But almost certainly it will not have 24GB of RAM. That seems supremely unlikely for a lower end device.
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the budget Macbook will use the M1 form factor, what is the pricing and features?
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But almost certainly it will not have 24GB of RAM. That seems supremely unlikely for a lower end device.
One potential selling point for Apple in the education market is they have good experience with making devices hard to use after being stolen.
I would hope the low cost MacBook would lead to an even larger market share for the Mac vs Windows and maybe even more effort in improving Pages, Keynote and Numbers. A feature request from a bulk buyer will get more attention than individual users.
The A18 Pro chip outperforms the M1 chip in most Geekbench results. I don't remember anybody calling the M1 MacBook "A Child's First Computer".
The MBA chassis really isn’t premium anymore. PC laptops regularly come with an aluminum chassis in sub-MBA price ranges. (Admittedly the MBA chassis is, IMHO, very sturdy and well designed, and my 2020 Intel MBA was the best physically built laptop I’ve ever had.). There’s only about a buck of aluminum in there, and it’s not like they’re using a particularly high grade as far as I can tell. My M1 chassis scraped and dinged quite easily. (That’s not necessarily a bad thing – I’d rather the chassis gets a nick if I accidentally bang it on something than have it stay pristine and have that kinetic energy transferred to the internals instead.). These days, premium means things like magnesium, carbon fiber, or “luxury” options like Lenovo’s vegan leather, etc. I’ll be surprised if an A18 CheapBook doesn’t use the M1 MBA chassis. They have the tooling, supply chains, etc. all set up for it, and as far as I know, it’s been the same since the M1 revision to the MBA. I bet it’d be more expensive for them to even move to a new plastic chassis than to stick with the old MBA.
My best guess is that it’ll basically be the M1 MBA, 256/16 (they won’t go under 16 because it’ll require them to support a non-AI device for many years to come), with the A18 and a smaller battery (and maybe power adapter) to cut costs thanks to the lower power draw of the A18. 20% cheaper than the base MBA. They’re targeting the “premium Chromebook” segment and the ed sector.
That's why I wrote unibody aluminum chassis. That's what makes it strong. It's carved from a block of aluminum. Most other notebooks are stamped. The internal geometry is flat and the standoffs are plastic.
While machining vs stamping might contribute, that’s likely just in greater thickness left after machining than most other aluminum laptops. I think it’s the shape of the design that is the major factor. IMHO, a lot of the stiffness comes from the fact that the bottom panel fits inside the rim of the upper panel in the lower chassis – the deeper rim of the upper panel gives it quite a bit of stiffness, and the tight fit of the lower panel inside the rim helps. Bit like a frame and panel door.
exactly
this base Macbook will be a new price entry for future Apple consumers not only that these education sector will really drive the bulk sales which will really drive the gross or revenue.
Not to mention if they get not only the students towards college or even university but even the whole faculty to use the macOS, that will most likely tie them and the whole university of staffs to Apple ecosystem, and even their family or relatives will prefer to do the same too.
In case you haven't noticed, Apple is already working to 'incorporate' many of the features / apps of the weaker iOS / iPadOS into MacOS - they sell it as being inter-connectivity, when really, its easier for them to use products for an already-hobbled OS, rather than improve upon (or just fix old / new bugs) in MacOS. By all reports, this dumb'ification continues with iOS 26 / iPadOS 26 / MacOS 26.
While the A18 chip may have reported similar/ better 'benchmarks' than a M1, there are tasks its simply can't handle - like multi-tasking and / or sharing with some peripherals. Reasonable expectations for anyone running MacOS - or any other *real* operating system.
Thus Spake a Sheeple.
Yeah, yeah - everything Apple makes is even more perfect than the last thing they built.