Apple’s pricing this week is interesting to me. Doesn’t matter the size or purpose of a device, everything is the same price:
- iPhone 17e: $599
- iPad Air: $599
- MacBook Neo: $599
Apple’s pricing this week is interesting to me. Doesn’t matter the size or purpose of a device, everything is the same price:
@manton The MacBook Neo with a $499 education price will be perfect for my daughter when she heads to college in the Fall. It’s honestly perfect for what she needs.
@manton That price point tells me they need more people to buy subscriptions 🤓. The Neo is basically an iPad, but even so, I don't remember an Apple laptop at that price. The lowest number was always around 999.
@vladcampos They did sell the M1 exclusively at Walmart for close to that price. But I agree, this is a new strategy.
@manton Fascinating, yes. Also the compromises they made to get there:
On the iPad Air, M4 but only 128 GB. On the MB Neo, no Touch ID, no backlit keyboard, apparently.
Those are very different trade-offs. You either get a pretty sweet iPad (with crippled storage,) or a really gutless Mac.
@manton I’m kind of excited about the Neo, even though I don’t need it right now and probably won’t buy a new computer until my 2019 MBPro just can’t function anymore. It is nice to see them hitting a lower price point for sure. I hope the build quality is nice. I remember MacBook Airs used to be kind of horrible, but man, the current ones are really nice.
@manton I find the marketing picture of the student using the new MacBook Neo with $549 AirPods Max endlessly fascinating

@manton that is a very good point. I had noticed that. Well done. Puzzling indeed.