Leaker Says Apple's Lower-Cost MacBook Will Have These 8 Limitations

[JPack]

For people in this thread, what is about a "low cost" laptop that you do not understand? I mean, seriously.

A lot of people are thinking myopically, like "it's gotta have at least 12GB RAM or nobody will buy it." They're not thinking what Apple needs or what most consumers care about: price.

This thing is a weapon against more expensive Chromebooks and serves as a Trojan horse for the Apple ecosystem.

 

[lewchenko]

None of these are deal breakers if its cheap enough. Target audience probably watches netflix/browse/social media etc at most.
For anyone who wants more .. there is the Air.

Or a previous gen M2/M3 Air which would probably own this thing at everything for similar money.

 

[BeatsByTim]

None of these are deal breakers if its cheap enough

I think less than 1TB of storage is going to be a pretty big limitation for anyone in 2026.

Sad I can't use my "high impotence" headphones with this.

 

[matthew12]

Most of this sounds like nonsense. My cheap plastic MacBook I had back in 2008 had backlit keys. I can't see that getting dropped. Same with the lower brightness and fast charging.

 

[BeatsByTim]

For people in this thread, what is about a "low cost" laptop that you do not understand? I mean, seriously.

It's "lower cost", not "low cost". These are still luxury items for people of means. I'd still expect a base-model Bentley to be good.

 

[Siliconguy]

From Amazon this morning;

acer Chromebook Plus 515 Laptop with Google AI – 15.6" Full HD 1920 x 1080 IPS Touch Display | Intel Core i3-1305U | 8GB LPDDR5X | 256GB SSD | Wi-Fi 6E | FHD Camera | Chrome OS | CB515-2HT-33M4​

$400.

At the same price;

Acer Chromebook Plus 514 Laptop w/ Google AI (14" FHD Touchscreen, Intel 8-Core i3-N305, 8GB RAM, 640GB Storage, 2TB Cloud Storage) Business, Student, 11-Hr Long Battery Life, 1080p Webcam, Chrome OS.​

The 640 GB includes an SD card 🙄

Storage seems to be where the AI buildout is hitting. I'm seeing a lot of eMMC storage which is a built in SD card, or they have small SSDs or eMMC storage and they are adding in an SD card. None of these need the very fast RAM the AI people want.

It will be interesting to see what Apple really ships.

 

[BeatsByTim]

A lot of people are thinking myopically, like "it's gotta have at least 12GB RAM or nobody will buy it." They're not thinking what Apple needs or what most consumers care about: price.

This thing is a weapon against more expensive Chromebooks and serves as a Trojan horse for the Apple ecosystem.

The average apple user is a moron with no control over their spending. They'll buy a crippled product at a high price and then come here to post about how great it is.

 

[alexforget82]

For $599/$649, I’m hoping for 12GB of RAM and external monitor support.

I’ve seen some rumors saying Apple might have tweaked the A18 Pro to support 12GB of RAM.

 

[ClaraStahlbaum]

If it is priced at $699, then why not just spend an extra little more and get a Macbook air?

 

[Slix]

I don't think they'll skimp on a bunch of these. No backlit keyboard? Even the cheapest MacBook Air had that in 2010 2011 (thanks for the correction!).

 

[jarman92]

Very few things Apple does these days make much sense, but I’d be surprised if they chose a third-party wireless chip over an in-house option.

 

[Falco McGregor]

If it is priced at $699, then why not just spend an extra little more and get a Macbook air?

Probably because Apple has loads of market research stating that there are enough customers looking for a laptop in the $699 range that will not spend $300 extra dollars for the better device. Apple has now decided to not overlook that market after seeing how well a five-year old laptop has sold through Wal-Mart the past two years.

 

[JPack]

I don't think they'll skimp on a bunch of these. No backlit keyboard? Even the cheapest MacBook Air had that in 2010.

But this ain't a MacBook Air.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

I don't think they'll skimp on a bunch of these. No backlit keyboard? Even the cheapest MacBook Air had that in 2010.

The 2010 MacBook Air notably did not have a backlit keyboard. It was reintroduced on the 2011 models.

 

[PixelPanics]

Ugh no ProMotion in 2026??? No thank you. /s

 

[Mikeeea]

My janitor thinks that the pink might be off pink

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I can't help but to think why anyone would want something other than a flagship product (MBA or MBP).

I mean… it’s pretty simple.
$699 (or so) retail compared to $999 (MBA) or $1599 (MBP) retail. And this isn’t even to mention the discounts that will inevitably pop-up within months.
Sure, if one wants to do digging through refurbished, open box, renewed models better deals can be found, but your average consumer isn’t doing that, and that’s also true for pretty much every Apple product ever.

 

[Mackan]

do we think lack of backlit keyboard is evidence for white keyboard?

all sound acceptable to me, though 8 gb max would be worrying for long term software support..

Well, Apple has never cared about long term support. Rather the opposite. It's going to be great to have webpages constantly reload on this new Macbook. Just like the iPhone experience.

 

[Slix]

The 2010 MacBook Air notably did not have a backlit keyboard. It was reintroduced on the 2011 models.

Ah, my mistake. I knew I should have double checked my memory. 😉

 

[Kaiserschmarrn]

No problems with any of these except no backlit, that would be unacceptable.

 

[lakeball]

Everyone really needs to look up the word ‘limitations’, EVERYBODY is using it wrong. This potential MacBook is what it is, it may not be as capable as a MacBook ‘Pro’ for all those people who think they need higher spec technology when really they just use the device as a modern day living tasking machine and have a few pictures. It doesn’t have limitations if the model never had it in the first place.

 

[jz0309]

I would argue that $699 is palatable for people now that they are used to the absolutely-not-a-tax pricing that has trickled into the consumer component space. With even basic SSD prices now high, I see less of a sticker shock in play. If anything, I feel $599 would be a miracle.

I suppose we will find out soon.
But, the target audience for this "low cost" Mac has no idea about current SSD and RAM pricing, consider the audience for this laptop

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I would argue that $699 is palatable for people now that they are used to the absolutely-not-a-tax pricing that has trickled into the consumer component space. With even basic SSD prices now high, I see less of a sticker shock in play. If anything, I feel $599 would be a miracle.

$699 was the actual retail price of the Walmart MacBook Air, so that’s the price I think it will be, given that Walmart MacBook Air was in direct collaboration with Apple.
During the holidays, it could be found for as low as $549, that should be a clear indication of where this product will be sitting at.

 

[MrGimper]

Makes sense. They were hardly going to create a duplicate MacBook Air.

 

[Dirk Pieters]

If it is priced at $699, then why not just spend an extra little more and get a Macbook air?

Because for some people that $200 difference in price makes all the difference.