Will the Rumored Lower-Cost MacBook Use an A18 Pro or A19 Pro Chip?

[navaira]

$699 would probably translate to €839 in Europe (70% of Air’s price). That’s too much – I can get a M2 Air refurb with 16 GB RAM for €857 on Amazon.nl right now. $599 would probably become €720, though, and then it’s going to be difficult for me to stop myself from buying one, I’m a writer and I’d like to have a dedicated writing-only laptop. I expect it to be close to Air’s size but with larger bezels and no notch, possibly slightly thicker because of polycarbonate chassis, same colours as base iPads – Kuo keeps mentioning silver, blue, yellow, and pink. 12 GB RAM, just enough for it to run Apple Intelligence really slowly. A three-year replacement cycle machine for someone who intends to actually use it for everything.

What I actually WANT is the return of tapered 12” rMB with a real keyboard and larger screen in sub-1kg body, but that’s unfortunately wishful thinking. The tapered chassis is not coming back. Snif. (Please prove me wrong, Apple.)

 

[JPack]

$699 would probably translate to €839 in Europe (70% of Air’s price). That’s too much – I can get a M2 Air refurb with 16 GB RAM for €857 on Amazon.nl right now. $599 would probably become €720, though, and then it’s going to be difficult for me to stop myself from buying one, I’m a writer and I’d like to have a dedicated writing-only laptop. I expect it to be close to Air’s size but with larger bezels and no notch, possibly slightly thicker because of polycarbonate chassis, same colours as base iPads – Kuo keeps mentioning silver, blue, yellow, and pink. 12 GB RAM, just enough for it to run Apple Intelligence really slowly. A three-year replacement cycle machine for someone who intends to actually use it for everything.

What I actually WANT is the return of tapered 12” rMB with a real keyboard and larger screen in sub-1kg body, but that’s unfortunately wishful thinking. The tapered chassis is not coming back. Snif. (Please prove me wrong, Apple.)

Like always, Apple will use software as a determining factor.

Macs historically get 6-7 years of major macOS updates, meaning M2 MBA will drop off by 2029. The low cost MacBook will run the latest OS through 2033.

Apple is building and selling brand new M1 units to Walmart for $599. There is no reason for Apple to drop to plastic.

 

[Churchman]

Just had an interesting thought...

What if the all-new redesign for the 2026 M6 MBP is being previewed in the features found on the iPhone 17 phones?
- MBP with vapor chamber cooling tech from iPhone 17 Pro
- MBP with Nx or N2 chip for better / more efficient wifi and bluetooth performance (which uses less battery per minute)
- MBP with Cx or C2 chip for better / more efficient modem performance (which uses less battery per minute)
- MBP with wide but "iPhone 17 Air" thin battery with better thermal management coding

**** Because of the above, Apple may remove the MBP heatsink.... or remove the MBP fans... or both... or put in a less significantly sized MBP fan****​

Those features on the MBP would definitely make the all-new MBP:
- great to use from a Thermal Management perspective
- more powerful / productive to use in terms of incorporating the advanced N chip and C chip tech.
- super thin due to the thinner 17 Air style battery, smaller profile MBP fan, and the packaging learnings from the 17 Air frame/chassis.

If they would also do a titanium housing for the MBP and finally get beyond the ages-old Aluminum casing / unibody / whatever - That would be nice. I think I have had Aluminum Apple notebooks since about 2004 or 2005 - so, 20 years of Apple and Aluminum notebooks. Time for some new metal in the MBP line.

 

[jlc1978]

If they would also do a titanium housing for the MBP and finally get beyond the ages-old Aluminum casing

I doubt we ever see a titanium MacBook, given higher raw material and production cost for no real benefit over aluminum.

 

[Quackington]

I’d love for this to be the size of the 11” MBA, but I don’t think it will be. I’d rather not have it be the size of the 13” MBA, so at the least I’m hopeful that it’s a bit smaller.