Apple’s rumored ‘cheap’ MacBook makes me worried for Windows laptops and Chromebooks

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

Apple could announce the launch of a new “cheap” MacBook on March 4.
It will likely come with the A18 chip found in the iPhone 16 Pro.
Prices will start around $599.

Rumors of a new “cheap” MacBook have been circulating for years, but it looks like the laptop could finally launch in the next few weeks. On March 4, Apple is set to make a series of product announcements at a “special experience” here in New York, where I’m betting we’ll hear more.

Apple’s new affordable 13-inch MacBook is rumored to feature a low-power A18 processor — the same chip found in the iPhone 16 Pro — rather than the typical M-series processors used in MacBooks. This would allow it to keep costs low, particularly if paired with more modest hardware such as a less flashy display and a smaller form factor.

Also: Everything Apple may unveil at its March event: iPhone 17e, MacBook M5, new iPads, more

The A18 chip is a powerful piece of hardware, and although it doesn’t quite match the performance of the M-series processors found in the MacBook Air and Pro, it’s more than capable of handling everyday use cases for which affordable laptops are designed.

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

So, how affordable are we talking? Mark Gurman, Apple insider and author of Bloomberg’s Power On newsletter, is confident the device will be “well under $1,000,” which makes sense given the build components. But the new model’s price would still need to be lower than a MacBook Air, which can go as low as $749 during sales at third-party retailers like Amazon.

I would estimate a starting price of around $599, noting that anything higher than that wouldn’t be impactful enough to differentiate it, given the number of products in the expansive MacBook catalog (and the massive discounts available on renewed products). However, $500 or less would make for a product that would compete directly with budget PCs and…

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