An $800 dollar Apple laptop would be used to do the same things a used $500 Apple laptop would. I doubt anything serious could be done on one. But for websurfing, email, light WP and casual gaming a used Apple laptop works just fine. How much horsepower does the casual (most people) user need?

On a related note - Quad Core Macbook Pro's please, I don't care if it's $3,000+. I use FCS on the road and Compressor is a dog on dual cores.

Many people won't find a choice that applies to them in this poll. I probably wouldn't even look at the $800 Apple laptop. Not because it doesn't cost enough, but because the specs would probably not be what I want. I currently use a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air. I'm likely to stay on that path -- a high-end Apple notebook and an ultimate-small Apple notebook. So none of the three options presented apply to me at all.

The poll should have choices like "I'm not interested in an entry-level spec Apple laptop" and so forth if the pollster wants meaningful results.

I'd consider it for a second computer - if I had the luxury of having a second computer.

But that all depends on the specs.

I would buy one of them.

If you need more power for running some CPU-consuming simulations, you need to render tons of video effects or compute an stastical model, then you are wrong about buying a notebook.

If you need it to surf the web, remote access, photoshop, flash, music, photo library, light-weight programming, web designing, etc. The you are ok with something that doesn't have a dedicated graphics card, 4 cpus, ...

From my point of view there is only two choices: servers (tough guys) and client (pretty ladies) stations. A notebook (specialy one from Apple) is amazing as a client station

Macbook Pro :
New Desing
NO FAN´S
15" QuadCore
New Desing
6-7 Hrs Battery life
NO FAN´S
New Desing
Thin, very thin ...
New Desing
2x FW800
NO FAN´S
Strong Graphics card

$2.500,-

It would depend on the specs. I got a Macbook a year ago so I do not need a new one now. But, if I was in a position to get a new notebook for my wife (we share the current on) a $800 Macbook would be ideal for her as she does nothing demanding on it - only email and web.

Only if it has the graphics power to watch flash based video without the fan going into over drive....

If I would buy one or not is not the question.
I mean, when you buy a computer you have something in mind that you wanna do with it. so unless there aren't specs out why even raise the question?

Chances are an $800 laptop won't have the power I need for what I do, but I can see how it would be very attractive for a lot of people.

I wouldn't be surprised if the 800$ MacBook outperforms a 1 year old MacBook. Sure not everybody will have the need for it. BUt it probably would be a replacement for the 12" Powerbook. Tiny, lightweight and still sufficient power to actually work. I have a 1.83 GHz MBP with 2 GB of RAM (first Generation Intel Core) and the current MacBooks outperform my machine by far, still I can do everything I need to do on it (I'm a scientist) of course the 8core MacPro is faster but you can't carry them with you on the plane so get over it.
I would certainly go for a Quad Core MBP and would get a third battery for it as I believe a second battery will not bring you cross country (USA) or over the atlantic when working on all cores. It is clear that you won't get that beast for 800$, but my students would certainly be happy with a "free" MacBook for use at work.

I think that an $800 MacBook would invite a lot of people to Mac. I know a few people who are buying dell's reluctantly because they can't afford a Mac. Student have a hard time paying for it as Apple doesn't have a monthly payment plan like Dell. I love my MBP, but I know that we pay a premium for the specs in Macs. If you look at the price of similar spec machines in other names, you can find a drop of a few hundred dollars easy.
A MB is not a top of the line machine and we have been paying for it this way because its a niche market. Move more inventory and drop the price to make the same bucks, basic economics. And a move that is much needed now with the financial crisis set to impact NA for the next 4 years.

thispoll seems to be asking if I would ignore a less expensive offering from apple without knowing anything but price.
If you were to ask the same thing last year of iPhone owners, would you buy an iPhone for $199, many would assume it was a nano type phone from apple. As it is, the 3g sells great. Value is determined by 2 factors, not one. One of my largest concerns for any laptop is ports and capacity, speed is a given and I am not looking for a netbook.

...it can give usable performance with iLife apps (including iMovie DV capture without dropping frames) and has a Superdrive. Based on history, though, entry-level lappies are relagated to combo drives, so I'm guessing at least $1099 for performance/features that I described.

...it can give usable performance with iLife apps (including iMovie DV capture without dropping frames) and has a Superdrive. Based on history, though, entry-level lappies are relegated to combo drives, so I'm guessing at least $1099 for performance/features that I described.

Apple's products are massively overpriced and there's nothing good about them whatsoever.
IF, AND ONLY IF... the $800 mac notebook had exact specs or better than an equally priced dell/hp notebook etc. then i would probably consider it.
meanwhile I'll continue to be amused by the amount of faggots who are willing to pay through their teeth for an apple logo, shit specs and a "fisher price" operating system.

I'll stick to my Vista desktop thanks...
Quad intel CPU @ 3.6Ghz
4Gb DDR2
ATi HD4850
500Gb SATA2 HDD
all that for less than 800 of your worthless American dollars :)
and guess what... IT PLAYS SHOOTAN GAEMS! HURP DURP

in b4 your comment is deleted anon

soopid macfegs

No, Sex with men is a sin, macingtosh products lead to sodomy and cause you to lay with other men as beasts do

it had a 14.1 widescreen.

Always interested to see the specs, but on the whole, I am hard pressed to see them coming up with a laptop that'll bring me to replace my MB Air. As pricey as it is, it really does cover all the bases in terms of mobile computing for me.

A 3G chipset would've been nice, but other than that, I'm happy as all hell with this thing.

I work for a school district, and I can tell you that the same rule applies to cheap Mac notebooks as applies to cheap everything else: you will very likely get what you pay for. Cheap parts and cheap build quality make for lots of service calls and warranty repairs. Until the warranty runs out, of course.

Any new $800 laptop from Apple would have to absolutely OWN in terms of reliability in order for the user's experience to be much different from that of the owners of the Mac's bottom end heretofore IMHO.

Last time when MB based model is around RM 3.6K in Malaysia. The proce consider high when we are not quite rich. But f the price is 800$ then it would be Rm 2.5K which consider a lot more affordable to us. Even i'm hoping to buy one after my public exam. Apple is making it's leap to the lower price computer market, tat's the great move for Apple.

Why does everyone assume that because it's under $1000 its going to suck?

Maybe Apple is just dropping the prices to better compete with other laptop manufacturers.