Apple is reportedly working on a Chromebook-style laptop, but we've heard that before

Apple is reportedly working on a Chromebook-style, pared-down, less expensive laptop. We've heard rumors of this before — but maybe this time it's different.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported on Tuesday that Apple was "preparing to enter the low-cost laptop market for the first time, developing a budget Mac aimed at luring away customers from Chromebooks and entry-level Windows PCs." Gurman is a high-profile, reliable reporter on everything Apple, which certainly lends the news serious credibility.

Bloomberg's report noted that Apple plans to launch the laptop in the first half of next year, with a focus on more casual users who primarily use a laptop for browsing the web or working on documents. That's the sort of offering you get with Chromebooks.

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There were rumors of Apple entering the Chromebook-style laptop space in 2023. Those rumors came on the heels of Chromebooks outselling MacBooks during COVID lockdowns. Obviously, that didn't come to fruition, even though it was reported by reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo at the time.

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The new report from Bloomberg noted that Apple plans to sell the lower-cost laptop for "well under $1,000" by relying on less advanced technology. Dropping a low-cost laptop would mark a major shift for Apple, which has typically sold high-quality — and often very expensive — products. But it could prove incredibly useful for large swaths of users for whom a laptop is effectively a machine for sending emails, making documents, and browsing the internet.