Apple Prepares for a ‘Major Rush’ as New Budget MacBook Looms
An AI-generated image simulating the massive retail rush expected for the new MacBook [iDrop News / AI]
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Apple has told its retail store employees to expect a “major rush” of customers this week, thanks to the new products the company will announce during the first half of this week, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman.
Writing in his Power On newsletter on Sunday, Gurman says some Apple retail employees said the company’s preparations for the new products expected to launch this week are “on par with what happens before the debut of new iPhones in the fall.” If you’re familiar with new iPhone launches, you know Apple retail stores can get quite crowded, which suggests that at least one of the Apple products unveiled this week will have what Gurman calls “major mainstream appeal.”
Apple eased into the week by announcing the iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air this morning, which turned out to be the expected spec bumps. We don’t imagine too many customers will be rushing into Apple Stores for those, but there’s still much more to come. Out of everything we’ve heard rumored, the product most likely to stir interest among Apple customers is the lower-cost MacBook, which Apple has reportedly described internally as an “incredible value” that will help to “drive a serious number of switchers from Windows machines and Chromebooks.”
While we won’t know the starting price of the new entry-level MacBook until Apple’s official announcement this week, many expect it to land in the $599 to $799 range, with the usual educational discount that could shave around $100 off the base price for college students and educators.
The new MacBook’s specs aren’t expected to be of interest to power users, but it should provide an attractive entry point for potential Mac buyers on a tight budget. By all reports, it will be powered by the same A18 Pro chip found in Apple’s 2024 iPhone 16 Pro rather than the M-series chips used in the rest of the Mac lineup.
The laptop will also boast a smaller 12.9-inch display, and will likely be equipped with only 8 GB of RAM — the minimum needed for Apple Intelligence — and standard USB-C ports in place of the faster Thunderbolt ports found on other Macs.
Some reports have also indicated the new laptop will be available in “fun” color options, including blue, green, pink, and yellow, and feature a shell made out of aluminum, using a new manufacturing process Apple has developed “that allows the shells to be forged more quickly,” according to an earlier report by Gurman.
As we reported last week, the new MacBook isn’t expected to use Apple’s new N1 chip. This new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth silicon has yet to appear on any Macs, and it doesn’t seem likely it will debut it on its budget model — especially with the iPhone 17e also skipping it.
SSD storage options are also likely to be limited, lacking higher-capacity 1 TB and 2 TB configurations. Instead, it’s expected to be available in 256 GB and 512 GB versions only, using slower SSD modules to keep costs down.
Other feature omissions for the upcoming MacBook include support for high impedance headphones, a backlit keyboard, fast charging support, and the True Tone display. The brightness is also expected to come in below the 500 nits of the MacBook Air. There’s little doubt these will be basic 60Hz IPS LCD panels, and support for external displays remains an open question as that’s generally a function of Apple’s M-series chips, and we’re in unexplored territory with the A18 Pro.
Beyond the iPhone 17e, M4 iPad Air, and this lower-cost MacBook, Apple is also expected to unveil a new base-model iPad powered by an A18 chip, the new M5 MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro models powered by M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. There’s also a new Apple Studio Display and Mac Studio on deck, but those remain the wildcards for this week.
