Apple’s rumored $699 Mac Book sounds like a 2017 Mac Book Air with an i Phone chip, according to new code leaks | Tech Radar

Overview

Apple’s rumored $699 Mac Book sounds like a 2017 Mac Book Air with an i Phone chip, according to new code leaks

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Details

The rumored low-cost Mac Book could lack a slate of key features

That includes True Tone, speedy SSDs, Wi-Fi 7 support, and more

That would make it similar to the Mac Book Air from 2017

We know that Apple’s rumored low-cost Mac Book – due to arrive at Apple’s March 4 event – is going to come with some compromises. After all, Apple can’t just magically reduce its price without leaving some features out. But new information has just emerged that apparently reveals the scale of Apple’s cost-cutting measures, and it means the forthcoming laptop could be reminiscent of an Apple laptop from close to a decade ago.

The data has surfaced on Chinese social media site Weibo, while news outlets Apple Insider and Mac Rumors have both said they’ve seen the leaked material, either as part of a “technical analysis of an internal test build of mac OS” or in an email sent by the leaker.

According to the leak, the new Mac Book’s display will miss out on Apple’s True Tone tech (which dynamically adjusts the screen’s color temperature) and could have brightness below the Mac Book Air’s 500 nits, which would line up with a claim from Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman that the Mac Book will feature a “lower-end LCD display.”

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The storage will supposedly be limited to 256GB and 512GB capacities, with a 128GB drive possibly available for educational institutions. That means no storage options of 1TB or above. As well as that, the device’s SSD speeds could be slower than existing Mac Books due to the use of a single NAND chip.

Elsewhere, the leak suggests that the Mac Book will lack fast charging, keyboard backlighting and support for high-impedance headphones. Finally, the use of an i Phone chip – expected to be an A18 Pro – means it won’t come with Apple’s N1 wireless chip. The upshot of that is a lack of support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread, as well as the absence of improved reliability for Air Drop and personal hotspots.

All of this means that the Mac Book – which is touted to arrive on March 4 – will have plenty of compromises compared to existing Apple laptops. But when the price is expected to be in the $699 range, that shouldn’t come as a surprise.

What’s interesting is that Apple’s concessions make the device somewhat similar to the Mac Book Air from 2017. Like the low-cost Mac Book set to be released in March, the 2017 Mac Book Air lacked True Tone, had a brightness rating under 500 nits (in this case, it was 300 nits) and offered storage that topped out at 512GB.

There are some differences, of course – the A18 Pro chip in March’s affordable Mac Book should run rings around the processor in the 2017 Mac Book Air, while Apple’s laptop from a decade ago comes with a backlit keyboard that the new device will supposedly lack. But with the exception of the vast performance differences, the two laptops could feel notably similar.

Of course, we won’t know how close they actually are until the affordable Mac Book launches on March 4. At that time, we could see something of a throwback to the Mac Books of a decade ago, only with a much lower price tag.

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Alex Blake has been fooling around with computers since the early 1990s, and since that time he's learned a thing or two about tech. No more than two things, though. That's all his brain can hold. As well as Tech Radar, Alex writes for i More, Digital Trends and Creative Bloq, among others. He was previously commissioning editor at Mac Format magazine. That means he mostly covers the world of Apple and its latest products, but also Windows, computer peripherals, mobile apps, and much more beyond. When not writing, you can find him hiking the English countryside and gaming on his PC.

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Key Takeaways

• Apple’s rumored $699 Mac Book sounds like a 2017 Mac Book Air with an i Phone chip, according to new code leaks

• When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission

• The rumored low-cost Mac Book could lack a slate of key features

• That includes True Tone, speedy SSDs, Wi-Fi 7 support, and more

• That would make it similar to the Mac Book Air from 2017