I remember when the Mini Cooper came out and BMW almost went bankrupt and it ruined their premium market. Oh, wait, it was a hugely profitable vehicle everywhere on earth, it gained them an even greater reputation for excellent design and engineering than they already had, and provided an entrypoint to the brand and dealer/service fleet for young buyers who are now more likely to upgrade to luxury-class vehicles as their incomes grow.

Nobody is suggesting Apple build an Ford Fiesta. But they could sure build a hell of a Mini Cooper (and sort of have, in the Mac Mini, which has yet to destroy their reputation or profitability). It would be a good marketing move to return their base-model laptop to the $999 price it used to have, for example, even if it meant using a CPU that was .5gHz slower or keeping the lousy non-superdrive for one more generation.