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With #Apple developing a low-cost #MacBook to rival Chromebooks and Windows laptops, the PC industry should definitely be worried.
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0:00
[Music]
0:01
Apple's upcoming budget laptop has PC
0:03
makers quote freaking out. Uh the new
0:06
Mac, it's cenamed J700. We've heard
0:09
about this before. Uh it it's currently
0:10
in testing and early production with the
0:12
goal of launching in the first half of
0:14
next year. Uh, and supposedly Apple's
0:17
plan to price this well under $1,000 by
0:21
using cost-saving components, basically
0:24
bits and pieces from previous products
0:26
while m maintaining the design quality
0:28
and ecosystem integration that all of us
0:31
Mac users expect.
0:33
Uh, Apple's going to be trying to get
0:35
students, businesses, casual users who,
0:38
you know, just basically browse the web
0:40
and do email and stuff. uh also aimed at
0:42
iPad customers who might prefer a
0:44
traditional laptop form factor with an
0:46
integrated keyboard.
0:48
So uh some of the stuff that is inside
0:51
this is it's it's going to run on an
0:52
iPhone processor rather than a you know
0:55
Mac specific chip like a M1 or M4. M5 is
0:59
lazy, right? Um this is the first time
1:01
Apple has used a smartphone processor on
1:03
a Mac. However, internal testing shows
1:06
this chip can outperform the M1
1:08
processor used in uh well M1 MacBooks.
1:13
Let's see. Uh
1:16
also supposedly going to use a lower-end
1:18
LCD display that's slightly smaller than
1:20
the 13.6 in screen on the MacBook Air.
1:23
And uh here's where our headline came
1:24
from. A quote from uh analyst Ben Bar.
1:27
Is that how you pronounce his name? Ben
1:28
Bjaran.
1:29
Bahar. I think Bahar.
1:32
Okay.
1:32
Mhm. Let's just call him Ben. He said
1:37
the whole idea
1:38
the the share of Windows in uh with a
1:42
retail price less than $800 is 100%. And
1:46
then this is a quote from him. This is
1:47
why the entire PC ecosystem is freaking
1:50
out over what's coming from Apple next
1:52
year. So fantastic news, right? What
1:56
could be wrong with it? a a affordable
1:58
MacBook gets more people in the uh Apple
2:01
ecosystem, lets businesses and and
2:04
schools actually use a Mac rather than
2:06
going for some, you know, dirt cheap
2:09
Windows PC. Although, I guess it's still
2:11
not in the Chromebook area. But
2:14
yeah, the other thing is Apple silicon
2:15
chips are so good and so powerful that
2:19
the the base M5 is honestly too much
2:21
computer for most people. if you want to
2:23
be in the Apple ecosystem, but you're
2:25
not gonna light up all eight cores of it
2:28
all the time. If you're just browsing
2:29
the web, you know, in Safari or Google
2:31
Chrome, and that's your main workflow,
2:34
you're not using the M5 to the best of
2:36
its ability. You're not using those
2:37
media core engines or, you know, the the
2:39
Thunderbolt lanes that it has on it.
2:42
Just the A19 would be enough. You know,
2:45
it's just that Apple doesn't make an iOS
2:46
device in that form factor. And people
2:48
just want
2:49
a computer shaped like a laptop instead
2:51
of an iPad or a big iPhone. And I think
2:54
this is hitting that market. And you
2:55
know, the other area that makes Apple
2:58
laptops so much more expensive is the
2:59
research and development that they do in
3:01
making those, you know, precision
3:02
unibody designs, making like these
3:05
custom displays and all that. just
3:08
taking advantage of the the R&D that
3:10
they've already done in the past to
3:12
assemble a computer out of old parts.
3:14
You know, it'll just have a basic
3:16
rectangular screen that the MacBook Air
3:18
had before it became the M2 MacBook Air.
3:21
It'll probably the 13.3 in one. It'll
3:24
use the same shell like with the tapered
3:26
design that that it had before. You
3:28
know, they don't they don't need to do
3:30
any additional R&D to make those parts
3:32
work. They've been making them for like,
3:33
you know, the eight years before that.
3:35
So that'll that'll bring the price down
3:38
as well.
3:40
You think it'll have the exact same form
3:41
factor as like the the M1 MacBook?
3:44
I bet it'll look exactly like the M1
3:47
MacBook Air,
3:47
which is a a gorgeous machine. I mean,
3:49
we're looking at one right now. I love
3:51
it.
3:52
Mhm.
3:53
Yeah, the industrial design's top notch.
3:55
Yeah, it's a I mean, but the Apple
3:56
already kind of competes, doesn't it, in
3:58
the sort of sub $800 category. I mean,
4:01
the the M4 MacBook Air right now is on
4:04
sale on Amazon for 750, I believe.
4:07
Yeah. On on sale on Amazon. That's like
4:09
150 off the list, right?
4:12
Yeah. Yeah. I guess I if you're talking
4:13
about list price, Yeah. that that's fair
4:15
to say. But,
4:16
you know, they uh what they were they
4:18
were selling older M1 MacBook Airs at at
4:22
Walmart for a while, right? They tested
4:24
that at I can't remember what the price
4:25
point was, 650 or something.
4:27
Mhm.
4:28
Um
4:28
Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, those are
4:29
all through Apple's secondary channels.
4:31
I think this is maybe offering a product
4:32
on apple.com or for the people who walk
4:34
into an Apple store who are like, I want
4:36
to buy a MacBook. What's the cheapest
4:38
one you have? And they say, well, it's
4:39
$1,000 or, you know, $900 if you have
4:42
an, you know, education discount, but
4:45
you know, this is offering more first
4:46
party solutions for the people who want
4:48
something new. they don't want to buy a
4:50
used old thing because again like the
4:53
you know yeah you can get the M1 MacBook
4:55
Air for $650
4:57
and you know the M1
5:00
has more cores and a few extra features
5:02
but it's also not as good at single core
5:04
performance and at the low end of you
5:06
know computing needs single core
5:07
performance is what matters more than
5:09
multi-core
5:10
yeah and just to be clear what said is
5:12
well below a thousand I mean MacBook Air
5:15
is already $9.99 straight from
5:18
So for this to be, you know, really
5:21
attractive, you know, what are we
5:23
talking about? 600, 700 bucks. Could
5:25
they possibly go that low?
5:27
My guess after thinking about this for a
5:30
little while is it'll be $6.99 full
5:32
price and then in the education store
5:34
it'll be $6.49.
5:36
That sounds like a reasonable guess.
5:38
And that would be that would be the
5:40
cheapest MacBook Apple has ever made.
5:42
And it would be only slightly more
5:44
expensive than the Mac Mini. Like I I
5:45
think that price makes perfect sense. It
5:47
won't be as low as some people are
5:48
hoping. Like, you know, it's not Apple's
5:50
not going to make a $500 MacBook. Sorry.
5:53
You can pick up an an iPad, can't you?
5:55
With a magic keyboard for 600 bucks.
5:59
That would be the closest.
6:01
Yeah. The cheapest way you could do that
6:02
is the entry level iPad, which is, I
6:04
think, 330. And then the special
6:07
keyboard folio they have for that. That
6:09
isn't as nice as the fullsize Magic
6:11
Keyboard, but you add that and I think
6:13
that's like what, $200, and that's, you
6:14
know, roughly the same ballpark. But
6:16
again, there are a lot of old-fashioned
6:17
people who, you know, don't know that an
6:20
iPad would be better for them, and
6:21
they're like, "Oh, no. I want a laptop."
6:23
And they they want a laptop that looks
6:24
like a laptop.
6:25
That's uncharitable.
6:27
Focus. Yeah. It's uh
6:29
or they just want something, you know, a
6:31
reasonable sector of people who want,
6:33
you know, a real desktop operating
6:35
system in Mac OS,
6:36
right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Totally.
6:38
Totally. Yeah. I mean, like you said
6:39
before, there's a there's a huge amount
6:41
of 40 years of investment in this, isn't
6:43
there? basically. So, uh but it um I
6:46
mean if you look one of the interesting
6:47
things about you know the uh if you look
6:49
every day we publish you know today in
6:51
Apple history we look back often at like
6:53
you know notable machines that were
6:55
launched on that particular day in Apple
6:56
history and and some of them were crazy
6:58
prices like you know they they often
7:00
were 7 $8,000 you know for for what
7:04
looks like a a fairly middling machine
7:06
these days. I mean even at the time when
7:08
it was when it was released it was a
7:10
fairly sort of middle of the road
7:11
machine. It wasn't even the super
7:12
high-end stuff. Uh the prices have come
7:15
down like crazy. It's like TVs, isn't
7:17
it? You know, to get a black big flat
7:18
screen TV used to cost thousands of
7:20
thousand dollars. Now go pick one up for
7:21
a few hundred bucks at Walmart or uh
7:24
Best Buy. Same thing is happening with
7:25
machines, isn't it? Computers, it's it's
7:27
the prices come down really low. And
7:29
this isn't going to be any I I remember
7:30
an interesting quote from from Johnny IV
7:33
and Steve Jobs when they were asked um
7:36
Steve Jobs, I think, was asked, you
7:37
know, why why didn't they make a
7:38
Chromebook? why don't they make a cheap
7:39
or netbook I think it was at the time uh
7:42
the the the cheap sort of low-end
7:43
offerings and he said well we just can't
7:44
make a good one and you we can't make a
7:47
good computer at that price and but that
7:50
has always been Apple's philosophy I
7:51
think hasn't it you know like it's it's
7:52
it's it can't be something that's just
7:54
slat together that's really cheap and
7:56
embarrassing this will be a nice machine
7:58
if it comes in that same chassis like
7:59
Louis said with it you know the the same
8:02
body as the uh as the MacBook Air I mean
8:04
that the industrial design on it is
8:06
topnotch it's absolutely Absolutely
8:08
beautiful and the keyboard is fantastic.
8:10
The touchpad is fantastic. I mean, if
8:12
they can deliver something like that at
8:14
this price, it's crazy. It's mad.
8:16
Yeah. And you know, going back to Apple
8:18
history, there are a lot of famous old
8:21
Macs like the the Quadra 400 or 800, you
8:24
know, the the Mac 2X, the
8:27
uh Perform 9600.
8:29
All of those expensive computers are the
8:32
ones that Apple barely sold any of. If
8:34
you go on like the secondhand market and
8:36
see what's on Facebook Marketplace now,
8:38
what do people have? What what are the
8:40
Macs that you find on eBay? It's all of
8:42
the cheapest Macs, the Macintosh
8:44
Classic, which the Macintosh Classic was
8:46
the first Macintosh under $1,000. You
8:48
know, adjusting for inflation, it was
8:50
still more like 2500 today, but still
8:52
the cheapest Mac is like the most
8:54
popular Mac and always will be.
8:56
Well, that's what I mean. You know, like
8:58
the cheapest Mac at the time, 2500
9:00
bucks. And now they they're talking
9:01
about what, a fifth of that. Um,
9:04
yeah. Yeah. Or
9:06
the original iMac, which is supposed to
9:07
be like the computer that brought the
9:09
internet to the masses. You know, the
9:10
iMac since the original one has always
9:12
floated around $1,300. Well, go back to
9:14
1998, $1,300 is like $2,000. So,
9:19
right. I saw an interesting I mean, as
9:21
an aside, I saw an interesting graphic
9:22
saying the the iMac, right? I mean,
9:24
Apple's prices, they they often don't
9:25
change, do they? even when the cost of
9:28
the components and the and the you know
9:29
the I think the the the iMac has been
9:31
priced at what is it 1,200 bucks for
9:33
more than a decade or more. Um anyway,
9:37
yeah, it's uh it's cool stuff. I think
9:39
when is it supposed to be coming out?
9:41
Uh next year. First half of next year.
9:44
First half. Yeah. So what does that
9:47
mean? Probably spring, right?
9:49
Mhm.
9:50
Yeah.
9:50
When they do these things. It's wild to
9:52
think that an iPhone chip can outperform
9:55
the M1. So, like this little budget
9:58
machine that they release is going to be
10:00
better than the the MacBook Air that I
10:02
use every day.
10:03
Wow.
10:04
Mhm.
10:04
I can upgrade by downgrading.
10:07
Yep.
10:07
It'll be an exciting Mac. It'll, you
10:09
know, who would have thought like 10
10:10
years ago that Apple would be expanding
10:12
the Mac lineup to like double the size
10:14
that it was in 2015. Like they're adding
10:17
so many. the Mac Studio. They added a
10:20
new model there. They're adding a new
10:22
model of laptop. Like this is this is an
10:24
exciting time to be a Mac user.
10:27
For sure. For sure. Except for the Mac
10:28
Pro, of course.
10:30
RIP,
10:32
right?
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