than to start from 599 and have so much limitations. They just need the iPhone 16e style device into the mac segment, nothing more, nothing less
I hope it will start 799 and have a good, Mba quality display and good enough ssd performance and so on than to start from 599 and have so much limitations. They just need the iPhone 16e style device into the mac segment, nothing more, nothing less
Pro user here with a 14" MBP M3 Pro, but I find myself very excited about the possibility of a new ultra-portable without all the limitations of the 12" Intel MacBook. The rumored limitations (even the lack of a keyboard backlight) are not deal breakers if they deliver on: Portability, battery life, external monitor support, and enough BTO expandability to make it sing (at least 16GB ram and 512GB storage). The cheaper price is just icing.
Tagbert
macrumors 604
I suspect that you are right with regards to the retail price. It might be cheaper for bulk educational purchases, though.
4sallypat
macrumors 603
Yes, our school district is waiting to buy 1000 of them for replacement of staff/faculty aging Intel MBP.......
Our Apple sales engineer will always get us a better price for the quantity purchase and also include AppleCare+ since some of our staff are pretty careless / damage prone....
I don't know about outsell, but Apple wouldn't want it to take away MacBook Air sales. It's supposed to be "worse" than the MacBook Air.
Even at 799, 20% less money than the MBA is going to seal the deal for some people... and if the offer of a more affordable Mac gets people's feet inside the store (virtually or literally) a good salesperson has a sporting chance to upsell them to an Air or Pro. That was part of the reasoning behind the original Mac Mini back in 2005.
If it starts at 799 then I suspect it will pretty quickly turn up "on offer" at 699 or lower from big retailers. My guess is that is part of the plan - something that can be offered at steep discounts without cannibalising Air/Pro sales too much. The "new" Walmart M1 MacBooks being sold at knockdown prices until recently sound like a trial run for that.
michaeljk
macrumors regular
If they are $699 for something decently specced, I will buy one--as a replacement for my M1 iPad Pro, which I basically never use, but keep around for backup and travel. I've realized that I don't really like using iPad OS. I type, a lot. When I attach my keyboard and case to the iPad it weighs, a lot. So, what's the point? If the new one starts at $799, I might pass, depending on what it has as the base option.
As long as it comes with at least 12GB of RAM and supports an external monitor at $599/$649 USD (around $1000 CAD), for me — since I only do web browsing, YouTube, and stuff like that — it’s a pretty good deal, especially considering that in Canada a MacBook Air M4 starts at $1399 CAD.
tomtad
macrumors 68040
Apple releasing a new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air without a backlit keyboard seemed quite ominous to me. I don’t think we’ll be seeing a backlit keyboard here.
4sallypat
macrumors 603
I remember reading that the replacement cost, maintenance, etc often made enterprise options spend more upfront on Mac and less in the long run.
In my school district, the kids treat the Chromebooks terribly and by the end of a kid’s 4 years of high school they are slow and terribly bogged down. I used a Pixelbook Go for my last few years (but MacBook Air at home) and it is the only Chromebook that came close to feeling like a quality Chromebook.
4sallypat
macrumors 603
Same here, we use HP Chromebooks (G7, G10 and G11) and the kids are awful destroying a $400 device like they don't own it.