People are completely misjudging the pricing of this new MacBook because they are misjudging the reason for it existing in the first place. It's not a rebirth of the thin and small 12" MacBook. It is not the re-used M1 chassis with an iPhone chip to save costs. It is not a $599 Chromebook killer with cut down specs to hit that super low price point. No, the new entry level A18 MacBook is all-new device designed to do two things only:1. Lower the entry-level retail price for a Mac laptop from $999 to $799.2. Allow the MacBook Air lowest configuration price TO GO UP to $1199.Even with RAM prices rising, Apple will never release another Mac with only 8GB of RAM. Apple Intelligence is simply too important to both their long-term tech strategy and their short-term Wall Street messaging. Every Mac has to be marketable as "the best computer for AI". And Apple's pricing tiers for laptops are very well thought out, always leading the buyer up the chain in $200 increments.So this new MacBook can only start at $799 with 16GB of RAM and a 256GB drive. That means a version with a 512GB drive has to cost $999. Apple won't let pricing overlap with the MacBook Air line, so Apple's easy way out is to simply no longer offer the $999 MacBook Air with only 256GB of storage. Anyone who can live with that small a drive can also live with a smaller screen and an A18 chip. The MacBook Air now starts at $1199 with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB drive. This is NOT a price increase, it's the same model with the same specs and price as before.All of this assumes the same day, side-by-side launch of the new A18 MacBook with the spec-bumped M5 MacBook Airs. It's the perfect time to align the pricing tiers to accommodate BOTH the lowering of the laptop entry price AND effectively moving the MacBook Air upmarket, despite no real increase in cost. Overall it looks like this:12.9” A18 Pro MacBook 16/256 $79912.9” A18 Pro MacBook 16/512 $99913.6” M5 MacBook Air 16/512 $1199
>>108252985I figured it was a ploy to reprice the MBAThey probably want to put a pricier display in the next new design of MBA so it needs this first
>>108252985I'm not reading all that but what I do understand that you'd have to have actual shot for brains to buy something like this.
>>108252985The problem with this is that all devices with A18 Pro chips have exactly 8 GB of RAM. Even the latest gen of the baseline iPad (11th gen), which was released in 2025, gave it 6 GB of RAM together with the A16 chip, and all iPhones that were using the A16 chip did in fact have exactly 6 GB of RAM.
>>108253027Who the hell plays games on non-gaming laptops, especially on the iGPU? Apple doesn't give a fuck about gaming at all
>>108252985Personally, I'm waiting on:>LookLikeARightTwat Edition Retarded Diving Goggles: Now Only $3,299You know it make sense, Tim Cock.
Lower config will have 12gb ram tbqhwy
>>108252985why not the A19 chip with AI and 8gb of ram like the new base ipad?
>>108254003I mean nobody knows, perhaps they intentionally want to keep using older chips in the new MacBook line, perhaps they want to use the A-series Pro chip for some reason, but A19 Pro is shipped with 12 GB of RAM, but they want 8 GB for the MacBook
no heterosexual person cares about apple shit
>>108254083Literally every single woman cares about it
>>108254083>"apple is gay lol">2026shiggydiggy, ngmi
>>108253013It's just an elimination of the 256 GB MBA config
>>108254083If you want to have sex you need to get a macbook
who gives a shit. if you're buying a macbook, either get one of the intel ones with like 64gb ram for 500 bucks on ebay or get an m1 max 64gb for 1200 on ebay.
>>108254571see >>108253027
>>108254586they're not for gaming, junior.
>>108254608Oh so just watching 16 hours of gay porn non-stop, got it.
>>108253047I game on my Macbook Pro because I'm usually too lazy to boot up my gaming desktop and the Macbook runs almost everything I'd want to play anyways.
>>108252985Why do people expend so much energy on speculating about what the next product is going to cost? You will see what it costs when it comes out.
There are hundreds of Linux distros that copy MacOS's UI, put one on a thinkpad and forget about Apple.
>>108253027>>108253060>>108254083>>108254586>>108254664
>>108255797I don't get it. Satania = Satan. This would make more sense being drowned in a pool of kike water or something like that.
>>108255422>why eat chocolate ice cream when you can just eat shit?
>>108252985Same shot they did in the 80s with the Macintosh classic and in the late 90s with the e-macs. Just garbage to dump onto public schools with infinity budgets.
>>108252985>this new MacBookwhy are you pretending this is real
>>108254051like the a16 ipad its logistics minimaxingthe arizona fab needs to slowly ramp up complexity, apple is making use of this for discounted chipsi wouldnt be surprised if they put a binned a18 pro in the cheapbook
>>108252985Just a chip change isn't going to differentiate this enough from a MBA. To push down costs while maintaining the profit margins, they're going to lower the screen quality and bring back 128GB models. It'll also lack ports (1 charge, 1 USB) and probably have limitations like not supporting an external monitor. If they don't cripple it too badly I want one. Also, I'm fucking tired of excited articles on mac websites that talk about the colors. Shut the fuck up already about the colors.
>>108254098i think he meant no heterosexual manbut you proved his point, women arent people
>>108252985But can it run Crysis?
>>108254536kek, if you unironically think this youre already cooked
>>108253027>aaa x86 game runs poor on armretards really think this is some sort of gotcha
>>108253027>muh games
>>108257439yes anon, it can run a dogshit 20 year old boomer fps
>>108257795Kinda doubt it....see >>108253027
>>108257693It is when that's your only option to play games lmao
>>108255422maybe in 20 years we'll finally get one that copies its UX
>>108256485>and probably have limitations like not supporting an external monitorThis doesn't really do anything to lower manufacturing cost. It's a dick move I could see Apple doing, but iPhones support video out already, so clearly even iPhone chips support the feature hardware-wise
>>108253027gaymers are dropping in iq at alarming rates.
>>108259194sure its a retarded meme image but the core point is correctapple is also overpriced locked-down anti-repair garbage, shit hardware is shit hardware
Why does everyone on this board have an Apple derangement syndrome? I don't know about iPhones, but MacBooks are pretty good if you don't care about repairability (most don't).
are there any benchmarks of the asahi drivermacos is really complicated I would rather not use it
>>108259999you are on a tech board. many of the people here are knowledgeable enough to know theyre not good products. i like the look of them, and i'm okay with using them, but i'd have to be retarded to buy one
>>108260089>you see i know about tech so i refuse to buy one of the best laptops on the market
>>108260579if it's so good why aren't you posting benchmarks? Surely you can at least compare it to a raspi 5?
>>108259261apples are the easiest to repair laptops nowadays, they will literally mail you a do it yourself repair kit
>>108260696>Herroo?>Yess mysolderedssd in mytrashjeetbook no workee.. u send repair kit asap?
>>108260676Because judging a laptop only by pure performance in synthetic benchmarks is beyond retarded. All i know is i have my m1 macbook pro from 2021, battery still at 95% and it handles all my work (video editing) and hobbyist music production without any problems.>but muh gaming performanceWho gives a fuck, i have a separate desktop pc for that
>>108260089>theyre not good productsBy what measure, unironically? They're unrepairable, but, in my opinion, they're quite good and are probably one of the most "normally-priced" Apple products, not too outrageously expensive compared to competition.
>>108260852ive only spoken to europeans, mostly paddies since thats where theyre based
>>108254668What chip do you use to play games?
>>108252985I'm putting my anus on the line and I'm predicting that the amount of unified memory it will have will match exactly the amount of memory the iPhone with the same chip had, and that everyone will say that it was obvious all along whenever it will eventually release
>>108262256assuming a18 like the leaks mention, probably 8gb. 8gb for a $599-799 device haha... wow...
>>108252985I'm not paying any price for a laptop that looks like it'd snap in half if I typed too fast.
>>108262256The problem with that is that they were forced to upgrade their base mem config to 16 to support Apple AI. Maybe they can trim that to 12, but going to 8 is going to limit their use of local AI.
>>108253027you are so retarded its fascinating
>>108252985>New Low-Cost MacBookIt will suck, Apple can't make anything new and have it succeed anymore
>>108260089>many of the people here are knowledgeable enough to know theyre not good productsmany of the people here are sweaty loonix neckbeards with 20 year old thinkpads who haven't touched any Apple hardware
>>108253027I have a m1 pro and it gets 120fps in gtav?
>>108253027even the macbook airs maxout the framerate of their displays with gtav at 4khttps://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/1rbryj8/macbook_air_m4_running_gta_v_for_3_hours/
>>108265485don't take the schizo seriously. all of the images he reposts are full of errors and really old.
>>108264240Loonix fags hating Apple is a strictly /g/ phenomenon. Outside of this shithole, there is a large overlap between Mac and Linux users. If anyone has an axe to grind against Apple it's usually Windows people, mostly because Macs aren't useful for gaming.
>>108265902amongst technical people there is a large overlap between mac and linux users because both are essentially unixeslinux is just much better at being that without all the bullshit baby-gating
>>108266074apple has vendor lock-in, loonix does not
>>108265485>>108265494I actually got curious and looked up that vid. He's playing it through Parallels 17, I'm not a Macfag, but I'm pretty sure Rosetta 2 + WINE would yield better results
>>108252985I wouldn't use that shit if it was free
>>108265825Is there any schizo on any board more prolific than him aside from the barneyfag?
>>108265494>99% chance 360p upscaled to 4kgo back
>>108252985Apple MacBooks are the best laptops on the planet.
>>108266325Why not?
iv been looking for decent laptop that doesn't look like absolute dog shit (gaming laptopts), iv been doing this for like 3 months, iv seen every single model out there and my conclusion was that a macbook air is a decent choice.The new Dell XPS is extremely overpricedThinkPads look like dog shitYoga has hinge problemsHP is crapwareMicrosoft surface is ARM shit at that point you buy a MacChromebooks are expensive for what they areAcer is just 200$ cheaper than a MacBook Air
>>108252985>It is not the re-used M1 chassisGod I wish it was. I hate the stupid notch shit.
>>108268673Indisputably. As in, if you try to dispute it, you'll just look bad and leave yourself open to more insults than you can deal with.
>>108269788why? I don't care about what laptops or phones people like, arguing about it too much is retarded
>>108269764You should do this "quiz" https://www.apple.com/mac/best-mac/
>>108252985After all these years Apple is finally overtaking the desktop market. And, ngl, I'm all-in for that to continue. Would not be surprised to also see dirt-cheap mac mini at the price tag of a few hundred bucks with A-chips.Funny how once luxury computer brand is suddenly coming-out as affordable high-performance computing for everyone. Besides gaymening there is nothing where macs are not superior at present day and time. And considering the recent cyberpoop port - apple is just getting started in gayming too.We are in a good timeline.
>>108269766It will probably be removed in the MacBook Pros with the M6 Pro and M6 Max models (but not the base M6), and eventually in the MacBook Airs too, but they'll probably gatekeep it for 1-2 years, so M7 or M8
when the fuck is the m5 air comingi need a new laptop my 2013 mbp overheats on 720p (30fps) youtube videos
>>108269862use freetube
>>108269862Apple has some kind of event scheduled for March 4th, it's getting announced anywhere from Monday to Wednesday.
