The MacBook Colorful: Quick Predictions

February 24, 2026

In a few weeks, we’ll supposedly emerge from the dark ages of gray and silver MacBooks (sans midnight blue). I'm wild for colorful Macs – my prized possession is an orange iMac – so this launch is particularly exciting.

For the sake of fun, I'd like to make a few predictions about the machine which I will call the MacBook Colorful.

The original orange iMac that launched in 2021 — A photo I took of my M1 iMac back in 2021. Has it been sitting in a box in my closet for the last couple of years? Of course not!

1. It'll just be called "MacBook"

The no-suffix "MacBook" name was last used for a strange, one-off product launched in 2015, and killed four years later. This MacBook had one USB-C port, ran some shitty Intel chip, and is still the thinnest MacBook ever sold.

Well, the statute of limitations is up, and the name is ready to be used again! It'll be a low cost computer for the masses – there is no better name they could pick than, MacBook!

2. It'll have a similar chassis to the MacBook Air

The design language that permeates the entire MacBook lineup (a metal brick with rounded corners) will also belong to the MacBook Colorful.

For a low-end product, I would not expect a radically new design. I also wouldn't expect a return to the wedge-shape that dominated the MacBook Air for years prior to Apple Silicon.

Instead, it'll look nearly identical to today's MacBook Air, with slightly smaller dimensions (except thickness).

3. It'll have MagSafe, with one USB-C port

These machines are rumored to use the A18 Pro. If true, this will be the first time silicon intended for the iPhone makes its way into the Mac.

I have no idea how many ports, or what protocols are supported by the A18 Pro. For the sake of simplicity, I believe Apple will align the MacBook Colorful with its other A-series products and have one USB-C port.

This would put it in the same boat as the previous no-suffix MacBook (which I will call the "MacBook Elegance"). That machine had a single USB-C port for everything: charging, data transfer, external monitors, etc.

This limitation made the machine "simple" and "elegant", but also a joke to anyone that needed to plug in a hard drive while their battery also happened to be at 5%. I understand the philosophy behind a single port: the battery is so good you won't need to charge it, or everything is done wirelessly via AirDrop so you don't need an external drive, etc.

Of course, anyone who has spent more than ten minutes in with a computer user in the real world knows this is stupid. Luckily, I believe the philosophy that guided the development of the MacBook Elegance has long left Apple.

Which is why I believe Apple won't leave us hanging here: the MacBook Colorful will have a MagSafe port. That way, you can charge and do something else at the same time. Who would've guessed?

4. It'll have 12GB of memory

This prediction, I'm stealing from Quinn Nelson in his great YouTube video which covers the MacBook Colorful.

5. It'll be a battery monster

The MacBook Colorful will have the best battery life ever in a Mac. The A18 Pro is designed to gracefully sip power from an iPhone battery, I think it'll absolutely kill with a battery that can fit in a MacBook.