Apple’s Cheap MacBook: What to Expect in 2026

Apple is going to release a low-cost MacBook in 2026, with the device set to be more affordable than the $999 MacBook Air. With the affordable notebook, Apple is aiming to better compete with cheap Chromebooks and Windows PCs.

If you’re thinking about picking up a computer for lightweight tasks like document editing, web browsing, watching videos, and doing homework, you might want to wait to see what Apple has in store before making a purchase. Below, we highlight what we know about the new Mac so far.

Size

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes the low-cost MacBook will have a display that’s around 13 inches in size. The ‌MacBook Air‌ has a 13.6-inch display, so the more affordable MacBook could be slightly smaller. It’s sounding like it won’t be too far off from the 13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌, though.

There are no details on how thick it might be, but Apple probably won’t prioritize a thin design for a machine optimized for a low price. Since the ‌MacBook Air‌ can run fine with an M-series chip and no fan in an enclosure that’s 0.44 inches thick, there’s no reason for the MacBook to be any thicker than that.

Design and Display

The low-cost MacBook will have a standard LCD display with no mini-LED technology or ProMotion refresh rate. It could come in bright colors like the iMac, with Kuo suggesting Apple will offer it in silver, blue, pink, and yellow.

A-Series Chip

Apple is planning to use its A18 Pro chip in the MacBook. We first saw the A18 Pro in the iPhone 16 Pro models. The chip is built on Apple’s second-generation 3-nanometer process, featuring 8GB RAM and support for Apple Intelligence.

It’s fast and efficient, and more than capable of handling day-to-day tasks. In Geekbench 6 benchmarks, the A18 Pro offers single-core CPU performance scores at the level of the M3 Ultra, and multi-core performance scores higher than the M1 chip that Apple used in the first Apple silicon ‌MacBook Air‌. Metal scores that measure GPU performance are also similar to the ‌M1‌ chip Metal scores.

The A18 Pro will be equivalent to the ‌M1‌ for some tasks, and faster for other tasks. Apple no longer sells the ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ from its own store, but it has offered the machine through Walmart at a $599 price point.

Capabilities

With the A18 Pro chip, the low-cost MacBook would be able to do anything that can be done on an ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro. It would be a suitable replacement for the low-cost iPad paired with a keyboard, and it would also support ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features.

Right now, an ‌iPad‌ is essentially the only option for a low-cost portable device that can serve as a computer, but the low-cost MacBook will add a solution that runs macOS instead of iPadOS.

Tasks like browsing the web, watching videos, creating documents, editing photos, and even light video editing would be no problem. A low-cost MacBook with A18 Pro chip could play all of Apple’s ‌iPad‌ and iPhone games, including Apple Arcade titles, but it would not work well with high-end system intensive games.

It would also run apps like Final Cut Pro, but speeds for things like exporting video would not be as quick as with a more powerful Mac.

Apple probably won’t go all out on ports, and the MacBook is likely to get just a single USB-C port, though two like the ‌MacBook Air‌ is also possible.

The A18 Pro chip is efficient, and there’s a lot of space inside a 13-inch enclosure for a battery, so we could be looking at MacBook Air-level battery life or better. The ‌MacBook Air‌’s battery lasts for up to 18 hours when watching videos, or 15 hours when browsing the web.

Price

There are no specific details on price as of yet, but Bloomberg claims it will cost “well under $1,000.” The ‌MacBook Air‌ is priced starting at $999, so it would need to come in under that.

Apple has a 13-inch iPad Air that has a display in the same range rumored for the low-cost MacBook, and it’s priced at $799. The ‌iPad Air‌ has a higher-end M-series processor though, so the low-cost MacBook could be less than the ‌iPad Air‌.

The closest ‌iPad‌ approximation for the chip is the iPad mini, which has an A17 Pro. The ‌iPad mini‌ is priced starting at $499. A price somewhere between $499 and $799 could make sense looking at Apple’s existing product lineup. The older ‌M1‌ MacBook that sells for $599 at Walmart also gives us a hint at what Apple might charge.

Launch Timing

Apple could launch the low-cost MacBook in the first half of 2026. Updates are planned for the ‌MacBook Air‌ in early 2026, so the low-cost model could launch sometime in that same timeframe.

For more information on Apple’s budget MacBook, we have a dedicated guide.
This article, “Apple’s Cheap MacBook: What to Expect in 2026” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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