Is Apple going after a segment of the market they have never gone after before or are they are reading the tea leaves and getting ahead of an economic environment where a significant portion of the customer base that can no longer afford what they have historically charged?
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I think the trend has started with the revamp of the Mac mini. Apple is certainly making a play to hit lower end sectors with affordable product which appeals to new users as well as enthusiasts who like nothing more than to add more Apple gear.
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I think itâs simply about opening a new market for them, especially for switchers and education.
Over half of people who buy a Mac are people who have never owned a Mac before (These sort of figures are mentioned on the Apple Quarterly results calls).
If they can bring even more people onto a Mac (those who previously couldnât or didnât want to spend ÂŁ1k on a laptop) it opens more opportunities for Services revenue and the opportunity that they buy other Apple Hardware.
If those in education grow up using a Mac and value the build quality, theyâre more likely to buy a Mac in future too, again Services Revenue and other Apple Hardware.
Apple will lose some money where people would have bought a MacBook Air, but now buy a Neo, but Apple have regularly disrupted themselves with the iPad being a Classic example alongside the Mac mini.
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I donât know that itâs got that much to do with the short term economic climate.
They will sell sqazzilions of these to people who wouldnât have previously bought a Mac, especially if they already have an iPhone And some who, like me, would kinda like a colourful MacBook. This wouldnât have been a hard product for them to bring to life with their existing setup. And itâll get people hooked into Apple, sometimes for the rest of their lives.
I forgot to say that Apple plans these things literally years in advance, so unless they knew a couple of years ago that the economy was going to be rough, then itâs very unlikely they planned for this eventuality.
The other thing that occurred to me now other than Education and Switchers are poorer economies, e.g. Parts of China, India, and Africa where Apple is seen as a premium marque and people are likely to stretch to this if they can, but wouldnât stretch far enough to a MBA
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How they sell might be a sign. E.g., if marketing associates start being issued Neos instead of AirsâŚ
Looks like theyâre planning new âUltraâ premium devices to expand on the other end of the market. I think the MacBook Neo is something theyâve wanted to make for a very long time for the education market and they were finally able to build a machine that meets their level of quality and hits their target margins at the price point.
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Perhaps they are trying to reclaim a portion of the K-12 market that fled to Chromebooks.
Perhaps they are trying to sway a portion of Windows users who tout their cheaper laptops compared even to the low end MBAs.
Neither is a harbinger of anything impending as opposed to a recognition of where market draws could be profitable simply by offering something essentially dirt cheap to the limits of their quality assurance demands.
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JJW
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This. Increasingly not only k-12 but higher ed is relying on LMS (Learning Management Systems) to deliver / coordinate instruction.
Google Chromebooks are very common in k-12, less common on college campuses. But LMS are very common in higher ed.
I also think the Neo is a lure for people who have an iPad or iPhone but not a Mac.
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+1
If Apple misses âthe next big thingâ in hardware a booming Services business could help weather the storm.
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I run dark mode and your post just lit up my room 
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This looks like a direct competitor to the many awful Windows-based laptops. I would not be surprised if Apple noticed Microsoft shooting themselves in the foot with every single release of Windows and bet on people wanting something less bad.
There are more people now who can afford Appleâs historic prices- not lesss
This is about Apple expanding their customer base (which is great) - not a function of their losing their existing base
Apple always wants to drive sales of high margin products. Previously that was high end Mac hardware. Now it is services.
Indeed these sorts of figures are being mentioned by execs talking about the Neo.
I think the answer, which I read somewhere but forget exactly where, is that (given their profit margins) now, with Apple Silicon, this is the first time they can build to such a low price without making a computer that sucks.
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If you want to be a mainstream âfor everyoneâ tech company, that is selling a âpackageâ of hardware, software and services, you need a solid offering in each market segment. Keeping the mac something aspirational, but not alienating a lot of people who canât or donât want to âstart at $1,000â and probably donât need what that offers makes perfect sense. The puzzle is why it took them so long.
I donât think itâs a puzzle. Theyâre in a position where they can provide a computer they feel is at least adequate, which does not have any significant flaws.
They also probably had to do some software work on macOS after the transition across to the M1 to then allow it to run on a modern A chip reliably (the original macOS Developer box was a specifically modified A12 if so remember correctly) and they had to engineer a way to allow 2 USB ports to connect to an A chip.
Itâs an Apple Chromebook. Thats it. Itâs no harbinger of anything other than Appleâs desire to expand their footprint and profit.
Yeah. We are at the point where the performance of even âlow endâ ARM chips is substantially more than what the very budget focused user typically needs.
The MacBook Neo is basically slightly faster than an M1, which is a five-year-old chip but is still powerful enough for many peopleâs needs.
Having a lower priced option also has the potential to bring more users in to buy the entry-level MacBook Air. Some people arenât even going to look at a Mac if they know it is going to cost them $1000. But knowing that there is a $600 laptop could draw them in, and they might wind up spending $1000. Similar to how people see a $1000 MacBook Air and a $1300 MacBook Pro, and wind up buying the Pro.