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Portables (Apple) Apple

Apple Prepares To Enter Low-Cost Laptop Market for First Time (bloomberg.com) 85

Posted by msmash from the up-next dept.
Apple is preparing to enter the low-cost laptop market for the first time, developing a budget Mac aimed at luring away customers from Chromebooks and entry-level Windows PCs. Bloomberg News: The new device -- designed for students, businesses and casual users -- will target people who primarily browse the web, work on documents or conduct light media editing, according to people familiar with the matter.

[...] Apple plans to sell the new machine for well under $1,000 by using less-advanced components. The laptop will rely on an iPhone processor and a lower-end LCD display. The screen will also be the smallest of any current Mac, coming in at slightly below the 13.6-inch one used in the MacBook Air. This would mark the first time that Apple has used an iPhone processor in a Mac, rather than a chip designed specifically for a computer. But internal tests have shown that the smartphone chip can perform better than the Mac-optimized M1 used in laptops as recently as a few years ago.
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Apple Prepares To Enter Low-Cost Laptop Market for First Time More

Apple Prepares To Enter Low-Cost Laptop Market for First Time

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  • as long as this proposed model isn't hamstrung with too little memory or too little storage, and will run the same OS/software as its big brothers, it sounds like a good option for Apple to offer to the market.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by spacepimp ( 664856 )

      Of course it will be stunted by RAM limitations and storage limitations and screen resolution. It will be a miracle if it handles multiple tabs of browsing in a non gimped browser (non stripped down safari). Which is the single task that a Chromebook does well.

      • MacBook SE, like iPhone SE and Apple Watch SE (Score:5, Interesting)

        by drnb ( 2434720 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2025 @02:19PM (#65773202)

        Of course it will be stunted by RAM limitations and storage limitations and screen resolution. It will be a miracle if it handles multiple tabs of browsing in a non gimped browser (non stripped down safari). Which is the single task that a Chromebook does well.

        I picked up a 2020 MacBook Air M1, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB storage for testing purposes. It is about as low-end as you can get for Apple Silicon-based Macs. I am completely surprised as to how functional and usable it is despite the RAM and storage. This "new" Mac will be a previous-generation MacBook Air, likely called a MacBook SE. In other words, the same pattern we saw with the iPhone SE and Apple Watch SE.

        It'll work well for the intended audience. Its not for power users or developers.

        • What sort of developers? All the recent C++17 code I've written compiles and runs in reasonable time on a 2009 laptop with the latest version of slackware installed. But I guess if you're using some dog slow scripting language with bloated frameworks it might be a different story.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by drnb ( 2434720 )

            What sort of developers?

            Xcode based. macOS, iOS, etc targets. Professional stuff.

            All the recent C++17 code I've written compiles and runs in reasonable time on a 2009 laptop with the latest version of slackware installed.

            Apple offers a complete set of command line tools. You just don't have the IDE. Add VS Code for Mac and school projects will not be a problem. Again, pleasantly surprised with a 2020 M1 8/128.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by larwe ( 858929 )

          This "new" Mac will be a previous-generation MacBook Air

          Since it's explicitly using a different size of LCD and an "iPhone processor" - no it won't be just a repackaged old-gen Macbook Air, it is its own thing. Expect it to be iCloud-centric. But if it runs regular MacOS I think an 8GB/128GB config is more than enough for many many many many many people - myself included. That's certainly all I need on the road.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by drnb ( 2434720 )

            This "new" Mac will be a previous-generation MacBook Air

            Since it's explicitly using a different size of LCD and an ...

            Different resolution or different physical dimension? If the latter, something a small redesign to a case could accommodate?

            ... "iPhone processor" -

            Same family, minimal change. iPhone SE's used different CPUs than their predecessor designs, there are some hardware revisions in SEs.

            no it won't be just a repackaged old-gen Macbook Air, it is its own thing. Expect it to be iCloud-centric.

            MacBook Air is iCloud-centric. Especially the low end configurations. Of course it will. Wouldn't be a Mac otherwise.

            ... I think an 8GB/128GB config is more than enough for many many many many many people - myself included. That's certainly all I need on the road.

            Yep, that totally surprised me when I spent some time with the 2020 M1 MacBook Air.

          • This "new" Mac will be a previous-generation MacBook Air

            Since it's explicitly using a different size of LCD and an "iPhone processor" - no it won't be just a repackaged old-gen Macbook Air, it is its own thing. Expect it to be iCloud-centric. But if it runs regular MacOS I think an 8GB/128GB config is more than enough for many many many many many people - myself included. That's certainly all I need on the road.

            I’m pretty sure they will make that 8/256 minimum these days.

        • My wife got a MacBook from work much like the one you described, and I thought, "Why freakin' bother?" But I used it for a bit, because why not, and it actually is more than competently capable. I was surprised at how well it worked on what I threw at it for what it had, in terms of "raw resources." Was the problem the actual hardware, or my biased expectations?

        • For years some of us just want a nice Mac-based word processor.

        • Of course it will be stunted by RAM limitations and storage limitations and screen resolution. It will be a miracle if it handles multiple tabs of browsing in a non gimped browser (non stripped down safari). Which is the single task that a Chromebook does well.

          I picked up a 2020 MacBook Air M1, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB storage for testing purposes. It is about as low-end as you can get for Apple Silicon-based Macs. I am completely surprised as to how functional and usable it is despite the RAM and storage. This "new" Mac will be a previous-generation MacBook Air, likely called a MacBook SE. In other words, the same pattern we saw with the iPhone SE and Apple Watch SE.

          It'll work well for the intended audience. Its not for power users or developers.

          Non-Mac users just have no idea how efficient macOS is in dealing with low-RAM situations. Even on x86-based Macs. And Apple Silicon is born to memory-swap!

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by drnb ( 2434720 )

            Of course it will be stunted by RAM limitations and storage limitations and screen resolution. It will be a miracle if it handles multiple tabs of browsing in a non gimped browser (non stripped down safari). Which is the single task that a Chromebook does well.

            I picked up a 2020 MacBook Air M1, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB storage for testing purposes. It is about as low-end as you can get for Apple Silicon-based Macs. I am completely surprised as to how functional and usable it is despite the RAM and storage. This "new" Mac will be a previous-generation MacBook Air, likely called a MacBook SE. In other words, the same pattern we saw with the iPhone SE and Apple Watch SE.

            It'll work well for the intended audience. Its not for power users or developers.

            Non-Mac users just have no idea how efficient macOS is in dealing with low-RAM situations. Even on x86-based Macs. And Apple Silicon is born to memory-swap!

            This 68K-based Mac user, PowerPC-based Mac user, and Intel-based Mac user was surprised too? :-)

            • Of course it will be stunted by RAM limitations and storage limitations and screen resolution. It will be a miracle if it handles multiple tabs of browsing in a non gimped browser (non stripped down safari). Which is the single task that a Chromebook does well.

              I picked up a 2020 MacBook Air M1, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB storage for testing purposes. It is about as low-end as you can get for Apple Silicon-based Macs. I am completely surprised as to how functional and usable it is despite the RAM and storage. This "new" Mac will be a previous-generation MacBook Air, likely called a MacBook SE. In other words, the same pattern we saw with the iPhone SE and Apple Watch SE.

              It'll work well for the intended audience. Its not for power users or developers.

              Non-Mac users just have no idea how efficient macOS is in dealing with low-RAM situations. Even on x86-based Macs. And Apple Silicon is born to memory-swap!

              This 68K-based Mac user, PowerPC-based Mac user, and Intel-based Mac user was surprised too? :-)

              This Lisa User sure wasn't! ;-)

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by drnb ( 2434720 )

                This 68K-based Mac user, PowerPC-based Mac user, and Intel-based Mac user was surprised too? :-)

                This Lisa User sure wasn't! ;-)

                The Lisa User I know buys nothing less than a Mac Studio. :-)

      • It'll only be stunted for someone who really should have bought a more expensive and powerful laptop. If it's aimed at students who will be using office apps, browsing the web, and using an email client then it will be more than good enough. I bought my mother a MacBook Air (I think it was a second generation model) that she used for almost a decade to do about as much. That only had a dual core Intel CPU that I think was sub-2 GHz and a lot less than 8 GB of RAM.

        Of course we pages have grown increasingl

      • Of course it will be stunted by RAM limitations and storage limitations and screen resolution. It will be a miracle if it handles multiple tabs of browsing in a non gimped browser (non stripped down safari). Which is the single task that a Chromebook does well.

        As long as it runs standard macOS, you decide what browser (and HTML renderer) it runs. MacOS does far better in low-RAM situations than, say, Windows. As long as “multiple tabs” doesn’t mean “every site I’ve visited in the last year”, multiple tabs shouldn’t be a problem.

        I would imagine it will start at 8 GB RAM, and 256 GB Flash. That is quite adequate in macOS for non-demanding use. Depending on which “A-Series” SoC they use, will determine the max RA

    • of course it is (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      After Apple made 16GB standard on its laptops, while continuing to sell the M1 at Walmart with 8GB (yes really -- it is being sold there today) to address the low-end of the market, Apple was looking for a path forward since it cannot make the M1 forever. It needed to have 8GB of ram to not cannibalize sales of better laptops. It had to be slower than any mainline processor, again for the same reason. It had to be cheap to make. Ta-da, use an iPhone chip, with just enough gimping on other features to make s

    • as long as this proposed model isn't hamstrung with too little memory or too little storage..

      Wow. You might have just blown the lid off that whole Low-Cost marketing strategy.

      The problems you describe were damn near expected inside the price-starting-at model, within the company pushing significant upcharges for soldered-in memory and storage upgrades. Let's hope they've changed tactics.

    • as long as this proposed model isn't hamstrung with too little memory or too little storage, and will run the same OS/software as its big brothers, it sounds like a good option for Apple to offer to the market.

      Their flagship models are hamstrung with too little memory and too little storage. If they're looking to do a budget model, look for it to be far worse. Granted, if all you can do is run an iOS light version of Safari and email, maybe some phone level games, it'll probably be just fine. But I wouldn't plan on buying one of these to use as a creative box for recording or video processing beyond the usual spit-shine phone or iPad level things.

      • Their flagship models are hamstrung with too little memory and too little storage.

        /me looks at his 128GB MacBook Pro with 8TB of storage.

        Oh, ya?

        • My mid-2015 came with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD.
          The current model still comes with 16GB/512GB.

          Now, the extra RAM I don't need but an upgrade to 1TB costs £200. How much extra did you pay for 8TB? I only ask because with the new model, which starts at £2,500, costs an extra £2,400 for 8TB storage.

          I prefer Mac portables, but I'd be a damned liar if I didn't say that they're still screwing us on storage.

          • Well, they did say:

            Their flagship models are hamstrung with too little memory and too little storage.

            Perhaps I misinterpreted "flagship"...

            I feel like I paid somewhere around an extra 2 grand for the 8TB. All told the invoice was somewhere around $8k (USD) IIRC.
            The storage- I'm not going to gaslight you and say it's a good deal. It's a terrible deal.
            However, as a consolation, it is at least very high performance, both in endurance and speed. Yay?

            I know I could have used an external for cheaper. I was upgrading my fully loaded M1 Max MBP with 8TB, and price wasn't a large considerat

      • as long as this proposed model isn't hamstrung with too little memory or too little storage, and will run the same OS/software as its big brothers, it sounds like a good option for Apple to offer to the market.

        Their flagship models are hamstrung with too little memory and too little storage. If they're looking to do a budget model, look for it to be far worse. Granted, if all you can do is run an iOS light version of Safari and email, maybe some phone level games, it'll probably be just fine. But I wouldn't plan on buying one of these to use as a creative box for recording or video processing beyond the usual spit-shine phone or iPad level things.

        Of course not.

        Apple already makes those systems. So long as it runs macOS and not iPadOS, the only overlap here is possibly with the base-model MacBook Air.

    • get ready to pay $200 to upgrade from 512GB to 1TB

      • Sorry buddy, it will be 256GB with increments of $200 per additional 256GB, if you want/need 1TB that will be a cool $600 thank you.

    • as long as this proposed model isn't hamstrung with too little memory or too little storage, and will run the same OS/software as its big brothers, it sounds like a good option for Apple to offer to the market.

      It'll be a previous-generation MacBook Air, they'll probably call it MacBook SE. Just like they do with phones and watches.

      It will have modest memory and storage, but it will be absolutely usable for the intended audience.

      I picked up a 2020 MacBook Air M1, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB storage for testing purposes. It is about as low-end as you can get for Apple Silicon-based Macs. I am completely surprised as to how functional and usable it is despite RAM and storage. Sure, I cannot run Xcode for development. But

      • Re:It'll be a previous generation MacBook Air (Score:5, Interesting)

        by EvilSS ( 557649 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2025 @02:27PM (#65773234)
        I have the exact same spec M1 Air, also bought for testing when it first came out. I used to use it for onsite meetings back when those were still a thing for me as well since it was lighter than my windows laptop at the time and the battery life was just so much better. I keep it around the house these days for web browsing and such. I never had an issue with it when it came to performance. I've come to the conclusion that MacOS is just miles ahead of Windows when it comes to memory management.

        • Dumb take. The conclusion you should have drawn is that you're not using stupidly RAM hungry apps in your Mac environment compared to the Windows one. Windows runs perfectly fine on an 8GB machine and its memory management is also perfectly fine. At least it runs fine on my home one, it doesn't do so well with a work one when running Teams, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, having multiple word documents, the world's most horribly bloated document viewer (Acrobat), and a bunch of websites open at the same time.

          The b

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by EvilSS ( 557649 )
            Dumb response. I ran the same applications I run on my windows laptops: Office (full suite), Firefox, Edge (works better for some work SaaS apps), etc. Almost exactly the scenario you mention "doesn't do so well" on Windows. On a 8GB Windows machine it would have been painfully obvious it was resource starved. How the OS manages swap makes a huge difference so no, the OS is not irrelevant here.

            • I ran the same applications I run on my windows laptops:

              No you didn't. Edge doesn't run on MacOS, and Office on MacOS and Windows remains quite different in design and architecture.

              • I ran the same applications I run on my windows laptops:

                No you didn't. Edge doesn't run on MacOS, and Office on MacOS and Windows remains quite different in design and architecture.

                Thank Shiva for both of those things!

        • I have the exact same spec M1 Air, also bought for testing when it first came out. I used to use it for onsite meetings back when those were still a thing for me as well since it was lighter than my windows laptop at the time and the battery life was just so much better. I keep it around the house these days for web browsing and such. I never had an issue with it when it came to performance. I've come to the conclusion that MacOS is just miles ahead of Windows when it comes to memory management.

          It has been that way since the earliest days of OS X, and has only gotten better over time, phenomenally-so with the advent of Apple Silicon.

          I’ve used both Macs and Windows machines extensively, and Macs just never seem to get into that “Swap File Hell” that Windows Users have long-suffered.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Misagon ( 1135 )

      Last time these rumours went around in June, it was said that the SoC would have been an A18 Pro. It supports 8 GB RAM and 512 GB storage.

      But we'll see.

      • Last time these rumours went around in June, it was said that the SoC would have been an A18 Pro. It supports 8 GB RAM and 512 GB storage.

        But we'll see.

        That sounds about right.

    • It depends how hamstrung it is. I'd say that the days of 8 GB RAM is behind us, 16 is the minimum, and 32 gig is what I'd be doing for any new desktops. For SSD, 1 TB minimum, 2 TB ideal, and CPU, all depends, but I'd say at least 4 cores minimum,

      Around ten years ago, Apple had the m3 (not M3... Intel m3) MacBook. It only had one USB-C slot and wasn't exactly a barnburner, but for a relatively small laptop, it did the job well enough. It could bring up the usual Word documents and such. With Apple Sili

  • Need more data, eh? (Score:4, Funny)

    by excelsior_gr ( 969383 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2025 @01:26PM (#65773020)
    It seems that Apple has figured out that poor people have valuable data, too!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Striek ( 1811980 )

      Apple doesn't really make money on the data they hold. Unlike Microsoft and Google, Apple makes a lot of money on hardware sales, so they don't need to monetize the data as much. It's one of their selling features, if you ask me.

  • >>The new device -- designed for students, businesses and casual users -- will target people who primarily browse the web, work on documents or conduct light media editing, according to people familiar with the matter.

    This could sell well to K-12 schools but I can't see any businesses being interested and casual users are probably better off with an iPad.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      Hell, they could just sell their regular iPad for a 10% markup instead of 100+% if they want to appeal to budget buyers. They wouldn't even have to change the assembly line except maybe to substitute an ugly lime-green case or something to let their regular victims, I mean 'customers', know that this person didn't cough up the full Apple Tax.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by aitikin ( 909209 )

      I work in an office where there are approximately ten Windows based computers and approximately 700 Mac Minis (plus a few dozen MacBook Pros). I can picture the office picking up laptops instead going forward, especially if we ever entertain WFH again.

  • obl. snarky (Score:5, Funny)

    by roc97007 ( 608802 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2025 @01:42PM (#65773068) Journal

    I'd argue that Apple has been making low-cost laptops for some time. They've just been charging a lot for them.

    • More than that, apparently they forgot about the eMate and the iBook lines of low-cost notebooks Apple has made over the decades.

  • no details on the os, I wouldn't be surprised if it comes with some modified ipadOS, to get the 30% cut of software sales.

  • $1,000 might be "low cost" for Apple, but (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2025 @01:45PM (#65773080) Homepage

    Less than $1,000 might be "low cost" for Apple, but it's not a "low cost" laptop. Amazon lists dozens of options for Windows 11 Home laptops, some from brand names like HP and Dell, for less than $200.
    https://www.amazon.com/s?k=lap... [amazon.com]

    • Less than $1,000 might be "low cost" for Apple, but it's not a "low cost" laptop. Amazon lists dozens of options for Windows 11 Home laptops, some from brand names like HP and Dell, for less than $200. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=lap... [amazon.com]

      If you care about such things, you're not a great customer for Apple, I'd wager. They want people who are willing to irrationally spend, not carefully control each penny. And...to be fair...there's something to be said for overspending for a brand you trust, vs rolling the dice with the various shitty windows makers. I'd rather spend 1k for an Apple that lasts 3 years than $500 for a Dell that breaks in 18 months.

      Finally consider families...there's a value in simply using Apple across the board for sim

      • Sure, people have reasons for choosing Apple. I don't begrudge them that decision. What I quibble with, is the characterization of this new laptop as a "Low Cost Laptop". It's not.

        And Dell laptops last way more than 18 months. I've had half a dozen of them for home and work. They last, on average, 5-7 years.

        • You can make a Dell last 5-7 years, but that's you, not my kids. And I know it's much better for Pro grade, but it's a lot of commitment for me to ignore my local Best Buy, which doesn't sell any...to go on the website to find the pro-grade laptops, which cost more and seem more business oriented.

          1k is a low-cost laptop...IF...it's actually good. Lots of shit brands offer stuff that's too good to be true, but Apple usually does a decent job on hardware. You can generally buy anything Apple and be fin

          • You and I seem to have very different experiences with Apple equipment. I use Apple hardware of all varieties in my work with stage lighting. The OS lags Windows by years, the hardware is often flaky. It's common to have to reboot to fix problems with running software.

            No, I don't agree with your Home Depot analogy. It's more like Viking appliances, which cost a ton, but need lots of repairs. Dell and HP are the Whirlpool appliances. No-nonsense, but reliable.

            • You and I seem to have very different experiences with Apple equipment. I use Apple hardware of all varieties in my work with stage lighting. The OS lags Windows by years, the hardware is often flaky. It's common to have to reboot to fix problems with running software.

              No, I don't agree with your Home Depot analogy. It's more like Viking appliances, which cost a ton, but need lots of repairs. Dell and HP are the Whirlpool appliances. No-nonsense, but reliable.

              I’d say your Stage Lighting Application and/or Interface Hardware is much more likely to blame.

              What Application(s) and DMX, ArcNET, etc. interface(s) and Control Surfaces are you using?

              All it takes is one poorly-written Driver. . .

              • I’d say your Stage Lighting Application and/or Interface Hardware is much more likely to blame.

                Of course you'd say that. But why is a reboot necessary then to fix things, instead of just restarting the software?

                The primary lighting systems I've used are HOG, ETC, Jands, and GrandMA, all using DMX.

      • That is one nice thing about Apple products. They have a resale value. If I wanted to, I could just erase all data on a laptop, make sure it isn't in Find My... and go off and sell it, use that cash for the next purchase. Plus, there is always someone wanting to buy it. I have seen people want to buy even 10+ year old Macs... just because they are a known quantity.

    • Yeah, and none of those or even the sub-$400 new laptops are worth buying when $150 5yo business laptops are available.

      It's doubtful that Apple will create anything worth buying in the ~$500 market given the ~250GB storage on their $900 macbook air

  • Low Cost and Apple! mm this will be different (Score:4, Insightful)

    by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2025 @01:46PM (#65773082)
    "for well under $1,000" Only $ 999.99

  • I suspect they'll do things to at least discourage, if not prevent, the use of Linux. I'm sure they're more interested in luring users into their ecosystem than they are in selling hardware. But if it was feasible, it might be cool to have a small, cheap Apple running some Linux variant for casual computing - if the price is right and the installation effort isn't too huge.

    Even if this new beast won't run Linux, I wish Apple well here. Not because I'm a fan - I'm definitely not - but because they might be a

    • will it be app store only is the real question?

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I suspect they'll do things to at least discourage, if not prevent, the use of Linux.

      They already make it extremely hard to run Linux on their recent devices. While there is a group trying to reverse engineer the entire Apple hardware ecosystem and enable it for Linux, it is a tough slough (much of the the hardware has no public documentation, and even when Apple uses standard components, they modify the interfaces to make the usage different on their hardware).

      • Na, they haven't made it hard.
        They just haven't made it easy.

        In fact- there's general surprise that they didn't make it hard.
        The difficulty is in reverse engineering undocumented shit. In the past- there have been actual barriers in place.

    • I suspect they'll do things to at least discourage, if not prevent, the use of Linux. I'm sure they're more interested in luring users into their ecosystem than they are in selling hardware. But if it was feasible, it might be cool to have a small, cheap Apple running some Linux variant for casual computing - if the price is right and the installation effort isn't too huge.

      Even if this new beast won't run Linux, I wish Apple well here. Not because I'm a fan - I'm definitely not - but because they might be able to jam a hob-nailed boot up Microsoft's ass at a time when the fuckers from Redmond have never been more deserving of it.

      It would be stupid to actively stop Linux, IMHO. If you're a desktop Linux user, you wouldn't have bought a MBP, I wager. They can be good citizens and not stand in the way and build a following among linux users who like apple hardware....or just send them to someone else.

    • Last I heard, Apple as actually given a fair bit of cooperation and support to Asahi Linux [asahilinux.org]. The guy who until recently headed that project complained far more about the Linux kernel team than he did about Apple.

      Note that I'm not saying he was right or wrong, just that he wasn't bitching all the time about recalcitrance at Apple's end.

  • If this is true, it will be a significant change in strategy. The company has always played upmarket. Average iPhone prices have risen since the first iPhone 18 years ago, as opposed to falling. Around that time, I heard Apple's CFO say at a Citigroup-hosted investor conference that his company could release a $799 computer "but we don't want to".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      Keep in mind that $799 would have been close to a 100% markup, too. They spend less than $500 to build most of the MacBook Pro models, and under $1000 for pretty much any configuration they sell.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by piojo ( 995934 )

        Does that figure include amortized R&D, software development, and support costs? If not, the $500 price point is illusory.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cusco ( 717999 )

          OK, 97% markup, or 57% if you include the marketing.

        • Does that figure include amortized R&D, software development, and support costs? If not, the $500 price point is illusory.

          Exactly.

          People think you cost-out the BOM, add 20%, and that should do it!

          *Sigh*

  • If this new laptop has the same ancient M1 SSD/CPU performance and a gimped version of the GPU and Neural engine of the M5 it will be pretty darn amazing.

    The M5 SSDs are MUCH faster(2X+) than the M4, which makes them faster than anything else out there now and approaching DDR3 speeds. This would let Apple differentiate the "entry" MacBook with a regular fast SSD and reserve the new ludicrous speed SSDs for their other lines. https://www.reddit.com/r/apple... [reddit.com]

    • If this new laptop has the same ancient M1 SSD/CPU performance and a gimped version of the GPU and Neural engine of the M5 it will be pretty darn amazing.

      The M5 SSDs are MUCH faster(2X+) than the M4, which makes them faster than anything else out there now and approaching DDR3 speeds. This would let Apple differentiate the "entry" MacBook with a regular fast SSD and reserve the new ludicrous speed SSDs for their other lines. https://www.reddit.com/r/apple... [reddit.com]

      Wow!

      Guess I have to wait for the M5 mini. . .

  • It's weird, during the Jobs reign (Score:3)

    by king*jojo ( 9276931 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2025 @02:02PM (#65773140)
    Apple pursued the educational market hard (remember the 'eMac'?), as he believed in getting them young made them customers for life. I guess the post-Jobs regime figured either iphones already ensnared the kids, or they were just going to corner the "want to seem rich but can't afford a Porsche" market and be done with it. But it's a little odd to suddenly decide you're leaving money on the table now

    I mean, maybe they'll be able to lure a few ritzy private schools with whatever their wares will be. But it's going to be real hard to lure the vast majority away from $300 Chromebooks when Apple isn't going to get anywhere near that price point.
  • Many are missing the opportunity of this as a 2nd laptop for families...Mommy and Dad will have a regular mac, but their kids can have this instead of using mommy/daddy's old laptop. Their goal should be to lock as many people into the ecosystem as possible. Being able to buy a reasonably priced laptop will keep many families off Windows and Chromebooks. This encourages Apple Subscriptions and App Store purchases...recurring hardware purchases down the road...makes it all the harder for Daddy to switch t

  • When the iBook was released in 1999, it was $1,599, which was about $900 LESS than the PowerBook. It was considered a very good value at the time and was certainly in the lower cost range of laptops at the time, when the cheapest you'd generally find was over $1,000.

  • Making the new machine's screen a slightly different size than their existing MacBook Air 13. Gotta start production on a one-off chassis now when they have stacks of the MBA ones already done.

  • Apple used to make lower cost MacBooks (Score:3)

    by jsepeta ( 412566 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2025 @03:07PM (#65773312) Homepage

    White Macbook
    https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]

    clamshell iBook
    https://www.google.com/url?sa=... [google.com]

    scrimping on quality is not the decision I'd make if I were heading a multi-trillion dollar company. The other option would be to charge a smaller profit margin

  • ...an iPad with a keyboard cover?

  • There, FTFY.

    Say what you will about Steve Jobs, but ever since the switch to MacOS X he always had one budget item in each category with sometimes great or even exceptional value for the money and Apple quality along with it. The legendary white 12" iBook G4 was by far the cheapest subnotebook at it's time and the first Mac minis could be bought for 250-300 euros, offered great value for the money, were excellent machines and very small. Any PC equivalent that even could come close would cost hundreds more and came with ultra shitty windows.

    So good for Tim Cook finally getting back into offering a neat quality budget item. I might actually buy Apple again, believe it or not.

  • Perhaps the OP wasn't around when the PowerBook 150 dropped? I was, and it was extremely cheap compared to the other options at the time!

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