New low-cost MacBook rumored to take on Chromebooks in education

AppleInsider

A new report claims that Apple aims to regain its education foothold by releasing a Chromebook killer, a laptop less costly than the MacBook Air.

Currently Apple's lowest-cost laptops are the MacBook Air models

Apple has previously dismissed the Chromebook and the Electronic Frontier Foundation has said it spies on students, but its low-cost means the Chromebook has beaten Apple in education.

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Now according to Digitimes, Apple is taking the Chromebook more seriously and is planning a competitor.

While the information is said to come from industry sources, there are few details other than that this Chromebook rival would be a lower-cost MacBook. It will be priced below the MacBook Air, which is Apple's lowest-cost laptop Mac, and in some way made from cheaper components.

Digitimessays that it expects Apple will market this new laptop in such a way that it is differentiated from the rest of the range. So it's likely, for instance, that Apple would sell MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro ranges.

Digitimes concludes that this further means that with Apple's typical lead times for introducing new products, the earliest the Chromebook rival can be released is in the second half of 2024.

For years, Apple has used the MacBook Air and iPad lines for education in the Chromebook segment. It's not clear if or why Apple's plan changed.

It's not clear how much of the Digitimes report is information gathered from these sources, and how much is extrapolation. Digitimes has an excellent record for the information gathered from its industry sources, but a far, far poorer one for what conclusions it draws concerning Apple's plans.

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entropys

In my country most schools have switched to BYOD and they are required to get a education licence of MS office.

the MBA is the dominant laptop. 

If this MacBook actually exists, it would replace most of the MBAs and those horrible dells and HPs. Only see chromebooks in benighted schools that went in on them as some sort of whole of school deal.

timmillea

Apple absolutely should and can do this. Base it on a bog-standard iPad spec but with a keyboard. Savings can be made with the display quality, battery life, processor speed and ports. Remember the iBook? This would be the iBook revisioned. But bring in Jony Ive to design it. We have had a succession of design faux pas from Apple of late. 

mattinoz

With the current machines moving to M3 chips such a device could run an M1 with some other cost improvements and still be a very impressive machine 

williamh

timmillea said:

Apple absolutely should and can do this. Base it on a bog-standard iPad spec but with a keyboard. Savings can be made with the display quality, battery life, processor speed and ports. Remember the iBook? This would be the iBook revisioned. But bring in Jony Ive to design it. We have had a succession of design faux pas from Apple of late. 

I like your idea but I don't really see Apple pursuing this because it really is all about low price.  Apple doesn't generally go there.  Mac usually (maybe always) wins compared to Windows but Chromebooks shouldn't need as nearly as much support as Windows.  

The main thing to make Apple's device comparable to a Chromebook would be to run iOS.  I'd see it being much closer to an Apple eMate than a MacBook.  

lmasanti

According with ‘people with knowledge of the subject’… —a.k.a. my own inventions—…

…the new model will be called… MacBook SE.

Most probably, any M1 machine would be better than a Chromebook.

(On the other hand, back in 1985… Apple released a Macinthosh 512k Ed for the educational market.)

danox

williamh said:

timmillea said:

Apple absolutely should and can do this. Base it on a bog-standard iPad spec but with a keyboard. Savings can be made with the display quality, battery life, processor speed and ports. Remember the iBook? This would be the iBook revisioned. But bring in Jony Ive to design it. We have had a succession of design faux pas from Apple of late. 

I like your idea but I don't really see Apple pursuing this because it really is all about low price.  Apple doesn't generally go there.  Mac usually (maybe always) wins compared to Windows but Chromebooks shouldn't need as nearly as much support as Windows.  

The main thing to make Apple's device comparable to a Chromebook would be to run iOS.  I'd see it being much closer to an Apple eMate than a MacBook.  

Apple can definitely do something good but, I think they already do for the most part. Just competing on price would be a money losing deal. For Apple for the schools and for the students.

Up to this point if a school district or a school hasn’t bought MacBooks, MacBook Airs, iPads, etc… they probably never will. 

AppleZulu

This is not going to happen, for a number of reasons. 

First and foremost, Apple simply doesn't pursue the bottom end of the market. It isn't profitable, unless you use low-quality components, scrape and sell your customers' data, or both. Choosing to do either thing would undermine the core principles of Apple's trillion-dollar. business. Apple just doesn't cater to the high-volume, low-margin market.

Second, MacOS has to run reliably on the lowest-end MacBook and the highest-end Mac Pro. There are limits to writing an OS that makes good use of a $7,000+ powerhouse machine and is also spare enough to run a much, much less powerful notebook. This is why there is always a trailing-edge cutoff for supporting old models, and also why there is still no MacBook SurfacePad hybrid thing. 

Perhaps they'll market a version of the iPad to the education crowd, but even with that, the cheapest iPad currently available is a hundred bucks more than a chromebook, and that's before you add a keyboard to it.

omasou

To release a Chromebook style computer, Apple would also need to have a complimentary iCloud offering to replace Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, etc. Oh wait they do. /s

I really hope they do this. The quality of the primary education Chromebooks and Windows machines is horrible. They literally fall apart.

williamh

lmasanti said:

According with ‘people with knowledge of the subject’… —a.k.a. my own inventions—…

…the new model will be called… MacBook SE.

Most probably, any M1 machine would be better than a Chromebook.

(On the other hand, back in 1985… Apple released a Macinthosh 512k Ed for the educational market.)

How quickly people forget about the eMac (the what? LOL!)

AppleZulu

omasou said:

To release a Chromebook style computer, Apple would also need to have a complimentary iCloud offering to replace Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, etc. Oh wait they do. /s

I really hope they do this. The quality of the primary education Chromebooks and Windows machines is horrible. They literally fall apart.

Once again, this is why Apple just isn't going to compete directly in this market. To be price-competitive, Apple would have to make their own machine so cheaply that they also fall apart, scrape and sell user data, or sell machines at a steep loss. They're not going to ruin their reputation by selling junk, or by compromising/exploiting user data. Barring the first two things, this would be a lot of machines they would have to sell at a loss. They won't be doing that, either. 

Alex_V

Plastic housings, funky colours, older generation processors, tried and tested components, priced exclusively for school children, not available to other consumers, application to control ‘remote desktops,’ etc etc.  Apple have been there before, but they are uniquely positioned to start throwing their weight around in education again: they respect user privacy (crucial differentiator!) they have superior office apps, superior conference calling and messaging, Notes, Freeform, Books, etc etc., bring ‘em on! 

brianjo

AppleZulu said:

This is not going to happen, for a number of reasons. 

First and foremost, Apple simply doesn't pursue the bottom end of the market. It isn't profitable, unless you use low-quality components, scrape and sell your customers' data, or both. Choosing to do either thing would undermine the core principles of Apple's trillion-dollar. business. Apple just doesn't cater to the high-volume, low-margin market.

Second, MacOS has to run reliably on the lowest-end MacBook and the highest-end Mac Pro. There are limits to writing an OS that makes good use of a $7,000+ powerhouse machine and is also spare enough to run a much, much less powerful notebook. This is why there is always a trailing-edge cutoff for supporting old models, and also why there is still no MacBook SurfacePad hybrid thing. 

Perhaps they'll market a version of the iPad to the education crowd, but even with that, the cheapest iPad currently available is a hundred bucks more than a chromebook, and that's before you add a keyboard to it.

While Apple doesn't cater to the garbage super low end market, they do high volumes of better products. Losing the education marketshare to Google is a HUGE deal and bean counters in schools look at the cost more than anything else.  When Google comes in at initial costs at a fraction of the price of what Apple is offering, it's hard to say no.

As far as MacOS running on a range of machines, there's nothing preventing the OS from running better on faster machines.  The cutoff of old machines has very little to do with the processor capabilities of the old machines. It's largely an accounting issue, as the cost of the OS is built into the sell price of the machine. Back when they charged for the OS, it easily ran on many more flavors of machines.  Now their accounting sets a finite cutoff date based on the end selling date of any particular model, which is roughly 5 years after sales end.  There are plenty of cracks that let you run the OS on older model machines, and performance is rarely an issue.

Functionally compared, the iPad is a closer match to a chromebook, but Chromebook has been branded as a 'laptop' vs a 'tablet' so cost comparisons get tossed out the window.

mattinoz

Alex_V said:

Plastic housings, funky colours, older generation processors, tried and tested components, priced exclusively for school children, not available to other consumers, application to control ‘remote desktops,’ etc etc.  Apple have been there before, but they are uniquely positioned to start throwing their weight around in education again: they respect user privacy (crucial differentiator!) they have superior office apps, superior conference calling and messaging, Notes, Freeform, Books, etc etc., bring ‘em on! 

Why Plastic?
Surely Apple have been doing enough materials research that could make something cheap because it is streamlined.

Why couldn't they make a single-board computer where the upward facing part of the board is a big touch panel that gets covered in a soft fabric that could be screen printed with a key layout. Downfacing all the computer parts and connections. 

williamlondon

Think touchless iPad with attached keyboard/trackpad running a version of touchless iPadOS in a (durable) clamshell form factor.

Alex_V

mattinoz said:

Why Plastic?
Surely Apple have been doing enough materials research that could make something cheap because it is streamlined.

Why couldn't they make a single-board computer where the upward facing part of the board is a big touch panel that gets covered in a soft fabric that could be screen printed with a key layout. Downfacing all the computer parts and connections. 

I’m merely thinking of the immediate future. You’re brainstorming a long term future. 

For Apple to produce a low-cost laptop to their high standards, they will need to do two things: 
1. Use their own existing lower-cost components, and things like the older generation chips. 
2. Substitute cheaper components (e.g. a plastic body) for expensive ones. 

3. Make it funky with cool colours.

Disclaimer: guesswork. 😉

sdw2001

williamlondon said:

Think touchless iPad with attached keyboard/trackpad running a version of touchless iPadOS in a (durable) clamshell form factor.

Respectfully, that sounds absolutely terrible. It is a completely un-Apple design.  You’re taking the worst parts of all worlds and putting them together.  What could go wrong??

it is extremely unlikely Apple does this in my opinion. The iPad is already quite dominant in education. Apple doesn’t need a new notebook to go after the crappy Chromebook. Why compare MacBook sales with chromebooks? The iPad serves the same purpose and almost always has a keyboard case in education.  

tht

What is the strategic advantage for Apple here?

They are not going to be able to underprice Chromebooks, as I think most of them are at single digit margins, if not negative, and trying to make money on either support contracts or software contracts, or both. Not to mention the whole thing about computers for every kid in elementary and intermediate school is over-rated, both in terms of quality of education and brand loyalty.

I don't think any of the incumbents, Google, OEMs, support entities, are happy with this market either. They don't make any profit. The notion that they are getting brand loyalty from this isn't panning out. Don't think any significant fraction of kids are going to look back and think fondly of this hardware. Most of them probably are thinking how crappy Chromebooks are.

And like everyone is saying, the Chromebook market is antithetical to how Apple likes to run its business. They want to make profit on the hardware sale, and they putatively want to produce hardware they are proud of which typically always mean it will be more expensive. Given that, here's a back of the envelope.

The Apple TV 4K 128 GB is $150. This has an A15, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB NAND, HDMI and Ethernet. I think Apple is selling this device pretty darn close to single digit margins. Double the RAM and put it into a kid-friendly laptop form factor: water resistant, drop/impact resistant, robust to improper handling. Same 220 PPI 13.3" LCD in the M1 MBA, which is now 5 years old. Like an iPhone, you should be able to throw it into a swimming pool, rinse it off, dry it and it will continue working. Kids will sit on it. They will toss it around.

Sold only in education for $500? Apple would make $100 per sale?

AppleZulu

tht said:

What is the strategic advantage for Apple here?

They are not going to be able to underprice Chromebooks, as I think most of them are at single digit margins, if not negative, and trying to make money on either support contracts or software contracts, or both. Not to mention the whole thing about computers for every kid in elementary and intermediate school is over-rated, both in terms of quality of education and brand loyalty.

I don't think any of the incumbents, Google, OEMs, support entities, are happy with this market either. They don't make any profit. The notion that they are getting brand loyalty from this isn't panning out. Don't think any significant fraction of kids are going to look back and think fondly of this hardware. Most of them probably are thinking how crappy Chromebooks are.

And like everyone is saying, the Chromebook market is antithetical to how Apple likes to run its business. They want to make profit on the hardware sale, and they putatively want to produce hardware they are proud of which typically always mean it will be more expensive. Given that, here's a back of the envelope.

The Apple TV 4K 128 GB is $150. This has an A15, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB NAND, HDMI and Ethernet. I think Apple is selling this device pretty darn close to single digit margins. Double the RAM and put it into a kid-friendly laptop form factor: water resistant, drop/impact resistant, robust to improper handling. Same 220 PPI 13.3" LCD in the M1 MBA, which is now 5 years old. Like an iPhone, you should be able to throw it into a swimming pool, rinse it off, dry it and it will continue working. Kids will sit on it. They will toss it around.

Sold only in education for $500? Apple would make $100 per sale?

This still isn't how Apple operates. Their prior forays into the education market (when there was at most a computer lab with a few machines in a given school) were about getting a whole new generation accustomed to Apple devices so that they would buy them as adults. The iPhone already serves that purpose now. Apple does not produce cut-rate cut back devices. There's no margin in that, and doing so has the reverse effect on enticing people to want to buy more Apple products later. The Apple TV is designed to serve its purpose, and in fact outperforms its competitors in the TV dongle/box market. Its hardware is not suited to be a computer for kids.

tht

AppleZulu said:

tht said:

What is the strategic advantage for Apple here?

They are not going to be able to underprice Chromebooks, as I think most of them are at single digit margins, if not negative, and trying to make money on either support contracts or software contracts, or both. Not to mention the whole thing about computers for every kid in elementary and intermediate school is over-rated, both in terms of quality of education and brand loyalty.

I don't think any of the incumbents, Google, OEMs, support entities, are happy with this market either. They don't make any profit. The notion that they are getting brand loyalty from this isn't panning out. Don't think any significant fraction of kids are going to look back and think fondly of this hardware. Most of them probably are thinking how crappy Chromebooks are.

And like everyone is saying, the Chromebook market is antithetical to how Apple likes to run its business. They want to make profit on the hardware sale, and they putatively want to produce hardware they are proud of which typically always mean it will be more expensive. Given that, here's a back of the envelope.

The Apple TV 4K 128 GB is $150. This has an A15, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB NAND, HDMI and Ethernet. I think Apple is selling this device pretty darn close to single digit margins. Double the RAM and put it into a kid-friendly laptop form factor: water resistant, drop/impact resistant, robust to improper handling. Same 220 PPI 13.3" LCD in the M1 MBA, which is now 5 years old. Like an iPhone, you should be able to throw it into a swimming pool, rinse it off, dry it and it will continue working. Kids will sit on it. They will toss it around.

Sold only in education for $500? Apple would make $100 per sale?

This still isn't how Apple operates. Their prior forays into the education market (when there was at most a computer lab with a few machines in a given school) were about getting a whole new generation accustomed to Apple devices so that they would buy them as adults. The iPhone already serves that purpose now. Apple does not produce cut-rate cut back devices. There's no margin in that, and doing so has the reverse effect on enticing people to want to buy more Apple products later. The Apple TV is designed to serve its purpose, and in fact outperforms its competitors in the TV dongle/box market. Its hardware is not suited to be a computer for kids.

An A15 SoC would make a great Mac computer. It would just need 8 GB RAM and storage capable of supporting virtual memory paging. It's basically half an M1. Just add those two things to the Apple TV, replace HDMI with TB/USBC4, and it would make a decent Mac. What I think I'm getting wrong is the assumption that it is sold with a profit margin. It may just be a zero profit margin device whose sole purpose is to serve as the best Apple TV service device.

Yes, the question still remains on how a $300 to $400 Apple laptop makes money, makes a difference. Lastly, the gate that Apple has to cross isn't necessarily a hardware one. The gate to get into schools is probably really MS Office cloud service or something like that. Even worse, the future may be literal "Office Cloud" where the client computer is just displaying the UI of apps being run on a cloud service, if not just through the web browser. This just further pushes down the cost of client hardware.

FileMakerFeller

Time for a conspiracy theory: what if this DigiTimes report is all about trying to scare the makers of ChromeBooks into making even cheaper devices?

I don't see Apple taking this approach. If you want a cheap, dependable computer (albeit without a built-in screen and pointing device) then maybe try the Pi400: https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-400/