Let's be realistic: Apple has a complicated relationship with the word 'affordable'. It uses it confidently, sincerely, and in a way that suggests it has never once Googled what it means. So when rumours started swirling about a 'cheap' MacBook and a 'budget' iPhone arriving this week at an Apple March event – alongside updates to the MacBook Air and Pro – my first instinct was scepticism. Apple doing cheap? Pull the other one.
But here's the thing. Apple already makes one product that's genuinely great value: the Mac mini. It's something of an outlier in the lineup – compact, capable, and priced in a way that makes you do a double-take.
