“Accidentally leaked”
this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
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Its Apples Chromebook huh.. boooo
I genuinely wonder who "lower-cost models" are targeted toward. I feel like anything that these things are designed to do can be done quite well on tablets.
Primarily institutions. They want to sell these to schools, prisons, libraries etc. at scale
I suspect it'll come with 8GB RAM to ensure the price can't justify it's usefulness...
E: looking up the leaks confirms it's supposed to be 8GB RAM. Imagine selling a PC with 8GB RAM for $700+ in 2026. So insane. I can get a better PC than that for $400.
I have an M1 mini with 8Gb of RAM that I use as my Home Assistant server. I've given 4Gb to HAOS running in UTM, and let Ollama use the rest to run a modest LLM for speech to text. It's flawless.
I'm not suggesting that 8Gb is the gold standard or anything, but for some applications it's still perfectly usable.
I have an M2 Air with 16Gb, and for what I need it to do, I couldn't have any less, but the target market for a bargain basement entry level MacBook almost certainly won't ever notice. It'll literally just be a portal to access iCloud and whatever browser they use to get on their socials. And if they do find they need more, then Apple will happily sell them a new laptop.
Don't get me wrong, I think Apple's approach to RAM pricing has been criminal for years, and as a company they're really figuring out how to plumb the depths of scumminess, but on this I don't really see the issue.
With that said, the cost of an extra 8Gb to them is literally pennies, so withholding it is shitty. But it won't really make that much difference to the average performance of the computer.
One of the chief things that make macbooks commendable over PCs is the build quality. While I don't doubt there are very many PCs with better hardware at that price point, often macs are superior by robustness, display resolution, and the quality of their keyboards and trackpads.
I hope this cheaper model doesn't cheap out on that front. And if it also gets good Asahi Linux support, then it would get me to recommend it above anything else.
We will see soon enough.
I got a 16GB RAM M4 MacBook Air for 600USD so it better be cheaper than that if it comes with 8GB…
I can get a better PC than that for $400.
Are you sure? Because at this moment with $400 you only get the RAM.
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There’s more to a computer than RAM (or even ither specs), comparing what’s shown in the article to the low-cost option you linked the two systems are leagues apart in terms of build quality.
Wouldn’t be surprised if the battery life was miles apart too.
That cheap plastic HP laptop is destined to have its hinge mounts snap away from the upper palmrest through normal day-to-day use.
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but is it pretty pink with an iconic apple on it? I think not.
Spray paint
Way back in 2007, my one college buddy had an elderly Thinkpad that he'd spraypainted red and stuck an Apple sticker on. People constantly came up to him and asked him where he got the red Macbook, since they didn't think Apple made them.
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Stop helping Apple marketers with their "genius" marketing.
"accidentally"
Edit: Have fun and change Apple for any other company to see those "accidental" leaks
Not sure what your point is. Apple notoriously works really hard to keep all this stuff under wraps. They even sue the people who leak them. The fact that people are reporting on the leak is supposed to somehow suggest that it wasn't an accident?
When the product is ready to be put on sale a good marketing strategy it's that "was leaked". As you say, Apple is a big company that has very strong security metrics, that's why nothing is leaked when is in development, those are the true leaks (like the GTA VI leak). If I read right, the product it's going to be announced this wednesday and was "leaked" to make people talk about it. It's just some kind of engagement bait.
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I can't imagine it going anywhere near $599. That would undercut their current entry level models so much.
Well, with how things are going with Windows and laptop OEMs, it’s still a better deal than those.
A lot of user need an iPad with a touchpad and keyboard for their needs, which is precisely what this is.
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Can't wait to hear how much a "lower cost" macbook costs. I bet it's still pricey.
I mean, an m4 air with 16GB RAM and a 256SSD destroys almost any windows laptop at 600USD, and that’s how much they’ve been going for. Any lower than that, even with 8GB RAM and that’s an extremely good deal.
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