Apple’s new low-cost MacBook is set to have a number of compromises to help bring the cost of the machine down. A new rumor today outlines at least some of those compromises in detail …

A18 Pro MacBook specs and compromises

The rumor originated on Weibo today and appears to be based on a code leak from an unreleased build of macOS Tahoe. Because the source is unproven, we’d treat this with skepticism for the time being. Still, it’s worth noting the claims for posterity’s sake.

Here are the alleged limitations of the forthcoming base model MacBook powered by the A18 Pro chip:

• Does not support high-impedance headphones
• Does not have a True Tone display (a separate source also claims it won’t have a P3 wide-gamut color)
• Lower max display brightness than the MacBook Air’s 500-nit display
• Does not support fast charging of any sort
• Uses a MediaTek Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip (the same chip used in the base iPad model) rather than Apple’s N1 chip
• May not have a backlit keyboard
• Storage options include 256GB and 512GB … but there might be a special 128GB tier reserved for education buyers
• Slower SSD speeds compared to the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro

The Weibo post also indicates the MacBook will have 8GB of RAM. It’s unclear if there will be upgrade options beyond that or not.

All of this makes sense to me. None of these limitations seem too arbitrary, perhaps with the exception of no backlit keyboard. That, however, mirrors the Magic Keyboard Apple’s base model iPad keyboards.

The question, of course, is how much this MacBook will cost. A report from Digitimes this morning suggested a starting price of between $699 and $749.

Apple typically offers a $100 discount for students and educators. If Apple also exclusively offers a lower 128GB storage configuration for education buyers with this MacBook, then perhaps the “starting” price for EDU could be $200 less than the starting price for everyone else.

Apple is expected to announce its new base model MacBook next week. I’ll be on the ground in New York City for Apple’s special “experience” on Wednesday for hands-on coverage.

Source: 9to5mac