Apple is preparing for the release of a new affordable MacBook, which may be presented in the near future – in less than a fortnight. It is expected that this will be one of the most unusual laptops of the company, because such solutions in its lineup has not yet been. We collected all the key details about the novelty on the eve of the March announcement.
Design: familiar look with nuances
According to preliminary data, the new MacBook will resemble the MacBook Air. It is attributed to an aluminium body and a display with a diagonal of about 12.9 or 13 inches.
The device is expected to be light and thin thanks to an energy-efficient Series A chip that doesn’t require a complex cooling system. This approach was already used in the 12-inch MacBook of previous years, so the novelty may be a kind of return of this concept.
However, the ultra-thin case may not be a priority, because it makes production more expensive. Instead, the company can bet on the balance between price, autonomy and practicality.
Bright body colours
The laptop is expected to come in a wide range of colours, from light yellow and green to blue, pink, silver and dark grey.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo notes that there could be at least four variants similar to the iPad’s colours.
Series A chip instead of M
The main feature of the model-using the A18 Pro mobile processor, which previously debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro.
This chip is built on a 3nm process and has:
- 6-core processor
- 6-core GPU
- 16-core Neural Engine.
In terms of performance, it comes close to the M-series chips in single-core tasks, but is inferior in multi-core workloads. At the same time, it’ll be more than enough for studying, working on documents, watching videos, and basic editing.
Who this MacBook is for
The model is aimed primarily at students and educational institutions. In fact, it’s Apple’s answer to the popular Chromebooks, which are widely used in education.
RAM
It is expected that the laptop will get at least 8 GB of RAM – this is the minimum for the work of Apple Intelligence functions. At the same time, it is possible that the base version will have 16 GB, like modern Macs.
Storage
Unlike the MacBook Air with 256 GB of storage, the budget model may start with 128 GB, which will reduce the price.
Port limitations
Due to the features of the A18 Pro chip, the novelty will probably not support Thunderbolt. It is expected to have only USB-C with a speed of up to 10 Gbps and support for a single external display.
What may be called the novelty
While the exact name is unknown. Most likely, the company will return to a simple variant – MacBook, without additional attachments.
Expected price
MacBook Air costs from $999, and the new model may cost about $599-$799.
This range will allow it to compete with both affordable laptops and tablets like the iPad Air.
Presentation date
According to rumours, the device could be unveiled on March 4 at an Apple Special Event or even earlier via a press release.
The presentations are expected to take place in several cities at once, particularly New York, London and Shanghai, where journalists will be able to test the new device.