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Yep! Exactly right.

Every aspect of every product lineup is Tim "Cooked" to specifically make you constantly think about going up a tier in one way or another.

He's like the tech equivalent of the people doing the science to make potato chips irresistible.
This schtick is getting old. I wonder if you and others made the same insinuations about Steve Jobs when he showcased the iMac, DV, DV+ and Special Edition models.

Somehow I highly doubt it.
 
I wonder how they'll pull the price down. 16GB RAM and 256GB of storage seems as a foregone conclusion for AI. The chips itself can't be that cheap if they're using the newest and greatest.
They can use older NAND and limit external display support, and perhaps include a less advanced internal display than even the MacBook Air. It might have only 1 memory option and limited storage options (256GB and 512GB) to reduce production costs.
 
Someone who needs to run desktop software that doesn't require a lot of horsepower and is on a tight budget.

Someone asked in r/FidelityInvestments if Active Trader Pro could run on an iPad. The answer was no. It's an x86 program which runs on Windows or macOS via WINE. I think that this would be better for a 10-12 inch MacBook than another 13.
except this MacBook is 13 inches according to the original post, and the last thing you’re gonna want to do with an iPhone chip is X86 emulation.
and it’s likely the budget for this computer will still be likely around $1000, maybe $599 at the lowest.
 
That sounds really cool – I wonder if this chip supports virtual memory – wasn't it a feature of the M-Series and the reason Apple put the M-Series in their higher end iPads?
 
If iPhones, iPads, and Macs all sharing the same chips then any software restrictions at this point are purely arbitrary.
Presumably:

A18 iPad - no multiple user logins.
Ai18 MacBook - multiple user logins.

Apple will have to have a very convincing reason as to why they won’t add this to the iPad.
 
Perhaps this will accompany the fabled plastic Apple Watch?
Apple has decided against the plastic watch because it cannot fulfil the quality requirements. It scratches incredibly quickly and looks cheap and ugly.

To save $50 they shouldn't make this MacBook in plastic. Cheap & extremely ugly.

90% of all Windows laptops are made of plastic, they all look cheap and ugly. All I have to do is run a finger over the case and I immediately feel cheap plastic! One of the reasons why I switched to a MacBook.
 
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This is just a bizarre rumor/product. Estimates are that the M1 costs Apple ~$40/chip, and the A18 costs...~$40/chip. So what's the point?
Those production costs may have come down some since the A18 is not a "new" chip anymore. It could also be that a surplus of those chips exists. 🤷‍♂️

If they are shooting for a K-12 product this could also be a "loss leader" in hopes those students will purchase a MacBook Air/Pro after they graduate.

I doubt it would be a 12" device, that would increase costs via engineering and tooling. The more they can reuse existing designs and tooling (new or old) the cheaper the product can be made. It could likely be cheaper to keep using MBA 13" chassis & screen vs a 12" variant due to those reasons.

Also makes we wonder if they plan to use panels that were otherwise rejected for MBA's (color accuracy rejections - a device targeted at K-12 does not NEED a screen with the same degree of accuracy as MBA or MBP). Could be a way to reduce waste & decrease costs.
 
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I think this will become the new entry model for the MacBook instead of the air .
A18 pro has been proven to be faster then M1 and does all basics tasks someone might need to do college or university work .
Priced around £849 would be great value if that’s true but I can see it being more £900 or £949 .
I think when it comes out I will be buying it to Replace my 2020 intel MacBook Air .
 
Considering the A18 Pro only has 8GB RAM it would be silly to assume it had more…
You wouldn’t expect Apple to manufacture a different model for this would you.
How difficult would it be for Apple to use the A19 Pro instead? If this were just about using up extra A18 Pro chips, it would be easier just to give the iPad mini a spec bump next year than develop an entirely new product.
 
If this was an education-level device, there are all kinds of possibilities. Perhaps a polycarbonate case as some have suggested. No need for external monitor support or some of the other features you get with an MX chip in an Air. What about a touch screen as a way for kids to transition from an iPad and iPadOS to keyboard? Or running a version of iPadOS in the first place?

Apple hasn't been making lower-end education devices (like the iBook and eMac) for a while, but they may want to get back into this market just so students grow into the Apple ecosystem, as opposed to being raised on Chromebooks.

Basically we don't have much more info than a chip, though, so so it's all speculation at this point.
 
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except this MacBook is 13 inches according to the original post, and the last thing you’re gonna want to do with an iPhone chip is X86 emulation.
and it’s likely the budget for this computer will still be likely around $1000, maybe $599 at the lowest.
With a smaller bezel and a notch they can fit a "13 inch" screen. And the A18 is faster than the M1 even for multicore tasks. It could run WINE for basic Windows applications easily (lack of Rosetta support in 2 years is the bigger issue).
 
Who knows what apple will do, but it seems weird to launch another device that can't run future apple intelligence features well. 8gb of ram is a limitations that I assume all products will address going forward
 
This would be pretty bad for the Mac in general. If you can already connect an external screen it probably won’t go over 4K, it won’t have virtualization, so forget things like Rosetta 2 or Crossover.

The only good thing is that you likely have a battery that could last a full week.

This likely means a Mac that’s going behind the locked door like iOS. If they make it Mac App Store only the device is DOA though.
 
Yeah definitely competing with Chromebooks in schools. If you ask any kid under 16 that doesn’t do any PC gaming, one all they know about Windows is you can open one, and don’t fall out of one above the first floor. Two, they all know Apple. Three, they are all forced to use garbage Chromebooks. This is Apple making sure Chromebooks don’t start getting anymore edge than they already have.
 
With a smaller bezel and a notch they can fit a "13 inch" screen. And the A18 is faster than the M1 even for multicore tasks. It could run WINE for basic Windows applications easily (lack of Rosetta support in 2 years is the bigger issue).
we are talking about a laptop That’s apparently supposed to be cheaper, I don’t think thinner bezels are really on the menu I’m afraid.
 
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we are talking about a laptop That’s apparently supposed to be cheaper, I don’t think thinner bezels are really on the menu I’m afraid.
The bezels on the 12" MacBook were huge by today's standards. But yes, it's certainly possible they use the existing MacBook Air chassis or even the M1 chassis if the main objective is a low price.
 
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Glad someone else remembers that. I was going to be pedantic and complain about the “never used an A-series chip in a Mac before” bit.
I just watched DosDude resurrect one of developer kits. So an A-series is certainly capable. Interestingly the A-12 and up is getting the new iPadOS.
 
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