Not bad, it seems fine for work providing the work is not very intensive it doesn't sound like a bad option at all. Tbh apple is kinda late to enter into the cheep laptop market but it’s not a bad idea, although I don't know if they'll beet chrome-books as far as price though; chromebooks from what I know are way cheeper than this mac, assuming it costs about $400 or there abouts. With cheep pcs? Sure but the chromebooks i'd say still beet it on price by quite a bit.
This kind of reminds me of the original MacBook. Not sure if Apple still makes that particular model or not, but I am interested in following this article. :-)
the a18pro is fast enough, not as fast as an m series because of the core count, but fast enough, so yeah will probably be compelling, for the ram I think apple will let you increase it, but like the macbook air they'll probably limit it to just 16 so the air market doesn't drop, or maybe they won't let you increase it, who knows, won't really surprise me either way, what I'm really curious is what form factor they'll use, is it the same as the air? Will they use one of the older designs? I personally think the m1 air design was the best laptop ever, I don't know why but that thing was amazing and comfortable in a way that the new airs or proes aren't.
There's only one thing I'd like: a 5G modem in this MacBook. I can't understand why Apple still hasn't implemented this in any of its laptops. If they did that, I'd have the perfect setup: a desktop Mac Mini for work, and this small MacBook for on the go.
Then even if I have an mbp m2pro base model I'd be interested to buy this for that reason alone.
Overall, I think it's a very good product, mac mini is popular for a reason but only with the generation that still knows what is, and how to set up, a magic keyboard, mouse / trackpad, and an external monitor.
A macbook which would definitely canibalize the air would be terribly popular with students.
If they dare put less than 16gb ram though I'd be furious, this is something only apple could ever do unfortunately even in 2025, it would justify the air's existance.
I hope at this point they use the A19, but who knows. Either way this would be very cool. I'd love a cheaper Mac laptop that was about the same price as the Mini. Only time will tell what happens.
This cheaper Macbook is a great idea, particularly for those of limited means who require basic computing inside the Apple ecosphere. I imagine there must be a substantial number of visually impaired [people who do not have the economic wherewithal until . . . now. I applaud you, Apple.
I mean, Apple has been doing 'cost effective' devices since the first SE model iPhone, and then later with the SE Apple Watch. I wonder if this will become the MacBook SE? Or I suppose they could just call it the MacBook 'E' to coincide with the iPhone 16E.
Let us hope it does not end up like the 12inch MacBook from a while back.
No matter what Mac you get, from the cheapest to the most expensive Pro, it's the same VoiceOver. Each and every time. The same screen reader that can't handle Google Docs and Salesforce well, which is a lot of people's work. The same VoiceOver that, right now, lags when speaking links on the web. Please consider these things before you buy.
I am primarily interested in how macOS & VoiceOver will run on the A18 Pro chip. Not just booting up, or simple tasks. How will it do with multitasking? How well will it handle multimedia and Word processing? These kinds of things.
Voiceover need a serious remade. It is me or I am going nuts, I see people dealing with more bugs in iOS 26 than previous versions. Apple need to look at the VO and work on it instead of adding paches for bugs. I am not negative or anything else some my acuse me off. Just saying. Long live cats.
These all have excited me over the years. I’ve been eagerly waiting for the return of the MacBook 12, and it appears that Apple is somehow developing an even better version of that incredibly thin and portable Mac.
yes I agree with Devin. first, I need google docs, I need libreoffice because I work with aes-256-encrypted ODT documents. open document text files. I like to run 32B parameter AI offline GGUF models, quantized at q6_k. I also like to play around with old tts engines such as bestSpeech tts. so therefore a mac won't work for me.
Look, this whole “VoiceOver can’t handle Google Docs or LibreOffice” thing is one of those statements that keeps getting repeated until people take it as fact, but it’s not accurate. The real issue isn’t that VoiceOver can’t handle those apps — it’s that the apps themselves were never properly designed to be accessible in the first place. Google’s accessibility layer for Docs is a mess across platforms. Even on Windows with JAWS or NVDA, it’s sluggish and inconsistent. On macOS, it’s worse because Google didn’t bother to integrate correctly with Apple’s accessibility APIs. That’s not on Apple, that’s on Google.
Same deal with LibreOffice. Its accessibility implementation has been half-baked for years — barely usable, full of unlabeled controls, missing role mappings, and constant regressions. That’s not a VoiceOver limitation; that’s the result of a project that’s never prioritized accessibility beyond lip service. If LibreOffice had the same level of commitment to accessibility as Microsoft Office or even Apple’s Pages, it would work fine on macOS too.
And that’s the bigger point here: macOS accessibility isn’t broken, it’s just underused, and yeah it has its bugs for sure; i.e, safari, focus jumping etc, and yeah these should get fixed for sure; but its not voiceover that's the problem; developer's negligence is. Look at apps like Excel, OneDrive, Google Drive, or even third-party utilities that use proper accessibility frameworks — they’re fully accessible. Clearly, it can be done. The technology is there; the will from these companies isn’t.
For perspective, look at Microsoft. Their own Outlook app on Windows , the system they control top to bottom, is still clunky and inconsistent for screen reader users. Sure, it’s usable, but it’s a pain to navigate — focus jumps around, unread counts are slow to update, and half the buttons have vague or missing labels. That’s on Microsoft, not NVDA or JAWS.
Same goes for Teams. Compare the experience across platforms. On iOS? It’s smooth, polished, and genuinely usable with VoiceOver — you can move through chats, messages, and calls efficiently. But on macOS and Windows? It’s a nightmare. You can technically use it, but it’s far from a comfortable or intuitive experience. Navigation is sluggish, the layout keeps changing, and there’s constant lag between updates and focus movement. Again, not a screen reader problem — just bad accessibility engineering.
So no, it’s not fair or accurate to say that VoiceOver “can’t handle” these apps. It’s that the developers behind them didn’t bother to make them handleable. Apple gave them the APIs, the documentation, the tools — they just didn’t care to use them. If anything, that’s the conversation that needs to happen: not “VoiceOver is useless,” but “why are these major companies still refusing to make their software accessible when the platform fully supports it?”
Comments
interesting
Not bad, it seems fine for work providing the work is not very intensive it doesn't sound like a bad option at all. Tbh apple is kinda late to enter into the cheep laptop market but it’s not a bad idea, although I don't know if they'll beet chrome-books as far as price though; chromebooks from what I know are way cheeper than this mac, assuming it costs about $400 or there abouts. With cheep pcs? Sure but the chromebooks i'd say still beet it on price by quite a bit.
Following
This kind of reminds me of the original MacBook. Not sure if Apple still makes that particular model or not, but I am interested in following this article. :-)
I wonder could this run Windows in a VM?
I wonder could this run windows in a VM? I would increase the ram in it of course if that were an option. Thoughts? I'm excited for this new computer.
I think it'll be fine
the a18pro is fast enough, not as fast as an m series because of the core count, but fast enough, so yeah will probably be compelling, for the ram I think apple will let you increase it, but like the macbook air they'll probably limit it to just 16 so the air market doesn't drop, or maybe they won't let you increase it, who knows, won't really surprise me either way, what I'm really curious is what form factor they'll use, is it the same as the air? Will they use one of the older designs? I personally think the m1 air design was the best laptop ever, I don't know why but that thing was amazing and comfortable in a way that the new airs or proes aren't.
Cellular
There's only one thing I'd like: a 5G modem in this MacBook. I can't understand why Apple still hasn't implemented this in any of its laptops. If they did that, I'd have the perfect setup: a desktop Mac Mini for work, and this small MacBook for on the go.
If they implement 5g...
Then even if I have an mbp m2pro base model I'd be interested to buy this for that reason alone.
Overall, I think it's a very good product, mac mini is popular for a reason but only with the generation that still knows what is, and how to set up, a magic keyboard, mouse / trackpad, and an external monitor.
A macbook which would definitely canibalize the air would be terribly popular with students.
If they dare put less than 16gb ram though I'd be furious, this is something only apple could ever do unfortunately even in 2025, it would justify the air's existance.
A19
I hope at this point they use the A19, but who knows. Either way this would be very cool. I'd love a cheaper Mac laptop that was about the same price as the Mini. Only time will tell what happens.
very interested
Very interested in what will happen. I will certainly be suggesting in the applevis report card that Mac accessibility is improved.
Great Idea
This cheaper Macbook is a great idea, particularly for those of limited means who require basic computing inside the Apple ecosphere. I imagine there must be a substantial number of visually impaired [people who do not have the economic wherewithal until . . . now. I applaud you, Apple.
It is interesting
I mean, Apple has been doing 'cost effective' devices since the first SE model iPhone, and then later with the SE Apple Watch. I wonder if this will become the MacBook SE? Or I suppose they could just call it the MacBook 'E' to coincide with the iPhone 16E.
Let us hope it does not end up like the 12inch MacBook from a while back.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-inch_MacBook
Still the same VoiceOver
No matter what Mac you get, from the cheapest to the most expensive Pro, it's the same VoiceOver. Each and every time. The same screen reader that can't handle Google Docs and Salesforce well, which is a lot of people's work. The same VoiceOver that, right now, lags when speaking links on the web. Please consider these things before you buy.
How long will last
That is the question? How long will last before you need a new one.
A18 Pro
I am primarily interested in how macOS & VoiceOver will run on the A18 Pro chip. Not just booting up, or simple tasks. How will it do with multitasking? How well will it handle multimedia and Word processing? These kinds of things.
Oliver
Voiceover need a serious remade. It is me or I am going nuts, I see people dealing with more bugs in iOS 26 than previous versions. Apple need to look at the VO and work on it instead of adding paches for bugs. I am not negative or anything else some my acuse me off. Just saying. Long live cats.
A smaller, thinner and lighter Mac
These all have excited me over the years. I’ve been eagerly waiting for the return of the MacBook 12, and it appears that Apple is somehow developing an even better version of that incredibly thin and portable Mac.
devin wrote Still the same VoiceOver
yes I agree with Devin. first, I need google docs, I need libreoffice because I work with aes-256-encrypted ODT documents. open document text files. I like to run 32B parameter AI offline GGUF models, quantized at q6_k. I also like to play around with old tts engines such as bestSpeech tts. so therefore a mac won't work for me.
To be fair
Look, this whole “VoiceOver can’t handle Google Docs or LibreOffice” thing is one of those statements that keeps getting repeated until people take it as fact, but it’s not accurate. The real issue isn’t that VoiceOver can’t handle those apps — it’s that the apps themselves were never properly designed to be accessible in the first place. Google’s accessibility layer for Docs is a mess across platforms. Even on Windows with JAWS or NVDA, it’s sluggish and inconsistent. On macOS, it’s worse because Google didn’t bother to integrate correctly with Apple’s accessibility APIs. That’s not on Apple, that’s on Google.
Same deal with LibreOffice. Its accessibility implementation has been half-baked for years — barely usable, full of unlabeled controls, missing role mappings, and constant regressions. That’s not a VoiceOver limitation; that’s the result of a project that’s never prioritized accessibility beyond lip service. If LibreOffice had the same level of commitment to accessibility as Microsoft Office or even Apple’s Pages, it would work fine on macOS too.
And that’s the bigger point here: macOS accessibility isn’t broken, it’s just underused, and yeah it has its bugs for sure; i.e, safari, focus jumping etc, and yeah these should get fixed for sure; but its not voiceover that's the problem; developer's negligence is. Look at apps like Excel, OneDrive, Google Drive, or even third-party utilities that use proper accessibility frameworks — they’re fully accessible. Clearly, it can be done. The technology is there; the will from these companies isn’t.
For perspective, look at Microsoft. Their own Outlook app on Windows , the system they control top to bottom, is still clunky and inconsistent for screen reader users. Sure, it’s usable, but it’s a pain to navigate — focus jumps around, unread counts are slow to update, and half the buttons have vague or missing labels. That’s on Microsoft, not NVDA or JAWS.
Same goes for Teams. Compare the experience across platforms. On iOS? It’s smooth, polished, and genuinely usable with VoiceOver — you can move through chats, messages, and calls efficiently. But on macOS and Windows? It’s a nightmare. You can technically use it, but it’s far from a comfortable or intuitive experience. Navigation is sluggish, the layout keeps changing, and there’s constant lag between updates and focus movement. Again, not a screen reader problem — just bad accessibility engineering.
So no, it’s not fair or accurate to say that VoiceOver “can’t handle” these apps. It’s that the developers behind them didn’t bother to make them handleable. Apple gave them the APIs, the documentation, the tools — they just didn’t care to use them. If anything, that’s the conversation that needs to happen: not “VoiceOver is useless,” but “why are these major companies still refusing to make their software accessible when the platform fully supports it?”