Here Are All the Rumors About Apple's New $599 MacBook

[Quackington]

1

i would love $499 10 to 11 inch laptop.. bring those back!!!

11” yes but only if it’s as wide as the old 11” MBA. If we go with 11” iPad Air size, the keyboard is too dinky and uncomfortable.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

I have a MBP, but honestly, I would be completely fine with this..as long as it has decent storage as an option. I'm not a coder, I'm not a gamer, and I don't do video/audio work other than touching up GoPro video from my adventures..which I keep for myself and never post anywhere, so no re-encoding.

I'm not sure if the fans have ever started spinning!

 

[MEMSMaster]

Nobody will buy 1 if price diff to 13” M4 MBA is only about $100.

This is aimed squarely at the educational mass market. $100/unit makes a big budget difference if a school district is buying 1000 units. This may or may not be pushed much in Apple Stores or retailers, or may just be kept for online ordering at the one unit level.

 

[Lioness~]

I love that this smaller MacBook comes out!

But I wont sell/trade in my MBA M3 for it - I've had some thoughts around it though.
But next portable could definitely be this one, if they keep upgrade it.
We'll see?

 

[Digitalguy]

What will this sacrify compared to a MacBook air?
- 1 UBS C port (remains to see if there is magsafe or not, or if it's like the iPad)
- Thunderbolt
- likely base RAM will be lower (8 or 12GB) with the option to upgrade to 16, but not more
- battery size, probably a smaller batter to avoid this having longer battery life than the air.
- slightly smaller screen
- storage options will probably cap at 1TB (also possibly slower storage too)
- long term support (may be supported 1-2 years less than the regular M series Macs, just like the iPad A series is supported for 5 years of OS updates instead of 7 for the air/pro)
- webcam quality
- charger in the box?

As for weight, it will probably be lighter than the air but definitely not as light as the 12" MacBook.

 

[macjaffa]

Will this be more powerful than a 2019 i9 mbp ?

 

[Scarboose]

12.9” display, a single USBC port and an iPhone chip? What if it only runs iPadOS 26 with no touchscreen? The battery would last forever! I would buy it!

 

[MayaUser]

This is aimed squarely at the educational mass market. $100/unit makes a big budget difference if a school district is buying 1000 units. This may or may not be pushed much in Apple Stores or retailers, or may just be kept for online ordering at the one unit level.

so is the ipad...his statement stand still...no way this iphone chip with 8gb+256ssd to be just $100 cheaper, is not the Apple way...check ipad, apple watch or iphone line-up as well for reference and business model

 

[Siliconguy]

Why not an A19 or A20? Could be a showcase for those.

The A18 is a 3 nm chip so it's on the standard production line not the new pricey one.

If it matches M1 performance it's quite good enough for the 99% of people who are not doing 4k video editing. It will use less power than the 5 nm M1 improving battery life.

 

[MayaUser]

The A18 is a 3 nm chip so it's on the standard production line not the new pricey one.

If it matches M1 performance it's quite good enough for the 99% of people who are not doing 4k video editing. It will use less power than the 5 nm M1 improving battery life.

So this will be basically an M1 Air with better battery life probably

 

[Wombat-man]

I'm still using my 8-year old 12" Macbook as it's so great for taking on travel to conferences etc.
So, it would be wonderful to be able to replace it with something similar, and perhaps be able to use it for another 8 years!

 

[Mr. Nice]

Who said it was going to be a MacBook?

To me, it looks more like a competing product for Chromebooks in the US education sector. Then with A processor...

Who says it won't run iPadOS?

I'm skeptical.

But the thing will have some big negative aspects, such as not being able to connect to a monitor.
You all know apple 😈

 

[satchmo]

I just bought a new MBA M4 13" at BB for $800. Apple could easily have the M3 or M2 for $600. Not sure why they need to create a new underpowered laptop category. Just use the old models but they rather not.

Just a guess, but possibly they have an abundance of cheaper A-series chips.

Tim won’t let anything go to waste if there’s money to be made.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

So this will be basically an M1 Air with better battery life probably

..and a lot longer Software support.

 

[StudioMacs]

Will this be more powerful than a 2019 i9 mbp ?

The 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro with the Intel Core i9 processor has a single-core performance score of around 1356 in Geekbench 5.


The A18 Pro chip and has shown Geekbench 5 scores ranging from around 3296 to 3570 in single-core tests.

 

[Siliconguy]

Seems pricy for a cheap laptop to be honest.

The Competition,

Dell 15 Laptop​

Model: DC15255

$399.99

• AMD Ryzen™ 5 7530U, 6 cores
• Windows 11 Home
• AMD Radeon™ Graphics
• 16 GB DDR4
• 512 GB SSD
• 15.6" Non-Touch FHD
• 3 USB ports, an SD card reader and a headphone jack.

But no Thunderbolt or 4K output.
Tightwad Tim better not nerf the low end laptop too much.

 

[aParkerMusic]

Just a guess, but possibly they have an abundance of cheaper A-series chips.

Tim won’t let anything go to waste if there’s money to be made.

Why let things go to waste if you can make a more affordable product out of it and millions of people will be happy with the product?

Yeah, you’re right, just throw it all in a landfill.

 

[ghanwani]

The issue isn't affordability. They are already practically giving away the current laptops. The issue is temporal dithering which makes all their current laptops unusable for many.

 

[Macbookey]

A perfect computer for many sadly the posers and youtube reviewers will ruin the market for it..a simple machine perfectly adapt at: email, web browsing, watching youtube videos, writing school papers. However the posers will complain about ram (8gb enough for the intended tasks but not in the mind of a poser fantasy), lack of Thunderbolt--as if the intended users would ever attach anything to the computer, lack of multiple external monitors- again, nothing the intended user would do, lack of ProMotion -which has almost zero impact on 99% of users, can't play graphic intensive games on it (booo hoo) nor can you edit an hour long 8k video....ahhh the world of posers who believe a $599 base machine should run just like a $3,000 Pro Machine....

Yup. To be expected. Midnight M2 Air went through the negativity and came out on top anyways. Once in store, none of those overrated and narrow minded “influencers” will have final say. The everyday consumers will see this and jump on it, as the concerns about what it lacks won’t be of any consequence to them. Anything at this point that drives the Mac is a wonderful thing in my book. Shame this isn’t ready for the back to school season this year. Sleeper hit written all over it. The Air may lose some sales to this, but not all. Those that need the Pro or want the cachet will purchase that regardless. It is about damn time Apple got non Mac users into the fray, and to grow with the product. Great second machine as well for desktop Mac users.

My view on this product has changed. Anything that makes the Mac less of an afterthought is a good thing. The Mac has made more coin for Apple in many recent quarters than the iPad. Time to give those that can’t afford higher end Macs the experience that macOS brings, and not have them try and do it all on an iPad due to price sensitivity.

 

[egdiroh]

I think it's intresting to watch Apple's chip family strategy. It seems to almost follow a pattern and then it doesn't. Like every so often it looks like they flag a chip as a long term support chip that will make it's way to a lot of the products that tend to sit unchanged, and then they'll update one of those slow refresh products with a random chip. I think they have a hybrid supply chain strategy of some chips that are good for cost efficiency and go in a lot of things, and some that are situationally advantageous in the moment to put into products. But there are definitely some chips that they seem to kill quickly. I bet there are some really wild prototypes in the apple vaults.

 

[jwdsail]

Rumors continue to surface about Apple launching an affordable MacBook as early as this year.

Below, we recap all of the reports and rumors so far.

Taiwanese supply chain publication DigiTimes expects the laptop to have a starting price of between $599 and $699 in the United States.

The publication said the lower-cost MacBook will be equipped with a 12.9-inch display, and a version of the A18 Pro chip that debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro models last year. It would become the first Mac to ever use an A-series chip from an iPhone.

The lower-cost MacBook could launch in late 2025 or early 2026, according to the report.

Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo was first to reveal that Apple is allegedly planning a more affordable MacBook. In late June, he also said the laptop will have around a 13-inch display, and an A18 Pro chip. Kuo said potential color options include silver, blue, pink, and yellow, so the laptop could come in bright colors, like the iMac.

A18 Pro specs include a 6-core CPU, a 6-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. The chip is around 40% slower than the M4 chip, but its performance is comparable to the M1 chip, so this new MacBook could effectively be a replacement for the old MacBook Air with the M1 chip, which Apple still sells through Walmart for $649.

In the iPhone 16 Pro models, the A18 Pro chip has 8GB of RAM, whereas all current MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models start with at least 16GB of RAM. In addition, the chip lacks Thunderbolt support, so the new MacBook would likely be equipped with regular USB-C ports. They would look the same as Thunderbolt ports, but data transfer speeds would be limited to up to 10 Gb/s, and the new MacBook might natively support only a single external display, but that limitation can be overcome with DisplayLink adapters.

The lower-cost MacBook could have a lot in common with the discontinued 12-inch MacBook, including an ultra-thin and lightweight design. It would slot in below the MacBook Air, which has a slightly larger 13.6-inch display, an M4 chip, and a starting price of $999. However, the latest MacBook Air is often on sale on Amazon for as low as $799.

Apple often announces new Macs in October, so stay tuned.

Article Link: Here Are All the Rumors About Apple's New $599 MacBook

I'm still not convinced that this will be a consumer product?

Still feels like a EDU exclusive that they'll price closer to $499 with limited color options...

A consumer version of this could be made available if they see enough demand for it (the eMac was originally an EDU exclusive that they later offered to consumers), that could be offered in a variety of colors at $699...

I just can't see Apple undercutting the rest of their laptop line on the consumer side with this? As an EDU play, it makes a lot of sense though.

We'll see...

 

[jecowa]

Is this going to have Rosetta 2? The way I understand it is that Apple put special stuff on the M series chips for Rosetta 2 stuff, so I’m wondering if the A series chips will be capable of Rosetta 2.

 

[Student of Life]

Who said it was going to be a MacBook?

To me, it looks more like a competing product for Chromebooks in the US education sector. Then with A processor...

Who says it won't run iPadOS?

I'm skeptical.

But the thing will have some big negative aspects, such as not being able to connect to a monitor.
You all know apple 😈

The market for this item won’t be connecting it to a monitor if we are being honest.

The interesting thing here is that it would be a different special build that you know people will modify to work on regular iPads like the iPad mini etc, those not on M chip sets, the iPad 11.

 

[foggygray]

Seems a bit late in the year to release something that definitely going to be popular for school.

For me if it is smaller and more compact than a 13 inch MacBook I’d be a bit interested. I’m sure performance out of an A18 would t be too bad.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

This strategy would be inspired from the iPad strategy:

• Entry-level iPad with an A chip and basic specs.
• Midrange iPad Air with an M chip.
• Top-tier iPad Pro with an M chip and the most advanced features.

The only difference, I guess, is that there won't be a MacBook Mini because macOS isn't designed for such a small screen.