Apple Readies a Low-Cost Laptop to Rival Chromebooks and Windows PCs

11 pointsposted 3 months ago
by mfiguiere
(bloomberg.com)

12 Comments

wslh

3 months ago

> Apple held about 9% of the global PC market in the third quarter, according to IDC. It ranks fourth in the industry, trailing Lenovo Group Ltd., HP Inc. and Dell Technologies Inc. — all of which sell Windows or ChromeOS devices.

I think it makes perfect sense, there's still plenty of room to grow here, and they clearly know how to do it. I'm just curious which specs they'll decide to cut or define. Even an M1 with 8 GB of RAM is still very capable today. I only hope they don't launch a new operating system variety for this, just the same macOS. I can't imagine a "macOS Home Edition".

musicale

3 months ago

> Apple held about 9% of the global PC market

Tablet market is growing while PC market isn't. iPads already outsell Macs on a unit basis.

> I can't imagine a "macOS Home Edition"

https://www.apple.com/os/ipados/

wslh

3 months ago

Apple has a lot of room to grow at 9% even if the PC market is steady. I imagine a lot of students with Chromebooks and Windows PCs migrating. Again, the "old" M1 is still a challenge to cheap computers now.

ppeetteerr

3 months ago

An article mentioned that it will be an iOS chip

ylee

3 months ago

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".

musicale

3 months ago

The original Mac mini was $499 in 2005.

But Apple had already released a $799 laptop - the eMate 300 in 1997.

Ahead of its time - ARM processor, 28-hour battery life, flash storage, wireless modem card. Its curved, translucent case design (with a handle!) was echoed in the iMac (1998) and iBook (1999).

It also appears to have come with a decent keyboard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMate_300

afandian

3 months ago

I have strong nostalgia for the eMate. Yes, it had a nice keyboard (at least comparable with the era); smaller pitch than standard keyboards. And, of course, resitive pen-based touch screen.

It _was_ a PDA with a keyboard though. It had a good office suite, a web browser, printer drivers, and a vibrant developer community. But you probably still expected to dock it with Newton Connection Utilities on a computer to add software and get data off it.

ekropotin

3 months ago

Even 799$ is a waaaay too expensive for something to be considered chrome books competitor.

user

3 months ago

[deleted]

giraffe_lady

3 months ago

The mac mini is $599? Shit a base macbook air is $899.

m463

3 months ago

an ipad at costco is $299

I wonder how much more expensive a laptop would be?