Kuo: Apple to release cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone processor
Posted by okoroezenwa@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 169 comments
Posted by okoroezenwa@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 169 comments
androidGuy547@reddit
so ios runs on M chips (iPad) and macOS runs on A chips?
playgroundmx@reddit
12” screen, A18 Pro, 16GB RAM, 256 GB storage, plastic enclosure. At $599. One can dream!
okoroezenwa@reddit (OP)
That 16GB RAM and $599 price point is very optimistic lol
I'll be conservative and go with 8GB for $699 at best
iMacmatician@reddit
I think it'll have 16 GB for Apple Intelligence (A.I. needs 8 GB but I think some headroom is good). One reason why I think the rumors from 2023 of a 12" low-cost MacBook didn't pan out was because Apple made a (relatively) sudden course correction around Apple Intelligence.
I'm guessing 16 GB and 256 GB for $799.
No_Opportunity_2835@reddit
If this comes, I will be demanding a Mac Micro desktop that’s the size of a credit card and the power of an iPhone
EloquentPinguin@reddit
Why iPhone chips? I'd think they have plenty of M4 chips to bin for broken cores. Like when they bin the M4 4+6 to a 2+4 you probably can almost use all of the chips and get the same core layout of the iPhone chip.
PMARC14@reddit
Probably not with TSMC yields to get enough bad chips for this. The real question is why would you buy this instead of just getting last year's model?
violet_sakura@reddit
Maybe for business or school purchases
frumply@reddit
With a lot of schools doing one device per student that may make sense. Chromebooks win out a lot of the time beyond k-5 due to the physical keyboard, and if you can get closer to their price point you have a serious business opportunity.
violet_sakura@reddit
True, and mac os being a full desktop os is much more capable than chrome.
okoroezenwa@reddit (OP)
Sure you’d get the core layout but then it’d likely be more expensive and take up more space on the logic board for what can mostly be achieved using an A18 anyway. The only reason I could see them going with a binned M4 is if they feel very strongly that the higher RAM bandwidth and multiple external display support is that important, which I doubt.
I’m also curious if, given the speculation that they intend to resurrect the 12” MacBook with this, they’ll bother with Thunderbolt. The MB line didn’t have it and no A-series chip has used PCIe (as far as I’m aware) so I’m curious what they’ll do if this product materialises.
monocasa@reddit
The A12z at least had PCIe, but It was only enabled in the ARM Mac DTKs used before the M1 came out.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the same thing assuming this rumor is true.
okoroezenwa@reddit (OP)
A12Z was an M1-level chip though, so it's still different. I wasn't at all surprised the M1 came with TB capability, I'd be very (pleasantly) surprised if whatever A-series chip they put in this came with it.
monocasa@reddit
I mean, the A12z's primary purpose was to be in an iPad, and it had PCIe (just disabled on the iPad).
I wouldn't be surprised if they want to recalibrate the iPad Pros to be the primary target of its SoC rather than just getting lower binned M series parts, then adding lower end macs that use the same soc as a secondary target.
okoroezenwa@reddit (OP)
As in, move the iPad Pros to use A-series chips instead of M? I doubt that.
monocasa@reddit
Why not? iPad Pros currently can contain even lower binned M series chips than you can even get in a MacBook.
TheImmortalLS@reddit
if apple wanted to make things affordable, they could cut their price by $100 instead of their processor from $132 in raw materials to $117
okoroezenwa@reddit (OP)
Cut the price of what? The machine isn't even out yet.
GPU-Appreciator@reddit
Regarding your point about A-series chips and PCIe, they'll probably take the same approach to IO they did on recent "pro" iPhones.
They do support a subset of Thunderbolt 4 on the iPhone, but not with PCIe. It's still good for high bandwidth display use, docks, and external storage but without any PCIe tunneling support.
This also begs the question, "if you can stick an iPhone chip in a laptop, will they support a 'DEX'-like docked monitor experience on the iPhone?"
Probably not (they want you to buy multiple devices) but with many GenZ relying on their iPhones as a primary computing device, it could make sense.
ak5432@reddit
That’s gonna be a hard no.
The iPad has had full-on Apple silicon in it since like 2021(??) and an enhanced GPU in the pro models since 2018 and they only just got basic extended display support (used to be mirror only) with iOS 17 in 2023. There hasn’t been a real hardware limitation for a long time, it’s all their choices.
MagicianHaunting6984@reddit
This is so frustrating. Apple has this amazing hardware and does jack shit with it. My fancy iPad pro is pretty much useless apart from it's nice to send emails with. Such waste.
GPU-Appreciator@reddit
Entirely possible, they do seem to be bringing a lot of MacOS features to it with the '26 software update. Proper multi-window, file management, background processing, etc.
At the same time I don't expect to see 'terminal' on there ever. Time will tell I guess.
ak5432@reddit
‘26 is definitely a step in the right direction. I’ll know more when the public beta comes out, but I’m still leery of their “file management” features. The ipad files app today obfuscates too much and is inherently limited by the “phone OS” file management paradigm.
Idk how to explain it better, but the “file system” doesn’t act like a central file system, but more like its own separate app. Lightroom is the easiest example. The real computer version of this app will edit files on the filesystem in place by referencing a sidecar .xmp file (just the way Adobe does it). On iPad/iPhone, there is “local” file editing but a) it can only access images in the Photos app, NOT the folders in my Files app and b) it cannot edit the files in place because it isn’t actually referencing a file located in some directory; rather, it imports the files to its own cloud storage and then edits from there. They have to do it this way because…ipados doesn’t have real file management, but just an app that puts a fake sandboxed folder structure in place.
There’s just so many confounding limitations that you don’t often notice but can completely break basic functionality you’d expect on a normal computer. Mouse support is another one that just doesn’t work the way it should because of apple’s design choices to limit it.
I have my doubts that one OS update will suddenly fix issues that have been ongoing for 10 years…
New_Amomongo@reddit
In the Philippines I can get the base model 2020 MBA 13" M1 8GB 256GB for ~$550 + 12% VAT.
If a 2025 MB 12" A18 8GB 256GB goes for <$550 + 12% VAT then it would be my go to to deploy to my rank & file.
funny_lyfe@reddit
These are brand new M1's? Are they still getting sold?
New_Amomongo@reddit
Yes, they're still being sold.
Frexxia@reddit
By going with an iPhone chip they can also make other components cheaper. For example, there is less need for both cooling and battery size.
Virtualization_Freak@reddit
In a laptop?
You are already shrinking cooling needs with a binned underperforming chip.
Also, still plenty of room for that battery in a laptop.
It's one less new part to design.
Strazdas1@reddit
room? apple wants to make it smaller, thus it needs to reduce battery size. it wants the least amount of battery it can get away with without the users leaving the ecosystem.
Virtualization_Freak@reddit
The previous mentioned change still lets Apple do whatever it wants with a battery.
Frexxia@reddit
That's assuming they even have binned chips to use
Virtualization_Freak@reddit
It's a safe assumption. No chip making process is perfect. If it was, we wouldn't have binning to start with.
auradragon1@reddit
Probably not enough for tens of millions of units.
Frexxia@reddit
It's a safe assumption that they have some of them, but it's not worth it for apple to use them unless they have enough for millions of devices.
Ghostsonplanets@reddit
Correct
DepthHour1669@reddit
… that makes no sense. A binned M4 would be on the same process node and have equivalent energy efficiency at each frequency.
Ghostsonplanets@reddit
A binned M4 would have unneeded components that affect energy-efficiency due to parasitic characteristics. It also would still be a bigger die and thus more $$$, even if Apple only used salvaged dies.
A18 Pro is much smaller, has higher volume, and allows new characteristics that current M-series don't allow, such as cellular modem if Apple requires it.
Frexxia@reddit
There's also the question if their yield is poor enough to even have enough binned m4s fit this to make sense.
Ghostsonplanets@reddit
That's also right, yes. Ming-Kuo is saying they forecast 5 - 7 million sales from this new Mac device. Is there even this amount of salvaged M4 dies available? Unlikely.
A18 Pro has an even bigger volume and is right where they want to be in terms of performance, power and area.
DepthHour1669@reddit
5-7 million units is an insane bet from Apple
The article is burying the lede. It shouldn’t be focused on the damn laptop. It should be “Apple is strongly predicting a recession and started factory assembly lines to target a budget market”.
Strazdas1@reddit
they may be trying to get the budget market on board which currently completely does not buy apple products. Remmeber that theres plenty of room without any recessions needed. Apple is still less than 20% of market except in US.
DepthHour1669@reddit
You understand that using salvaged dies that can’t go into the iPad Pro M4 is literally free, right? The alternative is tossing them.
The M4 iPad already has a cellular option, so that’s straight up wrong.
And there is basically negligible power consumption difference between a binned M4 and A18. The 9 core M4 has a TDP of 14watts and the 6 core A18 has a TDP of 10 watts at full power. And the ipad doesn’t have battery life issues at idle or asleep. Those are terrible excuses.
Ghostsonplanets@reddit
Do they have the volume of salvaged dies to supply 5 - 7 million units? And would the price be right for a possible $699 - $799 device?
DepthHour1669@reddit
… you think they’re gonna sell 5-7 million units of a new 12 inch macbook? Apple doesn’t even sell that many Macbook Airs combined globally every year.
I’m not even sure if apple managed to sell 5 million 12 inch macbooks before they were discontinued.
Ghostsonplanets@reddit
That's what Ming-Ching Kuo is saying they're forecasting internally.
DepthHour1669@reddit
Ok, in that case TSMC is too good and there wouldn’t be enough binned chips.
Exist50@reddit
Barely.
Ghostsonplanets@reddit
Correct, and it wouldn't matter as much in the grand scheme of battery life. But it would still be unnecessary for them.
A18 Pro is basically a 2+4 M4. That's more than enough to run MacOS environment and provide satisfying performance to the end user.
Exist50@reddit
Totally agree that an iPhone chip is sufficient, but the play here would be able volume and the need to bin healthy dies, as well as packaging costs and board space.
aminorityofone@reddit
a binned M4 will go in a more expensive product line.
Hikashuri@reddit
There's tiers of binned, it's not just one tier.
DepthHour1669@reddit
Such as? There’s no viable product line between the currently existing small ipad pro M4 and a new 12 inch macbook.
Frexxia@reddit
They could potentially create cheaper SKUs of anything currently using a full M4.
DepthHour1669@reddit
Base M4 has 4p+6e cores and 10gpu cores. A18 has 2p+4e cores and 4-5 gpu cores.
The laptop would be fine with 3p+5e cores. Or even 2p+4e M4 chips would be put to good use here.
MrHighVoltage@reddit
I agree to all of you, but I think the TSMC 3N works too well and there is not too much left M4-dies that you could bin down to a low cost product without downgrading good products. So more or less Apple would throw away good silicon. Possibly, they also reduce the other, non-compute related features, like the IO stuff. Perfect if you use the iPhone chip which has nearly no IO in the first place. And with the prices of 3N, using smaller chips in the first place makes a lot of sense.
Pugs-r-cool@reddit
To that I'd say, what cooling exactly?
Have you seen how tiny the "heatsink" is on a macbook air? If they made that thing any smaller or thinner it would be about the size of a coin, only a 1/10th as thick.
KinTharEl@reddit
I can't imagine the space saving for that would be "that" much. The existing SoC and PCB on the Macbook Air is already miniscule. The Air is also cooled by a passive plate of metal for a heatsink, so there's not much reduction to actually do there.
doscomputer@reddit
pay more for less has never been a selling point of apple products for me tbh
alelo@reddit
hmm apple macbook with apple modem and eSIM compatibility drool
Hifihedgehog@reddit
That would be nice but the cellular, whether in-house or third-party, is a separate chip so going with an A series chips doesn’t simplify that process of getting LTE in a MacBook. There are both WiFi+cellular A and M Series iPads, after all!
alelo@reddit
i thinknit would be best on cheaper models - to introduce - you know icloud storing of files etc - cheaper model for school
Hifihedgehog@reddit
That is true logically speaking (you are speaking to the choir) but Apple historically has tried to not overlap product categories too much in order to keep segmentation largely non-overlapping. That is, you do not see macOS on iPad, you do not stylus support on iPhone or MacBook, and so on of unique features. This drives customers to purchase more products rather than consolidate which means higher revenue for Apple, so Apple's logic here is probably to either encourage a customer to tether to their iPhone or get an iPad with cellular if they need near-constant updating of iCloud storage of files on and off Wi-Fi. For Apple as well, unlike other brands, lower-end products do not make up as much revenue as their higher-end products do so it would not be in their best interest and that of their investors to provide a feature that would outperform and outshine their high-end MacBooks in their revenue flow.
Ill-Mastodon-8692@reddit
yea please
EndlessZone123@reddit
Depending on the yield of the M4 chips, you might not have enough to sustain production using only cut down chips. If you need to cut down chips to increase supply you could be wasting a lot of good chips.
While if you use the full iphone chips you can ramp production without wasting better chips.
Ghostsonplanets@reddit
Cheaper per area and volume. Also enable a possible cellular modem SKU
goodnames679@reddit
Apple has also had trouble selling as many iPhones as they used to. It could be that they have quite a lot of chips ready and nowhere to ship them.
owldown@reddit
I don't know that they are having trouble. Their reported revenue (smoothed to average out the seasonal variance) from iPhone sales is pretty much flat since 2022. Apple has, for a long time, sold previous two years' phones (in the non-pro style) at a discount. That's where they use the "extra" chips traditionally.
And, they already have a device - the iPad - which comes in A-series and M-series variants. They can play with other features to sell A-series iPads at a targeted cost.
I don't think there is much to this rumor. Kuo said Apple would rebrand Siri and spend time at WWDC explaining the timeline of future Apple Intelligence features - wrong. He predicted big drops in sales for the iPhone 16 series, which wasn't true. He said the Watch series 10 models would be 45mm and 49mm, but they were actually 42mm and 46mm. Kuo said that Apple would release a lower cost version of the MacBook in late 2024 https://www.macrumors.com/2023/10/25/kuo-apple-low-cost-macbook-launch-in-2024/ which also hasn't happened. Kuo said in September of 2023 that no M3 MacBooks were going to launch that year, and then Apple launched them in October. He's right sometimes and wrong sometimes.
karlzhao314@reddit
Depending on what the yields are like, you can't always get enough poorly-binned cores out of your process to make for a viable lower-end product line. AMD famously had/possibly still has(?) this "problem" where the yields of their 8-core chiplet were good enough that they had almost no cores that had to be binned down to 4 cores, so the quad-core chiplet-based processors were essentially eliminated from their lineup after Ryzen 5000.
Apple may be running into the same thing, especially as they also use TSMC which is where AMD's "problem" also originated from. Sure, they probably have some chips that could be salvaged as a 2+4, but it makes no sense to release it as an actual product if it's only ever 10% of their chips. Doubly so because this is presumably meant to be a lower-end, mass-market product, so sticking a rarer (even if it's lower-end) SoC in it kind of defeats the point.
Zenith251@reddit
Makes me wonder what they're doing with that spare silicon. Or maybe there's a design limitation that won't allow them to use the chips with fewer active cores?
Pugs-r-cool@reddit
You know how you can select between an 8 core and a 10 core GPU when buying a macbook? They don't make a special 8 core GPU version of the chip, the 8 core is a failed 10 core with two of the cores broken and disabled. That's exactly how binning works, their chips aren't magic and are binned in the same ways that any other chip is.
Zenith251@reddit
When I said "fewer," I meant fewer than they currently do. I thought that was implied.
Silent-Selection8161@reddit
105mm for A18 vs 165 for M4.
Call it the Air^(2)
xternocleidomastoide@reddit
A-series chips are cheaper; Smaller dies and cheaper packaging than M-series.
plymer968@reddit
I would be interested in this if I could comfortably run VSCode with a few extensions and a terminal instance for NodeJS. I don’t need anything wildly powerful, I just want back in to the Apple ecosystem at a non-insane price (buy in CAD here)
Ghostsonplanets@reddit
Should be more than enough for it. ST wise, we're talking about between M3 and M4 performance. MT performance should be around M1.
zoltan99@reddit
That’s honestly more than enough for anything non power users need
noiserr@reddit
12 inch screen would be painful for serious work.
zoltan99@reddit
Probably really bad for multi cam 4k video editing too huh bud
noiserr@reddit
The OP talked about using VSCode on his. Not sure why the snark.
I don't know about you but I use VSCode and that shit would suck on a 12" screen.
LetsTwistAga1n@reddit
I use VSCode on my 12" 2017 sometimes and it's fine.
noiserr@reddit
If you''re an ant.
Creative-Expert8086@reddit
Just get a M4 MBA, the amortized depre value is already very low
phranq@reddit
The Mac Mini is pretty reasonable
ibeerianhamhock@reddit
Way more than enough. Faster than most anything we ran in the last 2010s for web dev
xternocleidomastoide@reddit
It should be more than enough, the scalar cores in the A-series are pretty similar to the ones in the M-series.
So you'd get similar single core performance between an A18 pro based macbook and between an M3 and M4. Obviously must lower multi core.
Dreamerlax@reddit
It seems to be roughly around an M1 in terms of performance. And the M1 is still anything but slow.
ibeerianhamhock@reddit
Current gen arm mobile processors are so fast they are largely wasted in phones. I think this is a great idea for entry level laptops.
okoroezenwa@reddit (OP)
Hardly.
Quatro_Leches@reddit
they are lol. their benchmarks you see are bursts, they hardly use a fraction of that most of the time.
okoroezenwa@reddit (OP)
Eh, that's the case for a lot of computers and that doesn't make having fast single core "largely wasted".
ibeerianhamhock@reddit
All I'm saying is they are plenty powerful enough for most people's general computing needs who aren't power users, even light development. I am not alluding to gaming at all by this, but most people don't game with their laptops (or in general).
DisjointedHuntsville@reddit
Steve Jobs: “We don’t ship junk”
Tim Cook: “We’re selling phone silicon inside notebooks. Oh, and we’re burning $100 Billion in buybacks”
Strazdas1@reddit
Also steve jobs: Eating oranges cures cancer and showering is a scam.
I wouldnt take things he say for granted.
ManOnAHalifaxPier@reddit
Phone silicon = ultra low power draw. That probably means it’s going to be small, razor thin, or both. The A18 Pro is also just straight up a very good chip.
DisjointedHuntsville@reddit
You just described the iPad Pro -> They aren't smart enough to put MacOS on it as they should have five years ago.
Apple is dead with software development.
ManOnAHalifaxPier@reddit
The iPad Pro is an iPad, it uses the more power hungry M-series chips. macOS would kill the battery in it in no time. It serves a fundamentally different purpose than a Mac does. It makes no sense to put macOS on it. iPadOS is behind but is (painfully) slowly getting better
DisjointedHuntsville@reddit
Its the same architecture, designed for different power envelopes.
It really doesn't matter if the iPad is running an A or M series chip right now because of Apples inadequacy in software.
If they move to kneecap the notebook lineup with a lower power and thus lower perf chip instead of innovating with their tablet lineup in addition to that move, it is bone headed.
ManOnAHalifaxPier@reddit
The notebook lineup isn’t being kneecapped at all. This new A-series equipped laptop is not replacing anything, just coming in at the bottom of the lineup for a lower price. The MacBook Air with the M-series chips (which is already a really good deal) isn’t going anywhere.
Also, there are plenty of pro apps on the iPad that do make use of the extra power. Tons of apps for art, plus Final Cut/Logic, etc. Long way to go of course; but especially after the addition of windowing and background export tasks there are plenty of ways iPads can use the additional horsepower from the M-series chips.
This new machine makes total sense: it’s for people who don’t use pro apps and who want a keyboard and trackpad. It’s a long shot but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ran iPadOS itself and was called an “iBook” or something, but it makes just as much sense as a lower-end MacBook.
DisjointedHuntsville@reddit
So you could either buy a web book or an iPad without desktop features within a generation.
The whole “we don’t ship junk” comment is about this very point. There are only so many dollars for every generation for most people. If Apple is charging a premium and severely handicapping an entire class of products, there’s no other way to call it other than shipping junk.
It’s more effective to ship iPads with better MacOS support but they can’t because they can’t write good software anymore.
ManOnAHalifaxPier@reddit
I’m not sure what you mean by “there are only so many dollars every generation for most people”. Most people buy a laptop every 5 years at the most. Despite MacBoon Air being a very good deal, it’s still not within reach of a lot of people. Adding something below it (read: NOT “kneecapping” or otherwise modifying the existing lineup), in a traditional laptop form factor, would make the Mac accessible to more people.
Is the M1 MacBook Air, even today, “junk”? Absolutely not. It’s unquestionably better than a lot of the laptops being sold today in the $600 price bracket. It stands to reason then that a newer, more powerful successor will also not be junk. The whole point is that Apple won’t be charging a premium for this product.
Finally, Apple could have macOS running on an iPad next week if they wanted to, they aren’t suddenly terrible at software. They simply don’t see it as good for either the iPad as a product or the Mac as a platform. I tend to agree with them.
doscomputer@reddit
and ultra low performance
netbooks have never been a hit and this will probably be as short lived as the 12 inch macbook
ManOnAHalifaxPier@reddit
Completely incorrect. Close to the M4 in single core performance and equivalent to M1 in multi core. That is plenty powerful for most people, especially when so many people live in web browsers
No_Shelter_4217@reddit
I wanted to say this. Cheap iPhone, cheap MacBook. Soon there won't be a difference between apple and Windows pc
Creative-Expert8086@reddit
Given the current pricing of the MacBook Air, it’s hard to justify an even cheaper lineup. What could Apple realistically cut? They might adopt a slightly less powerful processor, but that alone wouldn’t bring the retail price down enough to satisfy budget-sensitive buyers—especially once you factor in Apple’s high repair and upgrade costs. For most mid-range and upper-mid-range users, the MacBook Air already delivers an excellent price-to-performance ratio: if your workload benefits from macOS over Windows, there’s little else at this price point that can compete.
Strazdas1@reddit
CPU, for one. As per the article.
manek101@reddit
Cut the screen resolution, the metal unibody and the processor and you'll get a price around 650$ for a machine that just works
Creative-Expert8086@reddit
Doesn't really make a difference, Apple MSRP is already too low at this point for M4 MBA.
manek101@reddit
Shaving off 20% of the price makes a difference.
Mainly a lot of difference in growing markets like India.
M2 Air can be had in India for INR 75k, which is still considered a premium for most, but if they bring the price down to around 65k(closest to the average laptop selling price), it'll sell a lot more.
Framed-Photo@reddit
If they can get the price to be actually good, without skimping out on the other parts of the hardware that make the macbook the best modern laptop (for hardware at least), then it's going to be really difficult to recommend anything else outside of specific workload requirements like gaming.
I personally don't like macOS at all, but would happily put up with it if it meant I got the fantastic speakers, battery life, trackpad, screen, and build quality of a macbook for a genuinely good price. You need to spend SO much on a Windows laptop to get equivilent feeling hardware.
Strazdas1@reddit
maybe if you started measuring hardware but how it performs for you rather than how you feel about it it would be easier not to overspend on it.
Hytht@reddit
> You need to spend SO much on a Windows laptop to get equivilent feeling hardware.
But also I need to spend SO much on a MacBook to get decent amount of storage (atleast 1TB) and RAM (32GB)
Framed-Photo@reddit
Sure, apple absolutely charges too much for those storage and ram upgrades, so if those are your priorities then Windows laptops might do you better.
But to get those you'll be giving up on basically everything else, including the screen. You won't get a Windows laptop that gets close to the MacBook pro without spending MacBook pro money on it.
Hytht@reddit
I agree, Speakers, build quality and trackpads have no match from Windows.
Battery life of ultra low power Intel CPUs are on par with MacBook: https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comments/1gl6xij/lunar_lake_20_hours_battery_life/
Battery life is thrash when moving to MacBook pro performance class. They can't do high performance with good battery life yet.
Screen: I don't need think I need to give up on screen. First, OLED has better motion clarity and less blooming than mini LED. And, less brightness on the average OLEDs compared to MacBook, although, you get 3K 120hz for same or less price than 60Hz IPS on MacBook air. When spending MacBook pro money you can get HDR1000/ 1100 nits peak brightness capable OLEDs with insane color volume.
Framed-Photo@reddit
I think you should maybe take another look at reviews for macbooks if you think they're not still the king of battery life, or better yet, battery based intensive workloads. Losing performance when on battery life is one of the biggest complaints people still have about Windows laptops, and it's something macbooks do not have to deal with.
For screens, again, I'd really suggest you take a look at reviews of the macbook pros screen if you think things like blooming or brightness are issues. In this case, the macbook pros miniLED is the best screen you can get on a laptop and it's not close.
For some reference on things like blooming, a pretty good current miniLED desktop monitor is the AOC Q27G3XMN, which is a 27 inch VA panel with 336 dimming zones. The Macbook Pro 14 is of course a much smaller display, but it offers 2000 dimming zones. The 16 inch one offers 2500. While not having the downsides of VA, while hitting 1600 nits peak with a MUCH higher full panel brightness, something OLED displays have always struggled with.
I'm not an apple fan, I don't own any apple products and don't really plan to, but I'm not gonna downplay how insane their modern hardware is haha. You're not gonna get a display that gets close to the macbook pros.
Hytht@reddit
I said Intel's ultra low power CPUs (15W), they have the same performance on battery as when plugged in. I've checked myself with lunar lake ultra 7 258v comparing fps and package power when gaming on battery and plugged in.
You might have not tried a OLED Windows laptop with well made HDR videos. It's incredibly beautiful.
Don't forget iPad already switched from mini LED to OLED, also with same 1600 nits peak and 1000 nits full field by dual stacking OLED displays. If MacBook also switches there will be people saying "it's not even close" to the old mini led. Dell also used that tandem OLED tech in some laptops.
High end OLEDs also have way more color volume than any LCD tech like that on MacBook pro. It's LCD after all, with some backlight.
The yoga 9i 2 in 1 aura edition has an exceptional DCI-P3 gamut of \~140% while MacBook Pro does 80% : https://www.laptopmag.com/laptops/2-in-1-laptops/lenovo-yoga-9i-2-in-1-aura-edition-review#section-lenovo-yoga-9i-2-in-1-aura-edition-display
https://www.laptopmag.com/laptops/macbooks/apple-macbook-pro-14-inch-m4-2024-review#section-apple-macbook-pro-14-inch-m4-2024-display
Framed-Photo@reddit
I know exactly what you said, and I'm telling you that you need to take another look because a lot of it is incorrect lol.
You don't need to defend your purchase to me, I'm sure you're very happy with your laptop, but you're saying objectively false things about the Macbooks that goes against what professional reviewers have determined about them.
Hytht@reddit
Not speaking about the MacBook but just comparing LCD vs OLED. It is objectively false to say a MacBook Pro has the best screen when some OLED screens by nature of OLED, do better in few aspects.
I linked to a light web browsing load test of MacBook vs Windows laptop and if you interpreted it as Windows laptops having MacBook battery life in intensive loads and all scenarios then that's on you.
Framed-Photo@reddit
OLED is better than a single back lit LCD, but no it's not objectively better than a miniLED panel, that's the whole point. We have display measurements for a reason, and the macbook pros are consistently at the top of the charts, as well as not having to deal with the traditional downsides of OLED like burn in.
I didn't look at the links you've sent, I've already seen a ton of reviews on all of these chips and devices, I'm well aware of how they perform.
Hytht@reddit
Fwiw I didn't purchase any of the laptops from the links I sent.
I've already sent a comparison in which MacBook pro display did not top the charts in color volume.
LeftysRule22@reddit
WRT the battery life - I don't know if it's a Windows vs MacOS thing, or a processor thing, but the big problem with windows laptops is what happens to the battery when the device is unplugged and closed.
I can close my m1 air in the middle of any task, leave it for days at time, and when I open the lid it's instantly ready to go at the same battery percentage.
Windows just cant do that, there's always a load time on login or an update, or something, and even then you'll have lost a significant amount of battery life.
I've put my work laptop in my bag and when I pull it out an hour later its hotter than the surface of the sun because it never properly went to sleep and then ran the fan at max speed suffocating on zero airflow nuking the battery.
rattle2nake@reddit
Finally, I’ve been waiting for them to do this phone chips have been powerful enough for macOS for the last couple of years lol
CommunicationUsed270@reddit
Resurrecting the 12-inch MacBook is a pretty good idea but i think it will only run iPadOS.
diskowmoskow@reddit
Ffs, i was waiting to buy an ipad if they would ever run macOS, but now we will have macbook running ipadOS.
Ghostsonplanets@reddit
There's no way it runs iPadOS. Despite M&K improvements, iPad OS still is a touch centric environment.
SGTSHOOTnMISS@reddit
I have the iPad pro from a couple years ago with the pro keyboard+touchpad and yeah, it's far from a proper desktop experience with how the touchpad works.
Pugs-r-cool@reddit
Have you tried the ipados 26 beta though? The new window management features make it a lot more like a desktop than before, plus it now has a traditional cursor instead of the blob it had before.
SGTSHOOTnMISS@reddit
I'll have to give it a shot. I'm just on the public release, 18.5.
Pugs-r-cool@reddit
Be warned that stability isn't great and betas affect your battery life, plus all the usual caveats with running betas on your devices.
If you just want to see what the new window management is like, this video does a good job at showing it off in detail.
https://youtu.be/lncNxapb9b8 (skip to 2:15)
Pugs-r-cool@reddit
If it's meant to be a chromebook replacement, it would make sense for it to run iPadOS.
Spirited-Pause@reddit
That’s just a slightly larger iPad Air with keyboard at that point.
Lighthouse_seek@reddit
The 12 inch MacBook was ahead of its time. Intel being ass and butterfly keyboard basically doomed it though.
auradragon1@reddit
12 inch was more expensive than 13" Macbook Air. It was a premium computer.
LandGrantChampions@reddit
I would be shocked if it ran iPadOS. I'm thinking more along the lines of the old 11-inch MacBook Air or 12" MacBook.
pacmanic@reddit
My speculation is that Apple is slowly moving its macOS users to iPadOS on MacBooks which will become glorified iPads. The App Store in iPhone/iPads print money and the same isn’t happening for the macOS. Look for touchscreens next on MacBooks. Then MacBooks will default run iPadOS with macOS relegated to the background and primarily there for app development only, not daily driver use.
okoroezenwa@reddit (OP)
This is stupid. It hasn't happened since dumb conspiracy theorists started saying this nonsense and it sure as hell isn't happening now. Hell with iOS 26 they've literally moved in the other direction lol
Dreamerlax@reddit
I heard this way back during the Apple silicon transition.
I run zero iPad apps on my laptop. In fact I couldn't find any on the App Store, which I barely use unless an app I need is only available there.
pacmanic@reddit
RemindMe! 5 Years
PercsAndCaicos@reddit
I’m kinda intrigued by this. Because I want a MacBook because I love macOS, but my gaming pc would do all the heavy lifting for anything demanding. I literally just want an efficient, well built, Apple laptop to throw around and travel with that has internet and light productivity
Dreamerlax@reddit
Basically me now.
Pugs-r-cool@reddit
That's exactly what the macbook air is. My desktop is a windows/linux dual boot machine with high end specs for gaming and whatever else, but my macbook air is what I bring with me everywhere I go. Over 10 hours screen on without needing to plug in is amazing, and honestly it's capable of more than just light productivity.
Dreamerlax@reddit
Return of the "MacBook" I presume?
Doesn't seem that bad of a preposition.
Hexagonian@reddit
You mean iBook?
dropthemagic@reddit
I mean they have to keep entry prices the same and tariffs are real. Switch one just went up in price in Canada
funny_lyfe@reddit
Maybe create a Mac without a metal unibody and replace the $700 M2 that is often on sale. Might not be bad if it can be priced under $700 ( which means it will go on sale for $550-600). Perfect upgrade for older Intel Macbook users that want a basic PC.
PlainPrecision@reddit
You can get the M4 MacBook Air for $699 through the AAFES. I just purchased a new M4 MacBook Air as a gift and price matched it with Best Buy for $799 (different retailer) earlier this month.
Prince_Uncharming@reddit
Unless there’s some loophole I’m not aware of, most people don’t have access to AAFES pricing.
The most reliable entry point is $899 pricing from the education store.
OrbitalOutlander@reddit
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/price-match-guarantee/qualified-competitors/pcmcat1693426756861.c?id=pcmcat1693426756861
No way in hell they'll pricematch AAFES.
PlainPrecision@reddit
I did BrandSmart -> Best Buy since I’m not an AAFES member.
OrbitalOutlander@reddit
BrandSmart's in the list, good job price matching! It can be challenging with Best Buy.
Key-Resource5014@reddit
I think he is referring to just price matching it at a place that will honor the price from AAFES irrespective of whether or not you could actually buy it from AAFES
PlainPrecision@reddit
There aren’t any loopholes that I know of. BrandSmart had the 13” MBA M4 15/256 for $799. I price matched to Best Buy easily.
For folks not wanting to spend the few minutes to do that, then the Edu store at $899 is the best bet for a lot of people. Though, I often see it on sale on Amazon/Walmart/Best Buy for $850.
rockydbull@reddit
When was it 699 at AAFES? Lowest I saw was $750
funny_lyfe@reddit
Without going on sale it would make sense to pick up an older air like M2. How would Apple even justify it over the base model?
127-0-0-1_1@reddit
Because a lot of people only buy new products? The goal is not to appeal to redditors, the goal is to open a new product line to capture more of the demand curve.
funny_lyfe@reddit
Unless apple plans to get rid of selling older models new they will have a hard time selling downgraded new MacBook for the same price. Agree that lots of people might just buy the cheapest or not look at deals. But tech crowd often recommend what to get on YouTube and to their family.
Pugs-r-cool@reddit
Plus the referb market has been growing a lot, more and more regular consumers are buying refurbished last-gen phones and laptops to save money while still having a premium experience.
Lighthouse_seek@reddit
The MacBook air already starts at 1000 which is extremely reasonable though
dfgsdja@reddit
Not if you need to buy a few hundred for a school. Having something that competes with Chromebook would be a smart move. Get people on your ecosystem early.
free2game@reddit
Or damages it because it was the super cheap laptop you had in school.
LuluButt3rs@reddit
Give us macos on ipad
zakats@reddit
Come on next gen iBook!
Daftpunk67@reddit
So it’s their version of a Chromebook? Got it
Hikashuri@reddit
The baseline version is literally an iPhone chip with more cpu cores and gpu cores enabled.
Prince_Uncharming@reddit
It literally isn’t.
LordMohid@reddit
Ffs just stop giving us 256GB storage in 2025
Guy-Manuel@reddit
Probably due to a general slowing down of phone sales
mrheosuper@reddit
Could be the mac 12 ? With single usb C port ?
Yellow2345@reddit
As someone in the Apple ecosystem but has no need for a Macbook, a cheaper model would sure be fun to play with and easier to justify with the wallet.
Fixitwithducttape42@reddit
If this is closer tk iPad levels of cost, this could definitely be a good thing.