People love Apple.  They love the product design, the ease of use, and the charisma of Steve Jobs.  What most people don’t like are Apple’s prices.  This opens the door for them to introduce a computer under $1000 (and no, $999 doesn’t count).

Imagine a cross between a Macbook and a Macbook Air.  It would blend the low weight and streamlined look of the Air, while putting it into a body that would more closely resemble the new Macbook.  It would be aluminum allowing Apple to continue talking up how “green” they continue to be as they introduce new products.

Currently, no Apple products are using the Atom processor and if anything, Apple would wait until the Core-Duo Atom processors are made available in late Q4 ‘08/early Q1 ‘09.  These would be more powerful and Apple could get the processors at a discount since they order in volume.  This would allow them to justify the premium Apple needs to charge in order to maintain their margins and keep their investors happy.

The 8.9 inch screen would be too small for people looking to edit images or video, but prices should come down on 10 inch screens for them to be used in their place.  Anything larger and it would make it a lot more difficult for them to keep it under 2.5 lbs, especially with the mandatory 6 cell battery.  There’s no way Apple would release a product with sub-5 hour battery life.

As far as price goes, $649 seems adequate.  If you take the best mini-notebook and slap an Apple sticker on it, you’d be able to get away with $649 easily.  Many people want to argue that Apple is an icon because they charge more.  They exceed at taking product categories and making them look sleek, clean and charging a premium along the way.

Now all of this goes out of the window if they decide to take the iPhone and bring it up to a devide with a 5-6 inch screen similiar to the MID’s Intel has been trying to get people excited about.

Macworld 2009 is right around the corner, and I’m sure I’m not the only one waiting with cash in pocket when they make their announcements in early January.

Here’s a name to consider: Macbook mini

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