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Apple to Launch an $800 Laptop?

Well, paraphrasing something Steve Jobs said a year back: "I can see a time when we sell 80%-90% laptops", maybe Apple are dropping the Mini & adding something like a MacBook Mini range, starting at about $800 to $999. In keeping with that statement & in view of the recession, this would be a logical move. Whatever it is, I'm very much looking forward to finding out!
 
My prediction:

13" entry level: 5400rpm 120 Gb HD, Core2duo, integrated nVidia GPU, combo - 799
13" mid range: 5400rpm 160 Gb HD, Core2duo, integrated nVidia GPU, SD
- 999
13" pro: 7200rpm HD, Core2duo, dedicated GPU, SD - 1299
13" pro 120Gb SSD, Core2duo, dedicated GPU, SD - 1999

15" entry level: 5400rpm 120 Gb HD, Core2duo, integrated nVidia GPU, combo - 999
15" mid range: 5400rpm 160 Gb HD, Core2duo, integrated nVidia GPU, SD
- 1299
15" pro: 7200rpm HD, Core2duo, dedicated GPU, SD - 1599
15" pro 120Gb SSD, Core2duo, dedicated GPU, SD - 2499

17" 7200rpm HD, Core2duo, dedicated GPU, SD - 2099
17" 7200rpm HD, Core2duo, dedicated GPU, BlueRay - 2499

MBA 13" 5400rpm 160 Gb HD, Core2duo, integrated nVidia GPU - 1599
MBA 120Gb SSD, Core2duo, dedicated GPU - 3099

(prices are just stretched to fill the 800-3100 window, I know the MBA with SSD is overpriced..)
 
And when people say Blu-Ray support do they mean just read or both read/write? I'm not too interested in Blu-Ray unless I can write to Blu-Ray discs
 
gregorsamsa said:
Well, paraphrasing something Steve Jobs said a year back: "I can see a time when we sell 80%-90% laptops", maybe Apple are dropping the Mini & adding something like a MacBook Mini range, starting at about $800 to $999. In keeping with that statement & in view of the recession, this would be a logical move. Whatever it is, I'm very much looking forward to finding out!
Click to expand...

Steve Jobs also said that there is ALWAYS a place for the desktop, and that he does not see the desktop being replaced soon at all. Likewise, there is a chance that Apple MAY drop the Mini. But under certain circumstances will they EVER decide to do this. Read on:

People are now in need of a media center unit. Why watch Youtube, DVD's, BluRay, or iTunes rentals on your computer, when you can watch them on your large HDTV now? Especially when apple can promote iTunes on your very own TV for more purchases. This is where the Apple TV comes in, but it hasn't been as successful as hoped. The Apple TV seems not enough (720p limitation, no OSX, no bluray, no DVD, tiny hard drive), but the Mac Mini seems a bit "overkill" in many ways. This is where merging the products may be a good idea.

Believe it or not, HP, Dell, and all other PC companies sell some sort of a miniaturized PC unit that all look great sitting in front of the TV. Most of these units have HDMI out, and can be added with BluRay drives from the factory. Some of these units even have Nvidia GPU's in them.

Now my point. The Mini will only be dropped, when the AppleTV grows some balls, enough balls to make consumers buy the AppleTV instead of the Dell unit which looks to be a nice unit btw: http://www.dell.com/content/product...&~oid=us~en~29~desktop-studio-hybrid_anav_1~~

So possible scenarios:

Mac Mini updated. Apple TV stagnant.
Mac Mini and Apple TV combined into one product
Mac Mini dropped, Apple TV grows balls.

If Mini updated, we are bound to see a price drop.
 
From the article itself: "According to the source, Apple retail stores have been given price sheets that list 12 price points for the new range, with prices between $800-$3100."

There is no way that any Apple retail store has received any price list for any products that are not announced by Apple. No way. Forget it. He is making it up. If he had claimed that somebody inside the Apple organisation had given him a price list, that would be a very, very remote possibility. Someone at Apple must have these prices right now. But Apple retail stores? No way whatsoever.
 
gnasher729 said:
From the article itself: "According to the source, Apple retail stores have been given price sheets that list 12 price points for the new range, with prices between $800-$3100."

There is no way that any Apple retail store has received any price list for any products that are not announced by Apple. No way. Forget it. He is making it up. If he had claimed that somebody inside the Apple organisation had given him a price list, that would be a very, very remote possibility. Someone at Apple must have these prices right now. But Apple retail stores? No way whatsoever.
Click to expand...

I agree, but how was this handled in the past?
Someone is claiming that retail stores receive prices from 4 to 10 days before the actual release.
Probably it is to update the IT system that controls purchases in the Apple stores. NO specs bu at least pricepoints.

Just guessing here...
 
djens said:
I just sold my MPB (3500$) so I have alot of money to spend:D
But I doubt they will be released as sonn as the 14th. I think most Apple fanatics is just blinded by hope or something... But i am crossing my fingers myself though:p
I live in Norway, therefore the prices. Btw a fully upgraded 17 incher costs almost 5000 USD here... :/
Click to expand...

Try living in Croatia...
Base model of macbook pro is 15 179 Croatian kune => 3 173 U.S. dollars
So we have a laptop that costs 3100$ :-(
I can buy an airplane ticket to NY buy base MBP and come back home, for 3500$ :)
 
C'mon Apple, just release 'em.

I pretty much don't care about 13" or 17" models. 15" is about the perfect size for me (portability vs. screen estate). I've been waiting for almost three month now... ...don't want to wait any longer. :rolleyes:
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

Hope there is a nice MBA price drop! :D
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

This would definitely make Apple more competitive in the laptop market if it proved to be true.
 
gifford said:
$800 would shut people up. good
Click to expand...

you would think so but prob be wrong think about the specs it would have
prob the same or worst specs the low end model has now and for 800 bucks still a rip off. for 800 dollars im sure you can get a pc with 3gb or ram 250Gb HD at least 2.0ghz

nevertheless you are paying for the brand

combo drive and all.
 
MasterNile said:
You mean for $800 you can get a PC that barely meets the minimum requirements to run Vista?
Click to expand...


Recommended system requirements for Vista Premium are 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor, 1 GB of system memory and 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
 
teme said:
Recommended system requirements for Vista Premium are 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor, 1 GB of system memory and 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
Click to expand...

just because that is what it ssays to run does not mean it will run well
 
fendersrule said:
Possibly.

It could also be possible that Apple's next revision of OSX will contain support for BluRay, along with pronouncing a date for the new revision release. I don't think there is any evidence that 10.6 is the "beginning" of BluRay support, we just know that it does support it.
Click to expand...

I read somewhere (i don't remember now where) the blu-ray support will come on 10.5.6 update, before Snow Leopard.
 
In my opinnion, if Apple does really drop 300 usd from the entry level Macbook, there will be a massive move of changing notebooks.
The cost/benefit of Macbook in 1099 is the best, because of the construction of the product, along with design, components, and a solid operating system.
It would be the best product to buy !
Hope this is true !!
 
Other rumors pointed to "very aggressive" pricing. $800 base model is not what I consider aggressive in the current laptop market (particularly if other posters are correct about the combo drive; that's just sad).

Before everyone jumps on me with comparisons to BMW v. Ford, let me just say I get it. :)
 
If they finally release something with the current macbook formfactor but a dedicated graphics chip instead of that piece of ass Intel crap I'll buy as long as it's sitting around 1500-1700$.
 
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