Apple To Launch 'Low-Cost' MacBook Series Next Year To Rival Chromebooks, Report Says (macrumors.com) 103
Apple is developing a low-cost MacBook series to compete with Chromebook models in the education sector that could be launched as early as the second half of 2024, claims a new report out of Taiwan. From a report: According to DigiTimes' industry sources, Apple will likely launch the new product line to differentiate it from the company's existing MacBook Air and Pro lines. The outer appearance will still use a metal casing but will be made of "different materials" and the cost of the mechanical components will be lower, claims the report. The launch timeframe for the alleged new MacBook series appears to be based on a lack of related activity at major Apple suppliers like Quanta Computer and Foxconn, making a launch in the first half of next year unlikely.
Unreliable Source (Score:5, Interesting)
The source on this rumor is super sketchy. Wouldn't believe it at this point. There's not much money to be made in budget laptops. Google does it because they can harvest data from those who use them, offsetting the lack of profit in the hardware. Apple operates on a different business model. I highly doubt we'll see this happen.
The 9to5Mac headline for the same story is, "Super-sketchy report claims Apple plans low-cost MacBook to compete with Chromebooks". Of course, MacRumors has a LONG history of hyping everything they can in order to drive website clicks.
I don't think it's about the money (Score:5, Insightful)
For whatever reason most people have a really hard time adapting to new UIs. Google is dominating education and has been for years now. In about 10-15 years there's going to be a ton of college kids who grew up on Chromebooks. Apple should be concerned about that.
That said it's a tough market, and Apple has created the image of a premium and let's face it overpriced product. I've seen a few districts want to use iPads because they're easier to lock down than Chromebooks were back in the day (I'm pretty sure that's not true anymore) and they got a ton of flak for it even if the overall cost would've been lower because of the labor cost of administration.
So either way there are good and bad reasons for this, and at the very least given the size of Apple somebody is probably tasked with developing a product for the education market. I'm just not sure if it'll ever come out.
Re:I don't think it's about the money (Score:5, Insightful)
Google may dominate the education market but we certainly haven't seen that carry over into the consumer market. People don't graduate from high school and go buy a Chromebook because that's what they used throughout school previously.
Chromebook sales have seen a MASSIVE decline. In 2022 they fell 51.4% in a single year. Not a sign of a market most would want to get into. Yes, that was largely because of the increases they saw when kids had to do remote schooling during the pandemic but it's simply not a high-volume market where there's much to be made. Again, it's one where they take a loss on the hardware in order to get them into the software, which is completely opposite to Apple's business model in every way.
Re: I don't think it's about the money (Score:3)
Chromebook sales have seen a MASSIVE decline. In 2022 they fell 51.4% in a single year.
That sounds like the overall post-pandemic desktop/laptop market TBH.
I think their dominance is really, really recent (Score:3)
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FWIW my company is buying Chromebooks for our non-technical staff. They are generally received pretty well. We're buying what are basically the cheapest Lenovo option (AUD$600). Most of them are 2 years old and still going; of the 30 or so we've bought I've had to return 3 for various minor fault, they were replaced quickly.
ChromeOS is supported til like 2028 in these models. We treat them more or less as disposable but they do exactly what we need and cause very little headaches - no provisioning, no real
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Lots of adults use Chromebooks because they really do "just work". I got one for my mum about 5 years ago and the only bit of tech support I've had to do was when her internet router died.
A lot of developers use Chromebooks because they are cheap and more than adequate for SSHing into Linux boxes, or because they can run Linux natively. ChromeOS being based on Linux means that compatibility is generally good.
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Google may dominate the education market but we certainly haven't seen that carry over into the consumer market. People don't graduate from high school and go buy a Chromebook because that's what they used throughout school previously.
Chromebook sales have seen a MASSIVE decline. In 2022 they fell 51.4% in a single year. Not a sign of a market most would want to get into. Yes, that was largely because of the increases they saw when kids had to do remote schooling during the pandemic but it's simply not a high-volume market where there's much to be made. Again, it's one where they take a loss on the hardware in order to get them into the software, which is completely opposite to Apple's business model in every way.
So maybe the Chromebook they bought during the Pandemic is good enough for another year? That doesn't indicate that the market is collapsing and Google is losing control.
I know several educators here in the UK as friends. Google is very much in control in the education space. They all complain about the G Suite they had to use until they had to try to use the Microsoft equivalents.
This might be a good thing for future employers, all the Mac users are suffering from a chronic lack of very basic compute
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all the Mac users are suffering from a chronic lack of very basic computer literacy. ...
The same could be said about Windows users
All Mac users I know are IT professionals, well - one is the wife of an IT professional and is a doctor, no idea how illiterate she can be with an Linux admin breathing on her neck :P
When hiring we look for PC gamers because they'll at least be able to navigate a file system, even if they do take sick days when a big game is released, That sucks, as I'm playing on my Mac you ins
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it's about losing the education market and with it the next gen of consumers.
When I was in school, it was all Apple IIe machines [wikipedia.org] and they were already pretty outdated at the time. If anything, it made me like Apple less, because the machines were such garbage.
Though, it's not as if Apple really needs to worry about this anymore. Even they have basically admitted with their (not-so-well-received) "What's a computer?" ad that they fully expect the next generation to be using iThings rather than their traditional computer product lines.
Tablets/Phones are complementary, not replacements (Score:3)
Even they have basically admitted with their (not-so-well-received) "What's a computer?" ad that they fully expect the next generation to be using iThings rather than their traditional computer product lines.
And they are now realizing that is a mistaken idea, at least in the developed world. Tablets are inherently inferior, they are OK for short duration work but rarely for long duration. They remain a complement to computers, not a replacement. That is for people who can afford to have both.
There might be a merger in the sense that tablets become the screens for laptops. The laptops a dock of sorts. When detached the tablet runs a tablet OS like iOS. When docked it goes into screen only mode and function as
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There might be a merger in the sense that tablets become the screens for laptops. The laptops a dock of sorts. When detached the tablet runs a tablet OS like iOS. When docked it goes into screen only mode and function as an external GPU and display, the laptop running a desktop oriented OS like macOS. Note some iMac's can be put into display only mode. But this will only happen if there is a cost savings somehow. I'm not sure there is.
I'm fairly certain there isn't. Asus has two current models, one of which is focused on gaming, Dell has one, Lenovo has a couple which happen to be Chromebooks, and of course there's Microsoft's Surface. The Surface Pro series is now a decade old and it's not exactly burning up the sales charts. These things have existed for long enough that it's pretty clear that the design results in an inferior tablet and an even more inferior laptop, not least because of the horrible infestation of tablet user inter
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They could just improve the tablet OS a bit. Look at what Samsung has done for an example of what is possible. On Samsung tablets you have a tiling window manager, and both their tablets and phones support Dex which gives you a full desktop.
For a developer or tech, if you take your Samsung phone, Bluetooth keyboard, and an HDMI dongle, and you know that the site has monitors available, it's actually a very usable system for a lot of tasks. SSH into a server, web UI, document editing... It's only when you ne
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> the machines were such garbage.
And just which of the IIe's contemporaries were so good as to make the IIe "garbage"? The C64 was nice, but limited, especially if you wanted expansions. The Trash-80 was always trash. The Macintosh wasn't even announced for another year. The Apple 3 was a joke. The Sinclair ZX81 was a toy. And IBM's PC was still mired in its MSDOS days. Of the lot of those... and, in fairness, those are the only ones from that era I have first-hand familiarity with... the only one
Re:I don't think it's about the money (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem with the Apple IIe wasn't the hardware. It was a great computer back when it was launched in 1983. The problem is that schools were still using it in 1991, long after it should have been replaced with a Macintosh or a PC.
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That was not really a problem, as fundamental stuff could be taught easily.
Certain memory ranges serve a certain purpose, like text display or graphics, or ROM or RAM or language card.
You switch it on and can program in Basic or Assembly right away. The Apple had a Monitor and a Mini Assembler right away in ROM.
Issue a "CALL -155" ( I made the number up) on command line, would put you into an Assembler/Monitor console, where you could "program" interact with the machine on assembly level.
Despite the fact th
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And just which of the IIe's contemporaries were so good as to make the IIe "garbage"?
The pace of innovation in the PC industry was a lot faster back then, so the problem was that the IIe overstayed its welcome in education, to the tune of a decade. Towards the end of its life cycle, you (or more likely, your parents) could actually buy a PC with a Pentium CPU at the same time you were using Apple IIe machines at school.
I actually remember a kid bragging that his parents had just bought him a brand new Pentium 60.
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Cripes! Mea culpa. If your school was still on IIes when Intel launched the Pentium, I take it all back. Even a IIgs should have been put out to pasture by then.
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Historically those Machines, may it be an Apple or a PC or even a PC clone, had only one very big drawback: in relation to our days they were absurd expensive.
Even software was absurd expensive.
I once worked 6weeks in a chemical factory, about 10 - 12 hours every weekday - as overtime was paid astonishing well - and you basically only were present but had not much work or no work at all, taxes got instantly refunded after the 6 weeks. I earned as much as my father, who was working in loan issues in a insura
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My wife is completely non tech saavy and continues to use the Google email account and services her school gave her during her master's degree program. My own alma-mater has con
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There is nothing overprized on a Mac laptop.\
I'm typing this on a $450 Acer, PC, under Windows 11 - home edition. (8 Gig of ram, 500GB disk, no idea why 25% are used already - the laptop is brand new)
Worst Windows experience ever. Even Windows 3.11 was better. And yes: it is true. If you search for "download Chrome" Edge gives a half screen size full of errors and messages why you do not need Chrome.
Then after downloading it anyway, during the install, a dialog box pops up (which can not be closed the first
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That was a very long time ago. Back during a time when they were largely failing as a company. It hasn't been what's made them the richest tech company on the planet.
Educational market is what saved Apple (Score:2)
That was a very long time ago. Back during a time when they were largely failing as a company. It hasn't been what's made them the richest tech company on the planet.
Apple was not failing in the educational market. Matter of fact it was the Apple II and the educational market that kept Apple afloat during the Apple III (3), Lisa and Mac years. Mac was not profitable until long after Steve Jobs was removed.
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Wow that's wrong. Apple targeting kids was integral to its success from the start. When they were "largely failing" they actually lost education.
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LULz, how did education targeting result in Apple's success?
dumbass (Score:1)
First because the education market is profitable whether or not the products are sold at a discount.
Second because it encourages parents to buy the same kind of computer for use at home ... when Apple was big in schools a whole lot of people had Apple had home because they wanted computers their kids could use.
Third because when people get older they stick with what they know. People don't bother changing brands of toothpaste unless necessity demands it; you think people are going to learn a whole new opera
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If Apple ever had a decent desktop/laptop following because of schools, you would have seen way more representation in web stats.
You're really looking at the wrong timeframe here. The period of Apple's dominance in schools was long before the advent of the Web, maybe 1980-1990.
Think Apple II, not Macintosh.
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I gotta disagree. It was integral to Apple's success in like 1983, but education is a relatively minor part of its current success where they are the richest company on the planet.
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On the one hand, they can't be thrilled by losing a lot of big EDU buys to Chromebooks(in part because there's real money there; but also because it's very much not to their advantage to have iOS/macOS' position as a first class platform threatened in favor of shit Electron ports of stuff primarily aimed at the browser); but on the other hand the clamshell-style reuse of ipad parts they probably
School Essentials (Score:2)
There is a solid business model available to them which could work for cheaper devices. Imagine device coverage, MDM, theft protection, office apps, email, instant messaging and 200GB iCloud storage for say $6/student, all manageable in a serverless fashion via Apple School Manager.
A lot of schools pay Google more for less these days, so there's no reason Apple wouldn't want in on that pie.
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also have site devices that are not tied to that user.
Multidevice plans let you manage up to three devices for each user.
For an school Multidevice needs to change to site wide / school district wide devices that can be tied to any one. as well loaner devices and temp only ones like for testing they have an pool of testing only devices.
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Apple are also in a much better position than others to actually produce a low cost laptop. They already have their own SoC, so cranking out last year's model on an older fab process should be extremely cheap for them.
Low cost easy, Air not well differentiated (Score:3)
The easiest thing to do would be to make the MacBook Air the school oriented system. Small and compact and storage largely in the cloud so modest on-board storage is not a problem.
Plus, in recent years the MacBook Air was not sufficiently differentiated from the MacBook. Let the Air be the cloud based solution, let MacBook and MacBook Pro have more reasonable amounts of stora
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They would have to dramatically cost reduce the Air to be competitive with Chromebooks.
I wonder what they will do for integration and central management. On Chromebooks Google has the full stack, with cloud based storage, productivity apps, and management tools. Apple only has iCloud, and it's pretty basic.
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They would have to dramatically cost reduce the Air to be competitive with Chromebooks.
The current $1000 price point is based on a 2020 design. The sell refurbs for $850, which I think could suggest where an academic price point could be.
A new design might even have a better spec. There's not really much cost savings from 256 storage vs 512. Personally I'd rather seem them upgrade the RAM from 8 to 16. 256GB storage is workable given the cloud nature of a school system. 8 GB RAM is iffier, 16 GB would help ensure greater longevity.
Low end $300 Chromebooks are great for some special purp
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The easiest thing to do would be to make the MacBook Air the school oriented system. Small and compact and storage largely in the cloud so modest on-board storage is not a problem.
The smallest MacBook Airs have 128 Gig SSD. That should be enough for a few school curiculums, so why would anyone store anything in a/the cloud?
Or did you want to say, school stuff is on classroom.google or drive.google anyway?
Plus, in recent years the MacBook Air was not sufficiently differentiated from the MacBook. the free App
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The easiest thing to do would be to make the MacBook Air the school oriented system. Small and compact and storage largely in the cloud so modest on-board storage is not a problem. The smallest MacBook Airs have 128 Gig SSD. That should be enough for a few school curiculums, so why would anyone store anything in a/the cloud?
Actually 128GB is kind of cramped if you have to add some applications. At 128GB Apple is assuming storage is pretty much cloud based.
Students would store things in the cloud so their files are persistent and not tied to a particular Mac. Perhaps a damaged Mac needs to be replaced. A student sign into the replacement with an Apple ID and everything is where they left it. Or Macs are returned at the end of the school year and different machines issued at the start of the next year.
Or did you want to say, school stuff is on classroom.google or drive.google anyway?
Not necessarily. Apple h
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Actually 128GB is kind of cramped if you have to add some applications. At 128GB Apple is assuming storage is pretty much cloud based.
Are you mixing up Applications with *data*?
My 2014 MacBook Air has a 128 Gig HD, and has 30Gig free - and used up space are local Time Machine Backups.
It is a developer machine, most of the stuff is source code, and the compiled machine code from it, and cashed web pages.
No idea why you think Mac users have more than 5Gig cloud space. Having more space costs yearly and that i
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Actually 128GB is kind of cramped if you have to add some applications. At 128GB Apple is assuming storage is pretty much cloud based. Are you mixing up Applications with *data*?
Both take up storage. Applications always local, data could be local or cloud.
My 2014 MacBook Air has a 128 Gig HD, and has 30Gig free - and used up space are local Time Machine Backups.
I would get an external USB drive for multiple reasons.
No idea why you think Mac users have more than 5Gig cloud space. Having more space costs yearly and that is heavily.
5 GB free, 50 GB $1/month. Again, that is for regular consumers, not students.
Note your desktop may be synced to iCloud. Just lol. You are an idiot.
Guess again.
"Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive
Learn how to share your files from your Mac Desktop and your Documents folder to all of your devices with iCloud Drive."
https://support.apple.com/en-u... [apple.com]
Which is basically what students would do so they are not bound to any parti
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The Desktop is EMPTY: except for the drive icon and a background picture ...
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The Desktop is EMPTY: except for the drive icon and a background picture ...
Not true for many users.
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The source on this rumor is super sketchy. Wouldn't believe it at this point. There's not much money to be made in budget laptops.
Apple doesn't do "low cost". They're a luxury brand now. Even their entry level Mac Minis, with no monitor or peripherals, starts at 600 bucks. If Apple ever did a low-end netbook, you can count on it being at least $500 a pop, far above the cost of anything like a Chromebook.
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No there's not much money in budget laptops, but all of Apple's future plans for growth are around services. A "budget MacBook" offers them something they don't dare do on their more expensive models-- a chance to completely lock the Mac to the App Store.
Mac developers have virtually shunned the Mac App Store despite Apple repeatedly attempting to push them into it, and Apple can't make an App-Store-only laptop for real u
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"Mac developers have virtually shunned the Mac App Store"
That's simply not true. Most developers are on the Mac App Store because it gets them in front of a much larger audience than they could ever reach on their own. Sure, they also offer it on their own website, where they get more of the profits, but the added visibility is worth giving up a small cut of the sale price in return for.
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So you want to say: just because my Chrome browser is running on a Google OS Chromebook, they can/do harvest more data than on my Chrome browser running on Windows or on my Mac?
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The source on this rumor is super sketchy. Wouldn't believe it at this point. There's not much money to be made in budget laptops. Google does it because they can harvest data from those who use them, offsetting the lack of profit in the hardware. Apple operates on a different business model. I highly doubt we'll see this happen.
The 9to5Mac headline for the same story is, "Super-sketchy report claims Apple plans low-cost MacBook to compete with Chromebooks". Of course, MacRumors has a LONG history of hyping everything they can in order to drive website clicks.
Hasn't Apple already released the "Apple Chromebook", it's the Macbook Air and has all the lack of power and features you expect from a Chromebook, but at 2-3 times the cost. The cheapest Macbook Air you can get in the UK is £850 and that is a mobile phone SOC with a 13" screen. I can get a gaming laptop with an i5 and RTX3050 and still have £150 left over, more if I just wanted a slim, lightweight i5 laptop.
"Handhelds" are the current fad in computers anyway.
Apple Canabilising iPads to compete with Google ? (Score:1)
Yeah right.
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A certain tech CEO once said "If you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will" - maybe they're following his advice.
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> A certain tech CEO once said "If you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will"
I would be massively less surprised if Apple ditched Macbooks entirely, with Tim Cook on stage saying "iPad Pro is the best tool for you", then I would Apple ditching lower priced iPads for a cheap Macbook, a market they seem to want to exit more than embrace.
Apple isn't keen on low margins.
Great move (Score:2)
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removeing the mac os server hurt as well should of (Score:2)
removing the mac os server hurt as well should of allowed mac os server to run in an VM on non apple hardware if they wanted out of the server hardware market.
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Did you ever use MacOS Server? It was basically just some extra stuff in Settings compared to what's there normally. There really wasn't any reason to have it for "server" stuff vs having a BSD system, and running the Server version actually kept some normal desktop software from installing. Sure, you got Apple's GUI and that probably has appeal to someone, but it's not like that was necessary to configure a web server.
lets see base line ram 4GB-8GB disk 256GB-512GB (Score:2)
lets see base line ram 4GB-8GB disk 256GB-512GB starting price $999-$1299
MacBook Air 13" 8-core M1 CPU, 8GB, 256GB - $999 (Score:2)
lets see base line ram 4GB-8GB disk 256GB-512GB starting price $999-$1299
No problem.
MacBook Air 13" M1 CPU.
$999
8-Core CPU
7-Core GPU
8GB Unified Memory
256GB SSD Storage footnote
16-core Neural Engine
13-inch Retina display with True Tone
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
Force Touch trackpad
30W USB-C Power Adapter
And it comes with 5GB of cloud storage and Apple's office/productivity apps.
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wow, can't believe you are proud enough to repeat that in public ... in 2023 no less. Jeez a 256gig NVME ssd is like 15 bucks on amazon
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wow, can't believe you are proud enough to repeat that in public ...
Someone posted a target specification. I pointed out Apple was already there, before even trying for a low cost educational model.
... in 2023 no less.
It's a 2020 configuration. One that Apple can sell for $850 as their certified, warrantied, refurbs suggest.
Jeez a 256gig NVME ssd is like 15 bucks on amazon
Quality ones that will be reliable and last are around $35.
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Someone posted a target specification. I pointed out Apple was already there, before even trying for a low cost educational model.
No someone posted a joke about how expensive an outdated low end product apple would produce, and you provided evidence
It's a 2020 configuration. One that Apple can sell for $850 as their certified, warrantied, refurbs suggest.
still charging a thousand dollars for a 3 year old low spec computer? do you know how much laptop you can buy for even 850$ these days?
Quality ones that will be reliable and last are around $35.
oh, I would love to see your results from all the extensive testing you have done on every 256gig ssd available on amazon. Cause there's brands like SK Hynix on there for 17 bucks
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Someone posted a target specification. I pointed out Apple was already there, before even trying for a low cost educational model.
No someone posted a joke about how expensive an outdated low end product apple would produce, and you provided evidence
Untrue. As much as you might want to believe that a Raspberry Pi or something inexpensive like that is all someone in school needs, you would be mistaken. Such a system would be fine for a software development class. However as a general purpose school computer one needs something more capable. Even more capable than the $300 Chromebooks. The specs offered were realistic, especially when you consider the warranties and support schools will insist upon.
It's a 2020 configuration. One that Apple can sell for $850 as their certified, warrantied, refurbs suggest.
still charging a thousand dollars for a 3 year old low spec computer? do you know how much laptop you can buy for even 850$ these days?
Apparently you are having a reading comprehension proble
Not their first rodeo (Score:1)
They've done educational focused kit before, like the eMac [wikipedia.org] and the eMate [wikipedia.org] (the eMac was only available to .edu unless you could find a teacher friend who'd Shawshank one to you).
Chromebook and iPad sales are done in bulk and at volume, there's still room for profit for a robust device, and it'll be interesting to see how and when this plays out.
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It can be painfully easy to get a student ID and a .edu email.
I ran to a local community college, and paid like a $50 fee, sent a transcript to "apply" to them for grad school.....with no intention of taking any classes.
I got the paperwork in and they sent me to get a student ID made....no expiratio
evolution of computers in schools (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple got a great initial start, getting Apple II's into the schools fairly cheaply. They rode this wave well with the colored iMac G3's, but by the time of the eMac this push was slowing to almost a complete stop.
This was due in large part to their mostly ignoring the business sector. Schools faced a problem where they were educating their kids on macs but then they were entering the workforce with little to no PC experience. So schools transitioned away from Apples and to PCs. Apple didn't have a good plan on how to get into the business market, and kept their focus on the consumer and failing educational market, until they were mostly pushed out of education entirely.
Apple has done very well in the consumer market, and has made in-roads with education, mostly in the video and graphics markets, where they were able to maintain a toe-hold since in the past Mac has always been the preferred platform for graphics design, Companies like Adobe have since drifted away from Apple, and now software for PCs is at least as good as it is for Macintosh. But even over the last decade, Apple has shown little indication of trying to make a strong push back into the educational market. The white macbooks were popular with schools, but very little effort was made to capitalize on this doorway. It was a wasted opportunity.
The first few generations of Macbook Air were pretty bad. They were overpriced and underpowered. The only thing they really had going for them was they were very lightweight and thin. But iPads quickly took over as the better option for portability, and basically ruined the market for the Air in its original form.
The more recent generations of Macbook Air have so much overlap with the low end Macbook Pros that they really struggle to have an identity of their own. (the newer aluminum-shelled macbooks shared the same fate) But from their inception to today, none of the Airs were in a position to re-enter the educational market. Too expensive, too underpowered, too fragile.
Apple did have some success marketing iPads to schools. They're an excellent way to distribute textbooks, and I for one would have dearly loved to have traded in a dozen heavy textbooks for an iPad when I was in high school. But the iPad and it's iOS are designed for a different role than a desktop or laptop computer, and aren't an effective teaching platform for computer and software proficiency. The extremely locked-down nature of iOS and its closed ecosystem also remove too much of the flexibility that a computer needs.
Apple needs a modern equivalent to the white macbook if they're to have any chance to regain share in the schools. Schools are transitioning away from computer labs and toward "one-laptop-per-child". iPads can't really tow that line, students need a REAL computer. There's nothing wrong with having an iPad AND a laptop, and I think that's the best direction to go. Honestly, right now I think schools get the biggest bang-for-the-buck by getting their students a low-end iPad and a chromebook. But if Apple can come up with a serious competitor to the chromebook, it could kick off a serious return-to-Apple in the schools. They can afford to lay out some serious cash to invest it in the educational market. Start by removing the "Apple tax" completely from the new Macbook. But don't stop there... provide schools with big subsidies on purchases. Make the new macbook cost THE SAME as a chromebook. It won't be a money-maker, it'll probably LOSE money. But it's not a loss, it's an investment in regaining market share.
apple did not keep up with dell and other on price (Score:2)
apple did not keep up with dell and others on pricing.
and then some windows only software started to be used in schools.
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Both a tablet and a laptop is silly. That's two things to keep charged,two things for IT to maintain, more things for the school to buy, more things for students to have to bring, more things to break. Just using only a laptop is obviously a better idea. Maybe spending an extra $50 for a Chromebook that can swivel and be used like a tablet makes sense...but no, it really doesn't.
Your whole premise about hardware is wrong. The hardware for school laptops is almost an afterthought. What really matters is
apple can sell privacy and say unlike google we (Score:2)
apple can sell privacy and say unlike google we don't sell your info to marketers
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Yeah, schools that are absolutely cash-strapped need to be buying two devices for every child enrolled now?
Please tell me what the additional cost of the iPad would accomplish that cannot be done on the Chromebook for a student, for basically doubling the spend per student.
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The first few generations of Macbook Air were pretty bad. They were overpriced and underpowered. The only thing they really had going for them was they were very lightweight and thin. But iPads quickly took over as the better option for portability, and basically ruined the market for the Air in its original form.
That is just nonsense. If they where overpriced no one would buy them and if they were underpowered everyone who bought one would complain.
Seriously, where do you guys get that bullshit from.
I do s
What about an iPhone computer (Score:2)
If they have USB-C then either a usb-c or thunderbolt monitor, or an adapter for a cheap monitor. Apple would just have to make sure that the battery survives being plugged in constantly. It would be quite acceptable for a low-end MacBook.
and lose the apple store lockin on phones? (Score:2)
and lose the apple store lockin on phones?
Re: and lose the apple store lockin on phones? (Score:2)
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and the EU on your ass about an piss poor roadblock to sideloading.
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Apple would just have to make sure that the battery survives being plugged in constantly.
This is already a solved problem. Within the USB-C spec, which they are being forced to adopt by the EU, you can already do this by having USB-PD charging the device while still using a DisplayPort channel for driving a display, leaving USB channels for keyboard / mouse / etc. And they already have the software and hardware built to do it, because you can do it already with iPad Pro. And MacBooks for some time have been using more intelligent charging logic in that they only charge the battery to 90% unl
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"8GB RAM and 256 gb storage, with macOsX installed"
You mean an original M1 MacBook Air? Given the SOC is available in quantity and the development cost is amortized by now, what can Apple do to further cut the cost of the laptop? Would a plastic case be cheaper considering the metal cases are easier to recycle? Could you make the case out of an easily recyclable plastic?
You would not want to cut costs on the keyboard, that's going to get used a lot, but how much battery do you need in this use case? Could
Re: What about an iPhone computer (Score:2)
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So one iPhone and one low end MacMini would cost you exactly the same as an iPhone. Just add any cheap third party monitor and any cheap third party keyboard. Perfect if yo
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Re: What about an iPhone computer (Score:2)
Does anyone have an estimate what an empty laptop might cost, where you could plug in an iPhone? Probably more because itâ(TM)s not a current product.
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c.f. DeX from Samsung.
If it's true (Score:2)
It may be "low cost", but it will be crippled, unrepairable and probably require a subscription
Apple is the distilled essence of evil
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— Sent from my Android
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MacBook base model is $1300. At least get the basic facts right before you flame.
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Actually, you can get an M1 13" Macbook Air for $999, but it comes with a pathetic 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of flash storage.
Once you upgrade that to a sane configuration (16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of flash storage), it costs $1,399. Or, almost twice what a compatible laptop from Dell or HP would cost.
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It is not. Not even here in Thailand where import tax is on it.
You could go to an Apple web site and check, before writing completely nonsense comments.
The product might be great. (Score:2)
They might have to rely on stuff that isn't cutting edge instead of being too clever for their own good. Darned things might last forever.
Please not have it be Netbooks v2.0... (Score:2)
Hopefully Apple makes a decent product. We don't need another round of Netbooks. We don't need another set of sluggish, poorly performing machines, which a lot of Chromebooks are. We don't need stuff with 128 gigs of DRAM-less SSD, 4 GB RAM, and a CPU about the speed of a Pi 4.
If Apple could come out with something around 16 gigs of RAM, 512-1 TB for the disk space, and a M1/M2 tier CPU, that would be good enough, assuming a price tag of well under $1000. "Cheap" doesn't have to mean useless. Think the
Dev Tax? (Score:2)
Something tells me XCode will "need" something these don't have.
Prove me wrong and I'll probably get one.
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Does not make any sense to try to prove an idiot wrong.
XCode: a fancy or not so fancy UI - your pick - on top of GCC/LMVM. Boink ...
Having eMate flashbacks (Score:2)
I so wanted one of those when they came out. Except they were way too expensive and used the NewtonOS.
if Apple does put out one they'll hopefully learn from their mistakes.