I don't consider a $1,000+ laptop "entry level" or "low end". These are high-end machines.
In the Apple ecosystem, a $1000 laptops are low-end devices.
The iMac Pro [1] and the Mac Pro [2] are high-end, professional level machines. The iMac Pro starts at $5,000; the Mac Pro at $6000.
The biggest difference is that Apple doesn't sell commodity hardware that virtually every PC OEM does. That was a deliberate choice many years ago.
BTW, the M1 Mac mini starts at $699 and blows away all the PCs in it's class, including those that cost more.
Some Hollywood studios have already talked about replacing much more expensive computers with the Mac mini because it's so fast [3]. No joke.
To be clear, you're not going to render a full-length movie in 4k on an M1-based Mac mini—that's what the Mac Pro is for. But for less demanding 4k editing tasks that would have been unthinkable on an under $1000 machine a year ago, certainly.
At some point you have to recognize that different product lines and market segments have different entry points. Otherwise you end up comparing everything to the Raspberry Pi, and every computer is "High-End".
The Renault Zoe EV and Tesla Model 3 have the same price.
The Renault Zoe is very low end compared to a Tesla, what make them cost the same?
An EV includes technology that is very costly and even a middle end car ends up costing like a base offer in a higher segment (because the Zoe EV is the premium offer in their segment)
You can't get any lower than that
A Zoe with an ICE engine costs in fact 10k less.
The same exact car.
There is no equivalent for Tesla, Tesla does not make cars in that segment and even if they could, they won't do it.
Said in other words: a low end Mac costs and has specs of a high end machine
Highly castrated from the manufacturer (only 16GB of RAM tops?) but definitely not low end, not even for Apple
It's their base offer for the high end segment
Which is very different from saying it's a low end machine.
Their aren't low end, they are simply not premium (there isn't going to be a big difference in performances between the two, only a different positioning, equipment and less artificial limitations from the manufacturer)
They are like AMD K6 CPUs that you could overclock using a pencil
The conclusions of this review support the idea that the specs of the Mac mini are not far from what we could expect from the pro models
> In the new Macbook Pro, we expect the M1 to showcase similar, if not identical performance to what we’ve seen on the new Mac mini
That doesn't mean they are low end laptops. A rolls-royce is also not ever a low-end car. They are the cheapest products Apple offers. But they are still high-end.
I don't consider a $1,000+ laptop "entry level" or "low end". These are high-end machines.