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What to Expect From Apple's Rumored New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip

I didn’t realize I had so many thoughts on this.

I wonder if this will really be like an A18 with an X ‘design’ like they did with iPads (and the developer silicon Mac mini) all those years ago.

How much cheaper could an A18 be to manufacture vs an M chip? They’d be better off trying to put an M series in an iPhone, not the other way around.

If it were me… I wouldn’t rock the Mac boat, they’re killing it on Mac sales (and development) right now. And an underpowered MacBook is risky. It just can’t possibly have the longevity.
 
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crsh1976 said:
At least we know iPadOS works with a pointing device, as per the trackpad present on keyboard covers/contraptions (plus there is keyboard and mouse support in iPadOS) - unlike macOS that is not touch friendly at all, the UI isn't made for it.
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Sure, I think iPadOS with mouse is much better than macOS with touch - because clicking large targets is easier than touching small targets. But keyboard and mouse are optional accessories for the iPad. It works, but it’s not ideal.
 
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Don't think macOS would make good for this kind of device. I believe that a version of iOS would be a good thing considering what the chip is. \
 
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ipedro said:
Upon Steve Jobs return to Apple, his first order of business was to scrap the massive product lineup with confusing points of differentiation and created a simple product matrix.

View attachment 2525386


This quite literally saved the company. Tim Cook is heading in the direction of Gil Amelio. I'm an Apple enthusiast and I have trouble explaining to friends what the point of difference is between the Air, Pro, Max, Plus, suffixes across product lines.
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If this is the best 12” ultra portable then it has a place if they execute well. However, the price of the previous 12” was its achilles heel. People bought the Air. The 13” Air was more successful than the 11” Air. The customer base is much larger than back then, but a simplified line still has its merits. Right now the MacBook line is hardware wise at its best. My cynicism comes from the M2 Air debuting with a single Nand chip SSD and 8GB RAM, that didn’t have the AI vision in tact at the time and was clearly all about margins. Tim Cook doesn’t know a good product experience and doesn’t value it. If it costs $0.05 more and is twice as good, he will axe it for the sake of the spreadsheet.  silicon made the MacBook Air capable of things the Intel version would have cooked trying. So what can this A18 version do and not do and what is the point? How will it translate in sales. Colour me skeptical. Cook did the 4 product grid with the executive teams and we see the results of that in software quality and advertising, that's for sure.

If it is well executed and has the base points covered for a $699-$799 Mac, then perhaps it brings more people to the Mac and that is great. However, if it is a 16E version of the Mac for the mass market, how good a product will it be? Webcam, ports, display, material build quality, RAM and Storage size etc. The mass market wants bigger screens. Proven time and time and again. Not good for iPhone mini and 12” MacBook fans for sure. I get that.

They lost the education market to Google and ignored the creatives for a good while on the Mac side under Cook. Because margins and a lack of product excellence. 1GB RAM iPhone 6 Plus to make more money on a super cycle and that went well as iOS advanced didn’t it.
 
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I guess the utility for this is having an entry level Mac below $1000, otherwise I don’t see the point over an M1 Mac
 
ipedro said:
Upon Steve Jobs return to Apple, his first order of business was to scrap the massive product lineup with confusing points of differentiation and created a simple product matrix.

View attachment 2525386


This quite literally saved the company. Tim Cook is heading in the direction of Gil Amelio. I'm an Apple enthusiast and I have trouble explaining to friends what the point of difference is between the Air, Pro, Max, Plus, suffixes across product lines.
Click to expand...

This would be the perfect time to revive the iBook — I can’t believe it hasn’t been mentioned by name yet in the comments. The old iBook actually made almost the same compromises as what’s being discussed here — it lacked FireWire and had a slower CPU compared to the PowerBooks of the time.

A $599 iBook that prioritized durability and fun colors/style would absolutely slay in the current market. Only a very small portion of Mac users utilize Thunderbolt or Multiple displays, and M1-level computing power is clearly enough for Consumer computing.

Once a new ultraportable is ready, you call that the new MacBook Air, and the naming conventions would actually make sense again. Air/Max and i/Pro are both pretty easy to understand, if Apple would just stick to using them as they were intended.
 
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eroslws said:
The dev Mac mini used an iPhone processor when they first announced the transition.

Edit: iPad, A12Z, but not too far off so they have experience with this.
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"not too far off" haha, you're literally as far off as you relatively can be. The difference between the A12 and the A12Z is EXACTLY the same as the difference between the A14 and the M1, or the A18 and the M4 etc lol.
 
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if the Mac mini can be priced competitively without a display, a non M series MacBook 12" or 11" could possibly be priced at $649 and $599 EDU or maybe -$50 if they want to push it. this would definitely be a single port + MagSafe device intended for ultraportable notebook/travel, etc. it would have to be similar to the 11" iPad/iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard case.
 
ipedro said:
Upon Steve Jobs return to Apple, his first order of business was to scrap the massive product lineup with confusing points of differentiation and created a simple product matrix.

View attachment 2525386


This quite literally saved the company. Tim Cook is heading in the direction of Gil Amelio. I'm an Apple enthusiast and I have trouble explaining to friends what the point of difference is between the Air, Pro, Max, Plus, suffixes across product lines.
Click to expand...
Within a few years Steve was already breaking out of the four box model. The Power Mac G4 Cube, the Mac mini, iMacs started shipping with multiple screen sizes after previously having different flavors like DV, DV+, Special Edition, the PowerBook/iBook/MacBook lineups all had multiple screen sizes with varying processor and graphics capabilities that were updated separately from each other (including the long lost 17" model), and the MacBook Air created an entirely new product segment.

I do agree that Apple has completely gone off the rails with the "Air" suffix not meaning anything. It used to mean thin and light. On the Mac it just means consumer grade, on the iPad it's the middle tier. They really should just rebrand both items to just "MacBook" and "iPad" and make the base model iPad the "iPad SE" or something.
 
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ipedro said:
This quite literally saved the company. Tim Cook is heading in the direction of Gil Amelio. I'm an Apple enthusiast and I have trouble explaining to friends what the point of difference is between the Air, Pro, Max, Plus, suffixes across product lines.
Click to expand...
Except we’re not near the level of confusion the old Mac lineup in the early to mid 1990s created.

Gil Amelio was only CEO of Apple for 500 days, he inherited that mess from the tag team of John Sculley and Michael Spindler who wreaked havoc on the Apple product line from 1990-1996. Those two created all those different product lines: just look at the Performa versus a PowerMac, not much difference there right? Just branding.

Amelio pushed for the NeXT acquisition, bringing Steve Jobs back and hiring Fred Anderson as CFO. Funny enough, Jobs gets a lot of credit for quite a few initiatives that Amelio started, which included simplifying the product line and hoarding cash.

One could say, if we didn’t have Gil Amelio cleaning up the trash in Apple in those 500 days, things would be very different. He was key to bringing Jobs back to the company, no one else wanted him or NeXT. Amelio pulled off a giant financing deal with Goldman Sachs that put $661 million into Apple coffers at a time when they had less than three months to stay open; even Jobs said it was masterful and he could not have done it.

Amelio really set a sturdier stage for Jobs than what he was given. Without Amelio, there’d be no Apple.
 
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b1narych0ice said:
This would be the perfect time to revive the iBook — I can’t believe it hasn’t been mentioned by name yet in the comments. The old iBook actually made almost the same compromises as what’s being discussed here — it lacked FireWire and had a slower CPU compared to the PowerBooks of the time.

A $599 iBook that prioritized durability and fun colors/style would absolutely slay in the current market. Only a very small portion of Mac users utilize Thunderbolt or Multiple displays, and M1-level computing power is clearly enough for Consumer computing.

Once a new ultraportable is ready, you call that the new MacBook Air, and the naming conventions would actually make sense again. Air/Max and i/Pro are both pretty easy to understand, if Apple would just stick to using them as they were intended.
Click to expand...
Apple has clearly shown that they're trying to get away from the "i" name. Ever since Tim Cook took over not a single new product category or new service has used the letter i in front of it, and in some cases it has been removed (iPhoto to Photos for example). So not a chance Apple would reverse course on that now. They prefer to use the word "Apple" in front of product names now, and my theory is that that decision was made when they went through all the issues when trying to get the trademark for "iWatch" and found it much easier to just give up and go with Apple Watch instead and then continue to do that going forward.
 
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Think it will sell well. Most probably it will be either $699 or $799 with education pricing taking it $100 less from that price. Hopefully the colours are bright and not very muted as usual. Want colours like on the iMac. Waiting to hear more about this MacBook.
 
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norbinhouston said:
Why? There's no reason for it. If you can afford $750, just spend another $250 for a much more capable machine.
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It's not always about the money. I'd gladly pay the same or more for a smaller lighter machine. I think my 12" Macbook cost $1,899 IIRC.

If you can't see the point, then you aren't in the target market for one. There are places & use cases where a smaller, lighter laptop will beat a larger, heavier 'more capable' one. Fingers crossed that this machine comes in smaller & lighter than the Air.
 
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ipedro said:
Upon Steve Jobs return to Apple, his first order of business was to scrap the massive product lineup with confusing points of differentiation and created a simple product matrix.

View attachment 2525386


This quite literally saved the company. Tim Cook is heading in the direction of Gil Amelio. I'm an Apple enthusiast and I have trouble explaining to friends what the point of difference is between the Air, Pro, Max, Plus, suffixes across product lines.
Click to expand...
The main reason Steve Jobs did that was that Apple was running out of money and they needed to cut costs. Culling the product line did that and had the added effect of simplifying Apple's marketing strategy.

Today Apple can afford to address different segments of the market. While their product line has been confusing at times, they seem to be settling on a "Good/Better/Best" strategy (a classic product approach). We see that with the iPhone 16e/16/16 Pro and the iPad/iPad Air/iPad Pro. MacBook/MacBook Air/MacBook Pro would follow the same pattern, which was NOT the case in 2015 when the 12" MacBook was priced at a premium to the Air.

If cost is the primary driver, it's likely Apple would use either the existing MacBook Air casing or the M1 "wedge," likely with a straight 13" display (no "notch" to extend to 13.6"). Since the A18 Pro does not draw as much power as the M4, Apple could make the battery smaller to make it lighter.
 
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crsh1976 said:
You're probably not reacting to my initial post, but I feel the need to specify that I don't want this thing to run iPadOS, but I cannot see what alternative it can run - macOS on an Axx chip would need to be heavily restricted app-wise to maintain performance on 8 GB of RAM and limited storage, which could be Apple's plan for a limited Chromebook-like device anyway.

Anytime is possible, but I doubt Apple will sell this at the right pricepoint to matter - it will be too expensive for its limited usefulness, stuck somewhere between iPads and Macbooks, and no expandability whatsoever as to not endanger either existing product lines.
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The A12Z DTK already supported virtual memory. A18 Pro will almost certainly support it as well.

Basically, if the standard M1/8/256 config runs fine today, there's no reason why A18 MacBook wouldn't.

We'd be going back the 8/16GB RAM debate of whether people really feel the difference with swap memory.
 
tennisproha said:
I guess the utility for this is having an entry level Mac below $1000, otherwise I don’t see the point over an M1 Mac
Click to expand...
Far superior single core performance, lower power consumption at idle, continued use of toolings after iPhone pro refresh... There are a lot of reasons.
 
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JPack said:
The A12Z DTK already supported virtual memory. A18 Pro will almost certainly support it as well.

Basically, if the standard M1/8/256 config runs fine today, there's no reason why A18 MacBook wouldn't.

We'd be going back the 8/16GB RAM debate of whether people really feel the difference with swap memory.
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That also assumes the A18 wouldn't be able to support 16 GB of physical memory. The A12Z shipped with 6GB in the iPads but the DTK shipped with 16. It's possible the memory controllers would support higher capacity RAM chips.

The fact that Apple did a mid-cycle update boosting the M3 MacBook Airs to 16GB at the same price is pretty telling that they're not going back to 8GB as a standard configuration on a Mac. The cost difference between the two is negligible.
 
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