JokingJ

Inexpensive is relative, but... This it ain't it.

As nice and insular as Apple-land can be, the rest of the personal computing world deserves some consideration when talking about value, and Apple missed the mark big time here.

Consider that for $1299 USD you can get a Razer Blade Stealth 13 with a 256gb SSD, 16gb RAM, 8th Gen quad-core i7, and with dedicated Nvidia MX150 (not to mention niceties like, you know, other ports or a reliable keyboard). That's a premium laptop from a reputable company that even has Applecare-esque service options available.

Value doesn't exist in a vacuum, and it's exactly this sort of nonsense that's been pushing would-be "pros" in the Apple space to consider a switch. This underwhelming and over-priced base model isn't changing that, however comparatively "inexpensive" it may be.