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

[bzgnyc2]

My prediction is $500 for a 11" screen base model and $600 for a 12.9" screen variant.

All the predicted specs would be fine for me except the 8GB or 12GB of RAM. I'm already at 16GB and don't forsee going backwards on that spec in particular. Otherwise, I'd actually rather have a ~ 5W device with A18/Pro performance than a 20W device with M4 performance. Similarly, I'd miss the potential for USB4/Thunderbolt but I don't use it often enough on my laptop to say it's a hard requirement.

On the flip side, perhaps the low ceiling on RAM will encourage both Apple and 3rd party developers to optimize OS and apps' RAM usage. Mojave ran all the basic applications fine in 8GB of RAM and Snow Leopard ran the same fine on a G4 with 512MB of RAM. There's definitely potential to optimize the OS back to <10% of hardware.

 

[zellzoi]

When has Tim Cook ever gave the customer more outside of the iPhone 17?

Can you elaborate?

 

[Bearygoodfries1]

The trade-offs seem fine, assuming it’s really cheap. The price is the determining factor.

It’s like the iPhone Air. The trade-offs seem fine and I would have gotten it if not for the high price.

 

[Rogifan]

No backlit keyboard? That feels like a must for any laptop these days.

 

[delsoul]

No backlit keyboard? That feels like a must for any laptop these days.

You’re not supposed to be looking at the keys when you’re typing anyways. So backlit keyboard or not makes no difference.

 

[bzgnyc2]

OK, if this new A18 Pro device can run macOS, so can any iPad Air or M-series iPad. Make it so!

Any device with at least an A12Z processor and 8GB of RAM is sufficient technically to run macOS. This was proven with the Apple Silicon Transition Kit Developer Edition (A12Z processor) and Mac Mini M1 (8GB RAM).

The difference between what is allowed to run macOS and what could run macOS are marketing/market segmentation/investment decisions.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

This will blow. your. mind. You're welcome!

Yes, i know you can turn it off the point was True Tone is garbage 👍

 

[bradman83]

As long as it is a SKINNY LEGEND like the 12" MacBook and Mariah Carey idgaf.

It's going to have more in common with the original bulky plastic 2006-2010 MacBook, which was the Intel successor to the iBook. Using the MacBook branding on the ultraportable super slim 2012 model was kind of a mistake.

 

[rKunda]

Only limitation is the backlit keyboard. Everything else seems fine for target market.

 

[mk313]

Interesting that none of the limitations mentioned referred to RAM. Might be hope that we get more than 8, or you'd think that would have been called out along with the SSD sizes.

I'll still buy it (as long as it's small/light) with 8 GB RAM, but would really prefer something larger.

 

[mukiex]

My prediction is $500 for a 11" screen base model and $600 for a 12.9" screen variant.

All the predicted specs would be fine for me except the 8GB or 12GB of RAM. I'm already at 16GB and don't forsee going backwards on that spec in particular. Otherwise, I'd actually rather have a ~ 5W device with A18/Pro performance than a 20W device with M4 performance. Similarly, I'd miss the potential for USB4/Thunderbolt but I don't use it often enough on my laptop to say it's a hard requirement.

On the flip side, perhaps the low ceiling on RAM will encourage both Apple and 3rd party developers to optimize OS and apps' RAM usage. Mojave ran all the basic applications fine in 8GB of RAM and Snow Leopard ran the same fine on a G4 with 512MB of RAM. There's definitely potential to optimize the OS back to <10% of hardware.

Honestly, Tim Cook working his way through the price discussions online going from $600 to $800 only to land it on $500 would be a classic Jobs era move.

I'm surprised Rosetta 2 wasn't in the list of axed features.

 

[bradman83]

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.

Are you remembering that correctly? None of the plastic MacBooks from 2006-2010 had backlit keys except for that one weird aluminum unibody model that they made.

 

[kevinws]

The keyboard might be a deal breaker for me. I can type just fine. Still I have had backlit keyboards for 16 years since switching to MacBooks

 

[minhrom]

duhh

 

[QCassidy352]

I guess this is ok at $699 (probably often available at $599 from third parties), but you get so much more with a base model Air. And yes a $300 difference is a lot, but most people keep Macs many years.

 

[joshwithachance]

The trade-offs seem fine, assuming it’s really cheap. The price is the determining factor.

It’s like the iPhone Air. The trade-offs seem fine and I would have gotten it if not for the high price.

I've been rocking the Air since launch day, and absolutely ****ing LOVE it.

 

[eRondeau]

My second laptop ever was a Late-2008 13” Unibody Aluminum MacBook (base 2.0GHz). It also made several sacrifices to reduce the price and differentiate it versus the MacBook Pro. So I get while Apple wants to strip features on this new one. The only thing I hope they reconsider is the backlit keyboard; my Late-2008 keyboard was unlit and it was a constant annoyance. You’ve probably never experienced a dark keyboard before; until you have you won’t understand it. You won’t ever notice slower storage, a cheaper wifi chip, or standard-impedance headphones. And you’ll get used to a dimmer display without P3 colour. But constantly screwing-up your password and pressing the wrong keys in dim/dark rooms is a permanent reminder that you cheaped-out and you’ll never be truly happy with this purchase.

 

[Homme]

I'm only surprised by the "No N1 chip".
Isn't that supposed to be cheaper for Apple?

The M5 MacBook Pro doesn’t have it so why expect this to have it as well

 

[AND411]

$150 Android phones also come with a charger. Do you LOL?

plus 120 hertz

 

[grad]

Even if 1/4 of those "Nos" are true then it is useless for me.

 

[Moukee]

Reads like a product whose main purpose is to upsell to the next tier (MacBook Air), unless it's really cheap like $499/499,-€.

 

[danbuter]

How well will Tahoe work on a machine this under-powered?

 

[BeatsByTim]

$150 Android phones also come with a charger. Do you LOL?

They also come with venereal disease.

 

[Spock]

These days are long gone:


(Go ahead like it - you guys know you can't help but crap on Apple)

Apple is not going to release a bad product, I am certain of that.

 

[BeatsByTim]

Apple is not going to release a bad product, I am certain of that.

They do all of the time.