Rumoured A18 Pro MacBook tradeoffs mean it’ll be all about the price (and colours)
Apple's first A-Series MacBook could have a number of tradeoffs. But not enough to turn off those seeking a bargain
Apple is set to announce a lower-cost MacBook laptop model early next week but, other than running an A-Series chip, we haven’t heard much about what other sacrifices the machine will make.
A new rumour (via 9to5Mac) suggests those trade offs may be numerous, but hardly dealbreakers. According to a source previously unknown to Stuff, Apple will cut a few corners beyond using the A18 Pro instead of the M5. The post suggests the model, which is seen as the spiritual successor to the well-loved MacBook Air M1, says the MacBook will lack support for high-impedance headphones and a True Tone display. The replacement will only hit 500-nits peak brightness.
Furthermore, there won’t be any support for fast charging, while a backlit keyboard may also be absent. This would be the only model without a backlit keyboard, making it more akin to the Magic Keyboards Apple sells for the iPad models. The Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chip may be a MediaTek model that’s used in the standard iPad. That would be in place of Apple’s N1 chip.
The SSD speeds might also be slower than the current MacBook Air and Pro models, but there may be a 128GB model designed for the education market, which the higher-end MacBooks do not offer. There would be 8GB of RAM, which should still be enough to support Apple Intelligence. Again this is all speculation we’re taking with a pinch of salt.
However, with these trade-offs, the value proposition would come down to the price. The lowest priced MacBook Air costs $999/£999. The discontinued MacBook Air M1 was commonly available for $699/£699 towards the end. Can Apple match this? That might be enough to encourage the education crowd this is the machine for them? Those rumoured “fun colours” will help too.
All is likely to be revealed early next week. Reports have suggested Apple will begin announcing products on March 2 ahead of a March 4 ‘experience’ event. What would be the price point that’d tempt you?
Chris Smith
