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New 12.9-Inch MacBook Could Launch This Year Starting at $599

I've never wanted an iPad, as I see it as a handicapped laptop (in my user case). But a very light-weight laptop for media consumption and some work while on the sofa and traveling would be great. Price must be well below an M3 or M4 MBA with the same RAM/Drive size of course.

For some reason the first generation of a new machine usually isn't the most attractive in specs. So I expect to buy such a Macbook not earlier than when the 2nd generation has arrived.
 
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daabido said:
Some of us are allergic to such nonsense. We need a real machine with a real OS. Maybe that's my age, or having taught through the nightmares of the iPad for the classroom disaster. A lot of kids live on their phones, which is such an incredibly awful web experience. This could be just what Apple needs to get them using MacOS.
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You misunderstand me - I'm not a fan of iPadOS. I just don't see how Apple can offer something cheaper than an Air, which already has a 60hz non-miniLED display and subpar speakers compared to a Macbook Pro. So, what exactly is this new machine going to be? What features will it lack so it doesn't cannibalize Air sales? I'm not seeing the market they're trying to address. The only thing that makes sense is that they're going to move the Air upmarket by giving it more features along with a price hike.
 
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SeaFox said:
Of course it would make too much sense to simply use the 13" Air chassis for this. Gotta start producing another part SKU specially for this for maximum inefficiency in the new lower-cost laptop model.
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Ah, but it would evidently be another product vehicle for iPad Air screens (the larger screens). The ones without touchscreens anyway. (Unless…) And a vehicle for Apple’s rumored upcoming Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chip, just in case “Version 1.0” isn’t that great.

We’ve had parts bin “frankenphones” in the iPhone lineup for nearly 10 years. Why not a “frankenMac”?
 
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Could be a great laptop for a very large number of people - people who want a "proper" laptop for web browsing, e-mails, office-type documents whilst being able to stream video/music in the background and manage their files. Playing games, rendering video or batch editing photos are alien topics to these people - perhaps they would do some light photo editing, but likely using Apple Photos rather than Photoshop. An A18 would easily give enough horsepower for those kinds of tasks.

It does raise the questions though, how does Apple not loose revenue & margin compared to selling these people a MBA? Recycling the iPhone chip (with 8 GB Ram), likely an iPad Air 12.9" screen (with reduced brightness?), only 1 USB-C port with no thunderbolt that can only drive 1 display, lower quality speakers, slower SSD (or single chip storage like the M2 MBA)...

With the size of MacOS these days, surely it has to be 256 GB storage?
 
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Sounds good just don't cripple it like the first butterfly keyboard MacBook that had a total of one USB-C port and a terraced battery that could not be replaced and a crappy keyboard that would constantly fail. And was still very expensive despite all these limitations.
 
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Checks out: 599.- for 8/128. Plus 100 for 16, plus 100 for 256. 799.- for 16/256 with no thunderbolt, worse screen, and probably various other cuts (no MagSafe? One USB-C plus MagSafe), vs an M4 16/256. That makes for a pretty logical step-up ramp, plus it gives pundits something to whine about now that the base Air has become too good.
 
Mity said:
What exactly would it be used for? To serve as a modern netbook? Isn't that what people use non-pro iPads with a keyboard case for?
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For the hundredth time: iPad OS does not have Mac apps, which is a significant disadvantage! Why do you think many users wanted an iPad with MacOS? This is now the solution: a device with MacOS that is small and light (under 1000 grams) and runs apps like Excel, Word, Lightroom, Photoshop and FCPX, rather than the limited nonsense on iPad OS.
I'm also sure that many users will get it as an additional Mac despite having a desktop Mac and iPad, just like me.
 
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I'm a light to moderate user who could get by on an M1. All I ever hope for is that it has 120hz and 16GB memory, I feel like the rest (performance / build quality) is a given with Apple.
 
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cjsuk said:
I will probably buy one of these for my youngest daughter who needs a first "proper" laptop. It'll be good enough to last 3-5 years for her and will most likely run all the Google classroom crap she has to use better than the current ipad, as well as integrating with the family's icloud stuff.
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Sounds like a big junk failure. Apple can use a current nm process M1 chip or M2. Junk.
 
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frou said:
Dude, a lot of the market barely knows what processor and RAM do, let alone has preferences about them. But everyone knows what $200 in the pocket is.
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Nevermind "dude" with today social media and AI...even the average people will know everything about anything...$200 is too small...facts will show if this will be real for 256+8gb ram, even the supply chain rumours says 599
 
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