Cut-price MacBook Air for 2012 to battle ultrabooks
Apple may be preparing to launch a cut-price MacBook Air model for 2012, looking to meet the cheaper ultrabook charge head-on with a new low-cost offering of their own.
Traditionally a premium notebook brand, Apple’s ultra-thin MacBook Air range will see stiff competition this year in the shape of the burgeoning utrabook market,a growing market segment of slimline laptops powered by Intel’s top-end chips. With Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge chips hitting most top-tier ultrabooks, and expected to land in Apple’s 2012 laptop ranges, there are fewer differentiating factors between the premium portable PCs and Mac alternatives.
Hence the potential price cut. With Windows 8 also expected to sway fence-sitting laptop buyers, Apple could be looking to hit the $799 mark for their entry-level MacBook Air; a full $200 less than the current cheapest model.
With such price cuts may come specification cuts too, with Slash Gear suggesting that processors will be knocked back a ladder rung from a Sandy Bridge Core i5 chip to the newer but arguably less powerful Ivy Bridge Core i3.
The price cut is the latest in a long list of rumours surrounding Apple’s 2012 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lines. For a run-down of all the rumours so far, click here.
Via: Slash Gear
