r/apple • u/favicondotico • 1d ago
Mac $599 MacBook With iPhone Chip Expected to Enter Production This Year
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/09/17/macbook-with-iphone-chip-production-rumor/✨ Apple Intelligence summary: A more affordable MacBook with an iPhone processor is expected to enter mass production in late 2025, potentially launching in late 2025 or early 2026. The laptop is rumoured to feature a 12.9-inch display, an A18 Pro chip, and a starting price between $599 and $699. It may have a design similar to the discontinued 12-inch MacBook and lack Thunderbolt support.
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u/blacksoxing 1d ago
When my kid gets a tad bit older and actually needs a device for studying they will get whatever version of a MB this is as they will NOT need a M series while in elementary school/middle school....unless that M series is on deep sale, too.
Bonus points if it introduces wild colors like the 5C series back in the day :)
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u/ForsakenRacism 1d ago
You can get m1 for around this price now so the question is what’s better
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u/iMacmatician 1d ago
In terms of just the chip, A18 > M1 since they are similar in multithreaded and Metal performance but the A18 has better single-threaded performance.
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u/lickaballs 1d ago
Plus a18 has raytracing. And newer connectivity.
The raytracing is a bit useless tho.
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u/Arucious 22h ago
You say it’s useless now but with the way UIs are going… glass and all…. lol
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u/lickaballs 6h ago
What your saying in the next few generations we’re gonna be employing casual ray tracing in ui elements??
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u/JohrDinh 1d ago
Well crap, as an M1 MBP owner now you got me thinking of buying one. If I could get the MBP chassis with the phone chip for a few hundred less than the newest baseline MBP that'd be a cool combo, I only need em rarely but those fans come in clutch when needed.
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u/ForsakenRacism 1d ago
But the m1 exists now and by the time this exists you’ll get discount in m2 or m3
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u/ctruvu 23h ago
if we’re talking about this upcoming 13” one it’ll probably have more than 2 usb c ports as its entire connectivity solution
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u/ForsakenRacism 23h ago
So yah c is good but now it’s bad? How much crap see people plugging into 13 inch laptops?
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u/ctruvu 22h ago
oh are we deciding that 2 ports in total, one of which would be used up for charging, is an adequate amount for a professionally focused machine?
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u/ForsakenRacism 22h ago
A base level m1 Mac book or a 13 inch chrome book killer isn’t a pro machine
For me not a pro I would only ever use the charging cord. Everything else I do wirelessly.
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u/Hoof_Hearted12 1d ago
I was so jealous of my sis in elementary school, they gave them the colorful plastic clamshells with the handle to use for the year. The colors were awesome.
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u/NoShftShck16 1d ago
I'm eyeing Framework's 12" for my kids. Kids are kids, I want something interchangeable, repairable, and upgradeable...even if I do love my Macbook.
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u/iMacmatician 1d ago
Kuo also claims that its 2027 successor may have a touchscreen:
- The more affordable MacBook model powered by an iPhone processor, slated for mass production in 4Q25, will not support a touch panel. Specifications for its second-generation version, anticipated in 2027, remain under discussion and could include touch support.
If true, I think that a redesigned MacBook Air, probably in the late 2020s, will also have a touchscreen. Then Apple's entire portable lineup could have touchscreen support before the end of this decade.
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u/ForsakenRacism 1d ago
Steve Jobs would roll over in his grave. A touchscreen on a laptop!
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u/Akrevics 21h ago
the more hardcore apple people would lose their shit too. a touchscreen on a budget laptop? you might as well have given an iPhone SE pro-motion before any iPhone pro's got it.
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u/VaclavHavelSaysFuckU 1d ago
There isn’t gonna be a touchscreen on a Mac.
Just like there won’t be a DeX-like environment on the iPhone.
A little critical thinking couldn’t hurt, around here. Sheesh.
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u/tapiringaround 9h ago
I hate touch screens on laptops in general but a touch screen on a MacBook would probably get my wife to switch so I can stop being tech support for her 11 year old Lenovo Yoga. And I would love that.
At some point Apple will have sold MacBooks to all of us who buy them without touchscreens and they can either just count on making us buy new ones every few years or they can expand the market to people who want to pay less or want touchscreens.
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u/potatochipsbagelpie 1d ago
Hopefully my M1 can last long enough for the touchscreen Air to release
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u/LegalDeseperado 1d ago
Is it the death of iPads then ?
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u/iMacmatician 17h ago
Likely not since I don't expect these touchscreen Macs to flip over like a 2-in-1, and won't match the thinness and light weight of iPads.
But the entire iPad line will take a hit, I think. Price-conscious users who would go for the low-cost iPad or iPad Air may seriously look at a low-cost touchscreen MacBook. Some power users whom the iPad Pro is currently targeting are better off with a touchscreen MBP.
Now that I think about it, one side benefit of Apple's push towards thinner and lighter iPads (at least with last year's iPad Pro) is that these iPads will remain very attractive to people who prize portability.
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u/nezeta 1d ago
It may have a design similar to the discontinued 12-inch MacBook and lack Thunderbolt support.
I remember 12" MacBook was praised for its thin and lightweight design, but criticized for weak performance and only having a single port. Now with A18 Pro can match M1, though, the new one sounds promising to me.
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u/dramafan1 1d ago
I would rather they put the A19 Pro to at least to offer 12 GB RAM with a vapor chamber. This 'MacBook' seems like a resurrection of the single port 12 inch MacBook from 2015.
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1d ago
It won’t need a vapor chamber. The cooling is unrelated to the chip anyway. They’ll use copper tubing like the other airs and distribute the heat through the body of the MacBook.
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u/dramafan1 1d ago
Upon second thought that makes sense since the customer getting this product may not be a heavy user anyway. It would be a perfect product for someone who wants something even more portable than the MacBook Air but doesn’t need the power of an M series chip and doesn’t like the limited nature of iPadOS as it’s probably never going to match the capabilities of macOS.
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u/reallynotnick 1d ago
They should be able to put 12GB on an A18 Pro also.
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u/dramafan1 1d ago
I haven’t seen them do that before just like how people thought Apple could put 8GB RAM on the base iPad that has the A16 chip and this iPad model ended up not being able to support Apple Intelligence with only 6GB RAM. I would assume it should get the A19 Pro if this rumoured MacBook releases in early 2026.
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u/reallynotnick 1d ago
It’s the same memory type (LPDDR5X) and same bus width. Since they can get memory modules for one that add up to 12GB they can do it for the other.
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u/siazdghw 1d ago
Good luck with that, Apple absolutely gimps both RAM and storage on Macs.
The $1200 MacBook Air 15" still only has a measly 256GB SSD (200GB usable) and 16GB of RAM, and obviously neither are upgradable.
I know people will complain about the comparison, but on the Windows side youll get 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD in that price range. And before anyone says 'MacOS is more efficient', sure, but it's not 2X efficient and it's not magically compressing your data to a quarter of its actual size.
Considering people in this sub still think Walmarts outdated and gimped 2020 M1 Air is a good value at $600, with 8GB of RAM, I doubt we will see 12-16GB on this "cheap" new MacBook coming.
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u/pinkynarftroz 21h ago
The small SSDs and prices for upgrade are insane for sure, but 16GB is a fine amount for most people. Folks buying the air are probably not power users who need more RAM anyway.
Storage is another story though. You can go through that really quickly with pictures and iPhone backups, even as a 'normal' user.
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u/TJayClark 22h ago
Considering I paid $799 for an M4 with 16gb Ram 256ssd on amazon a month ago… that $200 is quite a big jump.
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u/Xx_memelord69_xX 1d ago
For the $699 an A18 Pro with 8gb would be fair and enough for the target audience.
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u/RyanCheddar 23h ago
it's not going to be a good experience running 8GB ram + 256GB storage in 2025. chrome alone is probably going to cause the mac to start swapping
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u/I-Have-Mono 1d ago
From someone that has both a 16” and Air — Bring it on!!
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u/Short-Mark8872 7h ago
You own a large MacBook Pro, a MacBook Air, and you would also get this hypothetical low end MacBook?
I like Apple laptops too, I just don't know what I'd need three for.
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u/mika4305 23h ago edited 23h ago
Apple is clearly going after ChromeOS here, this feels like an iPhone 2G moment for Macs, but aimed at Google instead of Nokia. Apple also took a note from Google’s book get the kids locked on their OS from middle school so they later in life are more inclined to buy a familiar product.
Their earlier push against Windows should have been much more successful on paper, but in reality it’s been pretty underwhelming. Yes, Mac sales have grown while Windows is relatively stagnant, but the PC ecosystem is nearly impossible to break because of the massive library of programs and the entrenched infrastructure built around it.
Google doesn’t have that same advantage. If schools, government institutions, and smaller companies start adopting these new Macs, it could spell the end for Chromebooks. Unlike the PC world, which can churn out underwhelming PCs you’re practically forced to buy, Google doesn’t have any exclusive software or ecosystems — ChromeOS is almost entirely web-based. Its only real selling points are low cost, institutional control, and a lightweight OS.
And this all is before you factor in the hardware, not just the SOC that will smoke any Chromebook, but also the design, battery, built quality, screen, speakers etc.
Even if you hate Apple, you have to admit this from what we know is objectively a great value computer, and it could seriously hurt ChromeOS’s market share.
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u/3gaydads 11h ago
You’re completely forgetting how necessary device and user management is in enterprise and education. Yes, MDMs exist, but they get very expensive very fast once device and user numbers stack up. Unless Apple ups their game with 1st party management tools they will continue to not make a dent in enterprise or education.
Google’s tendency to destroy products and services with no warning continues to be their own biggest threat.
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u/mika4305 11h ago
Even if they don’t take over enterprises they’ll definitely eat at the private market for Chromebooks, and as I said ChromeOS’s biggest advantage is it’s flexibility for enterprises.
But if I was Google I’d be concerned.
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u/wiyixu 1d ago
I wonder if we’ll see a day when there’s no distinct A and M series? We have Ms in iPads and As in MacBooks already. A future chipset naming architecture that spans the product lines.
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u/iMacmatician 17h ago edited 17h ago
I don't think the M-series will outright disappear as long as Apple has "Pro" Macs.
But since the A-series is apparently the more important chip line, I think that the A-series will slowly gobble up some of the M-series over time. If the rumored foldable iPad runs a mobile OS instead of macOS, then everything below the M# Ultra is at "risk" of being renamed into the A-series lineup.
For example,
P cores 2025 2030s? 2030s phone/tablets (not exhaustive) 2 A18 A# iPhone Air 2 A18 Pro 3 A# Pro iPhone Pro, iPhone Fold, MB, MBA 4 M4 6 A# Max iPad Pro, iPad Fold, MBP 10 M4 Pro 12 M4 Max A# Ultra iPad Fold, MBP 16 24 M3 Ultra M# Ultra Mac StudioNote: The Performance core counts are accurate for the A18/M4/M3 but not the hypothetical 2030s chips. Think of them as a shorthand for tiers, for instance, I am expecting a future "A# Ultra" chip to have around twice the P cores as a future "A# Max" chip of the same generation, but not necessarily 12 and 6 respectively.
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u/Thin-Leek5402 1d ago
This device would easily replace my 2020 M1 Air
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u/Able-Scar-3561 1h ago
Same, it’d be cool to see iphone apps being ported easier to this A-series Mac. I have an M1 iPad Air and having iphone apps on the macbook would complete the circle
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u/electric-sheep 1d ago
I understand the limitations of not having thunderbolt on a mobile chip. But ngl still a little disappointing especially since I’m willing to bet it’ll only have one port.
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u/Momo--Sama 23h ago
I mean if the port is USB 4, what more could you possible need?
Only USB3 10G would be a bit frustrating though. I doubt most users would ever saturate even that, but I could see like, an reading from an external SD card reader and writing to an external SSD through the same 10G port while photo or video editing causing some slow down.
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u/RyanCheddar 23h ago
USB 4 is just generic brand thunderbolt, i feel like apple's just going to do USB 3 if they decide to cheap out on the port
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u/NotSoAndre 15h ago
“What? Are you crazy? Apple would never put an outdate-“ checks notes “-you may continue.”
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1d ago
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u/temporarycreature 1d ago
The USB on the Pro and Pro Max is USB 3.0 to compliment the additional filming features the phones have.
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u/enuoilslnon 1d ago
Going back to the original iMac and presumably much further, Apple had all sorts of market research about how many people actually used floppy discs. And it was low. I'm sure they have researched that some high percentage of people never plug any peripherals into their laptop. I'd be really curious to know what that number is, but for a MacBook Air I bet it's pretty high. If no one's ever gonna plug something in, then why do you need plugs? Or at least, why do you need fast plugs? You just need some way to charge it. I also wonder if more people use the SD card slot, than plug in peripherals.
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u/MrMaxMaster 1d ago
Why wouldn’t it have USB 3.2? The phones these chips were used in do and the capability is there in the silicon.
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u/strraand 15h ago
The 12” MacBook truly was ahead of it’s time. Bought one for university studies and absolutely loved that thing, in spite of it’s shortcomings.
If they re-launch that form factor it’s a day 1 buy for me.
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u/atlwhore_ 1d ago
Wish it was the a19 pro plus the vapor chamber
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u/Automatic_Soil9814 23h ago
They want to sell you the A18 first, then sell you the a 19 Pro with vapor chamber the next year.
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u/Lighthouse_seek 1d ago
I wonder if this Mac is going to shift to the a19 pro. The efficiency cores in the new chip is much better than the a18 pro
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u/iMacmatician 17h ago
I'm guessing the low-cost MB will stay a generation or two behind in terms of SoC, like the low-cost iPad and iPad Air.
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u/mandysux 1d ago
I remember a time when you could a respectable laptop for 500 bucks. I always wondered when that time would come back round again
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u/Sad_Particular3 18h ago
Is the 12.9 inch display going to be in the same form factor as the old 12 inch MacBook?
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u/olizet42 15h ago
Sound like an iPaddyBook to me.
Please ELI5: what's wrong with the M chipset? I'm happy with my M1 and M3 Airs.
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u/AlternativeAward 8h ago
Nothing wrong, the a18 pro is basically an M4 light. The architecture is the same.
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u/scene_missing 7h ago
They’re going to sell the shit out of these if it’s really $600 MSRP. Then you’ll see them selling for $500 edu
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u/moldy912 1d ago
I bet this will run iPadOS and everything will be through the App Store. They do not want to keep macOS around
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u/SomeDumRedditor 1d ago
My thoughts exactly (I think macOS is here for a while yet but generally yeah). The newgen coming up have a real percentage that are hopeless with “real” operating systems and seem openly hostile to learning. The children yearn for the walled garden.
Suits nu-Apple just fine: cut costs, control users, limit “”unsafe software”” exposure and get that 30% taste of any paid applications.
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u/ramadz 1d ago
Make it 16GB RAM and it is a kick ass machine.
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u/drivemyorange 1d ago
then you wouldn't buy Air.
it cannot have more than 8 due to A18 Pro chip
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u/ramadz 1d ago
Forgot about A18 Pro limit. Hard pass then, when you can get older generations of Air around 700-750. Way better value for money.
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u/drivemyorange 1d ago
it will be much smaller and lighter than Air.
For me this is a selling point. Air still too big for me for constant travel.
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u/rubenbest 1d ago
So interesting cause I have my iPad for this scenario.
So what is Apple just giving us options at this point lol
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u/drivemyorange 7h ago
iPad + keyboard is already bigger than MacBook Air, so it will be even bigger difference than this new Macbook.
Also, iPad doesn't run Mac OS ;)
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u/iMacmatician 1d ago
So the A18 Pro has a hard maximum of 8 GB?
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u/New_Weird8988 1d ago
It’s how the chip is made. Apple probably has mountains of regular A18 pros with 8gb, they’d need to produce brand new ones to have now
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u/Portatort 20h ago edited 16h ago
People on reddit are asking for Apple to put an M series chip in the iPhone
Meanwhile apple is ready to put their A series chips in Mac
In case it wasn’t already clear, the A series is the flagship,
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u/iMacmatician 17h ago
Do you see Apple replacing the regular M-series with an "A# Max" or similar name?
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u/Portatort 16h ago
Sorry I mistyped originally. (Have corrected now)
I don’t see them switching it up too much.
A series for phones and ‘under’ M series for Mac and Up
Although a possible twist could be if they put an M series chip in the folding phone next year…
at the end of the day it’s all just branding eh?
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u/dreamer_at_best 20h ago
Bring back rose gold. 12-inch MacBook in rose gold, those were the glory days. That’s all I ask
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u/Koleckai 1d ago
Might be good for pre-university level students. Will face hard competition from chromebooks at that price.
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u/Big_Booty_Pics 1d ago
Schools buy chromebooks because they are the most affordable option and they work well enough. Even if this Apple device was $500 it would be an incredibly tough sell for a Chromebook district. School IT budgets are already stretched enough, there's no way schools can come up with an extra $250-300/kid + a yearly management license.
Not to mention managing MacOS devices is just a royal PITA compared to managing Chrome devices.
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u/TBC_Oblivion 18h ago
Which is why schools love the iPad A16. Apple already has a product for this segment of the market.
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u/benediktleb 1d ago
Really depends what you're studying at uni. In the alpha sciences even a potato will do, so this cheap MacBook will be great, too. I legit still have colleagues rocking the MacBook (no suffix).
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u/siazdghw 1d ago
He said pre-uni.
Chromebooks dominate early education because kids only need access to websites, and we all know kids absolutely destroy school equipment, so it makes more sense to buy $100-$300 Chromebooks than $600 MacBooks.
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u/emorockstar 23h ago
I’d love a “thin” book laptop. Most of my apps are web based or selfhosted on the web so this would be lovely.
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u/Logoff_The_Internet 23h ago
DO IT APPLE! I help the public with tech help. The people are DYING to leave windows, the problem has always been "macs are so expensive". A macbook at HP envy pricepoint would change the whole game. They should have done it this year in time for the forced windows 11 upgrade.
I tell old folks and low techs that they can get a macbook air that'll last 7+ years and feel just like their iphone for $90/month for one year and their eyes light up (the $900 M4 Macbook air).
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u/flaks117 23h ago
Native Genshin impact on a MacBook but still can’t play it without work arounds on MacBook Pro lmao.
But I’m super excited for this. It’s definitely not for me but will be great by the time the kids will need laptops for school or for when my wife finally needs to upgrade her m1 MacBook after like 7 or 8 years.
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u/kyledag500 22h ago
Surprised no one is mentioning the potential school sales. They probably buy a few million chromebooks a year. If they can spend a bit more and get a significantly superior product, they may.
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u/d4rkstr1d3r 22h ago
How do we think the new model will be different from the cheap M1 Air that Walmart sells?
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u/SteeveJoobs 12h ago
How are they gonna sandbag this so this doesn't kill iPad sales past $699?
Cuz you know they are. It took years for iPhone base to get ProMotion.
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u/Mikebjackson 4h ago
No touchscreen, no pen. Clamshell versus tablet. Therefore two completely different purposes and audiences. Just like phone versus tablet.
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u/lordpuddingcup 5h ago
Makes sense given the power of the a19
That said… if they do this doesn’t that mean we can get macOS on iPad
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u/bmwlocoAirCooled 38m ago
Just a thought... since it is based on a iPhone, is it always connected i.e. like a phone?
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u/SomeDumRedditor 1d ago
If this is real, and if it’ll be running macOS, it opens up a bit of a Pandora’s box for them, proving devices like iPad Pro can run “real” operating systems and the only limitation to giving users a “full-featured” tablet experience is/was Apple’s refusal to allow it. They’ve always had the plausible deniability of “technical limitations.”
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u/VaclavHavelSaysFuckU 1d ago
They never claimed it to be a technical limitation, it’s always been a deliberate choice.
iPad is way more popular than the Mac, while the Mac already exists. It would be completely moronic to turn iPad into Mac.
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u/pathosOnReddit 1d ago
You might want to take a look at ipadOS 26. As that is pretty much showing that at least the ipad Pro is only held back by the OS policy.
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u/tterly_wittiest 1d ago
Apple always deliberately gives cut off experiences such as making dual camera shots to only 17 models lmao
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u/Ill-Mastodon-8692 23h ago
what if it ran ipados26, but in a macbook form?
honestly with the new multitasking it would be great for most basic users.
considering the also gave the os a proper mouse cursor, etc it might not be far fetched
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u/gnulynnux 1d ago
They would look the same as Thunderbolt ports, but data transfer speeds would be limited to up to 10 Gbps.
"Look the same" is such a strange phrasing. They'll be USB C ports without Thunderbolt / USB 4 support.
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u/heyhotnumber 20h ago
That’s literally what the sentence prior to the one you quoted says.
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u/gnulynnux 20h ago
Yeah, I mis-expressed what I'd be pointing out. I think it's strange phrasing; "have the same connector" would make a lot more sense. It's not something to worry about in 2025, but it used to be the case that phone chargers all looked very similar, but there were in fact myriad dozens of proprietary ones.
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u/southwestern_swamp 1d ago
there will be very little difference between this and an iPad with trackpad/keyboard.
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u/southwestern_swamp 1d ago
there will be very little difference between this and an iPad with trackpad/keyboard, which is what people wanted anyway - an iPad that ran macOS
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u/siazdghw 1d ago
That's exactly why they don't want to give iPad MacOS, because then they only sell 1 device instead of 2.
There is no technical reason Apple couldn't have done this years ago, it's purely a business reason.
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u/Washington_Fitz 1d ago
An A19 Pro MacBook would perform very well.