A giant bitten apple is being prepared cheap MacBook, according to new information that says it would aim to compete with Chromebooks. The news source is the ever-reliable DigiTimes, who, as many of our readers are sure to know, has connections within the Taiwanese supply chain.

A cheap MacBook could be a big success at the sales level if a number of minimum conditions are met in both design and build quality as well as specifications. We don’t have much information in this regard, but there are some details that the source takes for granted, such as the usage metal chassis. It is not stated what type of metal Apple could use, but the most normal would be for it to resort to aluminum and be similar to the MacBook Air.

This laptop would mainly target the education sector, so it would have to be light and compact, but at the same time it should have minimum screen size (13 inches or larger) provide a good user experience. It should also have a good level of autonomy, but it would not be necessary to implement a very powerful hardware configuration, and this is where I think Apple could use to reduce costs and reduce the selling price of the device.

By that logic, a new cheap MacBook is likely use SoC M1 or preferably M2, always depending on the release date, although frankly I’m more in favor of the first option, because it would be the cheapest, which would allow Apple to reduce costs the most, and despite all this, this chip is still able to offer good performance.

Otherwise, this laptop should be configured with 8GB of RAM and SSD with a capacity of at least 128 GB. No word on pricing yet, but given that we’re talking about a budget MacBook to compete with Chromebooks, it’s clear that Apple should aim for fall below $1,000.

It is not clear whether this new notebook will be used commercially in general, i.e. whether it will reach the general consumer market, or vice versa it will only be available at the educational level. In the latter case, only educational centers and institutions could get access to it, although it is possible that Apple also offers the device to those who prove themselves as teachers or students.