Low-Cost MacBook Expected on March 4 in These Colors

[turbineseaplane]

My favorite part of this particular product rumor is how everyone likes to map their hopes and dreams (and 11" MBA & 12" PB/MB nostalgia) on to it.

My money is on a pretty gimped device that will satisfy very few folks reading this.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Please be 12 inches - instant buy for me!

I don’t think that that will happen. The current rumor is 12.9” which is enough to separate it from the Air as far as screen size goes.

 

[Falco McGregor]

The M5 is just an A18 Pro X.

Same when iPads had the iPhone processor with an X o Z.

It’s just the same technology with a different marketing name.

Anyway… does anyone believe they are going to release something with the SAME internals than an iPhone 17 Pro… but with a bigger battery + bigger screen + keyboard, the only difference is the absence of 3 cameras, and sell it for a lot less than an iPhone 17 Pro?

I wouldn’t be surprised if they called that A18Pro the M5e to help with the branding, especially if they tweak the ram to give 8gig and 12gig options.

 

[Apple_Robert]

My favorite part of this particular product rumor is how everyone like to map their hopes and dreams (and 11" MBA & 12" PB/MB nostalgia) on to it.

My money is on a pretty gimped device that will satisfy very few folks reading this.

How about the 11” MBA? I still have mine in excellent cosmetic and running condition. If I get the new MB, I will do a side by comparison for a grin or two lol

 

[WarmWinterHat]

It will have two notable improvements over the 12” MacBook.

1. Performance and good battery life without throttling, even the M1 Air is still great in these regards for regular computer stuff.
2. It will have MagSafe and 1 USB.

Magsafe? What?!

Naaa..

Edit: Ugh, I was thinking about the puck, not the power cable on the side... 😑

 

[hajime]

I would be very angry if MacBook Pro 16" with M5 Pro will not be released on that day.

How is the performance of such cheap laptop? May be too weak to run some Windows applications satisfactory through Parallels? The screen size is probably too small for me. Perhaps just buy this while waiting for the redesign?

 

[Apple_Robert]

It's to distract us from Apple's failed AI efforts and Liquid (gl)Ass

Hey, look! Shiny new hardware.

😂

I likely shiny stuff. It is part of the male DNA.

 

[spunkystrawberries]

I wouldn’t be surprised if they called that A18Pro the M5e to help with the branding, especially if they tweak the ram to give 8gig and 12gig options.

Yeah, I've been wondering about this too. Maybe it's just my old school thinking, but I've typically associated A chips with iPhones and iPads and M chips with Macs. Though it's impressive, I've thought that every new generation of iPad Pro with an M4 or M5 or whatever seemed like way overkill. But to the other person's point, the core of these chips are largely similar and extra things about them don't make sense for an entry level portable (dedicated video encoders, for instance).

But I still think from a marketing perspective there's something they need to dance around a bit, so I'm curious to hear what they're going to call these. Just on the surface, saying it's a Mac powered by an A chip sounds very underpowered (though I know that's not necessarily reality and even their original Apple Silicon dev kits were A-based.)

 

[bookcase]

This would most likely meet my needs, and I was looking forward to it. But I couldn't resist the sales on the M4 MBA during the holidays and went that route instead.

 

[hajime]

I did a quick re-render of my previous concept to see what these colours might look like.

How likely it is that there will be no notch on the screen?

 

[Hank001]

And 16GB RAM please. 8GB is useless in 2026.

I would love it if they release it with 8GB RAM. Because there is nothing wrong with 8GB, things run butter smooth, and since everyone wants 16GB RAM, no-one will buy it, so I don't have to worry about a quick sellout.

 

[abowlby]

They're bringing back that MacBook Air they sold for like 27 years at the launch day price. 😂

 

[azentropy]

Wish it was closer to 12”.

IF it has smaller bezels they might be able to fit that 12.9" into the same physical size/top as the 12" MacBook was. Fingers crossed.

 

[Bazza1]

Lemon yellow apropos, perhaps?

The MacBook Air used to be the (comparatively) inexpensive and lightweight de facto laptop for students, road warriors and cafe habitues, but priced itself out of that market years ago. So I 'get' the idea behind this device, but hobbling it's usability to be able to only handle iPhone'esque tasks is going to frustrate many. And maybe that's the point - pushing the buyer into upgrading to a 'real' Mac.

They could have used older tech to save money and still give users a capable fully-featured MacBook. Heck, my secondary Mac is a 2017 MacBook Air (running Monterey) that has - and runs - 95% of the apps on my Mini M2.

Not sure anyone really wants the Apple Chromebook, though.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I would love it if they release it with 8GB RAM. Because there is nothing wrong with 8GB, things run butter smooth, and since everyone wants 16GB RAM, no-one will buy it, so I don't have to worry about a quick sellout.

You won't have to worry about a quick sellout, no matter what.

 

[JeziLondon]

Where’s the green one in your image 🫣

 

[wolfpackfan]

Okay, two weeks ago I purchased a new (open box) MacBook M1. Now this new MacBook comes along. From what you have read how will my M1 compare to the new MB? I can still return the M1.

 

[zachz]

I don’t need one, I have a (yellow) iMac and a MacBook Pro, but if they really do release a yellow MacBook that will be an instant preorder… I’m ready

 

[Farquar]

The only niche this product will fill is price. With the Air starting at $1,099, there is much room for a lower cost MacBook.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I would love it if they release it with 8GB RAM. Because there is nothing wrong with 8GB, things run butter smooth, and since everyone wants 16GB RAM, no-one will buy it, so I don't have to worry about a quick sellout.

If they want to make the MB appealing enough for people to buy, the base model is going to have to have 8GBm if Apple wants to keep their fat margins, in my opinion. I don’t think you will have to worry about getting a launch day model.

 

[seek3r]

I hope Apple doesn’t try what Microsoft did with their “R” edition of Windows and ship this will a version of iOS. Keep it macOS and it will be amazing. And 16GB RAM please. 8GB is useless in 2026.

I would have bet on 12GB a few months ago, but now with RAM prices the way they are… if they want to keep this machine cheap it’s likely going to have 8GB base

But hey, maybe they’ll surprise me and go with 12 or 16

 

[iZac]

How likely it is that there will be no notch on the screen?

My logic was that it could have thick bezels (~1cm) which are around the same as the current iPads.

Maybe it's just wishful thinking 😉

 

[Biro]

This would most likely meet my needs, and I was looking forward to it. But I couldn't resist the sales on the M4 MBA during the holidays and went that route instead.

I’d say you did well. Unless one wants thinner and lighter than a MBA (which is me because I have a MacBook Pro already), a base Air at $749 probably makes more sense.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Maybe it's just wishful thinking 😉

"Wishful Thinking" perfectly describes most of the vibes about this product rumor.
😂

 

[StoneJack]

Okay, two weeks ago I purchased a new (open box) MacBook M1. Now this new MacBook comes along. From what you have read how will my M1 compare to the new MB? I can still return the M1.

see benchmarks for a18 and m1
Pros of Apple M1

• Performs 37% better in floating-point computations
• Has 2 more cores
• Supports 14% higher memory bandwidth (68.25 against 60 GB/s)
• Shows better (up to 7%) AnTuTu 10 score – 1795K vs 1683K

Pros of Apple A18

• Has a smaller size transistor (3 versus 5 nm)
• 27% higher CPU clock speed (4050 vs 3200 MHz)
• Higher GPU frequency (~17%)
• Better instruction set architecture