Steve Jobs, on Apple’s quarterly results call back in October 2008:

There are some customers which we choose not to serve. We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that.

Harry McCracken, writing at the time:

With that out of the way, the question that folks have been asking lately about whether Apple will or should release a netbook-like Mac is fascinating. Regardless of whether the company ever does unveil a small, cheap, simple Mac notebook, it’s fun to think about the prospect of one. And I’ve come to the conclusion that such a machine could be in the works, in a manner that’s consistent with the Apple way and the company’s product line as it stands today. I’m not calling this a prediction. But it is a scenario.

Apple made many $500 “computers” in the years between then and now. But they were iPads, not Macs. I think part of the impetus behind the MacBook Neo is an acknowledgement that as popular as iPads are, and for as many people who use them as their primary larger-than-a-phone computing device, there are a lot of other people, and a lot of use cases, that demand a PC. And from Apple, that means a Mac.