Apple wants to make a cheap laptop? Just add a hinge, attach a keyboard to an existing iPad, and Bingo! problem solved.
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Kuo: Apple Considering Low-Cost MacBook Launch in 2024
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There's not going to be a "cheap" MacBook. It doesn't make any sense, and bumping the specs just leads you to a base model MBA.
Give us OS X on iPad and we'll figure out the hinge and the keyboard problem ourselves.
Since it’s not competing with wheels and pens, a “low cost” MacBook would presumably cost somewhere south of the $1,099 MSRP of the M2 MacBook Air.
I have, and I've used various flavors off and on for years; it's not macOS...it doesn't have iMessage, it doesn't have Photos and it doesn't seamlessly sync with my iPhone.
I'm not a coder and don't work in tech. I have zero interest in fiddling with my computers outside of what is necessary.
If they turned an 11 inch iPad Air or Pro into a MacBook I’d buy one.
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Bring back polycarbonate instead of the expensive aluminum shell, keep the display from the MBA, use M1 which is amortized and on an older node, drop 200 dollars, that would be pretty good
Not sure if that's feasible with no active cooling
Cheaper Macs is always a good idea, as long as quality isn't compromised. Getting more Macs in the hands of more people is a good thing! They could use up surplus produced M1 or M2 chips for those devices, return to (recycled) plastic enclosures but still have better performance than most competition in that price range. (going up against celerons and core i3's i5's etc) They should still have sufficient I/O ports (at least 1 Thunderbolt and 1 or 2 USB C), and at least 256GB storage, better 512 and revive iLife as a bundle to get new users to the platform!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
iPad SOC, hardly any RAM, minimal SSD (to wear out quickly with lots of RAM SWAP), designed to put most storage in iCloud... which will then just about require paying ongoing, expensive "rent" for the storage one actually needs.
And still, low-cost PC laptops can be had for under $500 with towards MB RAM and SSD levels and no shenanigans. Yes, those aren't "latest & greatest" specs but neither would an Apple "low cost" laptop.
For whom is such a product intended? The Mac crowd is well conditioned to pay the premium. The non-Mac crowd sensitive to price can buy any one of a huge variety of laptops below whatever price we want to imagine means "low price" to Apple. I'm seeing people speculate around $999 pricing. Do a search for PC laptop on a site that will let you put in a price range and try $899 (or $100 BELOW your own guess here) and below and look at the multitudes of available laptops with fair-to-good tangible specs.
For those most price sensitive, $100-$250 Chromebook's and similar own the bottom. Who is this for?
And still, low-cost PC laptops can be had for under $500 with towards MB RAM and SSD levels and no shenanigans. Yes, those aren't "latest & greatest" specs but neither would an Apple "low cost" laptop.
For whom is such a product intended? The Mac crowd is well conditioned to pay the premium. The non-Mac crowd sensitive to price can buy any one of a huge variety of laptops below whatever price we want to imagine means "low price" to Apple. I'm seeing people speculate around $999 pricing. Do a search for PC laptop on a site that will let you put in a price range and try $899 (or $100 BELOW your own guess here) and below and look at the multitudes of available laptops with fair-to-good tangible specs.
For those most price sensitive, $100-$250 Chromebook's and similar own the bottom. Who is this for?
The k-12 education market. I don't think it will work as Apple doesn't have the giant and well-equipped backend cloud software that Google has, but if this is to happen, that is the idea.
Never say never. Weak Mac sales might drive Apple to look for new markets.
Not quite the same. iPads can cannibalise Mac sales. A sufficiently and cleverly watered down Mac won't, instead it will boost Mac sales.
Nope. It's called price discrimination, and a commonly used technique to extract more consumer surplus.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I don't think Apple will price low enough for much of that market. Poor schools considering 3-5 Chromebooks vs. 1 Apple "cheaper laptop" probably get all the students a "laptop" instead of only a few of them. The budget is rarely there for premium-priced "cheaper."
The best selling iPad. Entry level iPad. The vast majority of home users do not need the scary fast anything. They want the Apple ecosystem, the reliability, quality product at a good price point. iPad a very good example.
Another teacher here...I want to second this. Cost is the main factor for districts and unless Apple comes out with something in a similar price range to a Chromebook districts won't even consider it. I do think that if Apple could release a low cost general use laptop (priced in the $600-$700 range like basic PC laptops) it would be a great way for them to expand their consumer base. Its always amazed me that they haven't done that...
Same here. Please bring back the 12 inch MacBook preferably with an M2 or better!
Even in 1997 no one would compare Apple to a company like Boot Barn.Alas, Apple is a $3 trillion organization right now. Different rules apply. Still, all the products they make could fit on a average sized conference room table - that hasn't changed.
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 and did his elegant, Pro/Consumer notebook/desktop quadrant, it was a $1.6 billion organization. To give you an idea, quick lookup tells me Boot Barn, a small retailer that sells cowboy boots in 78 stores... is a $1.6 billion organization today. Apple is more often compared to oil companies, Walmart, Amazon, P&G and Microsoft, not Boot Barn
Apple could still simplify their lineup. Parts of it are confusing. If they can drop something like the iPhone mini because it doesn’t meet expectations I’m not sure how they justify some other parts of their lineup.
Priced properly I would be all over this for a personal machine. A large percentage of what I do is web-based. Still, I want to be in the eco-system and have something that is MacOS-based and have the ability to run a handful of apps that I use on a daily basis—Cyberduck, Nextcloud, Joplin, WireGuard, terminal, and similar. I do not do anything that a M1 would be more than enough. Make it 11.5" to 12" it would be perfect.
My sister-in-law teaches at the wealthiest school in the state, and even they use cheap Chromebooks. She said they don't want to give the students a general use computer; Chromebooks stay locked down without any ability to install additional software such as games. The school has computer labs for general computer use.
I grew up in a Mac only school, from K-12 and graduated in '98. It's a different world now.