India, March 12 -- Apple has not merely launched a lower-priced MacBook. The MacBook Neo essentially resets pricing expectations from mainstream laptops, and the Windows PC market is now scrambling to find an answer that isn't riddled with compromises. Concerns are clear, something Nick Wu, Chief Financial Officer at Asus (or ASUSTeK Computer Inc) noted in a quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, calling the MacBook Neo pricing a "shock". The MacBook Neo went on sale this Wednesday.

He is calling on ecosystem partners including Microsoft, Intel, and AMD to take this threat seriously. "In fact, in the entire PC ecosystem, there have been a lot of discussions about how to compete with this product," he said. The lack of reaction or preparedne...