I’m most excited about Apple’s ‘cheap’ MacBook, with one concern

Apple has confirmed that we’re in for a series of product launches starting Monday, and the rumored MacBook is easily what I’m most excited to see. Almost none of the rumored compromises worry me (and some actually sound like features).

Channeling the 12-inch MacBook

I loved the 2015 12-inch MacBook for its portability, though it was more premium in a lot of ways than the MacBook Air until a few years later.

I still expect it to be undefeated in the design department, but I’m hoping at least some of the spirit of that machine lives on in the new model.

Rumored compromises I can easily ignore

An alleged leak this week made a series of claims about what not to expect with the rumored MacBook that will run on Apple’s A18 Pro chip.

I don’t use high-impedance headphones, and I care about overall battery life more than fast charging. No True Tone display is fine since I usually turn that feature off everywhere anyway.

I do appreciate a brighter display when I’m occasionally using my computer in a bright environment, but I typically run my 500-nit MacBook Air at around 75% already.

No backlit keyboard would be a bummer, although I’ve experimented with turning mine off for days at a time as a preference.

The Mac SSD speed controversy a few years ago was more theoretical than anything to me, so I’m probably good in that department. And while I’d never turn away more local storage, I’m already below the 256GB storage mark thanks to cloud storage.

My only real concern is RAM

The one area that makes me think twice about even trying to live on the rumored A18 Pro-powered MacBook is RAM.

Apple’s decision to drop 8GB RAM Macs completely in favor of 16GB RAM a few years ago was fantastic. More RAM isn’t a must-have for me, especially when prioritizing value, but it sure makes everything work a lot more smoothly when it’s there.

So that’s where I’m at with the idea of the plain ol’ MacBook for now.

I would love for it to make Mac laptops as accessible as the M4 Mac mini, and discounted M4 MacBook Air models are already really close.

But if the low-power MacBook can be ever so slightly more portable than the 13.6-inch MacBook Air, I’ll be even more curious to try it.

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