Apple is set to revolutionise the budget laptop market next week with the launch of a new low-cost MacBook, featuring a 12.9” display and powerful A18 or A19 Pro chip, priced between R13,000 and R15,000, potentially disrupting competitors like the M4 Air and 2020 M1 MacBook Air. Picture: Michael Sherman/IOL
Image: Picture: Michael Sherman/IOL
Everything we know about the new low-cost MacBook coming next week
The excitement is almost palpable in the tech sphere as Apple is set to take the budget laptop market by storm next week with the release of its new MacBook.
Discontinued in 2019, the revival of this device has one key factor that could potentially destroy large segments of the market - and that is its projected price.
The speculation is that the new MacBook will cost between 500 and 700 US dollars, which works out R7,953 and R11,134. With import costs to South Africa, this could mean a device going from R13,000 to R15,000.
The current cheapest new MacBook is the M4 Air, which retails at R18,500. There’s also the 2020 M1 MacBook Air, which is listed as R12,999 on iStore.co.za.
However, there is currently no stock, which means it’s probably about to be discontinued.
That would leave a gap in their product line for the new MacBook.
According to what YouTuber MaxTech told his 1.25m subscribers, the laptop will come with a 12.9” display, which is only slightly smaller than the 13.6” of the M4 Air.
The new MacBook would be a reintroduction of the model launched in 2015. Back then, the laptop featured a 12” screen, the awful butterfly keyboard, and a severely underpowered Intel processor.
The design was way ahead of its time, and the hardware could not keep up as it was prone to overheating and would freeze if you tried to do basically anything on the device.
Now, it’s a different story as the processor that would be used for a new MacBook would either be an A18 Pro or, less likely, an A19 Pro chip, which are the same ones used in the iPhone 16 Pro and new iPhone 17 Pro models.
The processing power of these chips is roughly the equivalent of the 2020 M1 MacBook Air. The M1 Air was the first MacBook to use the new Apple silicon chip after the company moved away from the underpowered and battery-sapping Intel processors.
Between Monday and Wednesday next week, a host of new devices are expected to be announced by Apple - but the MacBook is the only ‘new’ product rumoured.