Apple's about to introduce its least expensive laptop - an $800 model that could be on sale within two weeks, according to a report from The Inquistr blog.

Whether it's a deal depends partly on whether it's a stripped down model (with no DVD writer, skimpy memory, etc.) that you'll end up upgrading and increasing its price. Either way, I'd wait a week to buy anything from Apple - word's out that it will announce new products on Oct. 14.

The least expensive MacBook now starts at $1,099, with 1 gig of memory, a 120 gig hard-drive and a DVD read-only drive.

If you want a really cheap laptop, you might wait until next year, when Asus will introduce a new Eee PC notebook for $307, according to a report in Taiwan's Digitimes. It said Asus is adding touchscreens and dual-core Atom processors to its line of budget micronotebooks.

Asus jump-started the bargain subnotebook market this year. News that it's upgrading the line and keeping prices low means there will be ongoing pressure on other manufacturers to keep prices down and upgrades coming.