Apple rumored to be readying new $799 MacBook Air Not content to stand idly by as other companies get in on the ultra-thin, ultra-lightwei...

Apple rumored to be readying new $799 MacBook Air

Not content to stand idly by as other companies get in on the ultra-thin, ultra-lightweight laptop game, Apple is said to be planning a new, lower-price version of its popular MacBook Air for debut this fall. Expected to sell for $799, the entry-level computer would go toe-to-toe with Windows-based Ultrabook computers hitting the market from a variety of manufacturers.

Based on Intel's Ultrabook standard, these laptops are similar to the MacBook Air in terms of overall size — i.e., extremely light and thin — and components, such as solid-state drives (SSD). One major advantage they tout is price, with some models expected to sell for less than $700 by later this year. That's where Apple's supposed new model would come in.

Apple currently sells a few versions of the MacBook Air, with the lowest-priced model, featuring an 11" screen and 64GB SSD, costing $999. They range in features and price all the way up to a 13" model with 256GB SSD at $1599. In order to hit the rumored $799 price tag, the new model will likely feature an 11" display along with less RAM and a smaller SSD than the other models.

It's conceivable that the machine will also come packing Apple's latest operating system, Mac OS X Mountain Lion, in a further bid to compete with Ultrabooks running Windows 8.

(Agencies)