Apple reviving “MacBook’ with a18 processor?

[dada_dave]

Thinking about this some more, the A18 Pro is 40% faster in single core than the M1, and nearly the same in multi-core and GPU, so it will feel faster for general single threaded tasks than the $699 M1 MBA Apple is still selling through Walmart.

And after this year’s surprise price drop on the entry-level M4 MBA with 16/256 to $999, this new MacBook (nothing?) MacBook (SE?) could come in at $799 and let the MBA go back upmarket a little bit.

I see it like this for next spring:

$799 13” MacBook SE A18 Pro 16/256
$999 13” MacBook SE A18 Pro 16/512
$1199 13” MacBook Air M5 16/512
$1399 15” MacBook Air M5 16/512

By ceding the $999 price point to the new A18 Pro MacBook SE, Apple can make a 512GB drive available at that price, while allowing the MacBook Air line to start at $1199, but now at 512GB, so effectively without a price hike.

The $799 model gets stuck with the last remaining 256GB storage tier, but that’s still fine for many buyers at that price/performance level, while providing nice $200 upsells to the 512 MacBook SE and then again to the 512 MBA

Close! They did indeed increase the base storage to 512GB, nice, but the price is $1099/$1299 - Apple going more aggressive of pricing than expected given ::waves at all the AI-induced shortages:: everything. So very nice. I was surprised when they dropped the M4’s price and pleased they are only returning to the M3’s under the circumstances especially while boosting base storage.