The MacRumors Show: Apple's Plan to Launch Low-Cost MacBook With iPhone Chip

[sevoneone]

While I would love this, I have to consider how the current iPad mini with its A17 Pro chip and touchscreen but no keyboard costs $499 retail. Assume that a laptop chassis with mechanical keyboard and a larger screen (12-13”) and battery has to cost at least $100 more, maybe $200 irrespective of the OS running it.

You're forgetting that from the iPad you also delete a touch screen digitizer and whatever tech makes the Apple Pencil work. You also drop the rear camera and flash, loose the Centerstage camera for basic 1080p and you don't really need 6-axis motion sensors, but I think that is baked into the A Series SOC now. Also 14-ish-inch screens with a 2.5k horizontal resolution are probably a bit more commodity than the display in the iPad mini. Also, they can ditch the glass laminated display on a low end laptop. In any case, there is a lot to delete before adding back laptop parts.

If Apple is after the education market, they need to come in under the cost of an 11th gen iPad with 256GB of storage and a decent keyboard case. So somewhere around $550 - $650. Given the $499 education price point of the Mac Mini, I think $650 for a less powerful laptop is a good fit too.

An A18 Pro powered Mac would probably be quite capable. It has a media engine and a ProRes accelerator which means it'll probably run iMovie and Final Cut Pro better than any Intel based Mac and well enough for social media and edits for school. The 6-Core GPU would be plenty for 2d design/illustration apps and basic CAD/CAM software too.

 

[mlayer]

You're forgetting that from the iPad you also delete a touch screen digitizer and whatever tech makes the Apple Pencil work. You also drop the rear camera and flash, loose the Centerstage camera for basic 1080p and you don't really need 6-axis motion sensors, but I think that is baked into the A Series SOC now. Also 14-ish-inch screens with a 2.5k horizontal resolution are probably a bit more commodity than the display in the iPad mini. Also, they can ditch the glass laminated display on a low end laptop. In any case, there is a lot to delete before adding back laptop parts.

If Apple is after the education market, they need to come in under the cost of an 11th gen iPad with 256GB of storage and a decent keyboard case. So somewhere around $550 - $650. Given the $499 education price point of the Mac Mini, I think $650 for a less powerful laptop is a good fit too.

An A18 Pro powered Mac would probably be quite capable. It has a media engine and a ProRes accelerator which means it'll probably run iMovie and Final Cut Pro better than any Intel based Mac and well enough for social media and edits for school. The 6-Core GPU would be plenty for 2d design/illustration apps and basic CAD/CAM software too.

I didn't forget the complexity of the touchscreen. That may cost $40 based on some BOM estimates I've seen. Add $10 for the rear-facing camera, now you're at $50. Compare that to the MacBook Air's screen, which includes its own camera but no digitizer. Add the keyboard and touchpad, which I didn't mention before. Could all of those and the larger battery come in at around $100? It might have to in order to reach the target price. The A18 Pro should be cheaper than the M1 based on die size, but the M1 is now on a legacy node that's fairly cheap to produce compared to leading edge products. If anything, the example we should look at is the introduction of the iPhone 16e. It was also dreamed of at the no-brainer $500 price point. It didn't land there. Apple might price this $100 more than many would like in order to leave room for heavy discounting by Education, Amazon & Wal-Mart. Does that mean $699 or $799? Probably $799 based on recent Apple history. The real reason the $649 M1 MacBook Air exists is that it became much cheaper to manufacture over time like a lot of products. That's why Apple HW revisions often last 3 years or longer, to amortize the R&D cost. Speaking of history, the one thing Apple doesn't want to do is make another Performa out of this.

 

[dandyryan]

While I would love this, I have to consider how the current iPad mini with its A17 Pro chip and touchscreen but no keyboard costs $499 retail. Assume that a laptop chassis with mechanical keyboard and a larger screen (12-13”) and battery has to cost at least $100 more, maybe $200 irrespective of the OS running it.

true but no touch screen. apple's been trying to position the $329 base iPad with the scam $229 keyboard for edu but is still losing to chromebooks. maybe $599/$499 edu? exactly like a mac mini but with a weaker chip, less ports, less ram/storage (expecting 8GB/128GB), no macOS, but a screen/keyboard instead. is there really a point for apple to be pricing this any higher if they're really going for the $200-400 chromebook market? might as well get the $649 M1 air

 

[123123123]

Also from the longevity point of view it would be paradoxical for Apple to stop supporting the M1 series of macs and keep updating the A18 Pro MacBooks…

My suspicion is that it’s a reaction to the whackadoodle trade war that’s been kicked off by the US. The A16s are being made in the US – adding more A-series products makes it more justifiable to add 3nm capacity to the fab and manufacture A18s in the US, which will insulate Apple against randomly-generated import taxes.

 

[123123123]

One other second-order effect might be battery cost. The A18 pulls about half the wattage of the M1, so a smaller battery would be needed and likely cost less.

 

[dan110]

I don't want to live in your world. That's not Apple. That's, in the words of Peter Lynch, "diWORSEification."

So, instead of shaking things up, you want to continue on the current path of releasing the same product as previous years except with a new coat of paint and a different name? How did that work for the Apple's early years before Steve returned, Nokia, and Blackberry?

 

[victorvictoria]

So, instead of shaking things up, you want to continue on the current path of releasing the same product as previous years except with a new coat of paint and a different name? How did that work for the Apple's early years before Steve returned, Nokia, and Blackberry?

Apple has a demonstrably profitable mission: premium products at a premium price, and their sales and market capitalization don't lie: Apple users like us are willing to pay the price for that quality. I'm firmly opposed to Apple trying to go "down market" with a cheapo Mac. And if you seem to believe releasing a cheaper version of the same old laptop is innovation, I beg to differ. Respectfully. I miss those days when Jobs conceived "insanely great" new ideas before we even knew we wanted them. But people like Jobs don't grow on trees.

 

[dan110]

Apple has a demonstrably profitable mission: premium products at a premium price, and their sales and market capitalization don't lie: Apple users like us are willing to pay the price for that quality. I'm firmly opposed to Apple trying to go "down market" with a cheapo Mac. And if you seem to believe releasing a cheaper version of the same old laptop is innovation, I beg to differ. Respectfully. I miss those days when Jobs conceived "insanely great" new ideas before we even knew we wanted them. But people like Jobs don't grow on trees.

That mission is coming to an end. Consumer Capitalism is going through a controlled demolition and will be for another generation. People aren't going to be splurging on expensive i-Toys when they can't pay rent, buy food, and start families. Apple has to right size in order to address this goobal demographic change. This is in addition to the neo balkanization of global technology. They won't be able to bank on the European and Asian consumer markets that are pulling away from American technology.

 

[Mega ST]

Apple has always offered affordable products as well. The original Classic, the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone SE, the iBook for example. Apple needs market share to stay relevant. 1000+ dollar phones won't be enough. It makes perfect sense to bundle mass production apple silicon and phone technologies to form some basic laptop.

 

[victorvictoria]

That mission is coming to an end. Consumer Capitalism is going through a controlled demolition and will be for another generation. People aren't going to be splurging on expensive i-Toys when they can't pay rent, buy food, and start families. Apple has to right size in order to address this goobal demographic change. This is in addition to the neo balkanization of global technology. They won't be able to bank on the European and Asian consumer markets that are pulling away from American technology.

If Apple tries to compete with Lenovo and Acer, Apple will die.

 

[dandyryan]

iPad Book

MacBook mini

?