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ZDNet: $800 MacBook Puts the Squeeze on Microsoft & Partners

by , 1:05 PM EDT, October 9th, 2008

With the onerous Vista hardware requirements conflicting with a low cost PC notebook, an $800 Apple MacBook would make customers think longer and harder about whether to go with Vista or Mac OS X, according to ZDNet on Thursday.

Microsoft isn't sitting still, wrote Mary-Jo Foley, but it still has a problem. Ultra-low-cost PCs (ULPCs) run Linux very nicely and are growing in popularity because they are simpler and faster than Vista at getting Internet tasks done. That's why Microsoft allows makers of ULPCs to continue to install Windows XP.

There are other initiatives at work, both internal and external to Microsoft to make the lost cost notebooks easier to use. The PC|3 project at Microsoft is aimed at "improving the mobile PC experience," according to Microsoft VP Bill Mitchell and his PC|3 team.

In the meantime, however, Microsoft has left the door open just a bit for Apple and a lower cost MacBook. When customers have a choice between a slow Vista notebook loaded with crapware -- which could also be on the way out -- and a low cost Mac, they could well continue the trend that has sent MacBook sales soaring.

Observer Comments

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Close Name:fartheststar Posts: 222 Joined: 04 Jan 2004
Thu Oct 09, 2008 1:33 pm Subject: crapware

LOL!


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Close Name:vasic Posts: 278 Joined: 09 Aug 2005
Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:06 pm Subject: And they keep doing it...

The PC manufacturers have to continue installing crapware in order to get at least some money from those razor-thin margins.

It is just mind-boggling to see how much crap gets sold together with Windows and a PC. The problem is so big that someone ended up creating PC Decrapifier (http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/), with one sole purpose - to decrapify a Windows PC from all that crapware.

$1,000 MacBook will make it even more appealing to switch. I'm not sure how realistic it is to expect a $800 MacBook; we'll find out on Tuesday.


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Close Name:demjones Posts: 12 Joined: 25 Jun 2001
Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:18 pm Subject: Crapware

While walking through a big box store (dunno if Circuit City or Best Buy or what) a while back I overheard a salesman quoting a price of $50 over and above the sales price to remove the crapware from a Windows machine a customer was thinking of buying. I'd moved on before she replied.

Wow.

Back on topic, an $800 MacBook would be very nice.


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Close Name:Guest
Thu Oct 09, 2008 4:11 pm Subject:

Get ready for all the bitching and moaning to start over the "crippled" $800 MacBook!


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Close Name:Guest
Sat Oct 11, 2008 12:35 pm Subject:

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
Get ready for all the bitching and moaning to start over the "crippled" $800 MacBook!


And rightly so!

Apple has been using PC parts since the Intel switch so no reason prices can't be even lower if they wanted them to be, without the crippling effect...


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Close Name:Intruder -   TMO Mac Specialist Posts: 3144 Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Sat Oct 11, 2008 12:37 pm Subject:

Only if Apple wants to use cheaper parts, like the bottom end computers use. That is not their modus operandi.


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Close Name:Guest
Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:53 pm Subject:

Quote
Intruder wrote:
Only if Apple wants to use cheaper parts, like the bottom end computers use. That is not their modus operandi.


I don't agree. The same PCs that sell for $399-$699 incl. OS are $799-$1,099 as Macs with the same parts these days.

So while it would be nice for the updated Aluminum-shell MacBooks to be announced Oct 14 to sell for $799, for example, rumor is they will be $899-$999.


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Close Name:Intruder -   TMO Mac Specialist Posts: 3144 Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:29 pm Subject:

Please provide a part by part comparison to back up that assertion. Same processor, hard drive quality, front side bus speed, RAM quality, etc...


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Close Name:Guest
Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:16 pm Subject:
Close Name:Guest
Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:10 pm Subject:

Whoa! The price predictions weren't even close. They did it again, they really don't want the mid to lower end of the market...

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=91930

Too bad, they lost a lot of potential new customers today.


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Close Name:Guest
Tue Oct 14, 2008 8:02 pm Subject:

15" PC

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8989026&type=product&id=1218006773510

New Aluminum 13" MacBook

http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html

Old plastic 13" MacBook

with avg. graphics and SuperDrive, finally, $999.


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