Apple “does not play in the low end of the laptop market. It only offers two models for less than $1,500: A 13-in. aluminum MacBook starting at $1,299 and the $999 white MacBook, a product that is growing tired despite a recent refresh of its processor and graphics. The rest of the line ranges from the $1,799 MacBook Air to the $2,799-and-up 17-in. MacBook Pro,” Stephen Wildstrom writes for BusinessWeek.

“This lineup helps Apple be by far the most profitable company in the PC business,” Wildstrom writes. “But there’s no hiding the fact that the gap is huge and growing… In recent years, Apple has seemed to want to be the BMW of the computer business, occupying a broad range in the upper part of the market. Right now, however, it is in danger of becoming Bentley.”

“I think Apple is absolutely correct in its determination to stay out of the netbook market. These little notebooks have their uses, but… if all a Mac netbook could do is run a browser as well—or as badly—as a Windows or Linux netbook, what’s the point? It’s just a chance for Apple to get into a commoditized, no-margin business, exactly what Apple has always avoided,” Wildstrom writes.

“[I envison] a MacBook based on Intel’s forthcoming Consumer Ultra-low Voltage processor, probably paired with Nvidia’s GM9400 graphics. The result could be a 12- or 13-in. MacBook, significantly thinner and lighter than current offerings and priced at perhaps $800. That would be a product that could renew Apple’s assault on Windows’ market share without compromising the Mac brand,” Wildstrom writes.

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "James W." for the heads up.]