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Quanta Said to Manufacture Apple's Upcoming 'Inexpensive Notebooks' in September Quarter

ghostface147 said:
I don't see why the Air even exists anymore. Maybe because of MagSafe and the non-dongle USB port, and keyboard.
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You answered your own question. Besides the screen, it's a fantastic laptop. Light, great build quality, battery life, full array of ports, great keyboard and just darn reliable. They go on sale for as low as $650 which makes it a steal.
 
iMerik said:
If only people remembered how slow, clunky, and expensive laptops were back in the day. See: https://pifflelab.com/2012/07/22/computers-the-1990s-you-paid-how-much/

$999 for an amazing laptop (opposite of Chromebooks) seems inexpensive to me. How much should we expect for minimal money?
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Doesn't matter.

There will always be some Apple-Hater CLAIMING how the laptop they bought for $1.99 (which they SOMEHOW never mention the make and model of...) beats the Mac laptop in every respect.
 
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ghostface147 said:
I don't see why the Air even exists anymore. Maybe because of MagSafe and the non-dongle USB port, and keyboard.
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You pretty much answered it yourself.

Because:
1) Price, for those of us not courageous enough to pay up for lower battery life and a worse keyboard.
2) Overall best Apple laptop for functional flexibility at the moment, for those of us not unnecessarily obsessed with the most thinnest size, most clear image/screen (and the hit on battery life), and forced-innovation tradeoffs of magsafe removal and USB port flexibility reduction. Many users don't need the "most best thinnest best mostest." Many of us need a reasonably-priced laptop with functionality that fits our needs more than our fashion priorities.
3) Retains magsafe, which I find to come in handy most every time I use it.
 
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Waiting patiently for this lower priced Macbook to get released. I might make the jump and get one, haven't gotten a new Macbook since I got my 2013 MBP, but it would be nice to have a more portable smaller screened little Macbook I can just throw easily into my bag that isn't going to cost me an organ.
 
PickUrPoison said:
Consumer notebook segment is no more a mess than the business segment.

Least expensive: MacBook Air.

Smallest, lightest: 12” MacBook

Larger, faster, but more expensive: 13” MBP

Largest, fastest, most expensive: 15” MBP


Those strictly shopping by price choose MBA. Those who want a 2 lb. ultraportable buy MacBook. If you want a more powerful machine, and have the budget, you buy MBP. It’s really not all that complicated.

To answer your questions: 1) It starts at 1,299, not 1,799; 2) No, the entry level machine is $300 cheaper than the rMB; 3) Because at $999 it’s the entry level model.
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I still think it’s a mess, and hopefully Apple combines the rMB non-touch bar MBP and MBA into one product with an entry level model and slightly more expensive one.
 
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Rogifan said:
The consumer portion of Apple’s notebook line is a mess right now. I still wonder what the point of the 13” non touch bar MBP was, and was Apple expecting the 12” rMB to be entry level consumer machine? If so why hasn’t the price come down and why is the 13” MBA still in the line up?
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Right now, it doesn't look good but that's my point. If you're only looking at right now or the past few quarters, you're missing Apple's plan which we do not know. We don't even know if Apple will ever ship new laptops again a few years from now so most speculation seems pointless to me. In the tech industry, all products are in a constant state of overlap between older and newer technologies. Due to Apple's design-first approach, they are slower than most other companies for refresh and iterations until you get to their mobile devices. With all the criticisms and misaligned offerings regarding their laptops that they've made over the past few years, the only takeaway I get is that Apple wants to move away from annual, regular hardware updates. Beyond that, it's just reading tea leaves for spectators and customers.
 
The Macbook Air's price point is more like $700, which is where it frequently is at with promos or added products (like free headphones). $700 is a pretty good price point for your entry level laptop with great battery life, keyboard, and good ports.

An iPad is still a tough sell for multitasking/writing, and I think the Macbook Air is consistently wins the battle for low intensive use cases (ie not prosumers/professionals). Even when you throw in reading only, MBA vs iPad...the MBA loses on screen but kills the iPad with it's superior hinge and screen stability and fine adjustments to angle. I'd hate to read for 90 minutes holding an iPad or trying to balance it properly.

Bottom line, a lot of people don't need more than 2014 levels of performance for their computer usage, and a cheap Macbook Air meets their spec needs at a good price. MacOS brings iMessages/Airplay/ease of use!
 
Dave245 said:
I wonder what design this will be in? The MacBook or the Air? A lot of people like the design of the Air and I could see them keeping that but adding a Retina display and putting the 8th gen processors in it, that way Apple get to still say the 12” MacBook is the “thinnest and lightest”

Or

They make the Air just as thin and light as the 12” MacBook add a 13” screen size and add it to the line up, the 12” being the cheaper $999 version that’s being rumoured.

Also if there is an October event I think it would be for Mac’s only, the iPad Pro will probably be announced in September alongside the new iPhone’s and new Apple Watch Series 4.
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Apple won’t do the first option as everyone would question why they didn’t do that 3 years ago. I think your second option is more likely.
 
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tallscot said:
Just went through the process of buying a laptop for my son for college as a Freshman.

The OS is superior to Windows 10, though, and I won't have him coming home on weekends needing me to run a Registry Fixer or reinstall Windows because his laptop slowed down to a crawl after 3 months of use.
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This is really not true anymore of Windows. Windows 10 is a much better product now and has come a long way. I work with Windows everyday and rarely see the issues I used to. But I do agree MacOS is better.
 
MacsRuleOthersDrool said:
You seem to have left out a small detail: Recompile macOS and ALL Apple Applications for ARM...
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Or continue working to make iOS more and more capable instead of ruining the Mac.
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jedwards87 said:
This is really not true anymore of Windows. Windows 10 is a much better product now and has come a long way. I work with Windows everyday and rarely see the issues I used to. But I do agree MacOS is better.
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The gap has narrowed. Windows 10 is damn impressive! I still prefer MacOS, but the gap is so much smaller.
 
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